Wiktionary

punt

See also: Punt and pùnt

English

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Etymology 1

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From Old English [Term?], from Latin pontō (“Gaulish flat-bottomed boat, pontoon”), from pons (“bridge”); readopted from Middle Low German punte (“ferry boat”) or Middle Dutch ponte (“ferry boat”) of the same origin.

 
A traditional upper-Thames punt in use for placing eel-traps called grig-weels in the 19th century

Pronunciation

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Noun

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punt (plural punts)

  1. (nautical) A pontoon; a narrow shallow boat propelled by a pole.
Translations
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Verb

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punt (third-person singular simple present punts, present participle punting, simple past and past participle punted)

  1. (nautical) To propel a punt or similar craft by means of a pole.
  2. Of a fish, to walk along the seafloor using its fins as limbs.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Possibly a dialectal variant of bunt. Rugby is the origin of the sports usage of the term.

Pronunciation

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Verb

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punt (third-person singular simple present punts, present participle punting, simple past and past participle punted)

  1. To dropkick; to kick something a considerable distance.
    • 1975, Barry Targan, Harry Belten and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, page 133:
      At the dump he emptied the station wagon quickly and only once punted a bag of refuse, exploding it like a pinata at a Mexican Christmas.
    • 2019, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, We Cast a Shadow, One World, →ISBN, page 100:
      He even hated pets—I once saw him punt a cat.
    1. (rugby, American football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, soccer, transitive, intransitive) To kick a ball dropped from the hands before it hits the ground. (This puts the ball farther from the goal across which the opposing team is attempting to score, so improves the chances of the team punting.)
    2. (soccer) To kick a bouncing ball far and high.
      • 2011 September 2, “Wales 2-1 Montenegro”, in BBC‎[1]:
        With five minutes remaining Hennessey was down well to block another Vukcevic shot, while Gunter was smartly in to punt away the dangerous loose ball.
  2. (colloquial, intransitive) To equivocate and delay or put off (answering a question, addressing an issue, etc).
    • 2014, John Prados, The Family Jewels: The CIA, Secrecy, and Presidential Power, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 91:
      The briefer reported it had been terminated on orders from Secretary Schlesinger, but attributed this to a sense Shamrock produced little, not to the fact it had been discovered. The NSA briefer punted on whether Fort Meade had been reading Americans' private messages, ...
    • 2024 May 16, Brett Worthington, “Labor delays bid for extraordinary immigration powers despite claims of urgency”, in ABC News, Australian Broadcasting Corporation:
      The federal government has punted bringing forward extraordinary immigration powers that just weeks ago it was saying were so urgent they needed to be rushed through the parliament.
  3. To retreat from one's objective; to abandon an effort one still notionally supports.
    • ca. 2002, Ben Collins-Sussman, Brian W. Fitzpatrick, C. Michael Pilato, “Basic Work Cycle”, in Version Control with Subversion‎[2]:
      Punting: Using svn revert¶ If you decide that you want to throw out your changes and start your edits again (whether this occurs after a conflict or anytime), just revert your changes
  4. (colloquial, intransitive) To make the best choice from a set of non-ideal alternatives.
  5. (colloquial, transitive) To eject; to kick out of a place.
    • 2001, Roger A. Grimes, Malicious Mobile Code: Virus Protection for Windows, page 236:
      The user is punted from the channel, and must rejoin to gain access.
    • 2003, Michael Newton, The Encyclopedia of High-tech Crime and Crime-fighting‎[3], AOL Riot on June 1, 1998, page 21:
      If you want to join this riot, we urge you to! You wont have to worry about being TOSed or reported because there will be no Guides online! So do whatever you want—punt, scroll, tos, just turn AOL into a war zone!
Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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punt (plural punts)

  1. (rugby, American football, soccer) A kick made by a player who drops the ball and kicks it before it hits the ground.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Empty bottle showing the punt as the indentation in the base
See also
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Etymology 3

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Borrowed from French pointe or Spanish punto (“point”). Doublet of point, pointe, ponto, puncto, punctum, and punto.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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punt (plural punts)

  1. A point in the game of faro.
  2. The act of playing at basset, baccara, faro, etc.
  3. A bet or wager.
    Anyone up for a punt on Randwick?
  4. (Australia) Gambling, as a pastime, especially betting on horseraces or the dogs.
    • 2001 December 31, The Riverine Herald, Echua, Victoria, page 12, column 3:
      Wishing you all happy new year and a prosperous one on the punt.
  5. A highly speculative investment or other commitment.
  6. A wild guess.
  7. An indentation in the base of a wine bottle.
  8. (glassblowing) A thin glass rod which is temporarily attached to a larger piece in order to better manipulate the larger piece.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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punt (third-person singular simple present punts, present participle punting, simple past and past participle punted)

  1. To play at basset, baccara, faro, etc.
    • 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 38, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
      Here it was that, guarded by double doors, Sir Francis smoked cigars, and read Bell’s Life in London, and went to sleep after dinner, when he was not smoking over the billiard-table at his clubs, or punting at the gambling-houses in Saint James’s.
  2. (Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK) To stake against the bank, to back a horse, to gamble or take a chance more generally
    • 1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC:
      She heard […] of his punting at gaming tables.
    • 2004, John Buglear, “Is it worth the risk? – introducing probability”, in Quantitative methods for business: the A-Z of QM‎[4], →ISBN, page 339:
      Whether you want to gamble on a horse race, bet on which player will score first in a game of football, have a punt on a particular tennis player winning a grand slam event, you are buying a chance, a chance which is measured in terms of probability, ‘the odds’.
    • 2006 June 23, Dan Roebuck, “Eriksson's men still worth a punt”, in The Guardian‎[5]:
      Eriksson's men still worth a punt
    • 2009 November 3, Sarah Collerton, “Cup punt not child's play”, in ABC News‎[6]:
      Australians have a reputation for being keen to bet on two flies climbing up a wall and today young ones often take a casual classroom punt
  3. (figuratively) To make a highly speculative investment or other commitment, or take a wild guess.
Translations
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Etymology 4

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Borrowed from Irish punt, from Middle English pund. Doublet of funt, pfund, pood, and pound.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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punt (plural punts)

  2. The Irish pound, used as the unit of currency of Ireland until it was replaced by the euro in 2002.

Further reading

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin pūnctum. Cognate with Spanish and Galician punto and Portuguese ponto.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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punt m (plural punts)

  1. point (specific location)
  2. (grammar) dot, point (punctuation mark)
  3. (mathematics) point (used for separating the fractional part from the whole part)
  4. dot (used in Morse code)

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Dutch

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Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from Latin punctum.

Noun

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punt n (plural punten, diminutive puntje n)

  1. point (a position, place, or spot)
    De schat ligt op dat punt op de kaart. ― The treasure is located at that point on the map.
    Vanaf dit punt kunnen we de hele stad zien. ― From this point, we can see the entire city.
    Markeer het punt waar de twee lijnen elkaar kruisen. ― Mark the point where the two lines intersect.
  2. point (moment in time)
    Op een bepaald punt gaf hij op. ― At a certain point, he gave up.
    Tot dat punt was alles goed gegaan. ― Up to that point, everything had gone well.
    Dit is het punt waarop we moeten beslissen. ― This is the point at which we need to decide.
  3. point (central idea, argument, or opinion of a discussion or presentation)
    Wat is het belangrijkste punt van je presentatie? ― What is the main point of your presentation?
    Ik snap je punt niet. ― I don't get your point.
    Ze maakte een interessant punt over klimaatverandering. ― She made an interesting point about climate change.
  4. point (tally of worth or score, such as in a game)
    Ze scoorde drie punten in de laatste minuut. ― She scored three points in the last minute.
    Hoeveel punten hebben we nu? ― How many points do we have now?
    Met nog één punt kunnen we winnen. ― With just one more point, we can win.
  5. point (mark, note, or grade, as in for a class)
    Ik kreeg 85 punten voor mijn wiskundetoets. ― I got 85 points for my math exam.
    Hoeveel punten heb je nodig om te slagen? ― How many points do you need to pass?
    Ze verloor punten vanwege spelfouten. ― She lost points due to spelling mistakes.
  6. (geometry) point
    In de meetkunde is een punt een locatie zonder omvang. ― In geometry, a point is a location with no size.
    Teken een punt A op het papier. ― Draw a point A on the paper.
    Twee punten bepalen een rechte lijn. ― Two points determine a straight line.
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From French point, from Latin punctus. Doublet of bont.

Noun

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punt m (plural punten, diminutive puntje n)

  1. the terminal point of something
    de punt van een naald of mes ― the point of a needle or knife
    de zuidpunt van het eiland ― the southern point of the island
  2. dot
    Zet een punt op de i. ― Put a dot on the i.
    De kaart was bezaaid met punten die belangrijke locaties aangaven. ― The map was dotted with dots indicating important locations.
    Ze tekende een hartje met een kleine punt erin. ― She drew a heart with a little dot inside it.
  3. full stop, period
    Zet een punt aan het einde van de zin. ― Put a full stop at the end of the sentence.
    Ik heb geleerd altijd een punt te gebruiken na een volledige gedachte. ― I've learned to always use a period after a complete thought.
    Ze schrijft vaak lange zinnen zonder een punt. ― She often writes long sentences without a full stop.
  4. a pointy slice of a cake, pie or pizza
    Synonym: taartpunt
Derived terms
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Irish

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Etymology 1

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From Middle Irish punt, from Middle English pund (“pound”), from Old English pund (“a pound, weight”), from Proto-Germanic *pundą (“pound, weight”), from pondus (“weight”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pend- (“to pull, stretch”).

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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punt m (genitive singular puint, nominative plural puint or punta)

  1. pound (unit of weight, unit of currency)
Declension
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Declension of punt (first declension)
bare forms
singular plural
nominative punt puint
vocative a phuint a phunta
genitive puint punt
dative punt puint
forms with the definite article
singular plural
nominative an punt na puint
genitive an phuint na bpunt
dative leis an bpunt
don phunt 		leis na puint
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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From English pound.

Noun

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punt m (genitive singular puint, nominative plural puint)

  1. pound (of enclosure)
Declension
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Declension of punt (first declension)
bare forms
singular plural
nominative punt puint
vocative a phuint a phunta
genitive puint punt
dative punt puint
forms with the definite article
singular plural
nominative an punt na puint
genitive an phuint na bpunt
dative leis an bpunt
don phunt 		leis na puint

Etymology 3

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

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punt m (genitive singular puint, nominative plural puint)

  1. butt(-end)
  2. tip (of finger)
Declension
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Declension of punt (first declension)
bare forms
singular plural
nominative punt puint
vocative a phuint a phunta
genitive puint punt
dative punt puint
forms with the definite article
singular plural
nominative an punt na puint
genitive an phuint na bpunt
dative leis an bpunt
don phunt 		leis na puint
Derived terms
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Etymology 4

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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punt

  1. Alternative form of puinn

Mutation

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Mutated forms of punt
radical lenition eclipsis
punt phunt bpunt

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

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Maltese

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Sicilian puntu and/or Italian punto, from Latin punctum.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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punt m (plural punti)

  1. dot, point
    Synonyms: tikka, dott, ponta
  2. point (in time or space, an item on a list etc.)
  3. point (unit of scoring in a competition)
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Manx

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Etymology

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From Middle Irish punt, from Middle English pund (“pound”).

Noun

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punt m (genitive singular punt, plural puint)

  1. (numismatics, unit of measure) pound

Derived terms

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Mutation

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Mutation of punt
radical lenition eclipsis
punt phunt bunt

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Manx.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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punt m (definite singular punten, indefinite plural puntar, definite plural puntane)

  1. (glassblowing) punty

Synonyms

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Old French

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Noun

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punt oblique singular, m (oblique plural punz or puntz, nominative singular punz or puntz, nominative plural punt)

  1. Alternative form of pont

Romanian

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Noun

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punt m (plural punți)

  1. Alternative form of pfund

Declension

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Declension of punt
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative punt puntul punți punții
genitive-dative punt puntului punți punților
vocative puntule punților

Romansch

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Latin pōns, pontem (compare Catalan pont, French pont, Italian ponte, Occitan pònt, Portuguese ponte, Spanish puente), from Proto-Indo-European *pont- (“path, road”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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punt f (plural punts)

  1. (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan, Surmiran, Puter, Vallader) bridge

Slovene

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Etymology

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(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

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Noun

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pȕnt m inan

  1. revolt

Declension

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 The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.
Masculine inan., hard o-stem
nom. sing. pùnt
gen. sing. púnta
singular dual plural
nominative
(imenovȃlnik) 		pùnt púnta púnti
genitive
(rodȋlnik) 		púnta púntov púntov
dative
(dajȃlnik) 		púntu púntoma púntom
accusative
(tožȋlnik) 		pùnt púnta púnte
locative
(mẹ̑stnik) 		púntu púntih púntih
instrumental
(orọ̑dnik) 		púntom púntoma púnti

Welsh

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Etymology

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Inherited from Middle Welsh punt, borrowed from Old English pund.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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punt f (plural punnoedd or punnau)

  1. (numismatics) pound (sterling)
    • 1874 May 20, “Llundain a'ch "Ewyrth"”, in Baner ac Amserau Cymru, page 13:
      Costiodd yr holl adeiladau hyn tua deg a thrigain mil o bunnau.
      All these buildings cost about seventy thousand pounds.
  2. (obsolete) pound (weight)
    Synonym: pwys

Mutation

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Mutated forms of punt
radical soft nasal aspirate
punt bunt mhunt phunt

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

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  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “punt”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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