námae

See also: namae

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *nāmants, traditionally said to be from Proto-Indo-European *ne (“not”) + *h₂em- (“love”) (compare Latin amō), but as that verb root is not otherwise attested in Celtic, this may be a folk etymology.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈn͈aːβ̃e/, [ˈn͈aːβ̃ɘ]

Noun

námae m (genitive námat, nominative plural námait)

1. enemy

For quotations using this term, see Citations:námae.

Declension

Masculine nt-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	námae	námaitL	námait
Vocative	námae	námaitL	náimtea
Accusative	námaitN	námaitL	náimtea
Genitive	námat	námatL	námatN
Dative	námaitL	náimtib	náimtib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Derived terms

• náimtide
• náimtine

Descendants

• Middle Irish: náma
  • Irish: namhaid
  • Manx: noid
  • Scottish Gaelic: nàmhaid

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
námae also nnámae after a proclitic ending in a vowel	námae pronounced with /n(ʲ)-/	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

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