--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Andrew Jarrette" <anjarrette@...>
wrote:
>
> This is slightly off-topic, but would anyone know what explains the
> <s-> in Brythonic words for "seven"?
>
The fact that we usually find hV- from PCelt. initial *sV-, but once
in a while sV- instead is in all likelihood to be explained by the
fact that PCelt. *s was lenited to *h (also word-initially, depending
on the preceding word). In Irish this is still the case, with /s/
and /h/ alternating predictably when word initial.
In Brythonic, on the other hand, the alternation was given up and /h/
was generalized in most cases. However, there are a number of
instances where /s/ was generalized instead. We thus get your
*seiT '7'. Sometimes both alternants have been preserved, e.g. W hedd
and sedd.
Hope this helps,
Anders