Old Irish

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Etymology

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From Proto-Celtic *menmens, from Proto-Indo-European *men- (to think, remember).[1]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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menmae m (genitive menman, nominative plural menmain)

  1. the mind
    • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 13a12
      Má beid ní di rúnaib do·théi ar menmuin ind ḟir bíis inna ṡuidiu et ad·reig.
      If there are any of the mysteries that may come upon the mind of the man who is sitting, and he rises.
  2. thinking, understanding
  3. thought, heed, attention
  4. spirit, courage, self-confidence
  5. desire, inclination

Inflection

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Masculine n-stem
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative menmae menmainL, menmuin menmain, menmuin, menmana
Vocative menmae menmainL, menmuin menmanaH
Accusative menmainN, menmuin menmainL, menmuin menmanaH
Genitive menman menmanL menmanN
Dative menmainL, menmaeL, menmuin menmanaib menmanaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

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  • Middle Irish: menma

Mutation

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Old Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
menmae
also mmenmae after a proclitic
ending in a vowel
menmae
pronounced with /β̃(ʲ)-/
unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

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  1. ^ Stüber, Karin (1998) The Historical Morphology of n-Stems in Celtic (Maynooth studies in Celtic linguistics; III), Department of Old Irish, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, →ISBN, pages 172-173

Further reading

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