Re[2]: [tied] root *pVs- for cat

At 7:37:30 PM on Saturday, June 30, 2007, Rick McCallister
wrote:

> Gaelic piseag can not be from Celtic because it has a
> /p-/. It also has a dimunitive ending -ag. Macbain's
> book is based on a specific dialect, not Gaelic as a
> whole or even standard Gaelic.

I don't believe that this is correct; so far as I can tell,
it's based on standard earlier dictionaries of Scottish
Gaelic. He did, of course, make an effort to exclude
strictly Irish words. In any case, Dwelly gives no
indication that <piseag> is limited to any particular
regional Scottish Gaelic dialect.

> I've seen other forms of the word such as pus, puis.

Dwelly does indeed also give <puis>. When Irish borrowed
the word, it preferred a different diminutive suffix:
Dinneen gives <puisín>, with variants <pisín> and <pisin>.

[...]

Brian