Middle Irish edit

Etymology edit

Associated by Matasović with Middle Welsh afanc (dwarf; beaver), from Proto-Celtic *abankos (beaver), a derivative of *abū (river).[1] However, the sense ‘beaver’ is unattested in Goidelic, and Proto-Celtic *nk should give Goidelic /ɡ/, not /k/.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

abacc m

  1. dwarf

Descendants edit

  • Irish: abhac

Mutation edit

Middle Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
abacc unchanged n-abacc
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References edit

  1. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 24

Further reading edit