crocenn

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *krokkenom (skin), probably loaned from a non-Indo-European substrate language.[1] However, compare Proto-Germanic *hrugjaz (ridge, back, spine) and German Krug.[2]

Cognate with Breton kroc'hen, Cornish kroghen; Welsh croen (< *kroknom).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkrokən͈/

Noun

crocenn n (genitive crocainn)

  1. skin, hide
  2. bark
  3. (of nuts) husk

Inflection

Although neuter gender is not declared by DIL, it can be deduced from the following evidence:

  • The nominative plural appears in Middle Irish as croicni (and also as masculine o-stem croicind). Such o-stem declension with a nominative plural ending with a vowel can only reflect a neuter o-stem, which had alternative nominative plurals in -(e)a in Old Irish; Middle Irish merged all final vowels to schwa, resulting in various interchangeable and non-etymological spellings of endings pronounced with schwa.
Neuter o-stem
singular dual plural
nominative crocennN crocennN crocennL, croicneaL
vocative crocennN crocennN crocennL, croicneaL
accusative crocennN crocennN crocennL, croicneaL
genitive crocainnL crocenn crocennN
dative crocunnL croicnib croicnib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

  • Middle Irish: croicenn

Mutation

Mutation of crocenn
radical lenition nasalization
crocenn chrocenn crocenn
pronounced with /ɡ-/

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

References

  1. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) “krok(ke)no-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 226
  2. ^ MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “crocenn”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language[1], Stirling, →ISBN, page craicionn