ubull

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *abūl (“apple”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ébōl.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈuβul͈]

Noun

ubull n

1. apple

Inflection

Neuter o-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	ubullN	ubullN	ubullL, ubla
vocative	ubullN	ubullN	ubullL, ubla
accusative	ubullN	ubullN	ubullL, ubla
genitive	ubuillL	ubull	ubullN
dative	ubullL	ublaib	ublaib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

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

According to Stifter, this word was originally a u-stem, as evidenced by the archaic genitive singular in the place name Áth Aublo.

Related terms

• aball (“apple tree”)
• obull (“juggling ball”)

Descendants

• Middle Irish: uball
  • Irish: úll
  • Manx: ooyl
  • Scottish Gaelic: ubhal

Mutation

Mutation of ubull

radical	lenition	nasalization
ubull (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	unchanged	n-ubull

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