Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/skʷetlom

This Proto-Celtic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

A simple derivation from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷ- (“to say”)^[1][2][3] seems obvious, but the labiovelar seems to have lost its labialization in Brittonic; otherwise a p would have appeared. There are many ways to account for the delabialization:

• Schrijver presumes delabialization in this word happened at the Proto-Celtic level, yielding *sketlom.^[3]
• Matasović thinks a metathesis occurred; his own scenario of *skʷ > *xs-^[4] is implausible, since he cannot find a source for the following /w/. One can salvage his metathesis idea by instead positing *sékʷtlom > *sextlom > *sketlom, which would account for the odd position of the *e and apparent zero-grade root for a *-tlom noun.

*skʷetlom n

1. story, tale

• Proto-Brythonic: *hwedl
  • ⇒ Middle Breton: quehezl
  • Cornish: whethel
  • Middle Welsh: chwedyl, chuetil, chuedyl
    • Welsh: chwedl
• Old Irish: scél
  • Irish: scéal
  • Manx: skeeal
  • Scottish Gaelic: sgeul