ON SUBSTANTIATING INDO-EUROPEAN * W KHOS
’ WOLF’ IN CELTIC, CONTINENTAL AND INSULAR1
PAR
A. J. HUGHES
§ 1 The terms for ‘ wolf’ in Irish are manifold and the variation which exists reflects some classic problems for the vocabulary of Irish from the point of view of the Indo-European -and possible pre-Indo-European -elements in Goedelic. One case in point is Irish mac tíre (lit. ‘ son of (the) land’). Macc tíre is attested in the early literature2 and is also to be found quite extensively in the modern dialects as the term for ‘ wolf’, especially in Ulster3 although the term is also used in other dialects, such as Inis Meáin, off County Galway. 4 Proponents of the theory of a pre-Celtic Hamito-Semitic substratum in Irish have often cited this term in the context of a possible carry over from an earlier pre-Indo-European language. One key figure was Pokorny5 while Adams (1975, 240-2) draws up a fairly comprehensive list of terms such as mac alla ‘ echo’ (lit. ‘ son of a cliff’) and places mac tíre in this context. 6
§ 2 In their discussion of IE * w kho-‘ wolf’, Gamkrelidze and Ivanov (1995, 413, n. 1) propose an etymology to the root * wel-‘ tear, lacerate’, for which they compare OIr
fuil, MidIr fuili ‘ wounds’. Lehrman (1987, 17) opts for a connection with Hitt. walkwa
‘ dangerous’, a view also supported by Mallory and Adams (1997, 646). Etymology aside, Buck (1949, 185) shows how predominant reflexes of IE * w kwos and lukwo-are in most of the daughter languages of Indo-European but lists Celtic as the notable exception, where he cites OIr. fáel, bréch and cú allaid, with Modern Irish cú allaidh, faol(chú) and mac tíre. 7 Mac Giolla Easpaig (1981, 58) provides an estimate for twenty or so toponyms which contain the element bréach, while faol is attested not merely in place-names (e. g. Faoldruim ‘ wolf-ridge’, now Feltrim north of Dublin) but also in personal names, most notably in the diminutive form Faélán ‘ Little Wolf’.
1. For Eric P. Hamp. 2. DIL (sv. macc p. 7, col. A, ll 60 ff.). See also, MCCONE (1985, 173). 3. I know from fieldwork that mac tíre is the dominant term for ‘ wolf’ in Donegal Irish and it would appear to be so for East Ulster : mac tíre Co. Tyrone, Ó TUATHAIL (1933, 26), mic tíre i gcroicne caora iad (‘ They are wolves in sheep’s clothing’) Peadar Ó DOIRNÍN, 18th-cent. (Ó BUACHALLA 1969, 45) ; na mic tíre gá gcur i gcló domh Art MAC CUMHAIGH, 18th cent. (Ó FIAICH, 1973, 89) – both Co. Armagh. 4. Mac tíre Ó COIGLIGH (1990, 53 & 154). On mac tíre in Scotland, see FORBES (229). 5. Mac tíre „ Wolf“ („ Sohn des Landes“, vgl. berb. bu-tägänt „ Vater des Waldes = Wildschwein“ POKORNY (1927, 369). 6. For macc in Old Irish personal names, see O’BRIEN (1973, 227). 7. For those advising Buck on Irish (including Knott and Bergin) see BUCK (1949, xvi).
