Prosthetic f, backformation or eagal and feagal - Eachdraidh nam mùthaidhean

Akerbeltz 13:03, 3 dhen Iuchar 2026

2026-07-03T13:03:39Z

Akerbeltz: /* And French, Italian, Spanish and so on as a matter of fact */

2026-02-21T10:45:38Z

And French, Italian, Spanish and so on as a matter of fact

Akerbeltz: /* Add a pinch of madness... */

2024-01-27T12:24:45Z

Add a pinch of madness...

Akerbeltz: /* Add a pinch of madness... */

2024-01-27T12:24:08Z

Add a pinch of madness...

Akerbeltz: /* Add a pinch of madness... */

2024-01-27T12:22:22Z

Add a pinch of madness...

Akerbeltz: /* I thought Gaelic had words with f and p or indeed s? */

2024-01-27T12:17:43Z

I thought Gaelic had words with f and p or indeed s?

Akerbeltz: /* I thought Gaelic had words with f and p or indeed s? */

2024-01-27T12:16:59Z

I thought Gaelic had words with f and p or indeed s?

Akerbeltz: /* Errr and backformation? */

2023-10-01T12:40:39Z

Errr and backformation?

Akerbeltz: /* And French, Italian, Spanish and so on as a matter of fact */

2023-10-01T12:38:53Z

And French, Italian, Spanish and so on as a matter of fact

Akerbeltz: /* And French, Italian, Spanish and so on as a matter of fact */

2023-09-30T18:05:48Z

And French, Italian, Spanish and so on as a matter of fact

@@ Loidhne 280: / Loidhne 280: @@
 | English jib || || <span style="color: #008000;">sioba/seibe</span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">gib</span> ||
 |-
-| English ''jot'' (poss. L. <span style="color: #6600CC;">iota</span>)<sup>2</sup> || a bit || <span style="color: #008000;">tiota</span><sup>2</sup> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">giota</span> ||
+| English ''jot'' (poss. L. <span style="color: #6600CC;">iota</span>)<sup>2</sup> || a bit || <span style="color: #008000;">tiota</span><sup>2</sup> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">giota/siota</span> ||
 |-
 | English ''joust'' ||  || <span style="color: #008000;"></span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">giústáil</span> ||
@@ Loidhne 426: / Loidhne 426: @@
 |}
 <sup>1</sup> So basically some areas dropped the h- and some turned it to t-, which is also the explanation for those awful spellings with <span style="color: #008000;">t-H</span> or weird <span style="color: #008000;">t-</span> initials you sometimes see on Gaelic street signs like <span style="color: #008000;">An t-Òb/Muinntir an t-Òb</span> (Leverburgh on Harris for example). It's nothing of the sort, it's just a case of <span style="color: #008000;">tòb</span> i.e. the place is actually called <span style="color: #008000;">An Tòb</span> - which makes <span style="color: #008000;">muinntir an Tòb</span> a totally regular form without any need for grammatical contortions.<br>
-<sup>2</sup> Although <span style="color: #008000;">tiota</span> in Gaelic is conceivable a case of the <span style="color: #008000;">t</span> of the definite article latching onto the noun i.e. <span style="color: #008000;">an t-iota > an tiota</span>. But with Irish <span style="color: #6600CC;">giota</span> clearly a backformation, it could equally be <span style="color: #6600CC;">iota</span> > *thiota > <span style="color: #008000;">tiota</span>.<br>
+<sup>2</sup> Although <span style="color: #008000;">tiota</span> in Gaelic is conceivable a case of the <span style="color: #008000;">t</span> of the definite article latching onto the noun i.e. <span style="color: #008000;">an t-iota > an tiota</span>. Irish <span style="color: #6600CC;">giota</span> suggests a backformation from <span style="color: #6600CC;">iota</span> > *thiota > <span style="color: #008000;">tiota</span>. But Irish also has <span style="color: #6600CC;">siota</span>... it's a bit of a chicken and egg question...<br>
 <sup>3</sup> It depends on the timing - modern English has a /j/ at the start of ''use'' but the original loan from Norman French <span style="color: #6600CC;">us</span> did not have this initial /j/. So if it is a really old loan, the <span style="color: #008000;">ù</span> just represents English /u/. If it's a more recent loan, it's a backformation of /ju/ » /uː/.

@@ Loidhne 833: / Loidhne 833: @@
 | Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">fricātū</span> || rubbing down || Basque || <span style="color: #6600CC;">perekatu</span> (v. caress)
 |-
-| Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">Vascōnēs/Vasconia</span> || Basques || French/Gascon || <span style="color: #6600CC;">Gascon/Gasconia</span>, incl. the derived surname <span style="color: #6600CC;">Gascoigne</span>
+| Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">Vascōnēs/Vasconia</span> || Basques || French/Gascon || <span style="color: #6600CC;">Gascon/Gasconia</span>, incl. the derived surname <span style="color: #6600CC;">Gascoigne</span> and of course Engl. Gascony
 |-
 | Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">vigilāre</span> || (v.) watch || Basque || <span style="color: #6600CC;">'''begira'''tu</span> (watch)

@@ Loidhne 582: / Loidhne 582: @@
 | <span style="color: #008000;">sail-chuach</span> || related to <span style="color: #008000;">salach</span>, so something like "filthy bowl" originally || <span style="color: #008000;">dail-chuach, fail-chuach</span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">sal- + cuach</span> "violet"|| Old Irish || Presumable we're looking at <span style="color: #008000;">an t-sail-chuach</span> giving <span style="color: #008000;">an dail-chuach</span> via eclipsis and via an unattested <span style="color: #008000;">*tail-chuach » *ail-chuach</span> we get <span style="color: #008000;">fail-chuach</span>. Ay dios...
 |-
-| <span style="color: #008000;">sealastair</span> || flag iris || <span style="color: #008000;">sealastair, seileastair, seilistear, siolastar</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">eileastair</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">feileastair</span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">soilestar/ailestar</span> || Old Irish || Ultimately from Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">salicastrum</span>, an unidentified bog-plant. The Irish forms are similarly varied and include <span style="color: #6600CC;">soileastar, siolastar, eileastram, feileastram</span> and <span style="color: #6600CC;">alastram</span>
+| <span style="color: #008000;">sealastair</span> || flag iris || <span style="color: #008000;">sealastair, seileastair, seilistear, siolastar</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">eileastair</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">feileastair</span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">soilestar/ailestar</span> "flag iris" || Old Irish || Ultimately from Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">salicastrum</span>, an unidentified bog-plant. The Irish forms are similarly varied and include <span style="color: #6600CC;">soileastar, siolastar, eileastram, feileastram</span> and <span style="color: #6600CC;">alastram</span>
 |-
 | <span style="color: #008000;">seillean</span>|| bee || <span style="color: #008000;">teillean</span> || ? || || the root of this word is not clear.

@@ Loidhne 582: / Loidhne 582: @@
 | <span style="color: #008000;">sail-chuach</span> || related to <span style="color: #008000;">salach</span>, so something like "filthy bowl" originally || <span style="color: #008000;">dail-chuach, fail-chuach</span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">sal- + cuach</span> "violet"|| Old Irish || Presumable we're looking at <span style="color: #008000;">an t-sail-chuach</span> giving <span style="color: #008000;">an dail-chuach</span> via eclipsis and via an unattested <span style="color: #008000;">*tail-chuach » *ail-chuach</span> we get <span style="color: #008000;">fail-chuach</span>. Ay dios...
 |-
-| <span style="color: #008000;">sealastair</span> || flag iris || <span style="color: #008000;">sealastair, seileastair, seilistear, siolastar</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">eileastair</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">feileastair</span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">soilestar</span> || Old Irish || Ultimately from Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">salicastrum</span>, an unidentified bog-plant. The Irish forms are similarly varied and include <span style="color: #6600CC;">soileastar, siolastar, eileastram, feileastram</span> and <span style="color: #6600CC;">alastram</span>
+| <span style="color: #008000;">sealastair</span> || flag iris || <span style="color: #008000;">sealastair, seileastair, seilistear, siolastar</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">eileastair</span> and <span style="color: #008000;">feileastair</span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">soilestar/ailestar</span> || Old Irish || Ultimately from Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">salicastrum</span>, an unidentified bog-plant. The Irish forms are similarly varied and include <span style="color: #6600CC;">soileastar, siolastar, eileastram, feileastram</span> and <span style="color: #6600CC;">alastram</span>
 |-
 | <span style="color: #008000;">seillean</span>|| bee || <span style="color: #008000;">teillean</span> || ? || || the root of this word is not clear.

@@ Loidhne 581: / Loidhne 581: @@
 |-
 | <span style="color: #008000;">sail-chuach</span> || related to <span style="color: #008000;">salach</span>, so something like "filthy bowl" originally || <span style="color: #008000;">dail-chuach, fail-chuach</span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">sal- + cuach</span> "violet"|| Old Irish || Presumable we're looking at <span style="color: #008000;">an t-sail-chuach</span> giving <span style="color: #008000;">an dail-chuach</span> via eclipsis and via an unattested <span style="color: #008000;">*tail-chuach » *ail-chuach</span> we get <span style="color: #008000;">fail-chuach</span>. Ay dios...
 |-
 | <span style="color: #008000;">seillean</span>|| bee || <span style="color: #008000;">teillean</span> || ? || || the root of this word is not clear.

@@ Loidhne 485: / Loidhne 485: @@
 |-
 | Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">parochia</span> || parish || <span style="color: #008000;">fairche</span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">fairche</span>
 |-
 | Norse <span style="color: #6600CC;">floti</span> || fleet || <span style="color: #008000;">plod</span> || <span style="color: #6600CC;">plod</span>

@@ Loidhne 6: / Loidhne 6: @@
 Backformation means that speakers of a language take a native or adopted word and re-analyse it, as it were. This often happens in loanwords or native words whose meaning has become opaque. Opaque, when a linguist uses the word, means that the meaning is not clear from just looking at the word. For example, you can look at the word ''drumstick'' and figure that it's a stick that's used with a drum. But no matter how hard you stare at a hot ''toddy'', chances are you won't figure it comes from a Hindi word for a palm-tree.
-Where was I? Ah, backformation. English, for example, adopted the French word for cherries, <span style="color: #6600CC;">cerise</span> from Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">ceresia</span>, both mass nouns which means there is  no singular form. But because English has a very prominent ''-s'' plural, English speakers figured that the ''s'' must obviously be a plural. So, if many of those little fruits are ''cherries'', one must obviously be - a cherry. This is called backformation. Gaelic does that too, but because it has the phenomenon of lenition at the beginning of words, unlike English, it tends to create backformations at the beginning of words.
+Where was I? Ah, backformation. English, for example, adopted the French word for cherries, <span style="color: #6600CC;">cerise</span> from Latin <span style="color: #6600CC;">ceresia</span>, both mass nouns which means there is  no singular form. But because English has a very prominent ''-s'' plural, English speakers figured that the ''s'' must obviously be a plural. So, if many of those little fruits are ''cherries'', one must obviously be … wait for it … a cherry. This is called backformation. Gaelic does that too, but because it has the phenomenon of lenition at the beginning of words, unlike English, it tends to create backformations at the beginning of words.
 Now, Gaelic phonology does not forbid words beginning with a vowel (don't laugh, some languages have no words beginning with vowels!) but it does have something like prosthetic sounds. Most notably [f]. In the case of Gaelic this comes about when native speakers re-interpret words beginning with a vowel as "a word which has lenited X". However, there is more than just one backformation. Let's have a quick look at what can happen:

@@ Loidhne 890: / Loidhne 890: @@
 | English <span style="color: #6600CC;">offside</span> || || Cantonese || <span style="color: #6600CC;">噏西 āp sāi</span> || offside
 |-
-| English <span style="color: #6600CC;">valve</span> || || Cantonese || <span style="color: #6600CC;"閥 faht</span> || valve
+| English <span style="color: #6600CC;">valve</span> || || Cantonese || <span style="color: #6600CC;">閥 faht</span> || valve
 |-
 | French <span style="color: #6600CC;">vacances</span> || holidays || Japanese || <span style="color: #6600CC;">バカンス bakansu</span> || holidays