cétaín

Old Irish

Etymology

From cét- (“first”) +‎ aín (“fasting”), literally “first fast”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʲeː.dai̯nʲ/

Noun

cétaín f (genitive cétaíne)

1. Wednesday
   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 113^d3

     .i. dia cétaíne ro·gabad in salm-so.

     i.e. [it was] on a Wednesday that this psalm was sung.

   • Trecheng Breth Féne, published in The Triads of Ireland (1906, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy), edited and with translations by Kuno Meyer, §216

     Trí banláe: lúan, Máirt, cétain.

     Three woman-days: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Inflection

Feminine ī-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	cétaínL	cétaínL	cétaíniH
Vocative	cétaínL	cétaínL	cétaíniH
Accusative	cétaínN	cétaínL	cétaíniH
Genitive	cétaíneH	cétaíneL	cétaíneN
Dative	cétaínL	cétaínib	cétaínib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: cétaín
  • Irish: Céadaoin

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
cétaín	chétaín	cétaín pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

See also

• (days of the week) láe sechtmaine; domnach,‎ lúan,‎ Máirt,‎ cétaín,‎ dardaín,‎ aín dídine,‎ Satharn ^{(Category: sga:Days of the week) [edit]}

Further reading

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