rhieni

Welsh

Etymology

Derived by Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru from rhy- (“before”) +‎ geni (“birth”), possibly continuing a Proto-Celtic stem *ɸro-gany-. Compare Ancient Greek πρόγονος (prógonos, “ancestor”) for an equivalent formation.

In the 1990s, Lambert and Schrijver found a possible Gaulish cognate, relating rhieni with Gaulish regenia. They disagreed on the words' shared Proto-Celtic reconstruction, however. Lambert opts for *ɸrogenyā while Schrijver opts for *ɸrogenesa.[1] Both reconstructions face phonological difficulties. Lambert has no explanation for the -i ending in Welsh (final *-yā after a consonant is normally lost in Welsh) while Schrijver assumes a tenuous deletion of weakened -s- in Gaulish (which has many counterexamples).

Pronunciation

Noun

rhieni m (collective, singulative rhiant)

  1. parents
  2. forefathers, ancestors
  3. (figurative) forebears, precursor

Mutation
Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
rhieni rieni unchanged unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “rhieni”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

  1. Schrijver, Peter (1998) “The Châteaubleau tile as a link between Latin and French and between Gaulish and Brittonic”, in Études Celtiques, volume 34, number 1, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 135–142
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