amaśilu

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Attestation:	VB·2 (oletuamaśilu) (1)
Language:	Celtic
Word Type:	proper noun
Grammatical Categories:	nom. sg. masc.
Stem Class:	on
Morphemic Analysis:	ambi-?-il(l)-ū (?)
Phonemic Analysis:	/am(m)a?il(l)ū/
Meaning:	'Amaśilu'

Commentary

See the inscription page on the context of the form – amaśilu is either a separate name or part of a bipartite name formula. In the former case, it is a simple on-stem individual name; in the latter case, the same is possible, though it may be a patronym/appositive in -u. See The Cisalpine Celtic Languages on theories about the origin of such a formation, and cf. oletu.

The name is derived with the hypocoristic suffix -il(l)- from a base whose analysis is uncertain. Tibiletti Bruno 1965c: 101 f., Morandi 2004: 549 and Lejeune 1971: 63, n. 198, compare names in amas- (listed in AcS I: 113), the latter suggesting a base am(m)- ('love' ?) plus suffix -asso- (AcS III: 595 f., 710), but two consecutive onomastic suffixes are hardly feasible. The function of the second element in Delamarre 2007: 18 ama-stilon- is not clear to me. A preverb – ambi- with syncopated vowel or possibly an- with the dental assimilated to initial b in the second element (but see below) – is probably involved (cf. the structurally similar anteśilu). The uncertain sound value of san – a tau gallicum cluster as in anteśilu, a palatalised dental or /d/ (see Ś) – complicates the identification of the putative second element. Possible analyses include:
1. amb(i)-ađ-. The sibilant element in the base assu- is assumed to be a reflex of tau gallicum, but the only preverb with which it is attested is dī-; since its meaning is unclear, the semantics of a formation with ambi- cannot be evaluated. Though this is not obligatory, the suffix variant would here be expected to be -ul(l)- rather than -il(l)-.
2. amb(i)-agt-i̯-. The Gaulish word *ambaχto- 'servant' (lit. 'who walks around, messenger'), loaned into Latin (ambactus), is attested as a personal name, e.g. RIG M-19, M-45 ambact(us), probably also CIL XIII 6463 ambaxius, and maybe instances of ambat(i)us with simplified cluster (see AcS I: 113–115, KGP: 122, GPN: 135 f., Irslinger 2002: 245, DLG: 40 f., Delamarre 2007: 18, NIL: 269, 276, n. 62, Meid 2005: 162 f., Matasović 2009: 32). This comparison, first floated, but rejected by Lejeune 1971: 63, n. 198, assumes that san represents a palatalised cluster *χti̯, and must contend with two problems. Firstly, the palatal suffix should, both etymologically and phonetically following a heavy syllable, be -ii̯o- rather than -i̯o-, and would thus not palatalise the dental. Secondly, even if the suffix was irregularly -i̯o-, we would have to assume that the present form was derived not from the lexeme, but from the -ii̯o--derivation, and that the latter's palatalised dental was phonemicised to be retained in the present form, whose suffix -il(l)- has no palatalisation effect. Cf. Stifter 2010: 371, Uhlich 2007: 385 f. with n. 21.
3. Whether the preverb can be an- is uncertain, as anokopokios at Briona (and less likely koplutus) indicates that /m/ + /b/ across a morpheme border was not assimilated or in any case reflected by simple mu (as should be expected from */nd/ spelled with nu), but pi (see Uhlich 2007: 385 f.). Further analyses with an- are not convincing in any case – an-bad- 'not fair' (with bad- as in ba(d)i̯ocasses, s. DLG: 63, and san for /d/), has no comparanda, while an-bat- 'not dead', which may underlie (some of) the abovementioned Gaulish names in ambat-, is afflicted by the same problems concerning the necessary palatalisation as ambaχt-.

David Stifter, Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

AcS	Alfred Holder, Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz, Leipzig: Teubner 1896–1907.
CIL	Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. (17 volumes, various supplements)
Delamarre 2007	Xavier Delamarre, Noms de personnes celtiques dans l'épigraphie classique. Nomina Celtica Antiqua Selecta Inscriptionum, Paris: Errance 2007.
DLG	Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise. Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental, 2nd, revised edition, Paris: Errance 2003.