senmáthair

Old Irish

Etymology

From sen (“old”) +‎ máthir (“mother”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsʲenṽaːθərʲ/

Noun

senmáthair f (genitive senmáthar)

1. grandmother
   • 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. 29^d13

     Ro·fetar-sa is foirbthe do hiresso; ba toich deit dano arba foirbthe hires do mathar et do senmathar.

     I know that your faith is perfect; it is natural for you, though, as the faith of your mother and grandmother was perfect.

Inflection

Feminine r-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	senmáthair	senmáthairL	senmáithir
Vocative	senmáthair	senmáthairL	senmáithre
Accusative	senmáthairN	senmáthairL	senmáithre
Genitive	senmáthar	senmáthar	senmátharN
Dative	senmáthairL	senmáithrib	senmáithrib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Coordinate terms

• senathair (“grandfather”)

Descendants

• Middle Irish: senmáthair
  • Irish: seanmháthair
  • Scottish Gaelic: seanmhair
  • Manx: shenn voir

Mutation

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