sapsutai

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Attestation:	VB·3.1 (latumarui:sapsutai:pe:uinom:natom) (1)
Language:	Celtic
Word Type:	proper noun
Semantic Field:	personal name
Grammatical Categories:	dat. sg. fem.
Stem Class:	ā
Morphemic Analysis:	sapsut-āi̯
Phonemic Analysis:	/????ūtāi̯/ (?)
Meaning:	'to/for Sapsuta'

Commentary

ā-stem personal name in the dative. While the ending and probably the suffix are Celtic, the base appears to be etymologically non-Celtic. A fully Celtic etymology is attempted by Rhŷs 1913: 65 f., who notes that a suffix -ūto- is listed by Holder AcS III: 56, and compares the base with Gaul. *sap- 'fir/pine' reconstructed from Latin and Romance loanwords ('little pine'). /s/ between base and suffix, however, poses a problem, both in terms of the formation and because */ps/ > /ks/ in Celtic. While saps- thus cannot be Celtic (cf. Lejeune 1971: 64, n. 219, who seems unconvinced of his own alternative suggestion *sap/b-so-uto-), sabs- could be in principle, but is no more convincing; a base sab- is more common in the Ligurian than the Celtic area (see sabi) and may indicate the origin of a non-Celtic base sabs- (cf. Lejeune 1987: 497). Tibiletti Bruno 1975: 55 compares (beside assorted names in sap(p)- and sab-) CIL IX 5777 sapsa at Macerata (Picenum), but notes that samps- is also possible (also 1978: 146, 1981: 163). In favour of a non-Celtic etymology also Eska 1998c: 71 f. Cf. maybe sasamos.

See also Lattes 1896: 105, Solinas 1995: 375, Morandi 2004: 551.

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)
Eska 1998c	Josef Francis Eska, "PIE *p (doesn't become) Ø in proto Celtic", Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 58 (1998), 63-80.