ИСТИНА

In this presentation I have studied various lexemes used in Old and Middle Irish to denote the general outer appearance of a person: cruth, delb, éccosc, cummae, richt, congraimm and others and their semantic motivation. The ugliness is often described as an absence of a form: dochraid, midelb, dodelb, ainricht. Some words denoting beauty or splendor may be used to describe ‘appearance’ in general (e.g. lí) and on the contrary, general words for ‘form, appearance’ (e.g. scíam) may mean ‘beauty’. It is worth nothing that éccosc evidently means ‘something not to be reproached (or: discussed)’ (*in-com-sech). ‘Appearance’ was understood as something clearly and sharply defined, cut out: e.g. delb < PCelt. *delwā is connected with the PIE root *delh1- ‘carve, split’ and cummae is a verbal noun of con-ben ‘smites, shapes’. On the other hand, the outer form could be changed or transformed; the words for ‘form’ are closely connected with words describing transformation and poetic creativity, c.f. cruth ‘form’ and creth ‘poetic art’, both from *kwritu- and delb ‘form’ and dolb ‘illusion, sorcery’ both from *delh1-.