maidir le

Irish

Alternative forms

mar le (Beara)
madair le

Etymology

First attested in the early 19th century. Perhaps a univerbation of Middle Irish mad (“if it be”) +‎ do leith (“with respect”) +‎ re (“to”), a variant of mad i leith fri which gave mar le.

Pronunciation

(Munster, Aran) IPA^(key): /ˈmˠɑdʲəɾʲ lʲə/
(Connemara, Mayo, Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈmˠadʲəɾʲ lʲə/

Preposition

maidir le (plus nominative, triggers h-prothesis, before the definite article maidir leis)

(Connacht, Munster) as for
Synonyms: i dtaobh, i bpáirt, (Donegal) i dtaca le, (Mayo) cúrsaí
(Kerry) along with, as well as

Inflection

Inflection of *maidir le*
	Person:		simple	emphatic
singular	first		maidir liom	maidir liomsa
	second		maidir leat	maidir leatsa
	third	m	maidir leis	maidir leis-sean
	third	f	maidir léi	maidir léise

plural	first		maidir linn	maidir linne
	second		maidir libh	maidir libhse
	third		maidir leo	maidir leosan

Derived terms

maidir lena (combined with the possessive determiner a)
maidir lenár (combined with the first-person plural possessive determiner ár)

References

T.F. O'Rahilly (1921-23) “maidir le, mar le”, in Ériu, volume 9, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, pages 12-15

Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “maidir”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927) “maidir le”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society
Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “madair”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 456
Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “maidir”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “maidir le”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
“maidir+le”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2025