Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/slimnos

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.

• *slimonos^[1]

Matasović compares with Latin līmō (“to polish”) and Old High German slīmen (“to polish”). Others have compared to Proto-Germanic *slīmą (“slime”), Latvian slienas (“saliva”), and Proto-Slavic *slina (“saliva”). For these a root *sleyH- or *sleh₁y- can be reconstructed.

*slimnos^[2][3]

1. smooth
2. slippery

Matasović reconstructs the adjective as *slimonos, seemingly due to the o in Old Irish slemon. But that vowel could have easily been epenthetic in Old Irish (see also domun < *dubnos), and he fails to explain the lack of an o between the reflexes of the *m and the *n in Brythonic.

• Proto-Brythonic: *llɨβ̃n
  • Old Breton: limn
    • Breton: levn
    • ⇒ Middle Breton: dileffn (“hard”, literally “dis-smooth”)
  • ⇒ Old Welsh: limnint (3pl present)
  • Middle Welsh: llyfyn
    • Welsh: llyfn
• Old Irish: slemon
  • Irish: sleamhain
  • Scottish Gaelic: sleamhainn
  • Manx: shliawin