feithid

Irish

Alternative forms

• aithid, athaid, feithide

Etymology

From Middle Irish ethait, from Old Irish ethait. The initial f- is prothetic and unetymological.

Noun

feithid f (genitive singular feithide, nominative plural feithidí)

1. tiny creature, insect, bug
2. (figuratively) puny, insignificant, person
3. wild creature, beast
4. repulsive creature, adder, serpent

Declension

Declension of feithid (second declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative feithid feithidí vocative a fheithid a fheithidí genitive feithide feithidí dative feithid feithidí forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an fheithid na feithidí genitive na feithide na bhfeithidí dative leis an bhfeithid don fheithid leis na feithidí

Derived terms

• feithideolaí
• feithideolaíoch
• feithideolaíocht
• feithidicíd, feithidnimh (“insecticide”)
• feithiditeach (“insectivorous”)
• feithiditeoir (“insectivore”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of feithid

radical	lenition	eclipsis
feithid	fheithid	bhfeithid

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) “feithid”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “feithid”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “feithid”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2025

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *weteti, from Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“to turn to, be acquainted with”). Cognate with Proto-Indo-Iranian *watáti (“to be familiar with”).

Verb

feithid (conjunct ·fethi, verbal noun fethem)

1. to watch
   • c. 700 Immram Brain, published in The Voyage of Bran son of Febal to the land of the living (1895, London: David Nutt), pp. 1-35, edited and with translations by Kuno Meyer and Alfred Nutt, stanza 49

     In delb é no·fethi-su…

     This shape, he on whom thou lookest…

Inflection

Simple, class A II present, s preterite

		1st sg	2nd sg	3rd sg	1st pl	2nd pl	3rd pl	passive sg	passive pl
present indicative	abs.
	conj.		·fethi
	rel.
imperfect indicative				·feithed
preterite	abs.
	conj.
	rel.
perfect	deut.		ron·fethis
	prot.
future	abs.
	conj.
	rel.
conditional
present subjunctive	abs.
	conj.
	rel.
past subjunctive
imperative
verbal noun		fethem
past participle
verbal of necessity

Derived terms

• ar·feith

Further reading

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