pli-

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Type:	lexical
Meaning:	unknown
Language:	perhaps Celtic
Phonemic analysis:	unknown
Attestation:	plialeθu, plioiso, plios

Commentary

Onomastic element which is repeatedly attested in Cisalpine Celtic – five times in the name plios, gen. plioiso, and arguably once in a compound or derivation plialeθu – but whose etymology is unclear. No comparanda can be found in Continental Celtic onomastics for a base bli- or pli-, except CIL V 5001 pliamnus (Riva del Garda, AcS II: 1014); neither does the lexical material of Insular Celtic provide any feasible connections. In terms of derivation from PIE, Lejeune 1971: 59, n. 169 suggests a connection with *bʰlei̯- 'shine' (cf. Tibiletti Bruno 1969b: 179, Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 167, Tibiletti Bruno 1990b: 103 f., Motta 2000: 209), which is unattested in Celtic (IEW: 155 f.). This would point to anlauting /b/, but see plios on the putative connection with the Latin nomen plīnius.

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)