Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/latis

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

Matasović, Pokorny, and the GPC assume the senses "beverage" and "swamp" share an etymology.^[1] Irslinger breaks with this tradition by positing that they have separate etymologies.^[2]

Cognates identified by Pokorny (which he unites under a root *lat-) include Old High German letto (“silt”), Icelandic leðja (“mud”), Ancient Greek λᾰ́τᾰξ (lắtăx, “drop of wine”), and Latin latex. Matasović rejects any relation to the Greek and Latin words.
Matasović, due to struggling to etymologize the *a in this word, assigns substrate origin.
Irslinger posits two possible Indo-European root origins for the "beverage" sense, Proto-Indo-European *pleh₁- (“to fill”) and *leh₂- (“to pour”), preferring the latter root. For the sense "swamp", she maintains the comparisons to Old High German letto (“silt”) and Icelandic leðja (“mud”) but assigns no further etymology to them.

Noun

*latis f^[3]

alcoholic beverage, ale, beer, liquor
swamp, mud, mire

Inflection

Masculine/feminine i-stem
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*latis	*latī	*latīs
vocative	*lati	*latī	*latīs
accusative	*latim	*latī	*latins
genitive	*lateis	*latyow	*latyom
dative	*latei	*latibom	*latibos
locative	*latei	*?	*?
instrumental	*latī	*latibim	*latibis

Derived terms

*latyos (“swamp, mud”, thematization)
- Proto-Brythonic: *llėd
  - Breton: leizh (“moist”)
  - >? Middle Cornish: lyys
  - Middle Welsh: llaid
    - Welsh: llaid

Descendants

Proto-Brythonic: *llad (“alcoholic beverage”)
- Old Breton: lat
- Old Cornish: lad
- Middle Welsh: llad, llat
  - Welsh: llad
Old Irish: laith (“alcoholic beverage”)
- Middle Irish: laith
Gaulish: *latis (“swamp, marsh”)
- → Latin: Latis (ancient name of an Italian river)
- →⇒ Latin: Arelate (via a prepositional phrase *are latē "by the marsh")
  - French: Arles, Arlet
  - Occitan: Arle, Arlet

References

^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*lati”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 233
^ Irslinger, Britta Sofie (2002) Abstrakta mit Dentalsuffixen im Altirischen [Abstracts with Dental Suffixes in Old Irish] (in German), Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, →ISBN, page 206
^ Delamarre, Xavier (2003) “late”, 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 197

[1] Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*lati”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 233

[2] Irslinger, Britta Sofie (2002) Abstrakta mit Dentalsuffixen im Altirischen [Abstracts with Dental Suffixes in Old Irish] (in German), Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, →ISBN, page 206

[3] Delamarre, Xavier (2003) “late”, 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 197

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