#Goidelic languages

[polysprachig]

A note on posting in Irish (Gaeilge):

I was brainstorming what types of posts could be helpful to Irish learners in langblr and came up with the following:

posts where you can listen to a reading with an explanation of some of the trickier grammar points

vocabulary posts which include examples of all 4 noun forms (nom + gen, sg + pl) so there's context

notes on sentence structure/word form where the examples actually use the structure/word you're trying to learn (if you know, you know)

links to videos which include Irish and/or Irish & English subtitles

mini-lessons on grammar with notes on the source references

tags including canúint or CEFR-level, if relevant (especially for grammar or vocab)

Anything I'm missing here? Please share your ideas Gaeilgeoirí agus foghlaimeoirí in langblr!

[mapsontheweb]

Distribution of Goidelic/Gealic languages (Irish, Scottish and Manx).

by cactusmapping/instagram

[sierrawitch]

Table of Contents

Welcome to my little corner of the internet. I am autumn sierra, a Goidelic (Celtic) and Eclectic Folk practitioner. Here you’ll find my musings and recordings of my practice and its many facets—including history, geography, language, culture, etc. Please stay a while 🌿

Celtic Pagans & Witches Community Page

Returning to the old ways of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and more, this is a space for us to come together, share traditions, experiences, culture, and much more.

Academic Article: Menstrual Magick: The Goddess Within

Celtic History & Culture Masterpost

Crafts Masterpost

Proverbs, Sayings & Blessings Masterpost

Intuitive Magic Masterpost

Journal Entries Masterpost

Resources Masterpost

[kaizey]

On Gaelic vs Gaeilge vs Irish

Since several people have been asking me stuff regarding this today, and with Unreal Unearth adding to the eyes on it, I wanted to lend an irish voice to the pile already saying this, but it can be useful for non-irish people to learn (mostly americans)

Anyway; Gaelic vs Gaeilge vs Irish

Gaelic: This is infact an english word. As béarla, ok? It derives itself from the irish Gael, which itself comes from the old irish Goídel, an adapted word from old welsh meaning "wildman" or "forestman". In our actual language, the word for 'gaelic' is itself 'gaelach'

Gaelic, also, in the broader sense, is more than just language. Its a word covering the Goidelic languages originating in Ireland, and of wider Gaelic culture across Ireland, Scotland and Mannin. These are widely disparate places in our regional cultures, lexicons and yes, language.

Irish: The english word for our language and by far what the majority of anyone here will refer to as our language when speaking about it i mBéarla

Gaeilge: The Linguonym for irish *in* irish. Its by far the second most encountered term youll hear anyone from here use when talking about irish other than the english word. See where the common term "as gaeilge" comes from

tl;dr Youre not technically incorrect for saying Gaelic when referring to the irish language. But its much less accurate than just calling it irish, and in our language, we refer to it as Gaeilge (general pron. Gw-ale-guh)

Anyway, Go raibh math agat and hope youve been enjoying the Unreal Unearth as much as I have. Definitely not emotionally wrecked by it or anything

Slán

[cedric-k-rossignol]

Black Butler & Celtic Legend Part 1 - The Omen of The Dragons

Alright y'all, back on my medieval French Celtic literature shit. Excuse my ADHD ass hopping from theory to theory. I'm excited and sad about this one as it's my prediction for Undertaker's final fight - and it's not looking so good 😞

In Part 2 of my French Crown Jewels Series I theorized that Undertaker is in possession of some of the gemstones he recovered from the Order of the Golden Fleece insignia for Louis XV. This contains, among other gems, the original diamond from which the Phantomhive family ring was made (referred to as The Hope Diamond in season 1 of the anime). I theorized that within the insignia, Undertaker is represented by le Côte-de-Bretagne, the spinel carved into a red dragon.

And I think Undertaker is also represented by the red dragon in the Arthurian tale of King Vontigern and his construction woes - The First Legend of Merlin.

In this legend a monarch is attempting to build a tower above a pool of water, and when the foundation fails each night, he's advised that in order to successfully build the tower he must sacrifice a half-human child. However upon digging into the foundation he finds two dragons fighting, one representing the native Britons, the other representing the invading Saxons...

LET'S TALK ABOUT DRAGONS BABY.

Usual disclaimer - I have not been able to find evidence of this legend being discussed before in relation to Black Butler. Please tell me if it has.

A Very Brief & Simplified History of Brittany

First off, I want to clarify a few things about Brittany, France, just in case anyone's confused. If you're not confused about the relationship between Britons and Bretons, feel free to skip this part!

Brittany (French: Bretagne) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul.

In the 6th century, Celtic people (Britons) fleeing the Anglo-Saxon invasion immigrated from Great Britain to Brittany, which was then a part of Armorica (meaning land by the sea).

By the 11th century, Brittonic-speaking populations had split into distinct groups: the Welsh in Wales, the Cornish in Cornwall, the Bretons in Brittany, the Cumbrians of the Hen Ogledd ("Old North") in southern Scotland and northern England, and the remnants of the Pictish people in northern Scotland.

So by the 11 century, the Britonic people have separated into distinct cultural and geographical groups, and have developed their own distinct languages - but the Welsh, Cornish, and Breton people all descend from the same ethnic group, the people who had inhabited the British Isles since the iron age (800 BC) and spoke Brittonic. The Irish, Scottish, and the Manx (those who inhabit the Isle of Mann) descend from those who spoke Goidelic (Gaelic).

Brittany became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province governed as a separate nation under the crown. Brittany is the traditional homeland of the Breton people and is one of the six Celtic nations, retaining a distinct cultural identity that reflects its history.

When Undertaker was alive in the 14th century, Brittany was ruled by the Dukes of Brittany. In 1532 they officially became a part of France, but they've always retained a unique identity and there is a strong separatist movement today to seek further independence from France. Brittany is sort of the 'Québec' to France's 'Canada'.

The most relevant information to know is that before the middle ages, the people who inhabited the regions now known as Wales and Brittany shared a heritage and a common tongue. The legend of King Arthur takes place in both England and Brittany (I believe the Isle of Avalon in the world of Black Butler will be off the coast of Brittany) and Arthur and his companions are important historical/mythological figures in both Welsh and Breton culture.

Historia Regum Britanniae

I am going to focus on analyzing the Omen of the Dragons as it appears in The History of the Kings of Britain or Historia regum Britanniae, a work of historical fiction that was written in the 12th century. It chronicles the lives of the Kings of Britons from the founding of the British nation up until the Anglo-Saxons assumed control of much of Britain around the 7th century. Historia regum Britanniae is one of, if not the central piece of The Matter of Britain, a body of medieval literature associated with Great Britain, Brittany, and their legendary kings and heroes, particularly King Arthur. The lais of Marie de France, one of which I detailed in my Rossignol theory post, are also part of The Matter of Britain.

The First Legend of Merlin as portrayed in Historia Regum Brittanie

The First Legend of Merlin revolves around the characters of the half-human boy Merlin/Ambrosius and the Monarch, King Vortigern.

It should be noted that this legend is sourced from an already existing story and that the figure of Merlin is imposed onto the real life 5th century historical figure Ambrosius Aurelianus. Ambrosius was a war leader of the Romano-British who won an important battle against the Anglo-Saxons.

King Vortigern himself was a native Briton, but he is portrayed to be a betrayer of his own people - or at the very least, an easily manipulated fool. He invited the Saxons to England - brilliant fucking idea, mate - and married a Saxon.

Vortigern was a 5th-century British ruler best known for inviting the Saxons to Britain to stop the incursions of the Picts and Scots and allowing them to take control of the land. He is regularly depicted as a villain or, at best, weak-willed and unable to control the Saxons once he arranged for, or encouraged, their arrival in Britain.

In the legend, King Vortigern has lost all his other fortified holds, so he asks his advisors/ 'magicians' for advice and they tell him to build another. Seems kind of obvious to me... Except all work that they do vanishes overnight.

At last he had recourse to magicians for their advice, and commanded them to tell him what course to take. They advised him to build a very strong tower for his own safety, since he had lost all his other fortified places. Accordingly he made a progress about the country, to find out a convenient situation, and came at last to Mount Erir, where he assembled workmen from several countries, and ordered them to build the tower. The builders, therefore, began to lay the foundation; but whatever they did one day the earth swallowed up the next, so as to leave no appearance of their work.

So Vortigern asks the magicians and they advise him to take the next logical course of action - child sacrifice, my liege, duh!

Vortigern being informed of this again consulted with his magicians concerning the cause of it, who told him that he must find out a youth that never had a father, and kill him, and then sprinkle the stones and cement with his blood; for by those means, they said, he would have a firm foundation. Hereupon messengers were despatched away over all the provinces, to inquire out such a man.

Now, at this my ears perked up like a fucking dog's. A youth that never had a father - that's a phrase that sounds like it could have been subjected to many a translation. After all, what does a child that never had a father mean? A child who was hatched from an egg? A kid whose dad went out to buy cigarettes and never came back? An orphan? A bastard? A child whose father was dead before they were even conceived?

Sure enough, when I scrounged around for another translation:

“The child must be borne of both woman and demon.”

And yet another interpretation merely states that the child cannot have a "mortal father".

His wizards claim that only by mixing in the blood of a child who has no mortal father will he make the foundations sound.

Ancient engineering is a trip, eh? I so love living in a time where we don't rely on mixing the blood of children into our concrete to prevent a sinking foundation.

Now, as to what Vortigern was attempting to build... Sometimes it's a "fortress", sometimes it's a "citadel", but most often the translation reads as a "tower". Another aspect of the legend remains consistent - the construction is always occurring either above or next to a body of water.

So a monarch is trying to build a structure (a tower over water), and is mysteriously unable to begin his project. His advisors tell him in order to proceed, he must sacrifice a child - one sired by a non-mortal upon a mortal woman.

Monarch/Warlord = King Vortigern = Queen Victoria

Structure over water = tower above pool = Tower Bridge over the Thames

Monarch's advisors = Vortigern's magicians = John Brown

Half-mortal child = Ambrose/Merlin = Vincent Phantomhive

Tower bridge under construction in 4x11

It's long been speculated that the events of December 14th, 1885 (namely, the murder of Vincent Phantomhive) are connected to the Tower Bridge, a project Prince Albert took a particular interest in. It began construction on April 22, 1886 (around four months after Vincent's murder) and is referenced several times in the manga...and in season 1 of the anime, the unfinished bridge is where the final confrontation between Sebastian and Ash/Angela takes place.

Sebastian & the angel Ash on the unfinished Tower Bridge in 1x24. Souls forming a seal above the bridge while the city of London burns in 1x24.

The bridge in the anime is built with/contains human sacrifices, and Sebastian states in all likelihood it was Ash/Angela (the advisor) who instructed Victoria (Vortigern) to build the bridge.

Ash states that "no demon must be allowed to enter through this gate" and that soon "all of eastern London will be safe from impurity". Eastern, specifically 👀 remember this for later...

Horrible CGI human sacrifices in the bridge's foundation in 1x24

Back to the legend - the kings advisors go searching and find such a child who has no father, a boy whose mother claims to have laid with none other than a being who had long haunted her before lying with her in the shape of a beautiful young man. The king consults his advisor, who tells him that Merlin's father was likely an incubus.

For, as Apuleius informs us in his book concerning the Demon of Socrates, between the moon and the earth inhabit those spirits, which we will call incubuses. These are of the nature partly of men, and partly of angels, and whenever they please assume human shapes, and lie with women. Perhaps one of them appeared to this woman, and begot that young man of her."

Further versions of the legend add that Merlin/Ambrose is actually created as the antichrist. However Merlin is never portrayed as a malevolent force; having been baptized by his mother, he is freed from the Devil's influence, and yet still has the kick-ass powers. You get the best of both worlds, I guess.

The Omen of The Dragons

Merlin speaks with the king and when he finds out his intent is to sacrifice him, he reasonably suggests to him and his followers that before you go around sacrificing children maybe you should take a look at what's underneath the tower! And for this, they name him a prophet. Turns out common sense is magical! So they dig up the ground, and they find a pond underneath the tower which has been the cause of the foundation sinking.

Then said he again to the king, "Command the pond to be drained, and at the bottom you will see two hollow stones, and in them two dragons asleep." The king made no scruple of believing him, since he had found true what he said of the pond, and therefore ordered it to be drained: which done, he found as Merlin had said; and now was possessed with the greatest admiration of him. Not were the rest that were present less amazed at his wisdom, thinking it to be no less than divine inspiration.

Lo and behold, when they look they find two dragons, just as Merlin had predicted. The translation here is a bit misleading - the true spirit of Vortigern's reaction seems to be more along the lines of fearful reverence - he and his men were intimidated by Merlin/Ambrose's abilities.

The dragons, one red and one white, wake and fight each other with fire over the lake as the king looks on.

As Vortigern, king of the Britons, was sitting upon the bank of the drained pond, the two dragons, one of which was white, the other red, came forth, and ap­proaching one another, began a terrible fight, and cast forth fire with their breath. But the white dragon had the advantage, and made the other fly to the end of the lake. And he, for grief at his flight, renewed the assault upon his pursuer, and forced him to retire.

So the white dragon, who represents the Saxons, triumphs over the red dragon, who represents the Britons. They fight over a body of water, and cast fire with their breath. In the end, the white dragon defeats the red dragon.

I fear this does not bode well for Undertaker.

Undertaker's Fate

Within the insignia for the Order of the Golden Fleece of Louix XV, the Spinel carved into a red dragon is literally called "the coast of Brittany". Here, the red dragon represents the Brittonic people from whom the Bretons descended. Undertaker is the Celtic dragon.

As for the white dragon, who represents the Saxons - I believe this will be John Brown, servant of Queen Victoria. Queen Victoria is herself descended from the Anglo-Saxon regime of England, her mother was a Saxon, as was her husband/cousin Prince Albert. Worth noting that king Vortigern, though a native Briton, married a Saxon.

Undertaker has outright stated that he does not care for Queen Victoria - but there are hints in the events of his past that his feelings towards her are a bit more strong than dislike. I think it's more accurate to say he hates her guts, especially after Claudia's death.

Queen Victoria was born in May of 1819. The massacre at Reaper HQ (a far cry from Undertaker's previous behaviour working as a reaper) likely occurred in 1819 as well. This was also the year in which the name "Cedric" first appeared in the newly published novel 'Ivanhoe'. May 1819 was also when Keats wrote "An Ode to a Nightingale", which is the cornerstone of my "Rossignol" last name theory. 1837 is the year in which Queen Victoria ascended to the throne - this lines up with the date when Undertaker officially deserted the reapers, taking his death scythe with him. 1847 is also the year of death for Undertaker's first chronological locket, Molly G.

These dates aligning link Undertaker's rebellion against his superiors to Victoria's rise to power. However, a 1v1 of Grandma Vicky vs Grandpa Reaper probably wouldn't be all that compelling of a fight.

Enter Queen Victoria's servant (in real life, and in the anime) John Brown.

John Brown in 4x10 - Sick Shades, Bro! Not conspicuous at all!

John Brown was a real person who served Queen Victoria in the aftermath of Prince Albert's death (and there is speculation that he and Vicky had an affair). But the real John Brown died on March 27, 1883 - and as I've discussed at length, Yana seems to be deliberate in the timing of significant events in relation to real world historical figures. That the 'real' John Brown in the manga died 2 years before Vincent Phantomhive was murdered is not a coincidence - rather, I think something else assumed John Brown's identity upon his death, and may have convinced Queen Victoria that Vincent Phantomhive needed to die...

There's been a lot of speculation about what John Brown is; another reaper, a demon, or an angel*. But he is most definitely not human. Not with those fuck-ass snow goggles.

*For the record, I think John Brown is indeed an angel.

Both characters of John Brown and Ash fill the same roles as the Queen's closest protector and advisor - the 'magicians' to Victoria's 'Vortigern'. The White Dragon Undertaker fights will not literally be Queen Victoria, but John Brown - and it seems Undertaker, GOAT that he is, will have finally met his match.

I think this will be Undertaker's final act in the manga, to reenact the fight between the red dragon and white dragon over the water by the half-built tower as detailed in the Historia regum Britanniae. Undertaker will fight the Saxon dragon, John Brown...

And Undertaker will lose.

In the finale of season 1 of the anime, Undertaker is distantly involved in the fight between Sebastian and Ash/Angela on the tower bridge (while the city of London burns down around them). He teams up with the other reapers (William and Grelle, and unnamed reapers #1-4) to disconnect the 'hearts of souls' feeding Ash/Angela's power. Undertaker's actions weaken Sebastian's final opponent and enable Sebastian's victory (and therefore, Ciel's). And once again - I think season 1 provides a loose interpretation of what will happen in the manga.

His role in the manga will likely be much more significant. I think he will still team up with the other reapers, but it won't be to snip black clouds because Will agreed to waive his fucking library fines. Undertaker's going to go out fighting...

I think Undertaker will meet his ultimate demise in fighting John Brown, but in doing so, he will enable Sebastian's victory and Ciel's revenge - and perhaps also stop whatever it was he learned back in 1819 that caused his initial rebellion.

Now excuse me while I go pre-grieve 😭

Lludd & Llefelys

This isn't particularly relevant - except this peaked my interest because it sounds vaguely familiar to what I understand about the Mother3 theory, so I'm throwing it in here. In the 13th century (after Historia regum Britanniae was published) the tale of Lludd and Llefelys was written as an origin for how the two dragons came to be buried underneath the pool at Dinas Emrys.

As to how the dragons became confined there, the story of Lludd and Llefelys in the Mabinogion gives details. According to the legend, when Lludd ruled Britain (c.100 BC), a hideous scream, whose origin could not be determined, was heard each May Eve. This scream so perplexed the Britons that it caused infertility, panic and mayhem throughout the realm. In need of help Lludd sought counsel on this and other matters from his brother Llefelys, a King of Gaul. Llefelys furnished the information that the scream was caused by battling dragons. The scream would be uttered by the dragon of the Britons when it was fighting another alien dragon and was being defeated. Lludd heeded the advice given to him by Llefelys and captured both dragons in a cauldron filled with mead when they had transformed themselves, as apparently dragons did, into pigs. The captured dragons were buried at the place later called Dinas Emrys, as it was regarded as the safest place to put them.

But that's not the only way this story might relate to Mother3...

Only Two Dragons - But I Thought The Dragon Must Have Three Heads???? Wait wrong show

Two dragons not enough for you? What about Sebastian, the guy who literally loves to light shit on fire, you cry out in dismay? Doesn't he get a dragon?

Fear not my friend, I've got you covered.

There is a much lesser known prophecy that is a sort of an addendum to Merlin's prophecy. It is contained in a series of texts called The Prophecy of the Eagle, and it foretells the Norman invasion of England...

"As the White Dragon expelled the Red Dragon so a Dark Dragon will throw out the White Dragon. The Dark Dragon, fierce and terrible, will come flying and burn up the whole island with the corrupting fire of its mouth. From its loins will come forth a ram with a fine fleece that will strike with its horns in the east."

And that's where I will pick back up in Part 2, on The Prophecy of The Three Dragons! Because really, are two dragons ever sufficient?

Thank you for reading all this! If you're interested in checking out my other theories you can find a masterpost of them here. My ask box is open and I'm always happy to talk about this stuff, if you have any comments to share or questions to ask. (Note that I will answer publicly unless otherwise specified - also note that if you've asked a question and haven't received an answer yet, it's probably because I referenced this theory and wanted to post it first!)

Going to go cry into a tub of ice cream over my prediction of Undertaker's fate now, bye.

[sillygoblinantics]

Watched ant’s werewolf video.

(And the transcript)

I applaud the history and mythology section but there’s never mention of the other werewolves!

And to that

I have to grab the sources, More specifically this!

Welcome to my silly hyperfixation sperg!

I love me some mythology and history of these fantastical creatures. I do enjoy the movie approach and filmography of the werewolf history. (Even though you skipped shapeshifters from ❤️💀🤖) but I wanted to add to the cryptozoological side of it even if I’m a bit amateurish of the study.

Let’s dive in

Though early origins to the term of lycanthropy dating back to Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece via Latin language, humans that transform into dog like hybrids is a universal concept that can be found all over the world from Europe to South Asia!

As was our human way to explain what wasn’t yet known scientifically of modern times, for the civilizations who came before us, strangeness in people from neurological to physical abnormalities were thought to be otherworldly!

A rare mutation but oldest documented instance is when the hair on the body grow longer than what is “normal” leading to top to bottom fully covered in hair people: Hypertrichosis. Which is where the image of transformation came from or at least hypothesized to have been the origins of. Then there’s the actual clinically diagnosis of “clinical lycanthropy” which is when someone who has this believes they are in fact a werewolf.

So with the fun science out of the way! Allow me to list off every lycanthrope from around the world!

In alphabetical order of each name:

Airitech

Folklore of the Goidelic Celts.

Alp

Originating in Germany

Anjing Ajak

Indonesia

Azeman

Suriname folklore

Bal-bal

Philippines

Beast of Gevaudin

(Werehyena) France

Budas

Ancient Abyssinia

Buxenwolf

German folklore

Enkidu

Gilgamesh’s “best friend”

Headless mule

Iberian folklore - Portugal and Spain

Karkanxhol

Kolivilor

Albanian mythology

Kornwolf

Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Poland and Russia

Lobis-Homem

Ancient Portuguese folklore

Lobishomen

(Female vampire witch werewolf) Brazil

Lobison

Argentina

Loup Garou

French origin and Caribbean island folklore

Luison

Paraguayan folklore

Lupo Mannaro

Italian and ancient Roman folklore

Marrock (Marrok the good knight)

Arthurian folklore

Zmag Ognjeni Vuk

Bosnian folklore (fire breathing werewolf)

I need a minute to catch my breath!

Ok!

As you can tell there’s quite a lot but I feel the need to also mention a morally good lycanthrope

Hailing from the Shetland isles of Scotland: the Wulver

They’d watch over flocks and tend to chores and leave behind fish on the windowsills of homes once they’re done helping. It’s said they’d only act in violence if provoked but other than that they were mostly seen as good!

So that’s my lil sperging about werewolf mythology! Good video Anthony!

I’m shook that no one mentioned the werewolves from the Halloween anthology film “Trick or Treat” or “the wolf among us” which was about the big bad wolf being a detective in a modern setting with fairytales and murder! Or the other red riding hood movie! “Red Riding Hood” (2011); with really good color story of mostly black and white scenery and striking red from our leading lady!

Ohmygod I nearly forgot that Pokémon even has a werewolf pokemon!

But ye I don’t have any better way to end this… other than a silly animation >:3c

[victusinveritas]

From Starkey Comics on Facebook: New post!

Have you ever noticed how many names associated with Celtic peoples seem to be related? Many of them have names that start with something like "gal".

Well, some of them *are* related, some of them aren't! The whole thing is actually a bit of a mess.. so I thought I'd try to clear things up with an image.

Well, it spiralled into 4 images, because there are basically there are 4 groups you can sort these terms into:

1) Gallic, Gallo-, Gallo, Galloglass, Galloway (not shown here) and Galatia all come from a Celtic tribal name. This name was "Gallus", in Latin, which referred to the Celtic people of Gaul.

2) (Corn)wall, Wales, Gaul, Walloon, Wallachia are all from a Germanic word originally meaning "foreigner". "Galles", the French word for "Wales", is also in this group, adding another "gal" word for us.

And yes, that means "Gaul" (which is from a Germanic name for the territory) and "Gallus" the Latin name for the territory, are unrelated!

3) Gael and Gaelic are from an Brittonic word meaning "wildman", as is "Goidelic", the name we use to group the Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic language.

4) And finally Galicia and the second half of Portugal *might* be related to each other, but are unlikely to be related to any of the names above. The most common theory is that they are named for a Celtic group that inhabited that area, who may have named themselves using a word derived from the Proto-Celtic word for forest. This one is the shakiest, as both Galicia and Portugal have disputed ultimate origins.

Galway in Scotland and Galicia in Eastern Europe are also unrelated to any of these (and each other).

[glossopoesis]

Velgaiɣa

Velgaiɣa is a primary Indo-European conlang (i.e. one not belonging to any existent branch within Indo-European), intended to be intermediate between Celtic (particularly Gaulish) and Germanic. It is geographically and temporarily positioned as if it could be the language of the Belgae at the time of Julius Caesar's invasion of Gaul.

In staying intermediate between Celtic and Germanic, Grimm's and Verner's Laws have been conceptualised as a push chain caused by the Proto-Indo-European voiced aspirate series becoming voiced fricatives in most positions (creating an extremely unbalanced system with many voiced fricatives with no voiceless counterparts), a shift shared with Italic (and possibly also Celtic). All affected branches then resolved this lack of balance in different ways.

In Germanic, the voiceless series became fricatives except following another obstruent (these fricatives were voiceless word-initially and after a stressed syllable, but otherwise merging into the voiced fricative series), the plain voiced stop series became voiceless, and the voiced fricatives *β and *ð became voiced stops /b/ & /d/ word-initially (the voiced fricative *ɣ also became a voiced stop /g/ word-initially outside Dutch).

In Celtic, the new voiced fricative series merged into the plain voiced stops. It's usually said that this merged series were stops in all positions in Proto-Celtic, but it has also been suggested that the lenition of voiced stops seen in Insular Celtic already existed on an allophonic level in Proto-Celtic, with the merged voiced series being voiced fricatives in leniting environments, and stops elsewhere. In this view, the development of voiceless fricatives (by lenition in Goidelic, or provection in Brythonic) being caused by the phonemicisation of the previously allophonic voiced fricatives.

In Italic, the voiced fricatives devoiced word-initially allowing the remaining voiced fricatives to be viewed as voiced allophones. Additionally, word-initial *ð (> *θ) merged into *f (comparable to the widespread th-fronting in the Southeast of England). In Sabellic, word-internal *ð also merges into *f, and in Latin most of the word-internal voiced fricatives fortited to stops.

So, in order to remain intermediate between Celtic and Germanic, we have lenited the voiced aspirates to voiced fricatives in most positions (including word-initially). In most instances, voiceless stops develop as in Germanic, but word-initially remain unlenited (as in Celtic). Again, as in Celtic, *p is still lenited, but only to /f/ (whereas there is no clear evidence for any labial feature still being present in the Proto-Celtic reflex of *p outside certain consonant clusters (particularly following *s and preceding a resonant).

Celtic preserves more vowel distinctions than Germanic, and Velgaiɣa is intermediate in that it retains those distinctions in initial stressed syllables, but not in unstressed or non-initial syllables (which are subject to varying levels of vowel reduction, at different stages, as a result of the shift to initial stress). In initial syllables, syllabic resonants broadly behave as in Celtic (albeit subject to the expected vowel reductions when unstressed), but in non-initial syllables, the expected vowel reductions lead to more Germanic-like outcomes. Stressed final syllables have similar outcomes to stressed initial syllables (with a small number of additional mergers/reductions), whilst unstressed final syllables are reduced almost as much as medial syllables, retaining only a few more distinctions.

Many of these historical changes have been obscured by analogy (e.g. the o-stem declension mostly retains the stressed allomorphs, despite being used for all o-stems, even those that etymologically have stressed stems, and so words may have both a stem and ending reflecting the expected stressed reflex).

There is also a regular process of syncope of short vowels in the second of two open syllables when not word-final, but when the vowel that would be expected to be syncopated is a derivational suffix (or part of the formation of an inflectional class of nouns or verbs), the vowel is often restored. This is because that vowel might be expected to lost after light stems, but would be retained after heavy stems, and so the vowel was restored to the light stems by analogy to the heavy stems.

More information on certain words and points can be found throughout the Lexember 2024 posts (although some of these may be a little outdated, as aspects of the language evolved over the course of the month):

1st: rīma "the numerals"

2nd: gānyom "the family"

3rd: gallū "to be able"

4th: klāsmarra "(hill)fort, oppidum"

5th: ɣimmēs "the lunar month containing the winter solstice, ~December"

6th: far-ɣusman "libation"

7th: troggī "nose"

8th: friyos "free"

9th: lustrom "value"

10th: wasū "to dress"

11th: lahtuðaɣa "morality"

12th: an-rīmas "countless, unnumbered"

13th: ɣlohom "glass"

14th: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

15th: ɣelas "green, blue"

16th: baryai "to die"

17th: skowwunū "to appear as if in a mirror, to show, to reflect"

18th: arguntum "silver"

19th: an-yahtī "illness"

20th: ɣōliryun "vegetable"

21st: ɣardwa "Midwinter, the Winter Solstice"

22nd: ɣostidūriyos "host", ɣostidustrī "hostess"

23rd: bargu "slow"

24th: moiþman "gift"

25th: gentī "birth"

26th: vir-fihtāɣī "hangover"

27th: sudyēs "holiday"

28th: stēr "star"

29th: ambruðai "to rain"

30th: vardūþom "bearded"

31st: neuyērundiwa "New Year's Day"

[historia-vitae-magistras]

gosh, 27 for the anglo family please :)

27.) Bestest card game player?

Poker matches in this fucking family would be batshit. Brighid, Jack and Rhys are out quickly because they're all shit at hiding their tells from people who know them well. Matt is out next because he's only stoic until the third beer. Alasdair usually folds pretty quickly because he's not about to gut the niblings. That usually leaves Arthur, Alfred and Zee. Two master liars and the man who taught them, lmao. It's anyone's game from there.

Arthur kicks everyone's ass at word games. No one will play Scrabble or Categories with that man. English is his great influence on the world, and that man can be as clever with his words as Shakespeare. He'll pull out the most obscure words or even Cumbrian or another dead language and start a family row that ends with him and Rhys screaming their heads off about dead insular celtic vowels as Brighid and Alasdair's Goidelic asses just stand there drinking scotch like "what's done it this time?" as Matt just sighs "Cumbrian" like its the worst swear word he knows and goes to get the hose because now they're wrestling on the kitchen floor.

Of his siblings, Matt is the best at chess. His brain is tactically oriented, and Matt's always been rather reserved and not the best conversationalist. As a result, chess was one of the few activities he did well enough to keep François' attention on him. Same with Arthur later. Matt didn't give him the lively conversation Alfred would, but he was good enough at chess. He got good enough at it that he started winning more than half the matches and learned to convincingly throw the games when he played Arthur or Alfred, and they were in a bad mood.

[mycoins]

A couple of worldbuilding questions- how like scientifically accurate would you say the geography is in your setting? Did you like research like rivers and inlets and shit or did you just kinda wing it? And did you create a conlang for your setting? If so, how much of it did you create- enough for names or a whole language? And if not, how do you name things while keeping them interesting and not boring and/or gibberish? I'm sorry for sending you so many worldbuilding asks, I just really like your takes on it and could use some advice- but I know you're probably busy and if you don't want to answer, I understand! Either way I hope you have a good day <3

The geography i tend to try to strike a balance between stuff that is just realistic enough to not make people go "wow that's definitely some magical high fantasy shit" and "the structure of this is subservient to the story i'm trying to tell.

as for conlangs, i don't really like building full languages. instead, i'll research like language families and work within a region and its population which naturally will contain different dialects or languages in the same family. i took a lot of inspiration from the different goidelic languages for a part of my setting, and allowed inconsistencies in particular naming conventions or pronunciation to be chalked up to the fact that there's a lot of different living languages in the world. that might not work if you want a larger shared language in a world where there's a larger global community so ymmv

[polysprachig]

ar bharr mo theanga

on the tip of my tongue

Bhí mallacht ar bharr mo theanga nuair a bhí mo chairde ag magadh faoi mo blorbos.

[aefensteorrra]

goidelic languages my beloveds <3

[blackthxrntree]

I knew I'd be mildly irritated by people talking about the irish lyrics purely because ye do not know what this language is actually called

The language native to the island of Ireland is called Gaeilge or Irish

[Minor rant under the cut]

It's not Celtic. It's not Gaelic. It's not Galic.

Celtic is a language family - Gàdhligh (Scotland) and Manx (Isle of Man) are in the same Goidelic branch as Gaelige. Cymraeg (Wales) and Brezhoneg (Brittany) are in the Brittonic branch.

These languages are related but they are not the same.

Gaelic is an adjective used to describe things that come from Ireland/are distinctly Irish. For example, Gaelic Games are our national sports - Hurling, Camogie, Gaelic Football (and handball but nobody cares about that)

But ya just please take 10 seconds to figure out what this language is actually called its not difficult

(also jesus christ stop with the fairy comparisons we have a very much living and thriving culture we are neither dead nor folkloric)

[flyoverkushtaka]

Playing soccer on Friday revealed a few things to me, mainly 1) that I really suck at soccer, and 2) once I start running changing direction quickly is next to impossible, not unlike a certain fictional mustelid. I fell down twice, quite literally tumbling on one occasion. At least it was a friendly match, and hitting the ball with my head was fun. I want to do more of that.

It's a little frustrating that despite working out basically every day and being (if I do say so myself) pretty decent on the dancefloor, neither of these things translates over to athleticism on the field. Or maybe it's a problem with my legs. Or I just need to practice more. Gym is like theory and sports are like praxis. Sort of like content and expression I guess. (Can I be a body without organs and still have a dick? Is that on the table?) As far as dancing, well, maybe repurposing that spontaneous libidinal energy requires something with more physical contact. Maybe rugby really is in my near future. . . .

I won't beat myself up over my athletic incompetence too much since I tried my best and I was also playing against real Europeans. The day after while limping through a nature preserve I had to bat down the atavistic part of my brain that was panicking over how everyone knows how useless I am now, but I really know I just need to chill out bro and let it slide off my like water on a duck. I was gazing at some ducks on the lake and realized I could stop myself from feeling bad by feeling relaxed instead. If I just take everyone's friendliness at face value and reflect it back at them like a tranquil shimmering lake, I'll be fine. I don't have to be such a god damn Southerner about social interactions up here, scrutinizing every sentence for hidden meanings and coded contexts. Midwesterners are a little gormless, but I think they mean what they say for the most part, and I like that. It's easier for someone like me to deal with.

Yesterday instead of thinking about soccer I was exploring some interesting corners of the internet and realized that there seem to be two basic approaches to erotic hypnosis: One we'll call, for no particular reason, the Irish style which prioritizes insinuation and subtlety, and the other (again for no particular reason) the Scottish style which is more about overstimulation to break down rational thought. They're not mutually exclusive, just as the Goidelic languages are to a degree mutually intelligible (I spelled that wrong at first because I'm a dumb himbo slut) but they do diverge in conceptualization and I guess I'd say mood? It's the difference between a friend and a master, maybe. (Lucifer vs Dis Pater? Note to self: Work on this metaphor.) I'll have to do some more, ah, comparative research. Maybe see which leaves me more physically coordinated.

[catt-nuevenor]

Morá

Have a gander at this from a Proto-Celtic Etymological Dictionary:

Read 'demon' with a fair amount of side-eye here, we're dealing with a translation and reconstruction from a post Christianisation period. When you see 'demon' think more 'supernatural being'.

A quick guide to the abbreviations:

GOID - Goidelic, Celtic language group including Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx.

PIE - Proto-Indo-European, ancestral language of many modern and ancient European Languages.

COGN - Think of it as comparative examples from languages outside of Proto-Celtic or its descendents.

Of the comparative examples:

OHG - Old High German

Russ - Russian

Croat - Croatian (Standard)

ETYM - Etymology

REF - Reference to source Dictionary texts.

Source: Matasović Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic

[ormspryde]

No I am not sitting here at three in the morning trying to decide which goidelic language I want to HC Tercian as, thank you very little.