kasiloi
| Attestation: | NM·11 (kasiloi) (1) |
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| Status: | probable |
| Language: | Celtic |
| Word Type: | proper noun |
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| Grammatical Categories: | masc. |
| Stem Class: | o |
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| Morphemic Analysis: | kass-il(l)-oi̯ (?) |
| Phonemic Analysis: | /kassiloi̯/ or /kassilloi̯/ |
| Meaning: | unknown |
Commentary
See NM·11 on the reading.
The ending -oi ist best explained as the nominative plural of an o-stem -oi̯, possibly of an ethnonym. The morphology of the base, however, is that of a hypocoristic personal name (see the alternative reading kasilos). See Lejeune 1971: 129, who tentatively suggests (n. 452) a "hypocoristique d'ethnique" from an ethnonym in -casses, but see kass- on the semantic and functional separation of kassi- in personal names and -kasses in ethnonyms. Alternatively, Lejeune proposes the analysis of -oi as the dative singular ending PC -ōi̯, which would go better with the personal name (though the significance of a dative singular in a coin legend is unclear). The change of PC *-ōi̯ > -ūi̯, however, is attested much earlier in Lepontic and by the 1st c. in Cisalpine Gaulish. Cf. -oi in the coin legend rikoi, as well as riśoi and (unlikely) χoθioi.
