Scottish Gaelic

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old Irish léimm, from Proto-Celtic *lanxsman (compare Welsh llam), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ- (light, not heavy).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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leum m (genitive singular leuma, plural leuman or leumannan)

  1. verbal noun of leum
  2. leap, bound, spring, frisk, start, shake
    leum gàbhaidha dangerous leap
  3. leaping, act of leaping, jump
  4. animal semen
  5. emission
  6. flaw
  7. sudden rage, impulsive anger
  8. milk

Derived terms

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Verb

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leum (past leum, future leumaidh, verbal noun leum, past participle leumte)

  1. leap, bound, spring, skip, frisk, hop, jump, start
  2. bleed (nose)
  3. pass (as time, or through space)
    Nuair a leumas e an Fhéill-Brìghde, chan earb an sionnach 'earball ris an deigh.When Candlemas is past, the fox will not trust his tail to the ice.
    Leum e air a' mheadhan-oidhche.It passed midnight.
  4. make a slip of the tongue
    Leum mo theanga orm.My tongue slipped. I put my foot in it.

Derived terms

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  • ath-leum (rebound, spring or leap again, verb)
  • cair-leum (tumble or toss about; beat about, verb)
  • frith-leum (skip, leap, bound, hop, verb)
  • grad-leum (spring, jump quickly, verb)

Further reading

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  • Edward Dwelly (1911) “leum”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
  • Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “léimm”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language