airson

See also: air son

Scottish Gaelic

Alternative forms

• air son

Etymology

Combination of preposition air (“on/for”) and noun son (“sake”); compare Irish ar son. Before the spelling reform of the 1980s it was sometimes written as two words.

Pronunciation

• (Lewis) IPA^(key): /ɔrˠˈs̪ɔn/, [ɔɽˈʂɔn]
• (Harris, Uist) IPA^(key): /ɛɾʲˈs̪ɔn/, /eɾʲˈs̪ɔn/
• (Barra) IPA^(key): [əɾʲˈs̪ɔ̝n]
• (Wester Ross) IPA^(key): [eˈʂɔn]

Usage notes

• The stress falling on the second syllable is unusual in Scottish Gaelic. This is due to the word being formed from a compound, which is now merely written as a single word - an orthographic choice with no hyphenation, unless there is a pronominal object (argument) that separates the constituent words.

Preposition

airson (+ genitive)

1. for, for the sake of

   Tha iad a' strì airson na dùthcha. ― They are struggling for the sake of the country.

   Tha mi fada nad chomain airson do litreach. ― I am much obliged to you for your letter.

   Tha iad a' coimhead airson taighe ùire. ― They are looking for a new house.

2. because

   Tha i na leabaidh airson 's gu bheil i fliuch taobh a-muigh. ― She's in bed because it's wet outside.

3. (before a verbal noun) desirous of, wanting to

   A bheil thu airson falbh? ― Do you want to leave? (literally, “Are you for leaving?”)

Usage notes

• When used with a personal pronoun, the appropriate possessive pronoun is put in between air and son instead:

  Rinn Cailean sin air ur son. ― Colin made that for you.

  An tèid thu ann air mo shon? ― Will you go there for me?

Inflection

Personal inflection of airson (compound preposition)

	Person:		simple	emphatic
singular	first		air mo shon	air mo shon-sa
	second		air do shon	air do shon-sa
	third	m	air a shon	air a shon-san
		f	air a son	air a son-se
plural	first		air ar son	air ar son-ne
	second		air ur son	air ur son-se
	third		air an son	air an son-san

Synonyms

• (because) a chionn, air sàilleabh, air sgàth, oir, ri linn, thoradh

Derived terms

• air a shon sin

Related terms

• carson