Caide Máthair Bréithre “What is the Mother of a Word”
-
Erich Poppe
Abstract
This chapter explores some of the ways in which medieval Irish scholars thought about the linguistic concept of the word. Starting points are (i) the observation that they have been credited with the implementation of forms of word division in scribal practice and (ii) the question of whether they perceived of the word as a lexical unit or as a stress group, or mot phonétique, since it is the latter which is reflected in scribal practice as well as in the terminology for case-forms of nouns in at least one grammaticographical tradition. The main themes addressed are the internal structures of the longest octosyllabic words possible in Irish, the production of speech sounds in the body which result in words, and the semantic range of lexemes that are used inter alia to denote the linguistic unit word.
Abstract
This chapter explores some of the ways in which medieval Irish scholars thought about the linguistic concept of the word. Starting points are (i) the observation that they have been credited with the implementation of forms of word division in scribal practice and (ii) the question of whether they perceived of the word as a lexical unit or as a stress group, or mot phonétique, since it is the latter which is reflected in scribal practice as well as in the terminology for case-forms of nouns in at least one grammaticographical tradition. The main themes addressed are the internal structures of the longest octosyllabic words possible in Irish, the production of speech sounds in the body which result in words, and the semantic range of lexemes that are used inter alia to denote the linguistic unit word.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements vii
- Abbreviations ix
- List of plates xiii
- Notes on contributors xv
- Editors’ introduction 1
- Allegory, the áes dána and the liberal arts in Medieval Irish literature 11
- Cryptography and the alphabet in the “Book of Ádhamh Ó Cianáin” 35
- Caide Máthair Bréithre “What is the Mother of a Word” 65
- The expression of “sense, meaning, signification” in the Old Irish glosses, and particularly in the Milan and Saint Gall glosses 85
- The verbal paradigms in Auraicept na nÉces 101
- The glossing of the Early Irish law tracts 113
- Teaching between the lines 133
- The Welsh bardic grammars on Litterae 149
- Poetry by numbers 161
- Gramadeg Gwysanau 181
- Master list of references 201
- Index of manuscripts 219
- Index of subjects 221
- Index of terms by language 225
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Foreword & acknowledgements vii
- Abbreviations ix
- List of plates xiii
- Notes on contributors xv
- Editors’ introduction 1
- Allegory, the áes dána and the liberal arts in Medieval Irish literature 11
- Cryptography and the alphabet in the “Book of Ádhamh Ó Cianáin” 35
- Caide Máthair Bréithre “What is the Mother of a Word” 65
- The expression of “sense, meaning, signification” in the Old Irish glosses, and particularly in the Milan and Saint Gall glosses 85
- The verbal paradigms in Auraicept na nÉces 101
- The glossing of the Early Irish law tracts 113
- Teaching between the lines 133
- The Welsh bardic grammars on Litterae 149
- Poetry by numbers 161
- Gramadeg Gwysanau 181
- Master list of references 201
- Index of manuscripts 219
- Index of subjects 221
- Index of terms by language 225
