adbar

Old Irish

Etymology

Perhaps from ad- +‎ the root of feraid (“grant, afford, supply”) and fo·fera (“prepare, provide; cause”).^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [ˈaðβar]

Noun

adbar n

material, matter (kind of substance)
- c. 850, Karlsruhe Glosses on Augustine, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, p. 8, l. 32:
  adbar
  elimentum (“element”) [sic]
- 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. 138^c3
  isa n-adbar nephdelbaigthe
  informem que materiam (“into the unformed material”)
reason (excuse, explanation; motive for an action or determination; a cause)
- 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. 17^d17
  ci ad·cobrinn móidim do dénum ni bói adbar híc
  though I desired to make a boast, there was no cause here
- 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. 20^a9
  rot·bia adbar fáilte
  you sg will have cause of joy

Declension

Neuter o-stem
	singular	dual	plural
nominative	adbar^N	adbar^N	adbar^L, adbara
vocative	adbar^N	adbar^N	adbar^L, adbara
accusative	adbar^N	adbar^N	adbar^L, adbara
genitive	adbair^L	adbar	adbar^N
dative	adbur^L	adbaraib	adbaraib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

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

Descendants

Irish: ábhar
Manx: oyr
Scottish Gaelic: adhbhar

Mutation

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

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

References

^ Pedersen, Holger (1913) Vergleichende Grammatik der keltischen Sprachen [Comparative Grammar of the Celtic Languages] (in German), volume II, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, →ISBN, page 518

Further reading

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