neim

Old Irish

Etymology

Originally a neuter men-stem verbal noun (*nem-men) with degemination of -mm- to -m-.[1] Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to give”). For the semantic relationship, compare German Gift (“poison, toxin”).[2]

Noun

neim n or f (originally neuter)

  1. poison
  2. venom

Inflection

This term declines as a neuter n-stem in the singular and an i-stem in the plural.

Neuter n-stem
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative neimN neimN neimiH
Vocative neimN neimN neimiH
Accusative neimN neimN neimiH
Genitive neime neimeN neimeN
Dative neimimL neimib neimib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization

Descendants
  • Irish: nimh
  • Manx: nieu
  • Scottish Gaelic: nimh

References
  1. Byrd, Andrew Miles: 2006, "Return to Dative Anmaimm". Ériu 56:152
  2. Matasović, Ranko (2009), “*nemo-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 288
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