Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/enīkʷom

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.

From Proto-Indo-European *h₁én (“in”) +‎ *h₃ekʷ- (“eye, seeing”). The exact shape of the compound is difficult to reconstruct due to various phonetic irregularities in Celtic.

One possible reconstruction for the compound formation is *h₁éni-h₃kʷ-, which leads to *enīkʷ-. However:

• Both Old Irish enech and the Brittonic forms fail to show raising or fronting of the initial vowel except in the Old Irish dative plural form inchaib and the Primitive Irish combining form ᚔᚅᚓᚊᚐ (ineqa).
• Brittonic -e- for the second vowel indicates the *-ī- must have been shortened somehow on the way to Brittonic. The lowering to -e- can then be accounted for by assuming derivation from the plural/collective *enīkʷā (note that Old Irish enech is a plurale tantum).

To get around these phonetic problems, *enekʷom can be reconstructed instead, with a derivation *h₁én-h₃ekʷ-, which brings its own host of morphological and phonetic problems:

• Primitive Irish ᚔᚅᚓᚊᚐ (ineqa) and Old Irish inchaib would thus have no phonetic source for intiial in-, since there is no high vowel ahead to raise original en- in Matasović's reconstruction.
• Compound formations usually have their second member in the zero grade, not the e-grade, in Indo-European.
• The proposed vowel-harmonization of *enokʷom to *enekʷom is unprecedented in Celtic.

*enīkʷom n

1. face

   Synonym: *gnūstis

• *eɸi-enīkʷom
  • Middle Welsh: wyneb
    • Welsh: wyneb

• Proto-Brythonic: *eneb
  • Old Breton: enep
    • Middle Breton: enep
      • Breton: eneb, enep
  • Old Cornish: eneb
    • Cornish: enep
  • Old Welsh: enep
    • Welsh: wyneb, gwyneb
• Primitive Irish: ᚔᚅᚓᚊᚐ (ineqa) (in the personal name ᚔᚅᚓᚊᚐᚌᚂᚐᚄ (ineqaglas))
  • Old Irish: enech, enach, einech
    • Middle Irish: enech, einech, ainech
      • Irish: oineach, eineach