Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/-tis
Proto-Celtic
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European *-tis (action/abstract noun suffix).
Suffix
*-tis f
Usage notes
- There seem to be two layers of *-tis action nouns:[1]
- An archaic inherited layer where the suffix attached directly to the root, more commonly in the zero grade (as in *britis) but also in the e-grade (as in *gentis).
- A later layer which had the suffix attach to the present stem of verbs. This layer yielded *sagyetis (> *sagitis, whence Old Irish saigid (noun), from *sagyeti) and Gaulish baditis (“water lily”) from *bādīti (“to submerge, drown”).
- This suffix became completely unproductive in Insular Celtic (it survived better in Gaulish). The related suffix *-tiyū survived in Irish, however. Competitor *-tā can be already seen in Old Irish and medieval Brittonic fighting with *-tis for scraps of territory (like in *butis, *butā (“being”) and *britis, *britā, *bertā (“carrying”)).
Inflection
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | *-tis | *-tī | *-tīs |
| vocative | *-ti | *-tī | *-tīs |
| accusative | *-tim | *-tī | *-tins |
| genitive | *-teis | *-tyow | *-tyom |
| dative | *-tei | *-tibom | *-tibos |
| locative | *-tei | *? | *? |
| instrumental | *-tī | *-tibim | *-tibis |
Derived terms
Proto-Celtic terms suffixed with *-tis
Related terms
References
- ^ Gordon, Randall Clark (2012) Derivational Morphology of the Early Irish Verbal Noun, Los Angeles: University of California, page 120