crocenn

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *krokkenom (“skin”), probably loaned from a non-Indo-European substrate language. However, compare Proto-Germanic *hrugjaz (“ridge, back, spine”) and German Krug.

Cognate with Breton kroc'hen, Cornish kroghen; Welsh croen (< *kroknom).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkrokən͈/

Noun

crocenn n (genitive crocainn)

1. skin, hide
2. bark
3. (of nuts) husk

Inflection

Although neuter gender is not declared by DIL, it can be deduced from the following evidence:

• The nominative plural appears in Middle Irish as croicni (and also as masculine o-stem croicind). Such o-stem declension with a nominative plural ending with a vowel can only reflect a neuter o-stem, which had alternative nominative plurals in -(e)a in Old Irish; Middle Irish merged all final vowels to schwa, resulting in various interchangeable and non-etymological spellings of endings pronounced with schwa.

Neuter o-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	crocennN	crocennN	crocennL, croicneaL
Vocative	crocennN	crocennN	crocennL, croicneaL
Accusative	crocennN	crocennN	crocennL, croicneaL
Genitive	crocainnL	crocenn	crocennN
Dative	crocunnL	croicnib	croicnib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: croicenn
  • Irish: craiceann
  • Manx: crackan
  • Scottish Gaelic: craiceann

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
crocenn	chrocenn	crocenn pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.