abair

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See also: Abair

Irish

Etymology

From Middle Irish at·beir, from Old Irish as·beir, from Proto-Celtic *exs- (compare Latin ex) + *bereti, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.

See for the etymology of the verbal noun and past participle.

Pronunciation

Verb

abair (present analytic deir, future analytic déarfaidh, verbal noun , past participle ráite)

  1. say, utter
    amhrán a to sing a song
  2. mean, refer to
    Ní tú a deirim.I don’t mean you; I’m not referring to you.
  3. (In the 2nd sing. imperative or 1st plural imperative) say, suppose (to state for illustrative or approximate purposes)
    abair is nach mbeadh sé annsupposing he weren’t there
    fiche punt, abairtwenty pounds, say

Conjugation

The d-initial forms of this verb are immune to lenition. They do, however, undergo eclipsis.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Eclipsis with h-prothesis with t-prothesis
abair n-abair habair not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

  1. ^ G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “as-beir”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
  2. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 305
  3. ^ Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, page 28
  4. ^ Finck, F. N. (1899) Die araner mundart (in German), volume II, Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 78
  5. ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 370, page 125

Further reading

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Middle Irish at·beir, from Old Irish as·beir, from Proto-Celtic *exs- (compare Latin ex) + Proto-Celtic *bereti, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-.

The verbal noun is from Old Irish rád (compare Irish ), from the verb ráidid (talks), from Proto-Celtic *rādīti, from Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₁dʰ- (perform successfully). Cognate with Sanskrit राध्नोति (rādhnoti, succeeds), Old Church Slavonic радити (raditi, take care of, work), Gothic 𐍂𐍉𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (rōdjan, talk), Lithuanian rodýti (show). The past participle is from the same stem.

Pronunciation

Adverb

abair

  1. Used as a modifier, suggesting excitement, much in the way that "how" is used.
    Abair oillteil!How dreadful!
    Abair gur àlainn e an-diugh!How beautiful it is today!

Verb

abair (past thuirt, future their, verbal noun ràdh, past participle ràite)

  1. say
    Abair ach beag is abair gu math e.Say little, but say it well.
    Na h-abair diug a choidhche ris an eun gus an dig e às an ugh.Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
  2. call
    Shreap mi suas an cnoc ris an abair iad "An Sìthean Beag"I walked up the hill which they call "the little fairy mound" (literally, “the hill to which they say…”)

Usage notes

  • In most dialects of Scottish Gaelic still spoken, with the notable exception of Islay, the future and conditional tenses and the imperative form of can are almost always used in place of the actual abair forms in colloquial language; the abair forms are recognised but considered Biblical or excessively formal. Some northern dialects, such as Skye and Lewis, extend this to verbal noun forms derived from can, such as cantainn and canail.
  • While ràdh is the most common verbal noun form, many others are used: gràdh, ràdha, gràdha, ràdhainn, gràdhainn, ràdhtainn, ràit, and ràitinn.

Inflection

Derived terms

Further reading

  • Edward Dwelly (1911) “abair”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎, 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
  • G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “as-beir”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language