Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/-yūs
Proto-Celtic edit
Etymology edit
From Proto-Indo-European *-yōs.
Suffix edit
*-yūs[1]
- Forms comparative forms of adjectives.
Usage notes edit
- No gender/number/case inflection of comparative adjectives is attested in Celtic. This suffix lost all productivity in Brythonic but a few remnants remain (such as Welsh hŷn < *senyūs).
- Some adjectives that used a Caland system suffix in the positive that was absent in the other degrees of comparison did not use *-yūs. Instead they used *-(a)is to form the comparative.
Descendants edit
References edit
- ^ Jasanoff, Jay (1991) “The origin of the Celtic comparative type OIr. tressa, MW trech ‘stronger’”, in Die Sprache, volume 34, pages 171-189