Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/ulkos

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.

• *lukos (with metathesis of resonants)

According to McCone, from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos (“wolf”).

• The odd resyllabification to *ulk(ʷ)os is paralleled by Old Irish olann (< *wlanā).
• The loss of labialization in the velar stop (guaranteed by Lepontic, which is P-Celtic, in addition to this term never being spelled with q in Ogham) may be a dissimilation against the initial *w ~ u.
• The meaning "bad" in Irish could have been derived from pejorative comparison to wolves, or through a taboo association.

Stifter and Höfler adopt a different semantic derivation to McCone, given how Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥kʷos (“wolf”) may be originally a deadjectivally accent-retracted substantivization of *wl̥kʷós (“harmful”); the adjective "bad" would simply instead be a survival of this base adjective into Irish.

MacBain's derivation of the Goidelic words for "bad" from Proto-Indo-European *h₁elḱ- (compare Proto-Indo-European *h₁élḱos (“sore, ulcer”), whence also Proto-Germanic *ilhilaz (“bad, evil”), Latin ulcus (“wound, sore”), Ancient Greek ἕλκος (hélkos, “wound, ulcer”), Sanskrit अर्श (arśa, “hemorrhoids”)) does not work because it cannot account for the -u- in Celtic.

*ulkos m

1. wolf

• Goidelic:
  • ⇒ Primitive Irish: ᚒᚂᚉᚐᚌᚅᚔ (ulcagni)
  • Old Irish: olc (“bad”), olcc, elc, Olc (in names of mythological figures), ⇒ Olcán
    • Irish: olc
    • Manx: olk
    • Scottish Gaelic: olc
• Lepontic: 𐌖𐌋𐌊𐌏𐌔 (ulkos)