Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/meinos

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

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *meyh₁- (“mild, soft”), whence also Latin mītis, Lithuanian meilė, and Sanskrit मयस् (mayas).^[1] See also Proto-Celtic *mīnis from the same root, but with different root ablaut and suffixation.

Adjective

*meinos

tender, soft, gentle

Inflection

O/ā-stem
masculine	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*meinos	*meinou	*meinoi
vocative	*meine	*meinou	*meinoi
accusative	*meinom	*meinou	*meinons
genitive	*meinī	*meinous	*meinom
dative	*meinūi	*meinobom	*meinobos
instrumental	*meinū	*meinobim	*meinobis
feminine	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*meinā	*meinai	*meinās
vocative	*meinā	*meinai	*meinās
accusative	*meinam	*meinai	*meinans
genitive	*meinās	*meinous	*meinom
dative	*meinai	*meinābom	*meinābos
instrumental	*?	*meinābim	*meinābis
neuter	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*meinom	*meinou	*meinā
vocative	*meinom	*meinou	*meinā
accusative	*meinom	*meinou	*meinā
genitive	*meinī	*meinous	*meinom
dative	*meinūi	*meinobom	*meinobos
instrumental	*meinū	*meinobim	*meinobis

Declension of the comparative
masculine	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*meinyūs	*?	*meinyoses
vocative	*meinyūs	*?	*meinyoses
accusative	*meinyosam	*?	*meinyosans
genitive	*meinisos	*?	*meinisom
dative	*meinisei	*?	*meinisbos
instrumental	*meinisī	*?	*meinisbis
feminine	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*meinyūs	*?	*meinyoses
vocative	*meinyūs	*?	*meinyoses
accusative	*meinyosam	*?	*meinyosans
genitive	*meinisos	*?	*meinisom
dative	*meinisei	*?	*meinisbos
instrumental	*meinisī	*?	*meinisbis
neuter	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*meinis	*?	*?
vocative	*meinis	*?	*?
accusative	*meinis	*?	*?
genitive	*meinisos	*?	*meinisom
dative	*meinisei	*?	*meinisbos
instrumental	*meinisī	*?	*meinisbis

Reconstruction notes

Matasović's assignment of this word's Brittonic descendants to *moinis (“benefit, treasure”), requiring him to presume a difficult semantic evolution "treasure" > "beautiful" > "gracile, thin",^[2] is simply erroneous for phonetic (one would expect **mun across Brittonic) and semantic reasons.

Related terms

*mīnis

Descendants

Proto-Brythonic: *muɨn
- Old Breton: moin (“delicate”)
  - Middle Breton: moen (“thin”)
    - Breton: moan
- Old Cornish: muin (“gracile”)
  - Cornish: moon (“slender, slim”)
- Middle Welsh: mwyn
  - Welsh: mwyn
Gaulish: *mēnos
- ⇒ Gaulish: Menos, Mena
- →⇒ Latin: Menilus
- →⇒ Latin: Meniō
- →⇒ Latin: Dacumēna
- →⇒ Latin: Sumēna
  - French: Sumène
  - Occitan: Sumena

References

^ Delamarre, Xavier (2003) “minio-, meno-”, in Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental [Dictionary of the Gaulish language: A linguistic approach to Old Continental Celtic] (Collection des Hespérides; 9), 2nd edition, Éditions Errance, →ISBN, page 227
^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*moyni-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 278-279

[DLG-1] Delamarre, Xavier (2003) “minio-, meno-”, in Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental [Dictionary of the Gaulish language: A linguistic approach to Old Continental Celtic] (Collection des Hespérides; 9), 2nd edition, Éditions Errance, →ISBN, page 227

[2] Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*moyni-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 278-279

[1]

[2]