beithe

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈbʲeθʲe]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *betuyā

Noun

beithe m (genitive beithi, nominative plural beithi)

1. birch tree, birchwood
2. the letter B of the Ogham alphabet

Inflection

Masculine io-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	beithe	beitheL	beithiL
vocative	beithi	beitheL	beithiu
accusative	beitheN	beitheL	beithiuH
genitive	beithiL	beitheL	beitheN
dative	beithiuL	beithib	beithib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

• ^H = triggers aspiration
• ^L = triggers lenition
• ^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: beith f
  • Irish: beith
  • Manx: beih
  • Scottish Gaelic: beithe

Further reading

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

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

beithe

1. second-person plural present subjunctive absolute of at·tá

Mutation

Mutation of beithe

radical	lenition	nasalization
beithe	beithe pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/	mbeithe

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

Scottish Gaelic

Beithean.

Etymology

From Middle Irish beith, from Old Irish beithe. Cognates include Irish beith and Manx beih.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpehə/
• Hyphenation: bei‧the

Noun

beithe f

1. birch

Declension

Declension of beithe (class IId feminine noun)

indefinite
	singular	plural
nominative	beithe	beithean
genitive	beithe	bheithean
dative	beithe	beithean; beithibh✝
definite
	singular	plural
nominative	(a') bheithe	(na) beithean
genitive	(na) beithe	(nam) beithean
dative	(a') bheithe	(na) beithean; beithibh✝
vocative	bheithe	bheithean

^✝ obsolete form, used until the 19th century

Mutation

Mutation of beithe

radical	lenition
beithe	bheithe

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

References

• Colin Mark (2003) “beithe”, in The Gaelic-English dictionary, London: Routledge, →ISBN, page 71