sleamhain

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish slemon,[1] from Proto-Celtic *slimnos, from Proto-Indo-European *sley- (“smear”). Cognate with Scottish Gaelic sleamhainn, Manx shliawin, Welsh llyfn (“smooth”), Old Breton limn, English slip.

Pronunciation

Adjective

sleamhain (genitive singular feminine sleamhaine, plural sleamhna, comparative sleamhaine)

  1. slippery, smooth

Declension

Declension of sleamhain
Positive singular plural
masculine feminine strong noun weak noun
nominative sleamhain shleamhain sleamhna;
shleamhna2
vocative shleamhain sleamhna
genitive sleamhaine sleamhna sleamhain
dative sleamhain;
shleamhain1 		shleamhain sleamhna;
shleamhna2
Comparative níos sleamhaine
Superlative is sleamhaine

1 When the preceding noun is lenited and governed by the definite article.
2 When the preceding noun ends in a slender consonant.

Derived terms

  • sleamhnachán m (“smooth spot”)
  • sleamhnánach (“smooth, slippery”, adjective)
  • sleamhnánaí m (“sly one”)
  • sleamhnóg f (“butterfish”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of sleamhain
radical lenition eclipsis
sleamhain shleamhain
after an, tsleamhain 		not applicable

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

References

  1. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “slemon, slemain”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
  2. ^ Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry [Phonetics of an Irish Dialect of Kerry] (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, § 202, page 102
  3. ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 40, page 19

Further reading

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