bendacht

Old Irish

Etymology

From Insular Proto-Celtic *bendixtyū (whence also Proto-Brythonic *bendiθ, whence Welsh bendith) from Latin benedictiō. When declined as an ā-stem, assimilated to the suffix -acht.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʲen͈daxt/

Noun

bendacht f (genitive bendachtae or bendachtan, nominative plural bendachta or bendachtain)

1. blessing
2. benediction

Inflection

Feminine ā-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	bendachtL	bendachtL	bendachtaH
Vocative	bendachtL	bendachtL	bendachtaH
Accusative	bendachtN	bendachtL	bendachtaH
Genitive	bendachtaeH	bendachtL	bendachtN
Dative	bendachtL	bendachtaib	bendachtaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: bennacht
  • Irish: beannacht
  • Manx: bannaght
  • Scottish Gaelic: beannachd
  • → Old Norse: bjannak

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
bennacht	bennacht pronounced with /v(ʲ)-/	mbennacht
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), “bendacht”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language