uitili

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Attestation:	BG·34 (ụitili) (1)
Language:	Celtic
Word Type:	proper noun
Semantic Field:	personal name
Grammatical Categories:	gen. sg. masc.
Stem Class:	i̯o
Morphemic Analysis:	u̯īt-il-(i̯-)ī or u̯ind-il-(i̯-)ī
Phonemic Analysis:	/u̯ītill(i̯)ī/ or /u̯indill(i̯)ī/
Meaning:	'of Uitilios'

Commentary

Masculine personal name in the genitive. The basic analysis and segmentation are clear, but a few uncertainties remain. The comparison with the nominative uitilios suggests a i̯o-stem, but u̯itillos is equally likely as the underlying name. The best comparanda are found in uindilla, uindillus, uindillius from u̯ind- 'white' (see Delamarre 2007: 200). This etymology, however, disagrees with the assumption that -nd- > -nn- in both Lepontic and Cisalpine Gaulish (see The Cisalpine Celtic Languages). Lejeune 1971: 65 f., n. 232 therefore suggests u̯itu- 'willow', cf. especially uitulus (if not Latin 'calf' but Celtic, as suggested by Birkhan 1970: 274 f. with n. 583). As in this comparandum the vowel in the suffix would be expected to be u rather than i, even if this is not always regular (see the morpheme page).

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Birkhan 1970	Helmut Birkhan, Germanen und Kelten bis zum Ausgang der Römerzeit, Wien, Graz: Böhlau 1970. (2 volumes, volume 2 not published)
Delamarre 2007	Xavier Delamarre, Noms de personnes celtiques dans l'épigraphie classique. Nomina Celtica Antiqua Selecta Inscriptionum, Paris: Errance 2007.