Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/mokkus

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

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Etymology

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Borrowed from a non-Indo-European substrate language. MacBain prefers a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *mew-k- (slippery, slimy), connecting Latin mucus, Ancient Greek μυκτήρ (muktḗr, nose, nostril).[1]

Noun

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*mokkus m or f[2]

  1. pig, hog, swine

Inflection

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Masculine/feminine u-stem
singular dual plural
nominative *mokkus *mokkū *mokkowes
vocative *mokku *mokkū *mokkūs
accusative *mokkum *mokkū *mokkums
genitive *mokkous *mokkous *mokkowom
dative *mokkou *mokkubom *mokkubos
locative *? *? *?
instrumental *mokkū *mokkubim *mokkubis

Usage notes

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The Brythonic descendants are masculine and the Goidelic descendants feminine. It is probable that the word originally belonged to either gender, depending on the sex of the specific animal referred to.

Descendants

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  • Proto-Brythonic: *mox pl
    • Breton: moch
    • Middle Cornish: mogh
    • Old Welsh: moch
  • Old Irish: mucc, muc
  • Gaulish: moccos
  • >? Proto-West Germanic: *mukk-
    • Middle Dutch: mocke (slovenly woman, whore)
    • Middle High German: mocke (“sow, female pig”, western)

References

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  1. ^ MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “muc”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language[1], Stirling, →ISBN
  2. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, pages 274-275