rii̯-

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Type:	lexical
Meaning:	'free'
Language:	Celtic
Phonemic analysis:	/rii̯/-
From PIE:	*priH-o- 'own, familiar, dear'
From Proto-Celtic:	*rii̯o- 'free'
Attestation:	rio, riol, riop

Commentary

An element rio- appears in Continental Celtic personal name like riocenus, riouassus, riouercus, riochatus, riomarus, riomonus, riotalos (AcS II: 1191 f., KGP: 259, GPN: 465, n. 9, Delamarre 2007: 230 et passim). Some of these may be formed with rīg- 'ruler' with weakened/dropped /g/ (e.g. Dottin 1920: 65), but this base is less common as first than as second element. At least part of the names may contain rii̯o- 'free' as attested lexically in MW rhydd, OBret. rid 'free' etc. (KGP: 259, DLG: 258 f., Ködderitzsch 1986: 195–200 on RIG G-183 ρ[ι]ουμαν[ι]ος). See NIL: 568–573, n. 15 and 16 with literature on the Celtic semantics.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

AcS	Alfred Holder, Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz, Leipzig: Teubner 1896–1907.
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.
Dottin 1920	Georges Dottin, La langue gauloise. grammaire, textes et glossaire [= Collection pour l’étude des antiquités nationales 2], Paris: Klincksieck 1920.