tau

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Attestation:	BG·29 (tau) (1)
Language:	perhaps Celtic
Word Type:	prob. proper noun
Semantic Field:	prob. personal name
Grammatical Categories:	indeterminable
Morphemic Analysis:	unknown
Phonemic Analysis:	unknown
Meaning:	abbreviation (?)

Commentary

Possibly an abbreviation of a personal name. Morandi 2003: 126 (no. 2) suggests names in taut- or taur- (specifically the Celtic or Ligurian ethnonym taurini), both of which have Latinised pronunciation/spelling (of tou̯t- and taru̯- 'bull', respectively; cf. maybe pau). Potential comparanda with Celtic /au̯/ include Gaul. taua, tauius, tauena, tauillia, associated with Gaul. *tau̯o- 'silent, calm' by Delamarre DLG: 293 (also Delamarre 2007: 234). There are no other names in tau- attested in the Cisalpine Celtic corpus.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

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.