tek-

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Type:	lexical
Meaning:	'pretty'
Language:	Celtic
Phonemic analysis:	/tek/-
Attestation:	atecua, atekua, tekialui

Commentary

A Gaulish u-stem teku- is attested in an inscription from La Graufesenque (tecuandoedo) according to Lambert 1994: 144, who compares it to W teg etc. 'pretty, fair' < *teko-, OIr. étig 'ugly' < *teki-. While the Gaulish lexical attestation is uncertain (see DLG: 293 f.), Gaulish personal names in tek(k)- are likely to attest the root (see Delamarre 2007: 234 et passim, GPN: 474 f. with n. 3). Pokorny IEW: 1057 connects it with PIE *tek- 'reach, stretch out', comparing ON þægr 'agreeable' for the semantic development; the profusion of stem variants awaits explanation.

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.