maeśilalui

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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:	dat. sg. masc.
Stem Class:	o
Morphemic Analysis:	maeś-il(l)-al-ūi̯
Phonemic Analysis:	/m??il(l)alūi̯/
Meaning:	'for the son of Maeśilos'

Commentary

Dative patronym/appositive in -alo- from a personal name maeśil(l)os. The latter is derived with the suffix -il(l)o-, but the analysis of the base spelled ⟨maeś⟩ is unclear. San could spell the reflex of a tau gallicum cluster or */d/. The sequence ⟨ae⟩ is very rare in the Lepontic alphabet, the only other possible occurrence being VA·28.3 aesia; the Celtic diphthongs /ai̯/ and /āi̯/ are spelled ⟨ai⟩. Lejeune 1971: 25 f., 64, n. 209, being unaware of forms with /ai̯/ in first syllables (e.g. kaio), assumed that /ai̯/ > /ae/ in that position, but offered no comparanda for *maiś-. ⟨ae⟩ could be due to influence from Latin orthography (cf. the form of mu in the inscription); thus Rhŷs 1913: 57 f., who suggested that ⟨ae⟩ is written for /e/ and compared names in međi-/messi-, where derivations with an l-suffix are very common (e.g. CIL V 4536 messili [gen., Brescia]). While this could motivate the use of san, ⟨ae⟩ for short /e/ is not plausible. Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 149 compared Oscan maisios 'May' and the derived Oscan/Latin PN maesius (cf. also Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 175, Morandi 2004: 582, Gambari 2019b: 98), which seems unnecessarily far-reaching (cf. metelui) and does not explain the use of san. Stifter 2010: 370, 2024: ? tentatively suggests that the form could go back to PC *magestu- 'plain, field' (LEIA M-8) with ⟨ae⟩ reflecting the hiatus sequence [a.e], but notes that there is no clear evidence for loss of intervocalic /g/ or weakening to [ɣ] in Cisalpine Celtic otherwise (cf. maybe maeloni). He alternatively points to Schrijver 2015: 199, who analyses the base as *mai̯d- as in OIr. moídid 'to boast' (though this etymology leaves the /a/ unexplained). With the two variables, an authoritative analysis of the base is not possible at this point.

Bibliography

CIL	Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. (17 volumes, various supplements)