íaru

Old Irish

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Celtic *wiweros.^[1] Alternatively, an "individualising" n-stem meaning "swift one", derived from Proto-Celtic *isaros (“swift”) (a word attested in the names of many rivers in Europe^[2]), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ish₂ro-, for which compare Sanskrit इषिर (iṣirá-, “swift”) and Ancient Greek ἱερός (hierós, “supernatural”).^[3]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈiːa̯ru/

Noun

íaru f (genitive íarann, nominative plural íaranna)

squirrel, stoat

Inflection

Feminine n-stem
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	íaru	íarainn^L	íarainn, íaranna
vocative	íaru	íarainn^L	íarna^H
accusative	íarainn^N	íarainn^L	íarna^H
genitive	íarann	íarann^L	íarann^N
dative	íarainn^L, íaru^L	íarnaib	íarnaib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

^H = triggers aspiration
^L = triggers lenition
^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

Irish: iora
Scottish Gaelic: feòrag
Manx: fiorag

Mutation

Mutation of *íaru*
radical	lenition	nasalization
íaru (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	íaru	n-íaru

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

^ Matasović, Ranko (December 2011) “Addenda et corrigenda to Ranko Matasović’s Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Brill, Leiden 2009)”, in Homepage of Ranko Matasović‎^[1], Zagreb, page 43
^ Delamarre, Xavier (2003) “isara”, in Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental [Dictionary of the Gaulish language: A linguistic approach to Old Continental Celtic] (Collection des Hespérides; 9), 2nd edition, Éditions Errance, →ISBN, page 192
^ Sabine Ziegler (2002) “Altirisch íaru, das 'flinke' Eichhörnchen”, in Matthias Fritz, Susanne Zeilfelder, editors, Novalis Indogermanica: Festschrift für Günter Neumann zum 80. Geburtstag, Graz: Leykam, →ISBN, pages 537-39