{"id":9041,"date":"2025-11-12T18:02:51","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T18:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/?p=9041"},"modified":"2025-11-12T18:02:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T18:02:52","slug":"what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/2025\/11\/12\/what\/","title":{"rendered":"What?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Words for <strong>what?<\/strong> <strong>which?<\/strong> <strong>who?<\/strong> <strong>where?<\/strong> and related things in Celtic languages.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/dmlizzie\/50570613662\/in\/photolist-2k3KBA7-pY4yYZ-2kpsuDj-637787-24PWEK8-2hv3umc-2pCBFEP-2mJkWje-2pfSmEC-2oX6brj-6md6jQ-2jJJ7N2-7VEJqS-2kxX86N-oFoSDd-vKr2a7-2cT8v9o-2pg2HM4-25ePCMF-2q4eGaS-2qwUZ5p-27uhPP9-21PtELh-nHCnco-MHP7rj-NgBTEM-rLkhh4-2nFPG6H-pJH5i9-MZvcR3-NaRJnE-58ZFZ6-GJMupi-53mRda-2mjqbBz-25mcHmp-2jMfHMQ-FBeLYo-icmS6-zx6ys5-2nTHst7-2eQXm29-CGpUH2-2jKuPan-2j2kvdA-doaiNz-2kJtZQy-2n7zkfE-sbQsXQ-zwTxTH\" title=\"What?\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/50570613662_725b7e9ddb_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"426\" alt=\"What?\"><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br>\n<em>What?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Words marked with a * are reconstructions.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Proto-Celtic<\/th>\n<td><strong>*k&#695;id?<\/strong> = what?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Old Irish (Go&iacute;delc)<\/th>\n<td><strong>cid?<\/strong> = what?<br>\n<strong>cote, cate, catte<\/strong> [&#712;ko.d&#800;&#690;e] = of what sort is &hellip;? what is &hellip;?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Irish (Gaoidhealg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>cote, coteeet, codde, cate, cati, c&aacute;te<\/strong> = what (is)?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Irish (Gaeilge)<\/th>\n<td><strong>cad?<\/strong> [kad&#810;&#736;] = what? where? (<em>in Munster<\/em>)<br>\n<strong>cad &eacute;?<\/strong> [k&#601;d&#810;&#736;&#712;e&#720;] = what? (<em>in Connacht &amp; Ulster<\/em>)<br>\n<strong>cad &eacute; mar (at&aacute; t&uacute;)?<\/strong> = how (are you)? (<em>in Ulster<\/em>)<br>\n<strong>c&eacute;ard?<\/strong> [ce&#720;&#638;&#736;d&#810;&#736;] = what? (<em>in Connacht<\/em>)<br>\n<strong>goid&eacute;?<\/strong> [&#609;&#601;&#712;t&#690;e&#720;] = what? (<em>in Connacht &amp; Ulster<\/em>)<br>\n<strong>cad chuige?<\/strong> [k&#593;t&#810;&#736; &#712;x&#618;&#607;&#618; \/ k&#601;&#712;t&#810;&#736;i&#607;&#601;] = why? (<em>in Mayo,&amp; Ulster<\/em>)<br>\n<strong>cad ina thaobh?<\/strong> [&#716;k&#593;n&#810;&#736;&#601;&#712;he&#720;v&#736;] = why? (<em>in Munster<\/em>)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Scottish Gaelic (G&agrave;idhlig)<\/th>\n<td><strong>ciod?<\/strong> [k&#690;id] = what?<br>\n<strong>ciod air bith<\/strong> = whichever, whatever<br>\n<strong>ciod e?<\/strong> = what?<br>\n<strong>ciod thuige?<\/strong> [k&#690;id hug&#690;&#601;] = why?<br>\n<strong>d&egrave;?<\/strong> [d&#690;e&#720;] = what? who?<br>\n<strong>d&egrave; man? d&egrave; mar?<\/strong> [de&#720; man \/ d&#690;e&#720; mar] = how?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Manx (Gaelg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>cre?<\/strong> = what?<br>\n<strong>cre fa?<\/strong> = why?<br>\n<strong>cre wooad?<\/strong> = how much?<br>\n<strong>quoid?<\/strong> = how many? how much?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Old Welsh (Kembraec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>pa?<\/strong> = what? which?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Welsh (Kymraec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>pa? py?<\/strong> = what? which?<br>\n<strong>paham? pam?<\/strong> = why? reason, cause, question<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Welsh (Cymraeg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>pa?<\/strong> [pa&#720;] = what? which?<br>\n<strong>paham? pam?<\/strong> = why? reason, cause, question<br>\n<strong>pa bryd?<\/strong> = when? at what time?<br>\n<strong>pa un? p&rsquo;un?<\/strong> = who(m)? which (one)?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Cornish (Cernewec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>pe? pa? py?<\/strong> = what? which? where?<br>\n<strong>pa le?<\/strong> = where place? where?<br>\n<strong>pahan<\/strong> = what<br>\n<strong>perag? pr&acirc;g?<\/strong> = for what? wherefore? why?<br>\n<strong>pattel? patla? fattel? fatla?<\/strong> = how? by what means?<br>\n<strong>pe? pa? py?<\/strong> =<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Cornish (Kernewek)<\/th>\n<td><strong>py? pe?<\/strong> = what? which?<br>\n<strong>py lies?<\/strong> = how many?<br>\n<strong>pyth?<\/strong> = what?, that which<br>\n<strong>ple?<\/strong> = where?<br>\n<strong>prag?<\/strong> = why? what for?<br>\n<strong>fatla?<\/strong> = how?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Old Breton<\/th>\n<td><strong>pe?<\/strong> = what?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Breton (Brezonec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>pe? p&eacute;?<\/strong> = what?<br>\n<strong>peguement? pe quement?<\/strong> = how much? how many?<br>\n<strong>pe en lech?<\/strong> = where?<br>\n<strong>penaus? penos?<\/strong> = how?<br>\n<strong>perac? pe-rac?<\/strong> = why?<br>\n<strong>petra?<\/strong> = who? what?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Breton (Brezhoneg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>pe?<\/strong> [pe&#720;] = which one?<br>\n<strong>pegeit?<\/strong> [pe&#712;&#609;&#603;jt] = how long? how far?<br>\n<strong>pegement?<\/strong> [pe.&#712;&#609;&#7869;.m&#720;&#603;nt] = how much? how many?<br>\n<strong>pegoulz?<\/strong> [pe.&#712;&#609;uls] = when?<br>\n<strong>pehini?<\/strong> [pe&#712;(h)&#297;&#720;ni] = which one?<br>\n<strong>pelec&rsquo;h?<\/strong> [pe&#712;l&#603;&#720;x] = where?<br>\n<strong>penaos?<\/strong> [p&#7869;.&#712;n&#596;&#720;s] = how?<br>\n<strong>perak?<\/strong> [pe.&#712;r&#593;&#720;k] = why?<br>\n<strong>peseurt?<\/strong> [pe&#712;s&oslash;&#641;t] = what? what kind?<br>\n<strong>petra?<\/strong> [&#712;pe.t&#641;a] = who? what?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Etymology<\/strong>: from Proto-Indo-European <em>*k&#695;id<\/em> (what? which?) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic\/k%CA%B7id\">source<\/a>]. Words from the same PIE roots include <strong>&ccedil;&euml;<\/strong> (what?) in Albanian, <strong>kas<\/strong> (that, which, who) in Latvian, <strong>&#1095;&#1090;&#1086;<\/strong> (&scaron;to &ndash; that, what, which) in Russian, <strong>che<\/strong> (what, which) in Italian, <strong>&iquest;qu&eacute;?<\/strong> (what? which?) in Spainish [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/k%CA%B7%C3%ADd\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Proto-Celtic<\/th>\n<td><strong>*k&#695;ei?<\/strong> = who?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Old Irish (Go&iacute;delc)<\/th>\n<td><strong>c&iacute;a<\/strong> = what? where? who? how? if, although<br>\n<strong>c&iacute;a airet?<\/strong> = how long?<br>\n<strong>c&iacute;a airm? cairm? airm?<\/strong> = where?<br>\n<strong>c&iacute;a chruth?<\/strong> = how?<br>\n<strong>c&iacute;a m&eacute;it?<\/strong> = how many? how much?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Irish (Gaoidhealg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>c&iacute;a? ce? ci?<\/strong> = who? what? how? where?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Irish (Gaeilge)<\/th>\n<td><strong>c&aacute;?<\/strong> = what? how? where?<br>\n<strong>c&aacute; hait?<\/strong> = (at) what place? where?<br>\n<strong>c&aacute; huair?<\/strong> = at what hour? when?<br>\n<strong>c&aacute; fhad?<\/strong> = how long?<br>\n<strong>c&aacute; mh&eacute;ad?<\/strong> = how much? how much?<br>\n<strong>c&eacute;?<\/strong> = who?<br>\n<strong>c&eacute;n?<\/strong> = what? which?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Scottish Gaelic (G&agrave;idhlig)<\/th>\n<td><strong>c&ograve;?<\/strong> [ko&#720;] = who(m)? where?<br>\n<strong>c&ograve; idir<\/strong> = whoever<br>\n<strong>c&ograve; ann?<\/strong> = wherein?<br>\n<strong>c&ograve; as?<\/strong> [ko as] = where from?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Manx (Gaelg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>quoi?<\/strong> [kw&#601;i] = who? whom? which? whichever, who?<br>\n<strong>quoi erbee<\/strong> = who(so)ever, whom(so)ever<br>\n<strong>quoi jeu?<\/strong> = which one?<br>\n<strong>quoid? c&rsquo;wooad?<\/strong> = how many? how much?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Proto-Brythonic<\/th>\n<td><strong>*pu&#616;?<\/strong> = who?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Welsh (Kymraec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>pwy?<\/strong> = who(m)? what?<br>\n<strong>pwy bynnac, pwybynnag<\/strong> = whoever<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Welsh (Cymraeg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>pwy?<\/strong> [pu&#720;&#616;&#815; \/ p&#650;i&#815;] = who(m)? what?<br>\n<strong>pwy bynnag<\/strong> = whoever<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Cornish (Cernewec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>pew? pyw? p(y)u? piwa?<\/strong> = who?<br>\n<strong>pywpenag, piwha bennac, piwa bennac, pyu penagh<\/strong> = who(s)ever<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Cornish (Kernewek)<\/th>\n<td><strong>piw?<\/strong> [pi&#721;&#650;] = who?<br>\n<strong>piw penag, piw pynag<\/strong> = whoever<br>\n<strong>piw?<\/strong> = who?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Old Breton (Brethonoc)<\/th>\n<td><strong>piu?<\/strong> = who?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Breton (Brezonec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>piu? piou?<\/strong> = who?<br>\n<strong>piupennac, piu pennac, piou bennac<\/strong> = whoever<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Breton (Brezhoneg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>piv?<\/strong> [piw] = who?<br>\n<strong>piv bennak<\/strong> = whoever<br>\n<strong>pivelezh<\/strong> = identity<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Etymology<\/strong>: from Proto-Indo-European <em>*k&#695;&iacute;s<\/em> (who? what? which, that) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic\/k%CA%B7ei\">source<\/a>]. Words from the same PIE roots include <strong>ca<\/strong> (than, as) in Romanian, <strong>hve<\/strong> (how, like, as) in Icelandic, <strong>how<\/strong> and <strong>when<\/strong> in English, and <strong>hoe<\/strong> (how) in Dutch [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/k%CA%B7%C3%ADs\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ling-app.com\/offer-yearly-subscription\/?affiliateId=omniglot\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/images\/banners\/banner_ling-app.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"79\" alt=\"Language skills in just 10 minutes a day with Ling\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sources: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/\">Wiktionary<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/embed\/EtymologicalDictionaryOfProtoCeltic\">Etymological Dictionary Of Proto Celtic<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www3.smo.uhi.ac.uk\/sengoidelc\/duil-belrai\/english.html\">In D&uacute;il B&eacute;lrai English &ndash; Old Irish glossary<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/dil.ie\/\">eDIL &ndash; Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teanglann.ie\/en\/fgb\/ceann\">Teanglann.ie<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.faclair.com\/\">Am Faclair Beag<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikisource.org\/wiki\/An_Etymological_Dictionary_of_the_Gaelic_Language\">An etymological dictionary of the Gaelic language<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/dictionaryq.com\/gaelg\/\">Fockleyreen: Manx &ndash; English Dictionary<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mannin.info\/Mannin\/fockleyr\/m2e.php\">Online Manx Dictionary<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/corpus.gaelg.im\/\">Gaelg Corpus<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/geiriadur.ac.uk\/gpc\/gpc.html\">Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/lexiconcornubrit00willuoft\/page\/n5\/mode\/2up\">Lexicon cornu-britannicum : a dictionary of the ancient Celtic language of Cornwall<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cornishdictionary.org.uk\/\">Gerlyver Kernewek<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/devri.bzh\/\">Devri : Le dictionaire diachronique du breton<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/geriafurch.bzh\/fr\">Geriafurch<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brezhoneg.bzh\/87-termofis.htm\">TermOfis<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/my.kualo.com\/uk\/go\/00572\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.kualo.com\/rewards\/uk-unlimited2-468x60.gif\" width=\"468\" height=\"60\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Unlimited Web Hosting - Kualo\"><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Words for what? which? who? where? and related things in Celtic languages. What? Words marked with a * are reconstructions. Proto-Celtic *k\u02b7id? = what? Old Irish (Go\u00eddelc) cid? = what? cote, cate, catte [\u02c8ko.d\u0320\u02b2e] = of what sort is &#8230;? what is &#8230;? Middle Irish (Gaoidhealg) cote, coteeet, codde, cate, cati, c\u00e1te = what (is)? [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66,16,26,81,19,20,65,21,83,3,109,22,5,6,37,7,8,10,40,11,12,13,120,106,23,82,18,14],"tags":[52,80,51,145,48,47,53,49,55,50,316,320,317,319,261],"class_list":["post-9041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-albanian","category-breton","category-kernewek-cornish","category-dutch-nederlands","category-english","category-etymology","category-icelandic-islenska","category-gaeilge-irish","category-italian-italiano","category-language","category-latvian-latviesu-valoda","category-gaelg-manx","category-middle-breton","category-middle-cornish","category-middle-irish","category-middle-welsh-kymraec","category-old-breton","category-old-irish-goidelc","category-old-welsh","category-proto-brythonic","category-proto-celtic","category-proto-indo-european","category-romanian-limba-romana","category-russian-","category-gaidhlig-scottish-gaelic","category-spanish-espanol","category-cymraeg-welsh","category-words","tag-breton","tag-celtic","tag-cornish","tag-etymology","tag-gaelic","tag-irish","tag-language","tag-manx","tag-scottish-gaelic","tag-welsh","tag-what","tag-whatever","tag-where","tag-which","tag-whoever"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9041"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9041\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9044,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9041\/revisions\/9044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}