koiśa

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Attestation:	TI·2 (koma) (1)
Status:	uncertain
Language:	Celtic
Word Type:	proper noun
Semantic Field:	personal name
Grammatical Categories:	nom. sg.
Stem Class:	ā
Morphemic Analysis:	kom-u̯iđ(-i̯)-ā (?)
Phonemic Analysis:	/koitsā/ (?)
Meaning:	'Koiśa'

Commentary

Reading uncertain, see the inscription page.

If correct, probably an ā-stem personal name. Rhŷs 1913: 28, no. 6, Lejeune 1971: 33, Motta 2000: 211, no. 20, and Morandi 1999: 161 (also 2004: 521, no. 3) compare names in cois-, viz. the Boiic coin legend coisa (Birkhan 1971: 25), coesus CIL V 5621 from Castelseprio, and koisis on the Todi bilingua. This is only viable if the sibilant in these names of uncertain etymology is geminate /s/ < tau gallicum → /koi̯ssa/ (or /koi̯ssi̯a/ with palatalisation according to Lejeune 1971: 19, 64, n. 205; cf. Stifter 2010: 371 and Ś). This is not entirely likely considering the otherwise consistently unmarked spelling with simple sigma. A more sophisticated interpretation is proposed by Delamarre 2007: 70, who analyses the name as ko-u̯id-t-i̯-ā with assimilated /m/, and /u̯/ not spelled overtly → 'of great knowledge' or 'well-known' (but still compares coisa).

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Birkhan 1971	Helmut Birkhan, "Die "keltischen" Personennamen des boiischen Großsilbers", Die Sprache 17 (1971), 23-33.
Delamarre 2007	Xavier Delamarre, Noms de personnes celtiques dans l'épigraphie classique. Nomina Celtica Antiqua Selecta Inscriptionum, Paris: Errance 2007.