kirati

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Attestation:	CO·64.1 (kirati) (1)
Language:	prob. Celtic
Word Type:	proper noun
Semantic Field:	personal name
Grammatical Categories:	gen. sg. masc.
Stem Class:	o
Morphemic Analysis:	kir-at-ī (?)
Phonemic Analysis:	/kir(r)atī/
Meaning:	'of Kiratos'

Commentary

Personal name in the genitive. The underlying nominative could be kiratos or kirat(i)i̯os, but comparanda without a palatal suffix are attested in CIL XII 4700 ciratus (Narbonne), XIII 7088 cirata (Mainz), and the potter's name ciratos at La Graufesenque (RIG L-30c). Considering its distribution, the name is probably Celtic, though the etymology is unclear. It appears to be derived with the suffix -at- from a base kir-, which also appears sporadically with other suffixes in the Gaulish area, e.g. in the potters' names ciriuna (Osw. 79) and ciruca (Osw. 80), see AcS I: 1028 f., Delamarre 2007: 66, Tibiletti Bruno 1974: 267. In northern Italy cf. CIL V 5176 cirusi (patronym, Curno near Bergamo). The gentilicium CIL XII 3519 cirratio (Nîmes), XI 6695.27 cirrat (Piacenza) was, together with other names in kirr-, classified as Latin (presumably from cirrātus 'curled') by Holder AcS I: 1029 (cf. Schulze 1904: 429), though Tibiletti Bruno 1974: 266 f. considers a twofold origin of the formation possible. See also Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 147, Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 183, Tibiletti Bruno 1990b: 114.

Corinna Salomon

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.