< Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic

Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/-yūs

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

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *-yōs.

Suffix

*-yūs[1]

  1. Forms comparative forms of adjectives.
    ‎*sen- (“old”) + ‎*-yūs → ‎*senyūs (“older”) (whence Old Irish siniu and Welsh hŷn)

Usage notes
  • 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
  • Old Irish: -iu, -u

References
  1. Jasanoff, Jay (1991) “The origin of the Celtic comparative type OIr. tressa, MW trech ‘stronger’”, in Die Sprache, volume 34, pages 171-189
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