scíth

The adjectival sense “tired” is older. In the sense “rest” it replaced scís. From Old Irish scíth (“tired”). Cognate with Scottish Gaelic sgìth (“tired”) and Breton skuizh (“tired”).

• IPA^(key): /ʃciː/

scíth f (genitive singular scíthe, nominative plural scítheanna)

1. rest (relief afforded by sleeping)

   Synonyms: sos, scís, scíste

   Cuir do scíth díot./​Déan do scíth./​Lig do scíth./​Tóg do scíth. ― Rest yourself.

   Glac scíth. ― Take a rest.

   Thug sé scíth dá chuid capall. ― He rested his horses.

• lig do scíth
• scítheach

scíth (genitive singular masculine scíth, genitive singular feminine scíthe, plural scíthe, comparative scíthe)

1. (literary) tired

   Synonyms: tuirseach, scítheach

2. (literary) dejected, disheartened, dispirited, sad

   Synonyms: atuirseach, ceanníseal

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “scíth”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “scíth”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “scíṫ”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 610
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “scíth”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “scíth”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2025

from Proto-Celtic *skītos, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)keh₁t- (“damage, harm”).

• IPA^(key): /sʲkʲiːθ/

scíth

1. tired, weary
   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 103^b4

     .i. neph-saithrach .i. ní bad scith ón etir ocfarnditin·

     i.e. non-laborious, i.e. that is, it would not have been weary at all in protecting you.

2. wearisome (with copula and la (“to”))
   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 56^d15

     .i. is scith leu deicsin innafirián

     i.e. it is wearisome to them to see the righteous.

• scís (“tiredness”)
• scíthaigidir (“to become tired”)

• Middle Irish: scíth
  • Irish: scíth (“rest”)
  • Manx: skee
  • Scottish Gaelic: sgìth

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “scíth”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940) D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, →ISBN, page 166; reprinted 2017