gealbhan

Irish

gealbhan binne

Etymology

From Old Irish gelbann. Compare Scottish Gaelic gealbhonn; Cornish and Breton golvan; Welsh golfan.

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /ɟəˈl̪ˠuːn̪ˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈɟalˠəwənˠ/, /ˈɟal̪ˠəwən̪ˠ/; (as if spelled gealbhán) /ˈɟalˠəwanˠ/, /ˈɟal̪ˠəwan̪ˠ/

Noun

gealbhan m (genitive singular gealbhain, nominative plural gealbhain)

1. sparrow (bird of the family Passeridae)

Declension

Declension of gealbhan (first declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative gealbhan gealbhain vocative a ghealbhain a ghealbhana genitive gealbhain gealbhan dative gealbhan gealbhain forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an gealbhan na gealbhain genitive an ghealbhain na ngealbhan dative leis an ngealbhan don ghealbhan leis na gealbhain

Derived terms

• chomh héadrom le gealbhan (“light of foot, of heart”, literally “as light as a sparrow”)
• chomh héasca le gealbhan (“light of foot, of heart”, literally “as swift as a sparrow”)
• gealbhan binne
• gealbhan bruaigh
• gealbhan caoch
• gealbhan cátha
• gealbhan claí
• gealbhan coille
• gealbhan crainn
• gealbhan creige
• gealbhan giolcaí
• gealbhan glas
• gealbhan gleoránach
• gealbhan lín
• gealbhan rois
• gealbhan sciobóil
• gealbhan sléibhe
• gealbhan tí

Mutation

Mutated forms of gealbhan

radical	lenition	eclipsis
gealbhan	ghealbhan	ngealbhan

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) “gealbhan”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “gelbann”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “gealbhan”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “gealbhan”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2025
• Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 54