Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/sniyeti

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.

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)neh₁- (“to spin”).^[1]

*sniyeti^[2]

1. to turn, twist

The short i in the verb is often reconstructed to account for the Brittonic forms like Welsh nyddu, but this complicates the etymology significantly as a long *ī is expected from the root in the e-grade and *ā in the zero-grade. The expected e-grade *ī appears in the verbal noun *snīmus. Schumacher explains the discrepancy by assuming that the expected *ī would break up across a hiatus that would be created in a thematic formation *sneh₁eti: *-eh₁e- > *-īe- > *-iye-.^[2]

Alternative theories about the verb formation also exist, including:

• Zair reconstructs *snīyeti (< Proto-Indo-European *sneh₁-ye-) with a straightforward long *ī present and explains the Brittonic forms as having a secondarily shortened vowel.^[3]
• Sandell, following Jasanoff, reconstructs *snīti, a Narten-ablaut athematic present.^[4]

• *kom-sniyeti
• *snī-mus (verbal noun)

• Proto-Brythonic:
  • Middle Breton: nezet (past participle)
  • Cornish: nedha
  • Middle Welsh: nydu
    • Welsh: nyddu
• Old Irish: sníid
  • Middle Irish: sníid