From visumaros‘shamrock, clover\’; the plethora of -m(h)ar and -fawr adjectives found in Irish and Welsh, respectively; and the postposition of -maro- (when the 2nd term of a compound should be a substantive), comes a need to read the many Gaulish personal names composed with -maro- as suffixed derivatives rather than bahuvrihi or dvandva type compounds. Within this paradigm, these words should be regarded as adjectives, although in some cases, such as visumaros (which would have originally meant something like ‘juicy’), these adjectives may have been substantivized, as well as possess a highly metaphorical or specialized meaning that is not knowable from a surface-level reading of their etymon.
We will try to collect a list of -maro- constructions and their comparanda here, keeping in mind that we may not be able to adduce the full depth of their meaning, especially when no Insular comparanda are available:
Gaulish |
Goidelic |
Irish Meaning |
Brittonic |
Welsh Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Admaros |
- |
- |
adfawr |
‘huge, enormous’ |
Adomaros (cf. also Aud(o)marus > St. Audmar, Omer) |
ádmar, ámhar |
‘lucky, fortunate, successful’ |
cf. llwyddfawr |
- |
Agomaros |
ágmar, ághmhar |
‘warlike, valorous’; ‘dangerous, terrible’ |
||
Biatumaros |
bíadmar, biamhar |
‘abounding in food’ |
- |
- |
Brigomaros |
brígmar, bríomhar |
‘powerful, strong; vigorous, lively; efficacious’ |
- |
- |
Clumarios |
clúmar |
‘famous, renowned’ |
clodfawr |
‘famous, celebrated, praiseworthy’ |
Guđomaros |
gusmar |
‘vigorous, mighty’; ‘violent, stubborn’ |
- |
- |
Iantmaros |
étmar, éadmhar |
‘jealous, envious’ |
||
Nertomaros |
nertmar, neartmhar |
‘strong, vigorous, able’; ‘brawny, impetuous, mighty’ |
nerthfawr |
‘powerful, possessing a great army, wonderful, efficacious’ |
Rectomaros |
rechtmar |
1. ‘lawful’ 2. ‘passionate, furious’ |
- |
- |
Segomaros |
sedmar, segmar |
‘strong, vigorous’; ‘expert, noble’; ‘attentive, careful’; ‘skillful, crafty, cunning’; ‘curious, worthy of attention, precious’ |
hyfawr |
‘great, exceptional’; (for hy) ‘bold, brave, steadfast’; ‘confident, daring, audacious’ |
Vertomaros |
cf. lógmar, luachmhar |
- |
gwerthfawr |
‘valuable, precious, costly’; ‘beneficial, advantageous’; ‘prosperous’ |
Gaulish |
Goidelic |
Irish Meaning |
Brittonic |
Welsh Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Belatumara |
baladmar, boladmar; bláthmar, bláfar |
‘fragrant, sweet-smelling’; ‘blossomy, flower, flourishing; beautiful, tidy, demure, (music) florid’ |
- |
- |
Cassimara |
cásmar, cásmhar |
‘distressful, sad, negligent?’; ‘concerned, pitiable, sympathetic, considerate’; |
- |
- |
Chiomara, Cimarios |
ceómar |
‘misty’ |
- |
- |
Dino-mogetu-maros (cf. also Anextlomaros) |
dínmar, díonmhar |
‘sheltered, safe’; ‘protective’ |
(cf. noddfawr) |
- |
Elcimaros |
elcmar |
‘envious, spiteful’; ‘weak, feeble’ |
- |
- |
Gaulish |
Meaning |
Etymon’s Meaning |
Parallel Formations |
Parallel’s Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Bardomaros |
- |
‘bard, poet’ |
W. prydfawr |
‘very beautiful or graceful, splendid; of great muse, inspired; greatly praised in poetry’ |
Visumaros |
‘shamrock, clover’ |
‘juice, sap’ > ‘poison’ |
Ir. súgmar, súmhar |
‘juicy’; ‘sappy, juicy, succulent’ |
Gaulish |
Etymon’s Meaning |
See also |
|---|---|---|
Vebrumaros |
‘amber’ |
W. gwefr |
Note: The Wiktionary lists are extremely incomplete.
Schmidt, Delamarre (note, Greek notated with Latin alphabet):
From Luján:
From Wiktionary:
From Wiktionary:
From Wiktionary: