saothar

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish saíthar, from Proto-Celtic *saitrom, from Proto-Indo-European *sh₂ey-trom (“binding, fetter”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /ˈsˠeːhəɾˠ/
• (Connacht) IPA^(key): /ˈsˠiːhəɾˠ/
  • (Cois Fharraige) IPA^(key): /ˈsˠiːɾˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈsˠihəɾˠ/, (older) /ˈsˠɯhəɾˠ/

Noun

saothar m (genitive singular saothair, nominative plural saothair)

1. labour (work); toil, exertion; stress, effort

   gan saothar ― without effort

2. work (product of labour)
   1. thing done, achievement
   2. works; literary or artistic composition
3. (music) opus
4. (music, literature) composition, piece
5. job of destruction
6. (literary) travail, pangs of childbirth
7. evacuation of bowels; excrement
8. (as verbal noun, ag ~) labouring, toiling

Declension

Declension of saothar

First declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative saothar saothair Vocative a shaothair a shaothara Genitive saothair saothar Dative saothar saothair

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an saothar na saothair Genitive an tsaothair na saothar Dative leis an saothar don saothar leis na saothair

Synonyms

• (labour): obair
• (composition, piece): dréacht, píosa

Derived terms

• ardsaothar
• bileog shaothair
• saothar allamuigh (“field-work”)
• saothar an bháis (“death-throes”)
• saothar an lae (“the daily grind”)
• saothar anála (“panting, laboured breathing”)
• saothar bradáin (“process of spawning of salmon”)
• saothar coirp (“manpower”)
• saothar díreach (“direct labour”)
• saothar ealaíne (“art, artwork, work of art”)
• saothar ficsin (“work of fiction”)
• saothar foirne (“team effort”)
• saothar in aisce (“lost cause, labour in vain”)
• saothar indíreach (“indirect labour”)
• saothar láimhe (“handicraft”)
• saothar múrealaíne (“wall painting”)
• saothar seanré (“period piece”)
• saothar taifeadta (“discography”)
• saothar teibí (“abstract, abstraction”, noun)
• saotharlann (“laboratory”)
• saothrach
• saothraí
• saothraigh
• saothrán (“culture”)
• scoil saothair

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
saothar	shaothar after an, tsaothar	not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• “saothar”, in Historical Irish Corpus, 1600–1926, Royal Irish Academy
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “saoṫar”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 595
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “saothar”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• “saothar”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024