Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/loutus

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.

• *loutwos
• *loutwis

• Pokorny suggests a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”); see also *lowatrom (“bath”).^[1]
• Or, possibly related to *lutā (“dirt, mud”), from Proto-Indo-European *lew- (“dirt”) (Ancient Greek λῦμα (lûma, “dirt”), Latin lutum (“mud”)).
• Possibly from a Proto-Indo-European root shared by Sanskrit उल्का (ulkā, “meteor, firebrand, torch”).^[2]

*loutus f^[3]

1. ash from a fire

All Celtic descendants can be unified under a reconstruction *loutwis, but such a mechanical reconstruction would have rather odd suffixation (an i-stem on top of a u-stem).

• Matasović supposes separate later extensions, *loutwos for Brythonic and *loutwis for Goidelic. However, *loutwos is unnecessary to reconstruct if *loutwis is also reconstructed, as Proto-Celtic diphthongs and their Brythonic reflexes generally cannot be i-affected, and short i in final syllables can only i-affect *e anyhow.
• De Bernardo Stempel prefers an a-stem *loutā that secondarily turned into an i-stem in Old Irish, but she has no idea of how to derive the Brythonic material.^[4]

• Proto-Brythonic: *llʉdw
  • Middle Breton: ludu
  • Cornish: lusow
  • Middle Welsh: lludw, lludu
    • Welsh: lludw
• Middle Irish: lúaith
  • Irish: luaith
  • Manx: leoie
  • Scottish Gaelic: luath²