Re: PIE wlkWos, Italo-Celtic

From: C. L. Vermeers
Message: 41635
Date: 2005-10-28

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, "Joao S. Lopes" <josimo70@...> wrote:
>
> Is there any Celtic example for PIE *wlkWos?

this is extensively discussed in Kim McCone, "OIr. _Olc, Luch-_ and IE
_*wlkWos, *lúkWos_ 'wolf'" (Ériu vol. 36 (1985), pp.171-176), which is
section 2 of "Varia II" in that volume.

"There are no secure attestations of the IE word's survivval in Celtic
as a normal expression for 'wolf', for which Old Irish uses _faél_
(probably meaning 'howler' originally)[1], _cú allaid_ (literally
'wild dog') or _mac tíre_ (literally 'son of the land'). Nevertheless
it has been claimed, albeit not without controversy[2], that a reflex
of _*wlkWos_ does survive into Old Irish as _olc_ in certain personal
names and, more doubtfully, in very common adjectival usage meaning
'bad, evil'. The main problem is that a derivation of _olc_ from
_*wlkWos_ does not tally with conventional assumptions about the
historical phonology of Irish, which lead us to expect something like
_*flech_ from such an input." (pp.171-2)

the article goes on to analyze the question in depth, so i'd refer you
to look there.

c. vermeers



[1] See Pokorny, _Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch_, 1110-11.

[2] See under _olc_ in Vendryes' _Lexique etymologique de l'Irlandais
ancien_.