Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/moltos

This Proto-Celtic entry contains reconstructed terms and roots. As such, the term(s) in this entry are not directly attested, but are hypothesized to have existed based on comparative evidence.

Proto-Celtic

Etymology

Unknown. Multiple theories exist.

Pokorny derived this from *melh₂- (“to crush”), the semantic distance resolvable under the assumption that castration was done with a crushing method.[1]
Matasović, unsatisfied with previous theories, assumes a borrowing from a non-Indo-European substrate language.[2]

Noun

*moltos m

ram, wether

Declension

Masculine o-stem
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*moltos	*moltou	*moltoi
vocative	*molte	*moltou	*moltūs
accusative	*moltom	*moltou	*moltoms
genitive	*moltī	*moltous	*moltom
dative	*moltūi	*moltobom	*moltobos
locative	*moltei	*?	*?
instrumental	*moltū	*moltobim	*moltūis

Descendants

Proto-Brythonic: *mollt
- Middle Breton: mout, maout
  - Breton: maout
- Cornish: mols
- Middle Welsh: mollt
  - Welsh: mollt
Old Irish: molt
- Irish: molt
- Manx: mohlt
- Scottish Gaelic: mult
Gaulish: *multon-
- → Medieval Latin: moltō, multō, montō, muttō, mutō (see there for further descendants)

References

Zair, Nicholas (2012) The reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European laryngeals in Celtic, Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 245
Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*molto-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 275