Talk:-acht

Etymology of Old Irish -acht

This current etymology of the Old Irish acht states "From Proto-Celtic *-axtā, suffixal use of Proto-Celtic *axtā." However there is no reference listed for this.

The Etymological Dictionary Of Proto Celtic does not have an entry for *axtā, however it does list the form:

*extos ‘except, but’ [Conjunction, Preposition]
GOID: OIr. acht  <<<<<< underlined for emphasis
PIE: *eg h s-to- ‘out’ (IEW 292f.)
COGN: Gr. ektos SEE: *extero- ‘without’
REF: LEIA A-ll.

Now, in the electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (eDIL), the entry 3 acht ‘stipulation, condition’ is a specialisation of 1 acht ‘save, except’, the descendant of Proto-Celtic *extos. It seems that the sense of ‘stipulation, condition’ here, used as a suffix, would result in the Goidelic (Irish) suffix -acht (Scottish Gaelic -achd, -eachd) meaning ‘condition or quality, -ness, -hood’. So I'm thinking the etymology should list the derivation as from Proto-Celtic *extos, itself deriving from PIE *eg h s-to-.

I hesitate to make changes to the page since I am not a lexicographer/etymologist (and I'm still not clear on listing/editing references correctly in wiktionary). Farefeerfalling (talk) 17:00, 12 May 2024 (UTC)