Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/westā

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

Given it meaning both "feast" and "staying the night", this term's derivation has been disputed. It contains the suffix *-tā anyhow.[1]

  • The meaning "stay for a night" can only be from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes- (“to dwell, spend the night”).
  • The meaning "feast" is either derived from the "stay" meaning (with a feast and other entertainment assumed to be customary for inviting someone else over to one's place), or Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to graze”).

Noun

*westā f[2]

  1. staying at someone's place for the night
  2. food, feast

Declension

Feminine ā-stem
singular dual plural
nominative *westā *westai *westās
vocative *westā *westai *westās
accusative *westam *westai *westāns
genitive *westās *westous *westom
dative *westāi *westābom *westābos
locative *westai *? *?
instrumental *? *westābim *westābis

Descendants

  • Proto-Brythonic: *gwest
    • ⇒ Old Breton: Orguest (personal name)
    • Old Cornish: gwest
    • Middle Welsh: gwest
  • Old Irish: fess, feis, feiss (original dative used as nominative)

References

  1. ^ Irslinger, Britta Sofie (2002) Abstrakta mit Dentalsuffixen im Altirischen [Abstracts with Dental Suffixes in Old Irish] (in German), Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter, →ISBN, pages 344-345
  2. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*westā”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 417
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