cnáim
Old Irish
Etymology
From Proto-Celtic *knāmis, from Proto-Indo-European *kónh₂m (“leg”). Cognate with Ancient Greek κνήμη (knḗmē, “tibia”) and English ham.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [knaːβ̃ʲ]
Noun
cnáim m (genitive cnámo or cnáma, nominative plural cnámai)
- bone
- 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. 4d15
- In Belzefuth: is béss didu ind lïacc benir il-béim friss, et intí do·thuit foir ɔ·boing a chnámi, intí fora tuit-som immurgu at·bail-side.
- The Beelzebub: it is the custom, then, of the stone that many blows are hit against it, and he who falls upon it breaks his bones; however, he whom it falls on perishes
- 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. 4d15
Inflection
| singular | dual | plural | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | cnáim | cnáimL | cnámaiH, cnámi |
| vocative | cnáim | cnáimL | cnámaiH, cnámi |
| accusative | cnáimN | cnáimL | cnámaiH, cnámi |
| genitive | cnámoH, cnámaH | cnámoH, cnámaH | cnámaeN |
| dative | cnáimL | cnámaib | cnámaib |
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
- H = triggers aspiration
- L = triggers lenition
- N = triggers nasalization
Descendants
- Irish: cnámh
- Manx: craue
- Scottish Gaelic: cnàimh
- →? Middle Welsh: knaw
- ⇒ Welsh: pencnaw (“end of a bone”)
Mutation
| radical | lenition | nasalization |
|---|---|---|
| cnáim | chnáim | cnáim pronounced with /ɡ-/ |
Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.
Further reading
- Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “cnáim”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language