aub

See also: AUB, a.u.b., and ǁaub

Old Irish

Boënd, aub Laigen

Alternative forms

• ab, ob, oub

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *abū, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eb- (“water”).

Compare Welsh afon.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [au̯β]

Noun

aub f (genitive abae)

1. river

Declension

This term inflects irregularly, with the neuter n-stem declension interfering with many case forms, like in the genitive singular and dative plural. Due to this haphazard hybridization, many forms of the paradigm cannot be reconstructed with confidence.

Feminine n-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	aub, ab	*abainnL	aibnea
Vocative	aub, ab	*abainnL	aibneaH
Accusative	abainnN	*abainnL	aibneaH
Genitive	abae	*abannL	*abannN
Dative	abainnL	aibnib	aibnib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: ab, aband, abann
  • Irish: abha, abhainn
  • Manx: awin
  • Scottish Gaelic: abhainn

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
aub (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	unchanged	n-aub
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “ab”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language