kart-

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Type:	lexical
Meaning:	unknown
Language:	Celtic
Phonemic analysis:	unknown
Attestation:	anarekartos

Commentary

This page collects a few onomastic elements (some of) which may be related (KGP: 164, GPN: 166 f., DLG: 108). karto- occurs as last element in Cisalpine Celtic anarekartos and as first element in cartoual[ (CIL VII, 425 [Binchester]), which is listed as a personal name in KGP: 164 and Delamarre 2007: 59, 215, but has also been interpreted as an ethnonym (cartouallenses), as well as in the toponym cartobriga > Chartreuve. With a stem vowel i, it occurs, e.g., in the personal name cartimandua (name of a regina brigantum transmitted by Tacitus) and the toponym cartilatum > Carlat. The stem vowel cannot be determined in a number of simplex and derived personal names (e.g., cartus, cartoria).

Whether karti- and karto- are cognate is ultimately uncertain. karti- has been suggested to be a simplification of karsti- in carstimari (gen., CIL III, 14632, Dalmatia) and, conceivably, G-1 καρθιλιτανιος (with st > tau gallicum) (KGP: 164 with n. 2, GPN: 62 f., 166). Instances of lexical use may be found in the Gaulish inscription of Rom (L-103) carti, cartaont – the words were compared with W carthu, OBret. carth, MBret. karza 'purge, cleanse' by Dottin 1920: 243 and further with Ir. cartaim 'I cleanse, scour, oust' (LEIA: C-43, S-34-3) by Evans GPN: 166. Either or both the lexical forms and the onomastic elements may be cognate with the Insular Celtic words, which are derived from PIE *(s)ker- 'shear, cut' (VKG II: 616, IEW: 938–940, LIV²: 556, GPN: 166, n. 4) or *(s)kers- 'scratch, comb, card (wool)' (IEW: 532 s.v. kars-, LIV²: 564, Hertz via KGP: 164).

Specifically for karto- in anarekartos, Morandi 2004: 489 suggests a comparison with Gk. κράτος 'strength', καρτερός 'strong, firm' < PIE *kret- 'power' (?), which otherwise finds comparanda only in Indo-Iranian (e.g., Skt. krátu- 'mind/will power', Beekes 2010 I: 772) – the connection with Germ. *hardu- is doubtful (Kroonen 2013 s.v. prefers to derive it from PIE *(s)ker).

Bibliography

Beekes 2010	Robert Beekes, Etymological Dictionary of Greek [= Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10], Leiden/Boston: Brill 2010. (2 volumes)
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.