Awhile back I presented words from Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish) that seemed to show evidence that in some words, for no reason apparent to me, IE *e and sometimes *o shifted to /a/ in Celtic. I have a new list of some more words that seem to show the same change. My question is, why did this change occur in some words (and yet other words show no sign of this shift)? Is there a sound law in Celtic that explains this?
Irish saidid "sits", IE *sed-
Middle Irish laigid "lies", IE *legh-
Welsh add-iad "longing", IE *jet- (Skt. yatati "puts oneself in the right or natural place")
Irish ad-con-darc "have seen", IE *dedork^e
Irish ball ferda "penis", IE *bhel-
Irish daig "flame", IE *dhegw-
Irish gaibid "takes", if = Gmc geban-
Irish draigen "sloe-tree",
OHG dirnboum "cornel cherry", Rus derën "cornel cherry")
Irish crann "tree"= Gk pri^nos "holm-oak", IE *kwresnos
Irish laigiu "lighter, poorer", IE *h1le(n)gwh-
Irish na-ch "not", IE *ne
Irish naidm "bond", IE *ned-
Irish naiscid "binds", IE *ned- (Lat. necto:, no:dus, Engl. net)
Irish nasc "fastening tie, ring", IE *nedskeh2
Irish scaraid "separates, divides", IE *(s)ker- (with no laryngeal after the *r)
Welsh tarfu "hunt", IE *tergw-
Welsh gwas "abode", IE *h2wostos
Welsh gwas "servant", IE *Hupo-sth2i/o
Welsh craidd "middle", IE *k^redjom
Welsh chwaer "sister", IE *sweso:r
Welsh chwarren "ulcer", IE *sweros
Welsh garth
"pen, fold", IE *ghortos
Welsh gwain "wagon", IE *wog^hno- or *weg^hno-
Welsh haidd "barley", IE *sesjo-
Welsh ia^ "ice", IE *jeg-
Welsh ias "boiling", IE *jes-
Welsh nai "nephew", IE *nepo:ts
Welsh tarrach "fearful", IE *ters-, *tres-
In addition, several other words show /a/ where by the laws I have understood, /a/ would not be expected:
Welsh gwraidd "root", IE *wrdjo-
Irish bard "bard", IE *gwrH-dhh1os
Irish barr "point, tip", IE *bhrstis
Irish carr "vehicle", IE *k^rs-, *k^ers-
Anyone have an explanation for these Celtic words' /a/? These are in addition to the fairly substantial list I presented previously on Cybalist.