Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/magus

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

Cognate with the formally identical Proto-Germanic *maguz (“boy; servant”), if not outright borrowed from Germanic, apparently via Proto-Indo-European *mogʰus (“young person; boy-servant?”). Compare also Avestan 𐬨𐬀𐬖𐬀𐬬𐬀 (maγava, “unmarried”).

Matasović, reconstructing *mogus instead of the *magus reconstructed by everyone else, finds himself unable to explain to the /a/-vocalism of Gaulish Magu-.[1]

Noun

*magus m[1]

  1. (male) servant
  2. (male) youth, boy

Declension

Masculine/feminine u-stem
singular dual plural
nominative *magus *magū *magowes
vocative *magu *magū *magūs
accusative *magum *magū *maguns
genitive *magous *magous *magowom
dative *magou *magubom *magubos
locative *? *? *?
instrumental *magū *magubim *magubis

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Proto-Brythonic: *maw
    • Old Breton: mauu (“youth; servant”)
      • Middle Breton: mau
        • Breton: maw (“boy”)
    • Old Cornish:
    • ⇒ Middle Welsh: meu-dwy (“servant of God; hermit”)
      • Welsh: meudwy (“hermit”)
  • Gaulish: *magus
    • ⇒ Gaulish: *Magurīx
    • ⇒? Gaulish: Moguntia (alternatively from *mogonts)
      • → Latin: Maguntia
      • →⇒ Latin: Mogontiacum (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Irish: mug (“male servant, serf, bondman”)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*mogu-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 274
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