{"id":8988,"date":"2025-09-18T15:19:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T14:19:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/?p=8988"},"modified":"2025-09-18T15:19:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T14:19:17","slug":"whey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/2025\/09\/18\/whey\/","title":{"rendered":"Whey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Words for <strong>whey<\/strong> and related things in Celtic languages.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/luca-conti\/3952004366\/in\/photolist-72e4dj-8AkfZd-2o5BeeE-2o5AM9A-72e493-fSQRtr-eESK2U-dCWAsP-ddU3TS-NgNxL-5mHzaH-udWu-4vBJrg-VhGj-QvxJT6-Sj6toQ-24e4v3x-6m8YFY-8AP7mv-72a4zx-8iizBt-2iTbymf-8imRjw-75s73P-5oE6rB-291hrt7-89nQsu-9WBXuK-72e4is-ak7f4z-fWjPhB-5oEer4-848pFy-e8th1T-6yzgki-2a5AjTD-ouUJpT-2hTQMeg-2iSNKyn-9o99MS-72e4fw-qVNaXq-4kE6rd-2kktoCp-URuC1p-9bT5YP-22BdpM3-9a7vwF-2hcqMMx-2hcnXuV\" title=\"whey\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/2587\/3952004366_70cb61c2e5_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"568\" alt=\"whey\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Words marked with a * are reconstructions. <\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Proto-Celtic<\/th>\n<td><strong>*mezgos<\/strong> = whey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Gaulish<\/th>\n<td><strong>*mesgos<\/strong> = whey (?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Old Irish (Go\u00eddelc)<\/th>\n<td><strong>medc, medg<\/strong> [\u02c8m\u02b2e\u00f0\u0261] = whey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Irish (Gaoidhealg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>medc, medg, midc<\/strong> = whey, serum<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Irish (Gaeilge)<\/th>\n<td><strong>meadhg<\/strong> [\u02c8m\u02b2\u0259i\u0261 \/ \u02c8m\u02b2ai\u0261 \/ \u02c8m\u02b2e\u02d0\u0261] = whey, serum, blood-serum &#8211; also written <strong>meidhg<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>meadhg\u00fail<\/strong> = consisting of whey, watery<br \/>\n<strong>meadhguisce<\/strong> = whey-water<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Scottish Gaelic (G\u00e0idhlig)<\/th>\n<td><strong>meadhg<\/strong> [mj\u0264\u02d0g] = whey<br \/>\n<strong>meang<\/strong> [m\u025b\u014bg] = whey<br \/>\n<strong>me\u00f2g<\/strong> [mj\u0254\u02d0g] = whey<br \/>\n<strong>me\u00f2gach<\/strong> = of whey, like whey, serous<br \/>\n<strong>meug<\/strong> [miag] = whey<br \/>\n<strong>m\u00ecg<\/strong> [mi\u02d0g\u02b2] = whey<br \/>\n<strong>miong<\/strong> [mj\u0264\u0303\u014bg] = whey<br \/>\n<strong>mi\u00f9g<\/strong> [mju\u02d0g] = whey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Manx (Gaelg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>meaig<\/strong> = whey<br \/>\n<strong>meaighagh<\/strong> = whey-faced<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Proto-Brythonic<\/th>\n<td><strong>*mei\u00f0<\/strong> = whey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Welsh (Kymraec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>medd, maidd, meid<\/strong> = whey<br \/>\n<strong>meiddlyn<\/strong> = whey, buttermilk, posset<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Welsh (Cymraeg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>maidd<\/strong> [mai\u032f\u00f0] = whey, serum, curds and whey, blood serum<br \/>\n<strong>meidda<\/strong> = to beg for whey<br \/>\n<strong>meiddaidd, meiddl(l)yd<\/strong> = whey-like, wheyey, serous<br \/>\n<strong>meiddioni<\/strong> = to curdle<br \/>\n<strong>meiddlyn<\/strong> = whey, buttermilk, posset<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Cornish (Cernewec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>meith<\/strong> = whey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Cornish (Kernewek)<\/th>\n<td><strong>meydh<\/strong> = whey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Old Breton (Brethonoc)<\/th>\n<td><strong>meid<\/strong> = whey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: in Breton, <strong>whey<\/strong> is <strong>laezh-bihan<\/strong> (&#8216;small milk&#8217;) &#8211; a calque of French <strong>petit-lait<\/strong> (whey), <strong>laezh-glas<\/strong> (&#8216;blue\/green milk&#8217;), <strong>gwipad<\/strong> or <strong>gwitod<\/strong> [<a href=\"https:\/\/fr.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/petit-lait\">source<\/a>] and [<a href=\"https:\/\/geriafurch.bzh\/fr?direction=frbr&#038;query=\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Etymology<\/strong>: from Proto-Indo-European <em>*mosg\u02b0os<\/em> (marrow, brain). The Old French word <strong>mesgue<\/strong> (whey) comes from the same Proto-Celtic root, via Gaulish <em>*mesgos<\/em> [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic\/mezgos\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p>Words from the same PIE roots include <strong>smadzenes<\/strong> (brain) in Latvian, <strong>\u092d\u0947\u091c\u093e<\/strong> (bhej\u0101 &#8211; brain, mind) in Hindi, <strong>\u09ae\u099c\u09cd\u099c\u09be<\/strong> (mojja &#8211; marrow) in Bengali, <strong>\u0645\u063a\u0632<\/strong> (ma\u0121z &#8211; brain, marrow) in Persian, <strong>marrow<\/strong> in English, <strong>merg<\/strong> (marrow) in Dutch, <strong>Mark<\/strong> (marrow, pith) in German, and possibly <strong>mysa<\/strong> (whey) in Icelandic [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European\/mosg%CA%B0%C3%B3s\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p>Just in case you&#8217;re wondering, <strong>whey<\/strong> [we\u026a] is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained in the process of making cheese. It comes from Middle English <em>whey(e)<\/em> (whey), from Old English <em>hw\u01e3\u0121<\/em> (whey), from Proto-West Germanic <em>*hwaij<\/em> (whey), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European <em>*k\u02b7ey-<\/em> (to pile up, build) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/whey#English\">source<\/a>]. It can be used to be used to make products like whey cheeses, such as ricotta, whey butter, and whey protein, which is sold as a dietary supplement popular with athletes and bodybuilders. [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Whey\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Sources: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/\">Wiktionary<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/embed\/EtymologicalDictionaryOfProtoCeltic\">Etymological Dictionary Of Proto Celtic<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www3.smo.uhi.ac.uk\/sengoidelc\/duil-belrai\/english.html\">In D\u00fail B\u00e9lrai English &#8211; Old Irish glossary<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/dil.ie\/\">eDIL &#8211; Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teanglann.ie\/en\/fgb\/ceann\">Teanglann.ie<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.faclair.com\/\">Am Faclair Beag<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikisource.org\/wiki\/An_Etymological_Dictionary_of_the_Gaelic_Language\">An etymological dictionary of the Gaelic language<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/dictionaryq.com\/gaelg\/\">Fockleyreen: Manx &#8211; English Dictionary<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mannin.info\/Mannin\/fockleyr\/m2e.php\">Online Manx Dictionary<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/corpus.gaelg.im\/\">Gaelg Corpus<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/geiriadur.ac.uk\/gpc\/gpc.html\">Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/lexiconcornubrit00willuoft\/page\/n5\/mode\/2up\">Lexicon cornu-britannicum : a dictionary of the ancient Celtic language of Cornwall<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cornishdictionary.org.uk\/\">Gerlyver Kernewek<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/devri.bzh\/\">Devri : Le dictionaire diachronique du breton<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/geriafurch.bzh\/fr\">Geriafurch<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brezhoneg.bzh\/87-termofis.htm\">TermOfis<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Words for whey and related things in Celtic languages. Words marked with a * are reconstructions. Proto-Celtic *mezgos = whey Gaulish *mesgos = whey (?) Old Irish (Go\u00eddelc) medc, medg [\u02c8m\u02b2e\u00f0\u0261] = whey Middle Irish (Gaoidhealg) medc, medg, midc = whey, serum Irish (Gaeilge) meadhg [\u02c8m\u02b2\u0259i\u0261 \/ \u02c8m\u02b2ai\u0261 \/ \u02c8m\u02b2e\u02d0\u0261] = whey, serum, blood-serum &#8211; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,293,16,26,81,19,20,96,44,25,61,111,65,21,3,109,22,6,77,7,27,8,71,78,10,136,11,12,67,13,23,43,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives","category-bengali-","category-breton","category-kernewek-cornish","category-dutch-nederlands","category-english","category-etymology","category-food","category-french","category-gaulish","category-german","category-hindi-","category-icelandic-islenska","category-gaeilge-irish","category-language","category-latvian-latviesu-valoda","category-gaelg-manx","category-middle-cornish","category-middle-english-englisch","category-middle-welsh-kymraec","category-nouns","category-old-breton","category-old-english-aenglisc","category-old-french-franceis","category-old-irish-goidelc","category-persian-farsi-","category-proto-brythonic","category-proto-celtic","category-proto-germanic","category-proto-indo-european","category-gaidhlig-scottish-gaelic","category-verbs","category-cymraeg-welsh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8988"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8990,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8988\/revisions\/8990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}