Irish edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Middle Irish doíthin.[1]

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

dóthain f or m (genitive singular dóthain or dóthana)

  1. enough, sufficiency
    Tá mo dhóthain agam.I have enough.
    An bhfuil do dhóthain bainne ann?Is there enough milk for you?

Usage notes edit

This noun is generally modified by a possessive determiner indicating the person who the sufficiency is for: mo dhóthain (enough for me), do dhóthain (enough for you), a dóthain (enough for her) etc., even when the “for me” etc. is not expressed in English.

The thing of which there is enough follows in the genitive:

  • Tá a ndóthain ama acu anois.They have enough time now.

In certain idiomatic expressions, this noun can be modified by a number, but this number is not to be taken literally:

  • Tá a dhá dhóthain le déanamh aige.He has his hands full. (literally, “He has his two sufficiencies to do.”)
  • Tá a seacht ndóthain le rá acu.They talk far too much. (literally, “They have their seven sufficiencies to say.”)

Declension edit

Variant declension

Derived terms edit

Mutation edit

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
dóthain dhóthain ndóthain
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References edit

  1. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “doíthin”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
  2. ^ Finck, F. N. (1899) Die araner mundart (in German), volume II, Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 69

Further reading edit