Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/magus

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

Cognate with the formally identical Proto-Germanic *maguz (“boy; servant”), apparently via Proto-Indo-European *mogʰus (“young person; boy-servant?”). Compare also Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬖𐬀𐬬𐬀 (maγava, “unmarried”).

Matasović, reconstructing *mogus instead of the *magus reconstructed by everyone else, finds himself unable to explain to the /a/-vocalism of Gaulish Magu-.

Noun

*magus m

1. (male) servant
2. (male) youth, boy

Declension

Masculine/feminine u-stem
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*mogus	*mogū	*mogowes
vocative	*mogu	*mogū	*mogūs
accusative	*mogum	*mogū	*mogums
genitive	*mogous	*mogous	*mogowom
dative	*mogou	*mogubom	*mogubos
locative	*?	*?	*?
instrumental	*mogū	*mogubim	*mogubis

Derived terms

• *magotaxtā

Descendants

• Proto-Brythonic: *maw
  • Old Breton: mauu (“youth; servant”)
    • Middle Breton: mau
      • Breton: maw (“boy”)
  • Old Cornish:
    • Cornish: maw
  • ⇒ Middle Welsh: meu-dwy (“servant of God; hermit”)
    • Welsh: meudwy (“hermit”)
• Gaulish: *magus
  • ⇒ Gaulish: *Magurīx
  • ⇒? Gaulish: Moguntia (alternatively from *mogonts)
    • → Latin: Maguntia
    • →⇒ Latin: Mogontiacum (see there for further descendants)
• Old Irish: mug (“male servant, serf, bondman”)
  • Irish: mogh