imb

Maltese

Alternative forms

• imb’ (superseded)

Etymology

Univerbation of ma’ +‎ b’, fossilised in fixed impressions.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /(ɪ)mp/

Preposition

imb

1. Alternative form of b’ used in a few expressions.

   wiċċ imb wiċċ ― face to face

   ras imb ras ― head to head

   mpar ― of the same age

   mbilli ― inasmuch as

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• imm (both etymologies)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /imʲbʲ/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *amban (compare Welsh ymenyn), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃engʷen- (compare Latin unguen (“grease”), Old High German ancho (“butter”)), from *h₃engʷ- (“anoint”).

Noun

imb n or m (genitive imme, no plural)

1. butter

Inflection

Descendants

• Irish: im
• Manx: eeym
• Scottish Gaelic: ìm

Etymology 2

From Proto-Celtic *ambi (compare Welsh am), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi (“round about, around”). Cognate with Latin ambi-, Sanskrit अभि (abhí, “towards, over, upon”), Old Persian 𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎹 (a-b-i-y /⁠abiy⁠/, “towards, against, upon”), Old High German umbi, Ancient Greek ἀμφί (amphí, “about, around”) and the first part of Old Armenian ամբ-ողջ (amb-ołǰ, “whole”).

Preposition

imb

1. around
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 27^b16

     Gaibid immib a n‑étach macc coím-sa, amal nondad maicc coím-a, .i. uiscera is hé in dechellt as·beir.

     Put on (literally, put around you) this raiment of servants, as you all are servants, i.e. viscera is the garment that he mentions.

Inflection

Forms with a definite article:

• immin, immun (“around the (masculine/feminine accusative singular)”)

Forms with a possessive determiner:

• imdu (“around your sg”)
• imma, imme (“around his/her/its/their”)

Forms with a relative pronoun:

• immo·, immua·

Descendants

• Irish: um
• Scottish Gaelic: mu
• Manx: mysh

Mutation

References

Further reading

• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “imb, imm ‘butter’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 imm, imb ‘around’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940, reprinted 2003) D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, →ISBN, pages 273, 516–18