Consonant mutation in Manx

I was intrigued to read recently that the bus company in the Isle of Man is called Bus Vannin (in English), Barroose Vannin (in Manx Gaelic). Vannin is a form of Mannin, the Manx name for the Island. The change from Mannin to Vannin is evidently an instance of a process called initial consonant mutation, which is widespread in the Celtic languages (Welsh, Cornish, Breton, Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). This process changes the initial consonant of a word following particular words.

Here is an example from Welsh. One form of consonant mutation occurs, in singular feminine nouns only, after the definite article y. For instance:

• cadair (chair) becomes y gadair (the chair)
• pib (pipe) becomes y bib (the pipe)
• tref (town) becomes y dref (the town)
• gardd (garden) becomes yr ardd (the garden)
• basked (basket) becomes y fasked (the basket)
• desg (desk) becomes y ddesg (the desk)
• mam (mother) becomes y fam (the mother)

Here is another example from Welsh. The word Cymru (Wales) becomes Gymru in the phrase Croeso i Gymru (welcome to Wales).

Here is a third example, this time from Irish. This mutation occurs after mo (my), do (your), a (his), though not after a (her). Examples:

• póca (pocket) becomes mo phóca (my pocket, pronounced mo fóca)
• carr (car) becomes mo charr (my car, pronounced mo khar)
• máthair (mother) becomes do mháitair (your mother, pronounced do wáhir)
• seoladh (address) becomes a sheoladh (his address; pronounced a hyóla)

There is a detailed discussion in Consonant Mutation, by Pavel Iosad, prepared for inclusion in The Blackwell Companion to Morphology. A version dated 29 September 2021 is available at Mutation in Celtic – lingbuzz/006224 (auf.net)

Sources

Welsh, by JT Bowen and TJ Rhys Jones, Teach Yourself Books (1960)

Irish (Teach Yourself Series), by Diarmuid Ó Sé and Joseph Sheils, (1993)