ᚃᚓᚊᚏᚓᚊ

Primitive Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *Weikorīxs (whence also Latin Vēcorīx, rendering a Gaulish name).[1] Matasović, on the other hand, considers the first element to be *wekʷos (speech, face),[2] in which case the e is short and this name is not the source of Old Irish Fíachrai.

The syncope of the original second syllable as well as the use of the letter (q) rather than (c) to represent /x/ indicate that this is a late form, dating probably from the late sixth or early seventh century C.E..[3]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʍeːxrex/

Proper noun

ᚃᚓᚊᚏᚓᚊ (veqreqm

  1. a male given name meaning “fighting king”

Descendants

  • Old Irish: Fíachrai
    • Middle Irish: Fíachra
      • Irish: Fiachra

References

  1. ^ Ó Corráin, Donnchadh, Maguire, Fidelma (1981) Gaelic Personal Names, Dublin: The Academy Press, →ISBN, page 98
  2. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 409
  3. ^ “Ogham in 3D - National Museum / 118. Monataggart I”, in Ogham in 3D[1], Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 30 July 2023, retrieved 13 July 2025

Further reading

  • Macalister, R. A. S. (1945) Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum, volume I, Dublin: Stationery Office, pages 116–118
  • Ziegler, Sabine (1994) Alfred Bammesberger and Günter Neumann, editors, Die Sprache der altirischen Ogam-Inschriften [The language of the Old Irish Ogham inscriptions] (Historische Sprachforschung; Ergänzungsheft 36) (in German), Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, →ISBN, page 246