forcain

Old Irish

Etymology

From for- +‎ canaid.

Pronunciation

Deuterotonic:

• IPA^(key): [ɸorˈkanʲ]

Prototonic:

• IPA^(key): [ˈɸorkɨnʲ]

Verb

for·cain (prototonic ·forcain, verbal noun forcital)

1. to teach, to instruct
   • 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. 29^a12

     indhí pridchite et for·chanat bréthir Dǽ

     those who preach and teach God’s word

   • 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. 114^b11

     in popul for·cechnae-siu

     the people whom you sg will instruct

Inflection

Complex, class B I present, reduplicated preterite, a future, a subjunctive

		1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.	Passive sg.	Passive pl.
Present indicative	Deut.	for·canim, for·cun		for·cain			for·canat	for·canar	for·cantar
	Prot.			·forcain
Imperfect indicative	Deut.	for·canainn
	Prot.
Preterite	Deut.
	Prot.
Perfect	Deut.	for·roíchan	for·roíchan	for·roíchain (misspelled for·rochain in Ml. 68b8)			for·roichechnatar
	Prot.
Future	Deut.	for·cechan	for·cechnae	for·cechna
	Prot.
Conditional	Deut.
	Prot.
Present subjunctive	Deut.		for·cane	for·cana		for·canit
	Prot.	·farcan	·forcane				·farcanat
Past subjunctive	Deut.	for·canainn
	Prot.
Imperative				forcanad		forcanid
Verbal noun		forcital
Past participle		foircthe
Verbal of necessity		foircthi; forcanti

Mutation

Deuterotonic

Mutation of forcain

radical	lenition	nasalization
for·cain	for·chain	for·cain 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.

Prototonic

Mutation of forcain

radical	lenition	nasalization
·forcain	·ḟorcain	·forcain pronounced with /-β(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), “forcain”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Pedersen, Holger (1913) Vergleichende Grammatik der keltischen Sprachen [Comparative Grammar of the Celtic Languages] (in German), volume II, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, →ISBN, page 480