Language and History in Early Britain: A Chronological Survey of the Brittonic Languages, First to Twelfth Century A.D.The history of British language and its descendants, Welsh, Cornish and Breton, before the Norman Conquest is very imperfectly known. An attempt is made here to trace, from all available evidence, their development from the first to the twelfth century, and especially to analyse the chronology of their sound changes. Part I deals with the sources, such as Romano-British and post-Roman inscriptions; names in Classical authors; early Welsh, Cornish and Breton documents; the Latin loanwords in British and Irish; and many British place-names in English, which can only be adequately understood when fitted into such a chronological scheme. Part II sets out in detail the probable dates of the linguistic developments concerned. |
Contents
CHAP | 3 |
WRITTEN SOURCES | 31 |
PAGE | 43 |
THE BRITISH LATIN LOANWORDS IN IRISH | 122 |
THE EARLY CHRISTIAN INSCRIPTIONS | 149 |
BRITONS AND SAXONS IN THE FIFTH TO EIGHTH CEN | 194 |
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE | 196 |
THE ACCENT | 265 |
IE ks qs qs with gs and ps | 535 |
History and dating of IE ks qs qs gs ps and Latin x | 536 |
IE sl ls | 540 |
IE sr rs | 541 |
IE sn ns | 542 |
1314 543 135 British p lenited to b | 553 |
British t lenited to d | 554 |
British c lenited to g | 556 |
IE | 274 |
THE LONG VOWELS | 287 |
IE au ou eu | 305 |
IE oi | 311 |
The history of WCB i from Brit uIE ū and ō in final | 317 |
Latin eu | 323 |
IE ei | 330 |
Latin oe | 336 |
THE SEMIVOWELS | 344 |
When the preceding vowel was unstressed and | 358 |
Intervocal when the stressed vowel immediately | 383 |
THE CONSONANTS | 389 |
Latin | 396 |
IE palatal and velar | 402 |
IE kl kr | 412 |
IE and Latin d | 424 |
IE and Latin d after sonants | 432 |
Final 3 after front vowels in OWCB | 455 |
IE su | 525 |
IE sk and sq | 534 |
British b lenited to b | 558 |
British m lenited to μ | 560 |
PROVECTION | 561 |
SPIRANTS ARISING FROM THE TENUES 1457 pp tt ccf th ch | 565 |
1489 lp lc rp rt rclf lch rf rth rch | 570 |
pp tt cc in OW OC OB | 572 |
1 FINAL AAFFECTION | 573 |
1512 573 153 aaffection in Cornish and Breton | 576 |
15563 579 164 Double affection | 591 |
THE LOSS OF FINAL SYLLABLES | 618 |
THE SPIRANT MUTATION AND PREFIXING | 634 |
190 | 644 |
A EARLY | 656 |
B REDUCTIONS FOUND IN WELSH ONLY | 664 |
IE | 695 |
The Name Bernicia | 701 |
ADDENDA | 707 |
INDEX OF WORDS AND NAMES | 719 |
INDEX OF INSCRIPTIONS | 751 |