brig-

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Type:	lexical
Meaning:	'height, mountain, fortress'
Language:	Celtic
Phonemic analysis:	/brig/-
From PIE:	*bʰr̥ǵʰ- 'height, mountain'
From Proto-Celtic:	*brig- 'height, mountain, fortress'
Attestation:	priś

Commentary

Attested in Celtic are the root noun PIE *bʰr̥ǵʰ-s > PC *brigs in OIr. brí 'hill' and the derivation PIE *bʰr̥ǵʰ-ah₂- > PC *brigā in MW, MBret., MCo. bre 'hill' (NIL: 30, DLG: 87, Matasović 2009 s.v. *brig-, LEIA: B-87). Both forms appear as first and especially second element in numerous Continental Celtic toponyms, e.g. brigaecium, αρτοβρίγα, eburobriga, aliobrix, castellum auiliobris (Hamp 1991, De Hoz 1994: 352 f., DLG: 87, Falileyev 2009: 4, Falileyev 2010: 11 f., 80 f.). See priś on the question of an s-stem in names in brix-. Also amply attested are derivations in -n̥t-: PC *brigantī (OIr. brigid, OBrit. theonym and Gaul. PN brigantia), *brigantīnos > MW brenhin 'king', and numerous Continental Celtic toponyms, hydronyms and ethnonyms in brigant- 'elevated' (DLG: 87 f., Falileyev 2010: 12, 80), as well as some other derivations (see NIL: 31). For some isolated forms in brig-, in which the length of the root vowel cannot be determined (e.g. brigindoni, GPN: 314–316, but also Schrijver 1995: 87), no decision can be made between this morpheme and brīg- 'worth'.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

De Hoz 1994	Javier de Hoz, "Castellum Aviliobris. Los celtas del extremo occidente continental", in: Roland Bielmeier, Reinhard Stempel (eds), Indogermanica et Caucasica. Festschrift für Karl Horst Schmidt zum 65. Geburtstag [= Untersuchungen zur indogermanischen Sprach- und Kulturwissenschaft 6], Berlin – New York: De Gruyter 1994, 348–362.
Delamarre 2019	Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire des thèmes nominaux du gaulois. I. Ab- / Iχs(o)-, Paris: Les Cent Chemins 2019.
DLG	Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise. Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental, 2nd, revised edition, Paris: Errance 2003.
Falileyev 2009	Alexander Falileyev, Celtic Dacia, Aberystwyth: CMCS 2009.
Falileyev 2010	Alexander Falileyev, Dictionary of Continental Celtic Place-Names. A Celtic Companion to the Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World, Aberystwyth: CMCS 2010.