‘Thief’ and ‘Theft’ in Goidelic: a semantic reconstruction

Tatyana Mikhailova (Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences / Russian State University for the Humanities (Moscow); tamih.msu@mail.ru)

Journal of Language Relationship, № 20/3-4, 2022 - p.253-267

Abstract: The primary concern of the present study is an analysis of how such notions as ‘thief’ and ‘theft’, which I consider to be rather late and secondary, are realized in Celtic languages in the diachronic perspective. In this paper, I construct the original four-component semantic model of the contemporary notion ‘theft’, and attempt to trace, on the basis of comparative material, the development of the original notions which the model is based upon (secrecy of action; deprivation through distancing; inflicting harm; the agent’s personal interest). Those notions prove to be essential for the emergence and development of corresponding terms over the course of linguistic and social evolution. The paper also contains a comparative analysis of Slavic тать and Old Irish taid, going back to the same Indo-European stem whose original meaning must have been ‘secret action’ (it is also manifested in some other Indo-European stems showing similar patterns of derivation). The work suggests the existence of a multi-directional semantic transition: not only ‘secret’ → ‘thief’, but also the reverse ‘thief’ → ‘secret’. I also suggest a new etymology for the main verb of ‘stealing’ in Modern Irish (goid ← OI gataid), based on early uses of the Old Irish verb meaning ‘distancing’ and later ‘deprivation’ from IE *ghosti- ‘host, guest’. The semantic shift should be: alien → alienation → deprivation→– stealing.

Keywords: linguistic development, notion of property, comparative linguistics, semantic shifts, Celtic languages, Old Irish, Modern Irish, Scottish Gaelic, deverbal derivation

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