Talk:yr

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Latest comment: 6 years ago by Mahagaja in topic Request etymology for Welsh yr
Jump to navigation Jump to search

What about the modern usage of 'yr' as meaning 'your'? Kerouac came up with it if I'm not mistaken, and I've seen it many places since.

Request etymology for Welsh yr[edit]

How could I get some help with an etymology? — This unsigned comment was added by CecilWard (talkcontribs) at 06:20, 8 February 2018 (UTC).Reply

The definite article appears to come from Proto-Celtic *sindos, just as Old Irish in does. The r is apparently due to a Brythonic rule changing n to r before certain consonants: to this day in Breton, the definite article has three different allomorphs: an before n, d, t, h, and vowels; al before l, and ar before all other consonants. Apparently in Welsh the r-allomorph was generalized everywhere, and then later dropped the /r/ (becoming simply y /ə/) between two consonants. —Mahāgaja (formerly Angr) · talk 09:02, 8 February 2018 (UTC)Reply