ep-

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Type:	lexical
Meaning:	'horse'
Language:	Celtic
Phonemic analysis:	/ep/-
From PIE:	*h₁eḱ-u̯-o- 'horse'
From Proto-Celtic:	*eku̯o- 'horse'
Attestation:	atepa, ateporix, atepu

Commentary

Lexically in OIr. ech, MW ebaul 'foal', OBret. eb 'horse', ebol 'foal', OCo. ebol gl. pullus, etc., from PIE *h₁eḱ-u̯-o- 'horse', probably a derivation from *HeHḱ- 'swift' (NIL: 230–233 with n. 1, Matasović 2009 s.v. *ekwo-). Common as onomastic element in Insular (Ogam eqod[i], echadi, McManus 1991: 108, 121 f.) and Continental Celtic, e.g. Celtib. A.63 ekualaku, Gaulish RIG M-166 epomeduos, eporedorix, eposognatus, epos, RIIG BDR-12-27, BDR-12-28, BDR-12-29, BDR-12-30, BDR-12-31 (RIG G-90–94) επο, epa, RIG L-82f eppa, eppius/-a, epponus, epacus, epasius, epatus, epula, RIG M-114 epillos, as well as the theonym epona, the ethnonym επίδιοι (Ptolemy), and numerous toponyms, e.g. epomanduodurum (> Mandeure), eporedia (> Ivrea), epiacum (> Epfig). See AcS I: 1442–1455, KGP: 209 f., GPN: 197–199, Lochner von Hüttenbach 1989: 74 f., DLG: 163 f., Meid 2005: 195, 270, Stüber 2005: 105, Delamarre 2007: 221 et passim, Stüber et al. 2009: 274, Falileyev 2009: 86 f.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

AcS	Alfred Holder, Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz, Leipzig: Teubner 1896–1907.
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.
Falileyev 2009	Alexander Falileyev, Celtic Dacia, Aberystwyth: CMCS 2009.