lánamain

Old Irish

Etymology

Explained by Thurneysen as from lán (“whole, complete”) +‎ emon (“twin, triplet”), but the semantics and morphology (emon is a masculine o-stem, this term is a feminine ī-stem) are difficult to reconcile. However, the Manx descendant lannoon also means "twin".

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈl͈aːnaβ̃ɨnʲ]

Noun

lánamain f (genitive lánamnae, nominative plural lánamnai)

1. married couple

Inflection

Feminine ī-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	lánamainL	lánamainL	lánamnaiH
vocative	lánamainL	lánamainL	lánamnaiH
accusative	lánamnaiN	lánamainL	lánamnaiH
genitive	lánamnaeH	lánamnaeL	lánamnaeN
dative	lánamnaiL	lánamnaib	lánamnaib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

• ^H = triggers aspiration
• ^L = triggers lenition
• ^N = triggers nasalization

Derived terms

• lánamnas

Descendants

• Middle Irish: lánamain
  • Irish: lánúin
  • Scottish Gaelic: lànan
  • Manx: lannoon (“twin”)

Mutation

Mutation of lánamain

radical	lenition	nasalization
lánamain also llánamain after a proclitic ending in a vowel	lánamain pronounced with /l(ʲ)-/	unchanged

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), “lánamain”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language