Chris wrote:
> I have Dian Cecht as "Swift Plow" (dian "swift"
> cecht "plow") but Pokorny lists cecht as meaning
> "powerful" (I don't know where he gets this
> definition) and relates it to Indic sakti
The medieval "etymological" glossary Sanas Cormaic
explains Dían Cécht as "ainm do shuíd leigis Érend
.i. dia na cécht .i. na cumachta" (the name of the
wiseman of healing of Ireland, i.e. god of 'cécht'
i.e. of power). In other words, Cormac unpacks
and redistributes "Dían Cécht" as "día na cécht",
which is creative on his part, as usual, but seems
like a stretch. The word "cécht" does not mean
"power", as best I can tell, outside this and some
later glossaries.
Incidentally, "cécht" does mean "plow beam", but
if you put the adjective "dían" (swift) in front
of it, you get a compound with lenition of the
second element: dían-chécht, which weakens that
explanation.
Dennis King