damhna

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish damnae (“stuff or material out of which something is made; matter; cause, reason, motive”), from Proto-Celtic *damniyom (“material, substance”), from Proto-Indo-European *dm̥-n-eyós, from *dem- (“to build (up)”).

Noun

damhna m (genitive singular damhna, nominative plural damhnaí)

1. matter
   1. substance, material
   2. subject (for), cause (of)
2. (literary, of person) ’makings’, eligible person

Declension

Declension of damhna

Fourth declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative damhna damhnaí Vocative a dhamhna a dhamhnaí Genitive damhna damhnaí Dative damhna damhnaí

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an damhna na damhnaí Genitive an damhna na ndamhnaí Dative leis an damhna don damhna leis na damhnaí

Derived terms

• damhna dorcha (“dark matter”)
• damhnaigh (“materialise”, verb)
• damhnúil (“material”, adjective)
• frithdhamhna (“antimatter”)

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
damhna	dhamhna	ndamhna
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “damhna”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “damnae”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Further reading

• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “damhna”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “damhna”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish damnae (“the stuff or material out of which something is wrought or created; heir; matter, cause, reason, motive”), from Proto-Celtic *damniyom (“material, substance”), from *dem- (“to build (up)”).

Noun

damhna m

1. cause, reason

Derived terms

• rìgh-damhna (“king's heir”)

Mutation

Mutation of damhna

radical	lenition
damhna	dhamhna

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

References

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