ar aghaidh

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish ar agaid (“before, in front of”, literally “in front of the face of”), from Old Irish agad (“face”).^[1]

Pronunciation

(Munster) IPA^(key): /ɛɾʲ ˈəiɟ/
(Connacht, Ulster) IPA^(key): /ɛɾʲ ˈəi/

Preposition

ar aghaidh (plus genitive or possessive determiner, triggers no mutation)

in front of, opposite, facing
- 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect], volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 4:
  hȧ šē əŕ m ai.
  [Sheas sé ar m’aghaidh.]
  He stood in front of me.
  
  ḱē n āc ə rø šē šin? əŕ ai ən cȧmpl̥ gāl̄də.
  [Cén áit a raibh sé sin? Ar aghaidh an teampaill gallda.]
  Where was that? Opposite the Protestant church.

Usage notes

Used with a possessive pronoun that agrees with the subject of the sentence, the prepositional phrase can be used as an adverb meaning “forwards, straight ahead”, for example Chuaigh mé díreach ar m’aghaidh (“I went straight ahead”); Tar ar d’aghaidh beagán (“Come forward a little bit”).

Inflection

Inflection of *ar aghaidh*
	Person:		simple	emphatic
singular	first		ar m'aghaidh	ar m'aghaidhse
	second		ar d'aghaidh	ar d'aghaidhse
	third	m	ar a aghaidh	ar a aghaidhsean
	third	f	ar a haghaidh	ar a haghaidhse

plural	first		ar ár n-aghaidh	ar ár n-aghaidhne
	second		ar bhur n-aghaidh	ar bhur n-aghaidhse
	third		ar a n-aghaidh	ar a aghaidhsean

Adverb

ar aghaidh

forward

Derived terms

ceann ar aghaidh (“headlong; on purpose”)

References

^ Vendryes, Joseph (1959) Lexique Étymologique de l'Irlandais Ancien [Etymological lexicon of Old Irish] (in French), volume A, Dublin, Paris: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, pages 23-24