ThisProto-Celtic entry containsreconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directlyattested, but are hypothesized to have existed based oncomparative evidence.

From a root noun derived fromProto-Indo-European*wert-(“to turn”).

*writ-

1. against,opposite
2. towards
3. by,at,next to

• The reconstruction of this preposition is complicated.
  • Old Irish pretonicfris- and conjugation stemfris- are indicative of an original*writs. This cannot give the Brittonic forms, however.
  • Alternative Old Irishfrith- and the Brittonic forms indicate a proto-form*writi.
• Gordon resolves the discrepancy by reconstructing a base root noun*writs, locative singular*writi, from which the two stems attested in Celtic can be derived.^[1]
• Schrijver takes*writi to be ancestral toall Celtic forms, but this dogma forces him to assume an irregular development-t >-ts- >-ss- for the Old Irish conjugated forms which is contradicted flagrantly by the 3rd-person singular forms of verbs (ending in*-ti).
• Matasović's reconstruction*writu-^[2] is incorrect, since it is phonologically impossible for Old Irishfri or its conjugated forms to come from this.

• Proto-Brythonic:*wurθ
  • Old Breton:gurth
    • Middle Breton:ouz,oz
      • Breton:ouzh
  • Middle Cornish:worth,orth
  • Old Welsh:gurt
    • Middle Welsh:wrth
      • Welsh:wrth
• Old Irish:fri
  • Middle Irish:fri
    • Classical Gaelic:re
    • Irish:re(“to, towards, against”)

      ⇒ Irish:le(conflated withla)

      ⇒ Irish:fa ré,fara,frae(“along with, beside”)

    • Manx:rish
    • Scottish Gaelic:ri

• Proto-Celtic terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
• Proto-Celtic lemmas
• Proto-Celtic prepositions

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