donn

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See also: Donn and dónn

Central Franconian

Alternative forms

  • don (northern Moselle Franconian, some Ripuarian dialects)
  • dun (southern Moselle Franconian)

Etymology

From Old High German *duon, northern variant of tuon, from Proto-Germanic *dōną.

Pronunciation

Verb

donn (third-person singular present deet or deit, preterite dät, past participle jedon or jedonn)

  1. (many dialects of Ripuarian, including Kölsch) to do
  2. (same dialects) Used in the preterite with a following infinitive to form the paraphrastic preterite.
    Ich dät us der Finster luure.I looked out the window.
  3. (same dialects) Used in the subjunctive with a following infinitive to form the conditional tense.
    Ich dät jo noch jet blieve, ävver meng Frau well heem.
    I would stay some more, but my wife wants to go home.

Usage notes

  • The past participle has an open vowel /ɔ/, either long or short, but never /o/ as in the infinitive.
  • The paraphrastic preterite can be used with all verbs except auxiliaries and modals. It is preferred especially with regular verbs, though the regular preterite does remain functional in Ripuarian (unlike Moselle Franconian); thus alternatively: Ich luurten us der Finster. (I looked out the window.) As in colloquial Standard German the preterite as such is restricted semantically and syntactically, the past being predominantly expressed by the perfect tense.

Irish

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Old Irish donn, from Proto-Celtic *dusnos (brown), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (smoke).

Adjective

donn (genitive singular masculine doinn, genitive singular feminine doinne, plural donna, comparative doinne)

  1. brown
  2. brown-haired, brunette
  3. made of hard brown timber
  4. strong, solid
  5. used as intensifying term
Declension
Obsolete spellings
Derived terms

Noun

donn m or f (genitive singular doinn or doinne)

  1. brown (colour)
  2. brown animal (masculine or feminine declined differently)
  3. hard brown timber
Declension
Feminine (only used to refer to a female brown animal)

Verb

donn (present analytic donnann, future analytic donnfaidh, verbal noun donnadh, past participle donnta)

  1. (transitive, intransitive) Alternative form of donnaigh (brown; tan, rust)
Conjugation

Etymology 2

From Old Irish donn (chief, lord, noble), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰus-no-.

Noun

donn m (genitive singular doinn, nominative plural doinn)

  1. (literary) noble, prince
Declension
Derived terms
  • Donn m (proper noun)

Etymology 3

Noun

donn f (genitive singular doinne, nominative plural donna)

  1. Alternative form of dronn (hump; camber)
Declension

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
donn dhonn ndonn
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

Maltese

Etymology

From Arabic. Probably the imperfect of ظَنَّ (ẓanna, to think, opine, conjecture) in a phrase like أَظُنُّهُم مُتَضايِقِين (ʔaẓunnuhum mutaḍāyiqīn, I think them despondent). Then reconstrued as an adverb (or false verb). Alternatively from the related noun ظَنّ (ẓann, opinion, conjecture), but this seems unlikely.

Pronunciation

Adverb

donn-

  1. seemingly, by appearance
    Kienu donnhom imdejqin.
    They seemed despondent.
    (literally, “They were (by) their appearance despondent.”)
    Donnok ma tifhimx.
    You don’t seem to understand.
    (literally, “(By) your appearance you don’t understand.”)

Usage notes

  • As above, the word takes pronominal suffixes according to the subject.

Old Irish

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *dusnos (brown).

Adjective

donn

  1. brown, tawny, dun
  2. hazel (of eyes)
  3. chestnut (of animals)
Inflection
o/ā-stem
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative donn donn donn
Vocative duinn*
donn**
Accusative donn duinn
Genitive duinn duinne duinn
Dative donn duinn donn
Plural Masculine Feminine/neuter
Nominative duinn donna
Vocative donnu
donna
Accusative donnu
donna
Genitive donn
Dative donnaib
Notes *modifying a noun whose vocative is different from its nominative

**modifying a noun whose vocative is identical to its nominative
† not when substantivized

Alternative declension:

o/ā-stem
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative donn donn donn
Vocative doinn*
donn**
Accusative donn doinn
Genitive doinn doinne doinn
Dative donn doinn donn
Plural Masculine Feminine/neuter
Nominative doinn donna
Vocative donnu
donna
Accusative donnu
donna
Genitive donn
Dative donnaib
Notes *modifying a noun whose vocative is different from its nominative

**modifying a noun whose vocative is identical to its nominative
† not when substantivized

Descendants
  • Irish: donn
  • Manx: dhone
  • Scottish Gaelic: donn

Etymology 2

From Proto-Indo-European *dʰus-no-.

Noun

donn m

  1. chief, lord, noble
    Synonyms: mál, toísech, túathach
  2. lordship, chieftainship
    Synonyms: flaith, tigernas
Declension
Masculine o-stem
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative donn donnL duinnL
Vocative duinn donnL donnuH
Accusative donnN donnL donnuH
Genitive duinnL donn donnN
Dative donnL donnaib donnaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization
Descendants

Adjective

donn

  1. princely, noble
Declension
o/ā-stem
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative donn donn donn
Vocative duinn*
donn**
Accusative donn duinn
Genitive duinn duinne duinn
Dative donn duinn donn
Plural Masculine Feminine/neuter
Nominative duinn donna
Vocative donnu
donna
Accusative donnu
donna
Genitive donn
Dative donnaib
Notes *modifying a noun whose vocative is different from its nominative

**modifying a noun whose vocative is identical to its nominative
† not when substantivized

Alternative declension
o/ā-stem
Singular Masculine Feminine Neuter
Nominative donn donn donn
Vocative doinn*
donn**
Accusative donn doinn
Genitive doinn doinne doinn
Dative donn doinn donn
Plural Masculine Feminine/neuter
Nominative doinn donna
Vocative donnu
donna
Accusative donnu
donna
Genitive donn
Dative donnaib
Notes *modifying a noun whose vocative is different from its nominative

**modifying a noun whose vocative is identical to its nominative
† not when substantivized

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

donn (gender unknown, genitive duinn)

  1. theft, stolen property
Inflection

Its gender is unknown, although Binchy in his edition of Críth Gablach provisionally treats it as neuter.

Neuter o-stem
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative donnN donnN donnL, donna
Vocative donnN donnN donnL, donna
Accusative donnN donnN donnL, donna
Genitive duinnL donn donnN
Dative donnL donnaib donnaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
donn donn
pronounced with /ð(ʲ)-/
ndonn
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

Plautdietsch

Adverb

donn

  1. then, at that time

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish donn, from Proto-Celtic *dusnos (brown), from Proto-Indo-European *dusnos-, *donnos- (dark), from *dʰewh₂- (smoke).

Pronunciation

Adjective

donn (comparative duinne)

  1. brown
  2. brown-haired, brunette

Declension

Case Masculine singular Feminine singular Plural
Nominative donn dhonn donna
Vocative dhuinn dhonn donna
Genitive dhuinn dhuinn/duinne donna
Dative dhonn dhuinn donna

Derived terms

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical Lenition
donn dhonn
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

See also

Colors in Scottish Gaelic · dathan (layout · text)
     bàn, geal      glas      dubh
             dearg; ruadh              orainds; donn              buidhe; donn
             uaine              uaine              gorm
             liath; glas              liath              gorm
             purpaidh; guirmean              pinc; purpaidh              pinc

Further reading

  • Edward Dwelly (1911) “donn”, 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), “1 donn”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language