láthar

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *ɸlātrom (“flat position”) (compare, with unexplained semantic development, Proto-Brythonic *llọdr (“leg covering”), whence Welsh llawdr (“trousers”), Breton loer (“sock”), Old Cornish loder (“boot”)), from Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂- (“flat”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈl͈aːθar]

Noun

láthar n

1. arrangement, disposition
2. machination, wiles
   • 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. 9^d24

     arna dich cách assa dligud i n-adaltras tri láthar demuin et tri bar nebcongabthetit-si

     lest everyone go out of his duty into adultery through the Devil’s machination and through your incontinence

Inflection

Neuter o-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	látharN	látharN	látharL, láthra
Vocative	látharN	látharN	látharL, láthra
Accusative	látharN	látharN	látharL, láthra
Genitive	láthairL	láthar	látharN
Dative	látharL	láthraib	láthraib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Derived terms

• láthraid

Descendants

• Middle Irish: láither, láthair
  • Irish: láthair
  • Scottish Gaelic: làthair

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
láthar also lláthar after a proclitic	láthar pronounced with /l(ʲ)-/	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “láthar”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language