saíthar

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• saíthor

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *saitrom, from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ey-tro-m, from *sh₂ey- (“to bind, fetter”) +‎ *-trom.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsaːi̯θar]

Noun

saíthar n (genitive saíthir, nominative plural saíthra)

1. work, labour
   • 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. 10^c21

     Ba torad sa⟨í⟩thir dúun in chrud so ce du·melmis cech túari et ce du·gnemmis a ndu·gníat ar céli, act ní bad nertad na mbráithre et frescsiu fochricce as móo.

     It would be a fruit of labor for us in this way if we consumed every food and if we did what our fellows do, but it would not be a strengthening of the brothers and a hope of a greater reward.

Declension

Neuter o-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	saítharN, saíthor	saítharN, saíthor	saítharL, saíthra
Vocative	saítharN, saíthor	saítharN, saíthor	saítharL, saíthra
Accusative	saítharN, saíthor	saítharN, saíthor	saítharL, saíthra
Genitive	saíthairL, saíthir	saíthar, saíthor	saítharN, saíthor
Dative	saíthurL	saíthraib	saíthraib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: saethar
  • Irish: saothar
  • Scottish Gaelic: saothair

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
saíthar	ṡaíthar	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), “saíthar”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language