Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/loɸernos

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 *h₂(w)lop- ~ *h₂ulp- (“(red) fox”). Cognate with Proto-Italic *wolpis, Proto-Hellenic *alōpēkos, Proto-Balto-Slavic *lapē, Proto-Albanian *dzelpinā, *welpinā, Old Armenian աղուէս (ałuēs), աղուվէս (ałuvēs), Proto-Indo-Iranian *HlawpaHćás and Avestan 𐬭𐬀𐬋𐬞𐬌 (raōpi).

Cognates in other IE languages differ too wildly to reconstruct a PIE prototype noun, so this may be a Wanderwort.

*loɸernos m

1. fox

• Proto-Brythonic: *llowern (“fox”)
  • Old Breton: louuern
    • Middle Breton: louarn
      • Breton: louarn (“fox”), lowern, luhern
  • Old Cornish: louuern (“vulpes”)
    • Cornish: lowarn (“fox”)
  • Old Welsh: louern
    • Middle Welsh: llewyrn (“foxes”)
      • Welsh: llwyrn (“will o' the wisp”)
• Old Irish: loarn
• Gaulish: *louernos

• Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*loferno-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 243
• Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise, 2nd edn. (Paris: Errance, 2003), 207.