Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/-yūs

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.

Proto-Celtic

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *-yōs.

Suffix

*-yūs

1. Forms comparative forms of adjectives.

   ‎*sen- (“old”) + ‎*-yūs → ‎*senyūs (“older”) (whence Old Irish siniu and Welsh hŷn)

Usage notes

• No gender/number/case inflection of comparative adjectives is attested in Celtic. This suffix lost all productivity in Brythonic but a few remnants remain (such as Welsh hŷn < *senyūs).
• Some adjectives that used a Caland system suffix in the positive that was absent in the other degrees of comparison did not use *-yūs. Instead they used *-(a)is to form the comparative.

Descendants

• Old Irish: -iu, -u
  • Irish: -e