Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word nar. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word nar, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say nar in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word nar you have here. The definition of the word nar will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofnar, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
(classical, interrogative particle)Obsolete form of ar.
Nar mharbhus tú?
Did I kill you?
An mbéarthaoi dhá uair Eimhear? “Could Eimhear have been born twice?”, Bardic Poetry Database:
Máire munbadh í Eamhear / nár geinedh no an ngeinfeadhear / ochta mar úan na mara / dá snúadh corcra as cosmhala
Máire – if she was not Eimhear – has there been born or will there be – (breasts like the foam of the sea) – two purple complexions more alike?
Usage notes
In the classical standard of bardic poetry nar was the past form of the interrogative particle used to form positive questions. In later early modern prose it was replaced by ar, which is still the standard modern form.
1618, Aodh Mac Aingil, edited by Cainneach Ó Maonaigh, Scáthán Shacramuinte na hAithridhe, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, published 1952, lines 2873–4, page 88:
.i. dá marbhtha sagart ⁊ tú a n-ainbhfios ’nar shagurt é
i.e. if you were to kill a priest unaware whether he was a priest
References
Osborn Bergin (1916) “Irish Grammatical Tracts (Introductory)”, in Ériu, volume 8, Supplement, Royal Irish Academy, →DOI, →JSTOR, §16, page 7: “Gach pearsa aga bfuil .r. ar a hitche .n. as cóir ar a fíafruighidh ar láindeimhnioghadh. An phearsa ag nach bfhuil, ní cóir .n. ar a fíafruighidh, mur tá so: ar mharbhus tú? lochdach; nar mharbhus tú? as cóir ann”
1867, “ABOUT AN OLD SOW GOING TO BE KILLED”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 106:
Na speen to be multh, nar flaase to be shaure.
no teat to be milked, nor fleece to be shorn.
1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 114, lines 16-18:
y'ast, bie ractzom o'honde, ee-delt t'ouz ye laas ee-mate var ercha vassale, ne'er dwythen na dicke waie nar dicka.
you have with impartial hand ministered the laws made for every subject, without regard to this party or that.
1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 116, lines 1-2:
Ye state na dicke daie o'ye londe, na whilke be nar fash nar moile, albiet 'constitutional agitation,'
The condition, this day, of the country, in which is neither tumult nor disorder, but that constitutional agitation,
References
Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 114