Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/-(a)is

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

Often believed to originate as the neuter of Proto-Indo-European *-yōs used adverbially; many Celticists believe that the neuter of that suffix was *-is, not *-yos.

The -a- in the suffix originally was from the rebracketing of *mais (adverbial/neuter comparative of *māros).

Suffix

*-(a)is

  1. Forms adverbs that act as the comparative degree to certain common adjectives.

Usage notes

  • Given how -(a)is comparatives are underlyingly adverbs, they can only be used predicatively, not attributively, unlike *-yūs.
  • This suffix was apocopated in Brittonic.

Descendants

  • Old Irish: -a
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