Cognate Set 1735 – Meaning: river

IE-CoR reference form:
*h₂ebʰ-
IE-CoR reference language:
Proto-Indo-European
Ideophonic:
no
Parallel derivation:
no
Proposed as cognate to:
*h₂ep- [Proto-Indo-European] scale: 1
Justification:
Anatolian and Celtic lexemes derived from PIE *h₂ebʰ-. Since Watkins 1973 the Celtic words have been connected to Hittite and Palaic words for 'river' from a PIE n-stem *h₂ebʰ-n-, more recently followed by Willi 2004 and Kloekhorst 2008:294-295 s.v. Hitt. ḫapa-. A popular alternative analysis reconciles the Celtic words with Indo-Iranic words for 'water' (cf. cognate set 157) and Baltic and Nuristani lexemes for 'river' (cf. cognate set 7856) via a derivation using the 'Hoffmann Suffix' *h₂ep-h₃on- (cf. Matasović 2009:23-24 s.v. Proto-Celtic *abon-; NIL 311-317 tentatively reconstructs for Celtic ?*h₂ep-h₃on-, cf. NIL with references to further literature), but this analysis must assume an inner-PIE development *-ph₃- > *-b- (e.g. *pi-ph₃-e-ti > Ved. píbati '(s)he drinks'; cf. Lat. bibō with voicing assimilation to the reduplicated syllable). Since the number of examples of *-ph₃- > *-b- are few in number, this must remain a conjectural proposal. The cognacy in this class therefore follows the etymology of Watkins 1973 to a root *h₂ebʰ-. Cf. also Vendryes et al. 1959–1996 A:4-5.
Found in clades:
Anatolian, Celtic, Iranic
Revised by:
Matthew Scarborough
Found in 3 clades by 13 lexemes.
Language Lexeme Native script Phonetic Phonemic Notes
161   Gaelic: Irish abhainn ˈawəɲ ˈØˠavˠən̪ʲ
1   Hittite ḫapa- *ḫa-pa-aš Nom.sg. only as Sumerographic ÍD-aš; native script form reconstructed from gen.sg. ḫa-pa-aš
159   Gaelic: Scottish abhainn a.ɪn̪ˠ
2   Luvian ḫāpa/i- ḫa-a-pi-iš (CL)
158   Old Irish aub ˈauβˠ ˈauβ
148   Gaulish abona Attested in names, e.g. the common toponym Avon.
155   Middle Breton auon, auoun, auonn ˈaːvon Attested twice in the Catholicon (1499). Under the headword Auonn an iffern (avon an ifern) with the French translation 'fleuue denfer' (fleuve d'enfer, river of hell). Under the headword fluaff, auonn is given as equivalent of Latin fluvius, French fleuve.
160   Gaelic: Manx awin ˈauinʲ ˈauinʲ abhainn
151   Welsh: North afon ˈavɔn ˈavon
150   Middle Welsh afon avon
53   Yaghnobi ōp AF ōw
153   Late Cornish auan ˈawən
154   Old Breton *avon, *aven Not attested in Old Breton as a common noun, but regionally frequent in onomastics, e.g. Pont-Aven (Finistère, 29).
References
  • Deshayes, Albert: 73
    Lists place-names containing 'aven', e.g. Coetaven (1444), Pen-Aven (1672). These are all located in the departement Finistère (29).
  • Irslinger, Britta:
    In Middle Breton, auon 'river' is known and used by educated people. The example from the Catholicon illustrates its use in a religious context. In this context, it probably was also current to illiterate speakers. It remains however unclear, if it was the Swadesh term for 'river'. Place-names with auon are restricted to Western Brittany, and it is not used any more in Modern Breton. The Catholicon also has an entry for riuyer, borrowed from French. This word is used today in Treger Breton. The Gwened word gwaz is listed s.v. goaz with the equivalents Middle French russeau, Latin hic riuulus. It denotes thus smaller water courses in Middle Breton.
  • Kloekhorst, Alwin: 294-295
    S.v. Hitt. ḫapa- 'river', (cf. Pal. ḫāpna- 'river', CLuw. ḫāpa/i- 'river', HLuw. hapa/i- 'river') < PAnat. *h₂ebo- < PIE *h₂ebʰ-o-, *h₂ebʰ-n- (cf. OIr. aub, gen. abae), MWe. afon 'river', Lat. amnis 'stream, river'.
  • Matasović, Ranko: 23-24
    S.v. Proto-Celtic *abon- 'river', from PIE *h₂ep-h₃on- 'river' (cf. Hitt. hāpa- Pal. hāpna-, Lat. amnis). The root may be cognate with PIE *h₂ep- (cf. Skt. áp- 'water', OPr. ape 'brook') with a "(?possessive)" suffix *-h₃on- under the assumption that *ph₃ > b (as in *piph₃eti 'drinks' > Skt. píbati).
  • Scarborough, Matthew:
    Since [Watkins 1973](src-711) the Celtic words have been connected to Hittite and Palaic words for 'river' from a PIE n-stem *h₂ebʰ-n-, more recently followed by [Willi 2004](src-710) and [Kloekhorst 2008](src-80):294-295 s.v. Hitt. ḫapa-. A popular alternative analysis reconciles the Celtic words with Indo-Iranic words for 'water' (cf. [cognate set 157](cog-157)) and Baltic and Nuristani lexemes for 'river' (cf. [cognate set 7856](cog-7856)) via a derivation using the 'Hoffmann Suffix' *h₂ep-h₃on- (cf. [Matasović 2009](src-50):23-24 s.v. Proto-Celtic *abon-; [NIL](src-274) 311-317 tentatively reconstructs for Celtic ?*h₂ep-h₃on-, cf. [NIL](src-274) with references to further literature), but this analysis must assume an inner-PIE development *-ph₃- > *-b- (e.g. *pi-ph₃-e-ti > Ved. píbati '(s)he drinks'; cf. Lat. bibō with voicing assimilation to the reduplicated syllable). Since the number of examples of *-ph₃- > *-b- are few in number, this must remain a conjectural proposal. The cognacy in this class therefore follows the etymology of [Watkins 1973](src-711) to a root *h₂ebʰ-.
  • Vendryes, Joseph and Bachellery, Edouard and Lambert, Pierre-Yves: A-4-5
    S.v. OIr. ab 'rivière'. A pre-form *abā is assumed for Germanic which continues river names in -apa, OHG -affa, on the other hand Lat. amnis can come from *abni-. One separates a common root *ab- in the western languages for courses of water. This perhaps corresponds to an Indo-Iranian root *ap- in Skt. āpaḥ 'the waters', Av. āfš 'water'.
  • Watkins, Calvert: 80-89
    Proposes cognacy of Celtic lexemes for 'river' (OIr. ab, aub, W afon) with Anatolian lexemes for 'river' (Hitt. ḫapa-, Pal. ḫāpna-).
  • Wodtko, Dagmar S. and Irslinger, Britta and Schneider, Carolin: 311-317
    Cf. s.v. PIE *h₂ep- 'water, river' (Anatolian and Baltic), ?*h₂ep-h₃on- 'river' (Celtic).