Reconstruction:Proto-Brythonic/Uɨsk

This Proto-Brythonic entry contains reconstructed words 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-Brythonic

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *ɸēskos (“fish”), from Proto-Indo-European *peysḱ-. This inherited term was supplanted as the generic word for "fish" by *pɨsk, a borrowing from Latin piscis, but survives as a fossilized term in a number of toponyms.

Proper noun

*Uɨsk

A river name, perhaps originally meaning "abundant in fish". [1][2][3]

Descendants

Middle Welsh: Wÿsk
- Welsh: Wysg
- → English: Usk
→ English: Axe
→ English: Esk
→ Old English: Ex[4]
- English: Exe
→ Latin: Isca

Derived terms

*kaɨr (“fort”) + *Uɨsk
- *Kaɨruɨsk (“Exeter”)
  - Middle Cornish: Caresk, Karesk
    - Cornish: Karesk
  - Welsh: Caerwysg

References

Witcombe, Richard (2009). Who was Aveline anyway?: Mendip's Cave Names Explained (2nd ed.). Priddy: Wessex Cave Club.
Eilert Ekwall (1981). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names. Oxford [Eng.]: OUP. p. 171.
Owen, H.W. & Morgan, R. 2007 Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales Gomer Press, Ceredigion; Gwasg Gomer / Gomer Press; page 484.
Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) , “Ex”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[1] Witcombe, Richard (2009). Who was Aveline anyway?: Mendip's Cave Names Explained (2nd ed.). Priddy: Wessex Cave Club.

[2] Eilert Ekwall (1981). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names. Oxford [Eng.]: OUP. p. 171.

[3] Owen, H.W. & Morgan, R. 2007 Dictionary of the Place-names of Wales Gomer Press, Ceredigion; Gwasg Gomer / Gomer Press; page 484.

[4] Joseph Bosworth and T. Northcote Toller (1898) , “Ex”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.