abhainn

Irish

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Irish aub, from Proto-Celtic *abū (compare Welsh afon), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (water).[2] The form abhainn was originally the dative singular of abha, but is now widely used as the nominative as well.

Pronunciation

Noun

abhainn f (genitive singular abhann or aibhne, nominative plural aibhneacha or aibhne)

  1. river
    Níl aon abhainn san oileán.
    There’s no river on the island.
    Dá dtéiteá go Gaillimh inné, d’fhéadfá a dhul isteach an abhainn go réidh, mar nach raibh aon tsruth mór.
    If you had gone to Galway yesterday, you would have easily been able to go up the river, since there wasn’t a very strong current.
    Bhí an abhainn reoite.
    The river was frozen.
    bruach na haibhnethe riverbank
    Bhí na haibhneacha uilig reoite.
    All the rivers were frozen.
    Dhá mbeadh an t-airgead againn, ghabhfadh muid do haibhneacha Chill Airne.
    If we had the money, we would go to the rivers of Killarney.

Declension

Standard
Nonstandard

Derived terms

  • abhantrach (river basin)
  • craobh-abhainn (affluent, tributary)
  • fo-abhainn (affluent, tributary)
  • tréig-abhainn (distributary)

Mutation

Irish mutation
RadicalEclipsiswith h-prothesiswith t-prothesis
abhainn n-abhainn habhainn not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

  1. Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “aḃa”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 2
  2. G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 ab”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
  3. Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, § 195, page 98
  4. Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 40, page 18

Further reading

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish aub, from Proto-Celtic *abū (compare Welsh afon), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ep- (water). The form abhainn was originally the dative singular of abha, but is now widely used as the nominative/accusative as well.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈa.wɪɲ/, /ˈa.ɪɲ/
  • (Lewis, Harris, West Sutherland, Arran) IPA(key): [ˈavɪɲ]
  • (Tiree) IPA(key): [ˈaʔʊɲ]
  • (Islay) IPA(key): [ˈoʔʊɲ]

Noun

abhainn f (genitive singular aibhne, plural aibhnichean)

  1. river, stream

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
RadicalEclipsiswith h-prothesiswith t-prothesis
abhainnn-abhainnh-abhainnt-abhainn
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

See also

Further reading

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