Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/weblos

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.

Unknown; see reconstruction notes.

*weblos m

1. lip

The core of this etymon, Proto-Brythonic *gweβl, is securely reconstructed. However, the question of which Irish words that the Brittonic words should be compared to is mired in long-standing controversy. There are two competing potential Irish cognates, each with their own strengths and drawbacks:

• Old Irish bél (“lip”) is an exact semantic match, but creating a valid sound change sequence that can yield both bél and the Brittonic words from the same etymon is next to impossible.
• Old Irish Febal (“the River Foyle”) is a simple phonetic match to a proto-form *weblos, but the semantic appropriateness of such a comparison is unverifiable. It may evolved semantically from "lips" to "mouth", originally applied to the Lough Foyle estuary before being extended to the river flowing into it.

What is known is that the reconstructions of *wo-mlū- by Koch and *wewlos from Matasović are improbable.

• Koch's reconstruction has no identifiable morphological base for the prefix *uɸo- to attach to.
• Matasović's *wewlos cannot phonetically yield Old Irish bél nor the Brittonic words, since Indo-European *-ew- becomes *-ou- in Celtic without exception. One would expect e.g. **fúal in Old Irish and **gul in Welsh.

• Proto-Brythonic: *gweβl
  • Cornish: gwevel
  • Middle Breton: guefl
  • Welsh: gwefl
• >? Old Irish: bél
  • Irish: béal, beola
  • Manx: beeal
  • Scottish Gaelic: beul
  • ⇒ Middle Irish: bélbach
    • Irish: béalbhach
• >? Old Irish: Febal
  • Middle Irish: Febal
    • Irish: Feabhal
      • → English: Foyle