krasanikna

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Attestation:	NO·18 (metelui:maeśilalui:uenia:metelikna:aśmina:krasanikna) (1)
Language:	Celtic
Word Type:	proper noun
Semantic Field:	patronymic
Grammatical Categories:	nom. sg. fem.
Stem Class:	ā
Morphemic Analysis:	krasan-ikn-ā
Phonemic Analysis:	/kras(s)aniknā/
Meaning:	'daughter of Krasan(i)os'

Commentary

Patronym in -ikn- from a personal name krasan(i)os. Lejeune 1971: 64, n. 208 tentatively compares CIL V 3201 grasiniae (Vicenza), but the best comparanda, already brought in by Rhŷs 1913: 59 (also Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 150, Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 176, Morandi 2004: 582, Gambari 2019b: 99), are names in kraχs-, especially CIL XII 3577 craxanii at Nîmes (see AcS I: 1157, Delamarre 2007: 77, 218). The name shows the assimilation of the cluster [χs] > [s(s)] (see The Cisalpine Celtic Languages).

On kraχso-, kraχsanto- see DLG: 129: the words appear to mean 'toad'; a Late Latin craxantus/crassantus 'toad' is attested ca. 500 AD (Eucheria), and continued in dial. Fr. graisset, OProv. graissan, Catal. grexá 'toad'. If W crach 'scab' belongs here rather than with Ir. carrach 'scabby'(?), kraχs- originally meant something like 'scale, scaly'; alternatively, kraχs- 'toad' may be onomatopoetic. In any case, etymology unclear.

See also Rhŷs 1914: 25.

David Stifter, 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.
DLG	Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise. Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental, 2nd, revised edition, Paris: Errance 2003.