Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/mrakis

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

A connection with Proto-Indo-European *merk- (“to be soaked”), as proposed since Pokorny,^[1] is semantically attractive and finds good parallels in Latin marceō (“wither, droop”), Lithuanian merkti (“soak”), and Ukrainian мороква́ (morokvá, “quagmire, swamp”). However, the vocalism presents a serious difficulty: Proto-Indo-European *mr̥ki- would be expected to yield Proto-Celtic *mriki-, not *malto-. As noted by Matasović, the Celtic vowel cannot be derived regularly from *merk-, and the similarity may therefore be accidental. He suggests that it could instead be a borrowing from an unknown substrate source, which would not be unusual for terminology connected with food-processing technology.^[2]

Noun

*mrakis gender unattested

malt

Reconstruction notes

Goidelic and Brittonic do not agree on this word's gender. In Goidelic, it is feminine; and in Brittonic, it is masculine.

Inflection

Masculine/feminine i-stem
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	*mrakis	*mrakī	*mrakīs
vocative	*mraki	*mrakī	*mrakīs
accusative	*mrakim	*mrakī	*mrakins
genitive	*mrakeis	*mrakyow	*mrakyom
dative	*mrakei	*mrakibom	*mrakibos
locative	*mrakei	*?	*?
instrumental	*mrakī	*mrakibim	*mrakibis

Descendants

Proto-Brythonic: *brag
- Middle Breton: braguez
  - Breton: bragez
- Old Cornish: brag
  - Cornish: brag
- Middle Welsh: brag, brac
  - Welsh: brag
Old Irish: mraich
- Middle Irish: braich
  - Irish: braich
  - Manx: bry
  - Scottish Gaelic: braich
Gaulish: *brakis
- → Latin: bracis
  - French: brai (“grain residue after distillation; crushed malt”)
  - ⇒ Latin: *braciō (1st-conjugation verb)
    - French: brasser

References

^ Delamarre, Xavier (2003), “bracis”, in Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental [Dictionary of the Gaulish language: A linguistic approach to Old Continental Celtic] (Collection des Hespérides; 9), 2nd edition, Éditions Errance, →ISBN, page 85
^ Matasović, Ranko (2009), “*mraki-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 279

[1] Delamarre, Xavier (2003), “bracis”, in Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental [Dictionary of the Gaulish language: A linguistic approach to Old Continental Celtic] (Collection des Hespérides; 9), 2nd edition, Éditions Errance, →ISBN, page 85

[2] Matasović, Ranko (2009), “*mraki-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 279

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