fathach

Irish

Alternative forms

• aitheach, athach

Etymology

From Old Irish aithech (“farmer, peasant, countryman, churl, rent-payer”). Cognate with Scottish Gaelic athach.

Pronunciation

• (Connacht, Munster) IPA^(key): /ˈfˠa.həx/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈfˠaiha(x)/, /fˠaːx/

Noun

fathach m (genitive singular fathaigh, nominative plural fathaigh)

1. giant
2. giant star
3. bear (big man)

   fathach fir ― a bear of a man

Declension

Declension of fathach

First declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative fathach fathaigh Vocative a fhathaigh a fhathacha Genitive fathaigh fathach Dative fathach fathaigh

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an fathach na fathaigh Genitive an fhathaigh na bhfathach Dative leis an bhfathach don fhathach leis na fathaigh

Derived terms

• banfhathach (“giantess”)
• fathach dearg (“red giant”)
• fathach fir (“huge man, giant of a man”)
• fathach gorm (“blue giant”)
• fathach-tuatha (“plebeian”)
• finéal fathaigh (“giant fennel”)
• fo-fhathach (“subgiant”)
• obair fathaigh (“gigantic, herculean, task”)
• ollfhathach (“supergiant”)

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
fathach	fhathach	bhfathach
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

See also

• abhac

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “fathach”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 aithech”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language