Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/mokkus
Proto-Celtic
Etymology
Borrowed from a non-Indo-European substrate language. MacBain prefers a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *mew-k- (“slippery, slimy”), connecting Latin mucus, Ancient Greek μυκτήρ (muktḗr, “nose, nostril”).[1]
Noun
*mokkus m or f[2]
Inflection
singular | dual | plural | |
---|---|---|---|
nominative | *mokkus | *mokkū | *mokkowes |
vocative | *mokku | *mokkū | *mokkūs |
accusative | *mokkum | *mokkū | *mokkuns |
genitive | *mokkous | *mokkous | *mokkowom |
dative | *mokkou | *mokkubom | *mokkubos |
locative | *? | *? | *? |
instrumental | *mokkū | *mokkubim | *mokkubis |
Usage notes
The Brythonic descendants are masculine and the Goidelic descendants feminine. It is probable that the word originally belonged to either gender, depending on the sex of the specific animal referred to.
Descendants
- Proto-Brythonic: *mox pl
- Old Irish: mucc, muc
- Gaulish: moccos
- Latin: Moccus (Gallo-Latin, theonym), Catomocus (placename)
- >? Proto-West Germanic: *mukk-
- Middle Dutch: mocke (“slovenly woman, whore”)
- Middle High German: mocke (“sow, female pig”, western)
References
- ^ MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “muc”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language[1], Stirling, →ISBN
- ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 274-275