Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/iwos

This Proto-Celtic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Celtic

Alternative reconstructions

*īwos

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *h₁eyHw- (“yew”). Cognate with Proto-Germanic *īhwaz (“yew”), Latin ūva (“grape”), Ancient Greek ὄα (óa, “service tree”), Lithuanian ievà (“bird cherry”), Russian и́ва (íva, “willow”).

Noun

*iwos m

yew

Declension

Masculine o-stem
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*iwos	*iwou	*iwoi
vocative	*iwe	*iwou	*iwoi
accusative	*iwom	*iwou	*iwons
genitive	*iwī	*iwous	*iwom
dative	*iwūi	*iwobom	*iwobos
locative	*iwei	*?	*?
instrumental	*iwū	*iwobim	*iwūis

Synonyms

*eburos

Descendants

Proto-Brythonic: *ɨwī pl, *ɨwɨnā (collective)
- Breton: ivin (collective)
- Old Cornish: hiuin
  - Cornish: ewin (collective)
- Welsh: yw pl
Gaulish: *iwos
- →? French: if (possibly)
Old Irish: eó
- Irish: eo

Derived terms

*iwyos
- Irish: Í (“Iona”)
*Iwogenos
Latin Iviacus, from Proto-Celtic *Iwyakos
Latin Ivomagus, from Gaulish *Iwomagus (CIL V, 7717)
Latin Ivorix, from Gaulish *Iworixs (CIL XIII, 679)

Further reading

Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*iwo-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 173
Watson, W. J., The History of the Celtic Place-names of Scotland. Reprinted with an introduction by Simon Taylor, Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2004. →ISBN, pp. 87–90.
Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental, Errance, Paris, 2003, 2nd edition, p.193-194, →ISBN ("Ivo (Iuo), Ivorix (Iuo-rigi or Iue-ricci) and Ivomagus (Iuo-magi)")
Celtic Personal Names of Roman Britain (CPNRB) "Iviacus" https://www.asnc.cam.ac.uk/personalnames/details.php?name=274