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)

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.
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.
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
Present indicative	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
Imperfect indicative	Prot.

Preterite	Deut.		as·birt	as·bert			as·bertatar	as·breth
Preterite	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
Perfect	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
Future	Prot.	·epér, ·épéer

Conditional	Deut.
Conditional	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)
Present subjunctive	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
Past subjunctive	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

Descendants

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

Mutation

Internal:

Mutation of *asbeir*
radical	lenition	nasalization
as·beir	as·beir pronounced with /-β(ʲ)-/	as·mbeir

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

External:

Mutation of *asbeir*
radical	lenition	nasalization
as·beir (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	unchanged	n-as·beir