esopnos

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Attestation:	PV·1 (esopnos kepi) (1)
Language:	Celtic
Word Type:	proper noun
Semantic Field:	personal name
Grammatical Categories:	nom. sg. masc.
Stem Class:	o, i̯o
Morphemic Analysis:	eχs-obn-os
Phonemic Analysis:	/e(χ)sobnos/
Meaning:	'Esopnos'

Commentary

Personal name in the nominative. The name eχsobnos 'without fear' is well-attested in both Cisalpine Celtic and Transalpine Gaulish (e.g. RIG M-175 exobnos, CIL XIII 6460 exobni [gen.]), in numerous variants which include spellings reflecting the development of the second element -obn- > -omn- > -ou̯n- (e.g. CIL XIII 8409 exomnae [gen.], RIU VI 1359 exounomarae [dat.]), hypercorrect spellings of [χs] as ⟨xs⟩ (e.g. CIL XIII 6939 exsomnus), as well as suffixal derivations (e.g. CIL XIII 8784 exomnianius) and one compound mentioned above, see AcS: 1489 f., KGP: 213, GPN: 202, DLG: 170, Meid 2005: 108 f., 174, Stüber 2005: 63, Delamarre 2007: 98, 100. esopnos shows the pre-assimilation Lautstand of the root obn-, as do both other certain Cisalpine attestations, the patronym esopnio and the ā-stem exobna (in Latin alphabet), despite the fact, noted by Lejeune 1971: 54 f., n. 139, that Latin attestations in northern Italy show [mn] (CIL V 6101 exomno [dat., Milano], 7123 exsomniae [dat., Torino], 7445 exsomnae [dat., Bassignana], 7832 exomnius [Forum Germanorum]). A possible attestation of a further assimilated variant is esonius. In forms which show -ou̯n-, it cannot be excluded that the original PC Lautstand (see -obn- has been preserved. In all attestations of the name in the Lepontic alphabet, *[χs] is spelled with simple sigma, indicating a (Cisalpine Gaulish?) sound change [χs] > [ss], supported by other attestations of eχs- (especially esanekoti, as the simplification of the cluster in the eχs-king-names, which is common also in Transalpine Gaulish, may be due to dissimilation before /k/); the cluster does, however, emerge intact in exobna and the Latin attestations mentioned above.

The formation eχs-obn- is Proto-Celtic, with cognates in OIr. essamain, MW ehofyn 'fearless', OIr. essamnae 'fearlessness' < *eχsobnii̯ā, see Matasović 2009: 119 f., IEW: 293.

See also Tibiletti Bruno 1965b: 570, Tibiletti Bruno 1964: 169 f., Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 148.

Bibliography

AcS	Alfred Holder, Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz, Leipzig: Teubner 1896–1907.
CIL	Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. (17 volumes, various supplements)
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.