lāt-

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Type:	lexical
Meaning:	'fury, heat' (?)
Language:	Celtic
Phonemic analysis:	/lāt/-
Attestation:	latumarui

Commentary

An onomastic element lat- appears in Gaulish with various stem variants: the i-stem as second element of compounds like RIIG BDR-06-01 (RIG G-13) εσκεγγολατι, the o-stem in the Noric epithet of Mars latobius and the probably related Pannonian ethnonym latobici/latovici (Pliny etc.) as well as latobrigi/latobrogi (Caesar), and an apparent u-stem in Cisalpine Celtic latumarui, all beside presumable hypocoristics like laticcus, latto (potter's name), CIL XIII 2802 latussio (see AcS II: 150–156, Delamarre 2007: 115). The i-stem is usually connected with OIr. láith 'warrior, hero' (KGP: 229, DLG: 197 f.); this form is attested beside a more common o-stem láth, which also means 'rut (of animals)'. The words have been further connected to Welsh forms like llawd 'rut', MW llid 'rage' (but see lūt-), and Ukr. l'it' 'rut', but the PIE etymology is unclear (see Irslinger 2002: 297 f., Zair 2012: 80). Meid 2005: 53 f. argues for a semantic development in Irish from PC *lāto- 'heroic fury, heat', interpreting latobius as 'who strikes in fury'. Schmidt KGP: 229 alternatively suggests to keep lato- separate and connect it with PIE *pelh₂- 'flat' with a t-suffix → 'plain' (cf. lān-); generally doubtful of the whole approach Evans GPN: 216. How and if the forms in latu- belong here is uncertain; see further on latumaros. See also lūt-.

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.