ate-
| Type: | lexical |
|---|---|
| Meaning: | 'again; very' |
| Function: | intensifying |
| Language: | Celtic |
| Phonemic analysis: | /ate/- |
| From PIE: | *h₂eti 'again' |
| From Proto-Celtic: | *ati 'again' |
| Attestation: | anatikou, atecua, ateknati, atepa, ateporix, atepu, ateratos, ateuloipitus |
Commentary
The prefix (OIr. aith-, W ad- etc., LEIA: A-53), with /i/ lowered to /e/ (Uhlich 2010: 145–149, cf. ande-, are-) is frequently attested as first element of Gaulish compound personal names, though in many contexts hard to distinguish from ad-. The semantics of repetition and intensification as in the Insular Celtic cognates is present e.g. in ateuritus 'found again', ategnatos 'born again'/'recognised' or 'well known', aterato 'very happy', ethnonym atecotti (gen.) 'very old' (DLG: 57, Delamarre 2007: 211 et passim). Schmidt KGP: 57 with n. 1 proposes not merely intensifying semantics, but a literal meaning 'exceeding' for compounds with substantive bases with reference to OI áti 'exceedingly', translating e.g. atebodua 'exceeding Bodb (in strength)'; cf. also Meid 2005: 165 f.: atecorius 'outstanding in the host', atedunus '(famous) beyond the dunum'. Critical Evans GPN: 142–145, who notes that in many forms the prefix appears to have no semantic function. OI áti is derived from PIE *(h₁)eti 'over, beyond, exceeding' in EWAia I: 57, whose relation to PIE *h₂eti/*ati is under discussion (cf. IEW: 70, Uhlich 2010: 145, n. 25, and Dunkel LIPP: 93–96, who keeps them apart and does not discuss intensifying semantics of PIE *ati). See also Wodtko 2013: 224 f., Dunkel 2014 II: 94. The intensifying function of the Celtic prefix may be developed from the meaning 'again'.
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. |
| Dunkel 2014 | George E. Dunkel, Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme, Heidelberg: Winter 2014. |
| EWAia | Manfred Mayrhofer, Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen, Heidelberg: Winter 1992–2001. |
