asbeir

Old Irish

FWOTD – 19 August 2014

Etymology

From ess- +‎ beirid. The same construction as Latin efferō, which can mean (among other things) “proclaim, declare”, and Ancient Greek ἐκφέρω (ekphérō), which can mean “disclose”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [asˈbʲerʲ]

Verb

as·beir (prototonic ·epir, verbal noun epert)

1. to say, utter [with fri ‘to’]
   • 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. 13^c13

     Ní érbarid autem uerba as·beir in tóis anfoirbthe.

     Moreover, you pl should not utter words which the imperfect folk utters.

   • 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. 26^b19

     At·beirmis frib.

     We used to say it to you pl.

   • c. 850, Carlsruhe Glosses on St Augustine’s Soliloquia, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. 2, pp. 1–9, Acr. 14^a2

     Bés as·bera-su as n‑ai⟨n⟩m dosom animus ci at·bela.

     Maybe you would say that animus is its name though it may die.

2. to mention
   • 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. 28^a20

     As·bertar a n-anman arna gaba nech desimrecht diib.

     Their names are mentioned that no one may take example from them.

3. to speak (a language)
   • 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. 12^d6

     ar ní tucci a mbéelre as·biur

     for he does not understand the language I speak

For more quotations using this term, see Citations:asbeir.

Usage notes

The present and imperfect indicative ro-forms as·robair, as·robarad mean “can say, could say”.

Conjugation

Complex, class B I present, t preterite, é future, a subjunctive

		1st sg.	2nd sg.	3rd sg.	1st pl.	2nd pl.	3rd pl.	Passive sg.	Passive pl.
Present indicative	Deut.	as·biur	as·bir	as·ber, as·beir; as·robair (ro-form)	as·beram	as·berid, as·beirid	as·berat	as·berar, as·ber, as·berr	as·bertar
	Prot.	··epur, ··epiur	·epir, ·apir	·epir, ·epeir, ·eper, ·eiper	·eprem			·eparr, ·eperr, ·aiperr	·epertar
Imperfect indicative	Deut.	as·berin, as·beirin, as·berinn, as·beirinn		as·bered, as·beired, as·berad; as·robarad (ro-form)	as·beirmis; at·beirmis (with infixed pronoun t-)		as·bertis, as·beirtis	as·berthe, as·beirthe
	Prot.
Preterite	Deut.		as·birt	as·bert			as·bertatar	as·breth
	Prot.			·epert			·epertatar
Perfect	Deut.	as·ruburt, as·rubart		as·rubart, as·rubbart	as·rubartmar, as·rubartmmar	as·rubartaid	as·rubartat, as·rubartatar	as·rubrad, as·robrad
	Prot.	·érburt, ·ǽrburt		·érbart			·érbartatar, ·ǽrbartatar	·érbrad, ·érbrath
Future	Deut.	as·bǽr, as·bér, as·béer		as·béra	as·béram		as·bérat	as·bérthar	as·bértar
	Prot.	·epér, ·épéer
Conditional	Deut.
	Prot.							·epérthae, ·epérthæ
Present subjunctive	Deut.	as·ber	as·bere, as·berae, as·bera	as·bera	as·beram	as·beraid	as·berat	as·berthar; as·robarthar (ro-form)
	Prot.	·eper	·érbarae, ·ǽrbara (ro-form)			·érbarid (ro-form)	·epret; ·érbarat (ro-form)	·eperthar; ·érbarthar (ro-form)
Past subjunctive	Deut.	as·berin, as·berain, as·berinn, as·berainn	as·bertha	as·berad; as·robrad (ro-form)	as·bermis, as·bermais		as·robartais (ro-form)	as·berthe, as·berthae
	Prot.		·epertha; ·érbartha (ro-form)	·epred, ·epreid, ·aipred; ·érbarad, ·ǽrbarad (ro-form)			·epertais	·eperthe, ·eperthae
Imperative				epred		eprid
Verbal noun		epert
Past participle
Verbal of necessity		abarta

Synonyms

• ráidid

Derived terms

• as·beir do
• remi·epir

Descendants

• Middle Irish: at·beir
  • Irish: abair
  • Manx: abbyr
  • Scottish Gaelic: abair

Mutation

Internal:

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
as·beir	as·beir pronounced with /-β(ʲ)-/	as·mbeir
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

External:

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
as·beir (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	unchanged	n-as·beir
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), “as-beir”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Pedersen, Holger (1913) Vergleichende Grammatik der keltischen Sprachen (in German), volume II, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, →ISBN, page 466