Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/mal-

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

Noun

*mal- f

1. eyebrow

Reconstruction notes

Reconstruction of this word is very difficult.

• Middle Irish mala (nom. sg.) and Old Irish mailgib (dat. pl.) (the nominative singular is unattested in Old Irish), at face value, can only be reconciled by a reconstruction of *maleixs (nom. sg.), *maleig(ʷ)- (oblique stem). This reconstruction obviously cannot yield Breton malvenn directly.
• Thurneysen speculates that the velar-stem inflection in Goidelic may have been acquired secondarily.
• Fleuriot's attempt to decompose Breton malvenn as a compound cannot be accepted, because the Old Irish word **find "hair" he compares to the putative second element -venn does not actually exist, with Fleuriot misunderstanding all relevant Old Irish material.
• Deshayes's proposal that Breton malvenn is a singulative of a stem *malw- does not work, since -lw- normally yields -lb- in Old Irish.
• Koch's *malaxs cannot correctly yield the palatalized syncopated forms in Old Irish nor Middle Irish mala.
• Pokorny's *malixs and De Bernardo Stempel's i-stem *malis fail to provide any explanation for the Middle Irish nominative singular mala (**mail would be expected).
• Pokorny's *malixs is also invalidated by the genitive singular malach and accusative/dative singular malaig attested in early Irish; one would instead expect **mailech and **mailig respectively.

Descendants

• Proto-Brythonic:
  • ⇒ Middle Breton: maluen (“eyelid”)
    • Breton: malvenn
  • ⇒ Breton: malgudenn (“eyelash”)
• Old Irish: malae
  • Middle Irish: mala
    • Scottish Gaelic: mala
    • Manx: mollee