--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "pe_ehlers" <pe_ehlers@...> wrote:
> Dear members!
>
> Writing my diploma thesis on Latin place-names in Britain I came
> across the Celtic suffix -io.
> It is used as a derivational suffix and can either be added to
> adjectives
> (cf. the place-name of Coccio < brit.*cocco- 'red' + *-io, now
> Edgeworth, Lancashire)
> or
> to nouns (cf. the place-name of Gobannio < brit. *gobannia 'river
of
> the blacksmiths' + *io, now Abergavenny, Monmouthshire).
>
> Unfortunately, I could neither find out anything about the meaning
> nor about the origin of the suffix.
>
> I would be extremely grateful for any help or advice.
>
> With kindest regards,
>
> Peter Ehlers
************
In PIE names in o-stem, like *yugom `yoke', the dual of Nom., Voc.
and Acc. was formed in oi.
For me, it is interesting that Greek place names are used at most
only in pluralia tantum: Ai Athenae, Ai Thebae, Ai Thermopilai. Such
phenomenon I have noticed also in many Illyrian place names in
plural ending ini (today -inj): Olc-ini-on (today Ulqin(j)/Ulcinj),
Delm-ini-on, Os-ini-um, Germ-ini-um, Rhiz-ini-on, etc.
I find many Illyrian place names also ended in oi:
Epidat-io, porbably river name
Ar-io in Noricum
Ardiai-oi, folc name
Sardiai-oi, folc name
Arupioi, place name. besides Aurpinoi
Boioi, place name
Brettioi ?
Taking into consideration the characteristic that place names in the
antiquity are mostly in plural, I guess that also this suffix may be
the plural ending (cf. ho logos, oi logoi).
Konushevci