kelaunikui

Celtiberian

FWOTD – 25 May 2018

Etymology

Unknown. Theories include:

• Proto-Indo-European *kel-nḤ-mno- (“something covered, protected”) *-iko-
• from ke- (unknown prefix) launi (“wife”) -iko
• a compound kel-aun-ĭk-o-
• from a toponym ending in -au

Word

kelaunikui

1. The meaning of this term is uncertain. Possibilities include:
   • Tornijo del Campo inscription:

     kelaunikui terkininei eskenim tures launi olzui olkai/obakai eskenim tures Useizunos kotizonei

     (according to Villar and Prósper): a document has been emitted for the entire area with buildings in the region […] the wife

   1. (adjective) having a building or buildings
   2. (noun in the dative singular) matrimony
   3. a middle participle related to a Proto-Indo-European stem meaning "covered"

Further reading

• D. Vicente Redón, B. Ezquerra Lebrón, El bronce celtibérico de Torrijo del Campo (Teruel) in 1997, Francisco Villar, Francisco Beltrán, Pueblos, lengua y escrituras en la Hispania Prerromana, University of Salamanca.
• D. Stifter, A Contribution to Celtiberian Etymology in 1999, Die Sprache, volume 41.
• F. Rubio Orecilla, Las formaciones secundarias en -ko- del celtibérico in 2001, Francisco Villar, María Pilar Fernández Álvarez, Religión, lengua y cultura prerromanas de Hispania, University of Salamanca.
• Blanca María Prósper, Reflections on Celtiberian Morphology: The oilaun-Word-Family and Holodynamic -mon-Stems in 2002, Studia Indogermanica Lodziensia, volume 4, University of Łódź.
• Francisco Villar, Blanca M. Prósper (2005) Vascos, celtas y indoeuropeos: genes y lenguas (in Celtiberian), University of Salamanca