Reconstruction talk:Proto-Celtic/nixtos
Latest comment: 2 years ago by Gowanw in topic The cruth- part
The cruth- part
[edit]@Gowanw: I know DIL says it's from cruth (“form”), but that doesn't seem very plausible. Why would wheat be called "shape wheat"? My personal suspicion is that it's *Cruithen-necht (literally “Picts' wheat”), especially if wheat was introduced to Ireland from Britain. But (1) I don't know whether wheat was in fact introduced to Ireland from Britain, and (2) I don't know whether anyone has ever suggested that etymology in print. —Mahāgaja · talk 06:17, 8 April 2022 (UTC)
- @Mahagaja: I think DIL is suggesting cruth (“form”) + necht (“winnowed”) = "formed by winnowing". --Gowanw (talk) 06:28, 8 April 2022 (UTC)
- @Gowanw: Yeah, but *nixtos probably already meant "wheat" or at least "grain for winnowing" in Proto-Celtic. And "shape-winnowed" or "shape-grain" just doesn't make a lot of sense. But if the Irish originally had only oats and barley, and were introduced to wheat by the British, it makes sense that they would call it "Picts' grain", the same way English settlers in America called maize "Indian corn" (using "corn" in its original broad sense of "grain"). —Mahāgaja · talk 06:35, 8 April 2022 (UTC)
- @Mahagaja: I found a source that suggests your hypothesis above and added it. --Gowanw (talk) 06:42, 8 April 2022 (UTC)
- @Gowanw:, cool, thanks! It's always gratifying when an etymology I think up myself is confirmed by someone else. (Although when I was in graduate school for historical linguistics and wanting to publish papers, it was frustrating that all of my ideas turned out to have been thought of by other people first.) —Mahāgaja · talk 06:47, 8 April 2022 (UTC)
- @Mahagaja: I know the feeling. Just to note, *nixtos must have still meant either "winnowed" or "something winnowed, wheat" because we have the derived Brythonic verb *niθjɨd (“to winnow”). --Gowanw (talk) 06:51, 8 April 2022 (UTC)
- @Gowanw:, cool, thanks! It's always gratifying when an etymology I think up myself is confirmed by someone else. (Although when I was in graduate school for historical linguistics and wanting to publish papers, it was frustrating that all of my ideas turned out to have been thought of by other people first.) —Mahāgaja · talk 06:47, 8 April 2022 (UTC)
- @Mahagaja: I found a source that suggests your hypothesis above and added it. --Gowanw (talk) 06:42, 8 April 2022 (UTC)
- @Gowanw: Yeah, but *nixtos probably already meant "wheat" or at least "grain for winnowing" in Proto-Celtic. And "shape-winnowed" or "shape-grain" just doesn't make a lot of sense. But if the Irish originally had only oats and barley, and were introduced to wheat by the British, it makes sense that they would call it "Picts' grain", the same way English settlers in America called maize "Indian corn" (using "corn" in its original broad sense of "grain"). —Mahāgaja · talk 06:35, 8 April 2022 (UTC)