lāt-

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Type:	lexical
Meaning:	'fury, heat' (?)
Language:	Celtic
Phonemic analysis:	/lāt/- (?)
Attestation:	latumarui

Commentary

An onomastic element lat- appears in Gaulish with various stem variants: the i-stem as second element of compounds like RIIG BDR-06-01 (RIG G-13) εσκεγγολατι, the o-stem in the Noric epithet of Mars latobius and the probably related Pannonian ethnonym latobici/latovici (Pliny etc.) as well as latobrigi/latobrogi (Caesar), and an apparent u-stem in Cisalpine Celtic latumarui, all beside presumable hypocoristics like laticcus, latto (potter's name), CIL XIII 2802 latussio (see AcS II: 150–156, Delamarre 2007: 115). The i-stem is usually connected with OIr. láith 'warrior, hero' (KGP: 229, DLG: 197 f.); this form is attested beside a more common o-stem láth, which also means 'rut (of animals)'. The words have been further connected to Welsh forms like llid 'rage' and Ukr. l'it' 'rut', but the PIE etymology is unclear (see Irslinger 2002: 297 f., Zair 2012: 80). Meid 2005: 53 f. argues for a semantic development in Irish from PC *lāto- 'heroic fury, heat', interpreting latobius as 'who strikes in fury'. Schmidt KGP: 229 alternatively suggests to keep lato- separate and connect it with PIE *pelh₂- 'flat' with a t-suffix → 'plain'; generally doubtful of the whole approach Evans GPN: 216. How and if the forms in latu- belong here is uncertain; see further on latumaros.

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.