cathair

See also: cathaír

English

Etymology 1

From cat +‎ hair.

Noun

cathair (countable and uncountable, plural cathairs)

1. The hair of a cat.
   • 1968, Benedict Kiely, Dogs Enjoy the Morning, Penguin Books, published 1971, page 18:

     A pimpled chin, dark with cathairs, a mouthful of irregular teeth, were visible below helmet and goggles.

   • 1993, Allen Warfield, Al Brooks, Effective Telemarketing: How to Sell Over the Telephone, page 111:

     How can you tell a cat owner? all the little claw marks on their back. . .Or by the cathair that sticks to their suit.

   • 1993, Lilian Jackson Braun, The Cat Who Wasn't There:

     The conscientious Mrs. Fulgrove was driving away as he pulled into the barnyard, and he waved to her; the woman's scowl indicated that she had worked overtime because of the vast amount of cathair everywhere.

   • 1994, Lilian Jackson Braun, The Cat Who Blew the Whistle, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →ISBN, page 81:

     The closed-door policy, he liked to explain, kept the cats out of his hair and the cathairs out of his typewriter.

   • 2000, Tamaqua: Volume Seven Issue One, page 75:

     Meditate on the steady drone and the rocking of the back and forth vacuum dance you do as you suck up the cathair, the ashes, the seeds, the stray leaves.

   • 2000, Nimrod International Journal - Volume 44, page 128:

     Cat likes to brush against it and sun on the deck chair, the cushion is a mat of gray cathair.

Etymology 2

From Irish cathair.

Noun

cathair (plural cathairs)

1. An ancient Irish fortification of stone or earthwork.
   • 1848, William F[rederick] Wakeman, “Raths or Duns”, in Archæologia Hibernica. A Hand-book of Irish Antiquities, Pagan and Christian: Especially of Such as Are Easy of Access from the Irish Metropolis., Dublin: James M^cGlashan, […]. William S. Orr & Co. […] London, part I (Pagan Antiquities), page 47:

     Several cathairs which we have examined are not circular in plan, but appear to have been formed to suit the contour of the eminence upon which they stand; and others are of an oval form.

   • 1977, “The Dúns of Aran”, in A World of Stone: Life, Folklore and Legends of the Aran Islands, O’Brien Educational, published 1980, →ISBN, page 28:

     There were probably other cathairs and duns on the Aran Islands which were not as sturdily built or not as well preserved as those that survived.

   • 1992, Theresa McDonald, Achill: 5000 B.C. to 1900 A.D.: Archaeology, History, Folklore, →ISBN, page 128:

     ‘On this island there are three cyclopean cathairs but their stones have been nearly all removed to build the modern little houses which are nearly in as rude a style as the Cahirs ever were. […]’

Anagrams

• Cathari, Chaitra, chirata, cithara

Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑhəɾʲ/, /ˈkahəɾʲ/
• (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /kaɾʲ/, [kaːɾʲ]
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈkahæɾʲ/ (as if spelled catháir)

Etymology 1

From Old Irish cathair, from Proto-Celtic *katrixs (“fortification”).

Noun

cathair f (genitive singular cathrach or caithreach, nominative plural cathracha or caithreacha)

1. city
2. (historical) enclosed church establishment; monastic city
3. (archaeology) circular stone fort, a ringfort
4. dwelling(-place); bed, lair

Declension

Declension of cathair (fifth declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative cathair cathracha vocative a chathair a chathracha genitive cathrach cathracha dative cathair cathraigh (archaic, dialectal) cathracha forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an chathair na cathracha genitive na cathrach na gcathracha dative leis an gcathair leis an gcathraigh (archaic, dialectal) don chathair don chathraigh (archaic, dialectal) leis na cathracha

• Alternative genitive singular: caithreach
• Alternative plural: caithreacha

Derived terms

• ardchathair (“capital city; metropolis”)
• Cathair Aidriain (“Adrianople”)
• Cathair Alastair (“Alexandria”)
• Cathair an Phápa (“Vatican City”, literally “City of the Pope”)
• cathair ardeaglaise (“cathedral city”)
• cathair bhardais (“municipality”)
• Cathair Chonstaintín (“Constantinople”)
• cathair ghríobháin (“labyrinth, maze”)
• Cathair Mheicsiceo (“Mexico City”)
• Cathair na Mart (“Westport”)
• Cathair Pheadair (“Saint Petersburg”)
• cathair seileán (“swarming-place of bees”)
• Cathair Thoirmiscthe (“Forbidden City”)
• cathróir (“citizen”)
• príomhchathair (“capital city”)

 

Etymology 2

Noun

cathair f (genitive singular caithre or caithreach)

1. Alternative form of caithir (“down, pubic hair”)

Declension

Declension of cathair (second declension, no plural)

bare forms case singular nominative cathair vocative a chathair genitive caithre dative cathair forms with the definite article case singular nominative an chathair genitive na caithre dative leis an gcathair don chathair

• Alternative genitive singular: caithreach

Mutation

Mutated forms of cathair

radical	lenition	eclipsis
cathair	chathair	gcathair

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

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “cathair”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “caṫair”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 121
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “cathair”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “cathair”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• caithir, cathir

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *katrixs (“fortification”); possibly cognate with Old English hēaþor (“enclosure, prison”) or Serbo-Croatian kȍtar (“administrative unit, province”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaθərʲ/, [ˈkaθɨrʲ]

Noun

cathair f (genitive cathrach, nominative plural cathraig)

1. stone enclosure, fortress, castle; dwelling
2. monastic settlement, enclosure; monastery, convent
   • c. 800, Broccán’s Hymn, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, p. 328, ll. 9–10:

     Nī bo fri óigthea acher   cāinbói fri lobru trúagu:
     for maig arutacht cathir   dollaid rosnāde slúagu.

     She was not harsh to guests: gentle was she to the wretched sick:
     on a plain she built a convent: may it protect hosts into the Kingdom!

3. fortified city, city
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 13^b1:

     (do·adb)adar in taidbsiu hi siu tra do(naib) coic cetaib […] ro·bói isin chaithir isind aimsir sin

     this appearance, then, is manifested to the five hundred […] that was in the city at that time

   • 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. 67^d14

     Amal rund·gab slíab Sión andes ⁊ antúaid du⟨n⟩ chath⟨raig⟩ dïa dítin, sic rund·gabsat ar ṅdá thoíb du dítin ar n-inmedónach-ni.

     As Mount Sion is located on the south and the north of the city to protect it, so are our two sides there to protect our insides.

Declension

Feminine k-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	cathair	cathraigL	cathraig
Vocative	cathair	cathraigL	cathracha
Accusative	cathraigN	cathraigL	cathracha
Genitive	cathrach	cathrach	cathrachN
Dative	cathraigL, caithir	cathrachaib	cathrachaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Derived terms

• cathrar (“citizen”)

Descendants

• Irish: cathair
• Manx: caayr
• Scottish Gaelic: cathair

Mutation

Mutation of cathair

radical	lenition	nasalization
cathair	chathair	cathair pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/

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

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 cathair”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Scottish Gaelic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʰahɪɾʲ/

Etymology 1

From Old Irish cathaír (“chair”), from Latin cathēdra, from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra). Cognate with Irish cathaoir.

Noun

cathair f (genitive singular cathrach, plural cathraichean)

1. chair, seat, bench, throne

Declension

Declension of cathair (type Va feminine noun)

indefinite
	singular	plural
nominative	cathair	cathraichean
genitive	cathrach	chathraichean
dative	cathair	cathraichean
definite
	singular	plural
nominative	(a') chathair	(na) cathraichean
genitive	(na) cathrach	(nan) cathraichean
dative	(a') chathair	(na) cathraichean
vocative	chathair	chathraichean

Derived terms

• cathair ghàirdeanach (“armchair”)
• àrd-chathair, breas-chathair, cathair-rìgh, cathair-rìoghail, rìgh-chathair, torr-chathair (“throne”)

Etymology 2

From Old Irish cathair.

Noun

cathair f (genitive singular cathrach, plural cathraichean)

1. town, city

Derived terms

• catharra (“civil; civic, public”, adjective)

Etymology 3

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

cathair f (genitive singular cathrach, plural cathraichean)

1. gig (two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage)
2. bed (of any garden stuff)
3. stock, colewort, cabbage
4. plot (of land)
5. (obsolete) guard, sentinel, warder

Mutation

Mutation of cathair

radical	lenition
cathair	chathair

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

Further reading

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “cathair”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “cathaír”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 cathair”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language