At 4:28:42 AM on Sunday, July 1, 2007, tgpedersen wrote:
[...]
> As for the -eag suffix; it appears in several of the
> Celtic cognates I've found to Kuhn's list; it seems to
> correspond to the typical NWBlock -Vk-suffix
The suffix is <-(e)ag> ~ <-(e)ág>; the <e> is written only
when it follows a 'slender' consonant. In Sc.Gael. it's a
feminine diminutive suffix, corresponding to the OIr
masculine diminutive suffix <-óc>; both are borrowings of
the Britannic hypocoristic suffix that appears in Middle
Welsh as <-awc> (Welsh <-og>), from PCelt. *-a:ko-
'pertaining to (X)' (whence also Gaulish <-acos>). The
native Irish reflex of *-a:cos is the adjectival suffix
<-(e)ach>.
Brian