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

1. yew

Declension

Masculine o-stem
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*iwos	*iwou	*iwoi
vocative	*iwe	*iwou	*iwūs
accusative	*iwom	*iwou	*iwoms
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: ywin
  • Welsh: yw pl
• Gaulish: *iwos
  • → French: if
• Old Irish: eó
  • Irish: eo

Derived terms

• *iwyos
  • Irish: Í (“Iona”)
• *Iwogenos

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.