ai̯u-

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Type:	lexical
Meaning:	'lifeforce, lifetime'
Language:	Celtic
Phonemic analysis:	/ai̯u/-
From PIE:	*h₂ei̯-u- 'lifeforce'
From Proto-Celtic:	*ai̯u- 'longevity, lifetime'
Attestation:	aiut(, komeuios

Commentary

The u-stem PIE *h₂ei̯u- 'lifeforce' is well attested in IE languages; no connection to a verbal root has been established (NIL: 277–287). See NIL: 282, Irslinger 2002: 88 f., LEIA: A-21 on the relevant Insular Celtic lexemes OIr. áes, OW ois 'age, era', OW oit 'lifetime', MCorn. huis gl. seculum, Bret. oad 'age, life', whose exact etymologies (apparently without -u) are under debate. The u-stem is attested in Continental Celtic names like aiu, aiunus, aiuccio, aiulo, etc. (DLG: 36, Meid 2005: 213 f., Delamarre 2007: 210 et passim; complete collection and discussion in Zeidler 2013).

Bibliography

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.