bélrae

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• béelre, béllrae, bélre, bérle

Etymology

From bél (“mouth”) +‎ -ra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʲeːl͈re/

Noun

bélrae n

1. language, speech

   Synonym: tengae

   • 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. 31^b23

     in bélrai .i. is and atá gním tengad isind huiliu labramar-ni

     of speech, i.e. the action of the tongue is in all that we say

Inflection

Neuter io-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	bélraeN	bélraeL	bélraeL
Vocative	bélraeN	bélraeL	bélraeL
Accusative	bélraeN	bélraeL	bélraeL
Genitive	bélraiL	bélraeL	bélraeN
Dative	bélruL	bélraib	bélraib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: bérla
  • Irish: béarla, Béarla
  • Manx: Baarle
  • Scottish Gaelic: beurla, Beurla

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
bélrae	bélrae pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/	mbélrae
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

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