carachtar

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish carachtar, from Latin character, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “type, nature, character”), from χαράσσω (kharássō, “to engrave”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaɾˠəxt̪ˠəɾˠ/

Noun

carachtar m (genitive singular carachtair, nominative plural carachtair)

1. character

Declension

Declension of carachtar (first declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative carachtar carachtair vocative a charachtair a charachtara genitive carachtair carachtar dative carachtar carachtair forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an carachtar na carachtair genitive an charachtair na gcarachtar dative leis an gcarachtar don charachtar leis na carachtair

Derived terms

• carachtracht f (“characterization”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of carachtar

radical	lenition	eclipsis
carachtar	charachtar	gcarachtar

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

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “carachtar”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “carachtar”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “carachtar”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• caractar, cáractar, cárachtar

Etymology

From Latin character, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “type, nature, character”), from χαράσσω (kharássō, “to engrave”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkaraxtar]

Noun

carachtar n (genitive carachtair, nominative plural carachtra)

1. character
   • c. 845, St Gall Glosses on Priscian, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1975, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, pp. 49–224, Sg. 9^a22 (Wikisource link)

     Cía for·comam-ni ríagoil sen-Gréc hi scríbunt in dá caractar isnaib ɔsonaib ucut, ro·cruthaigsemmar camaiph immurgu óen charactar – ·f· tar hési ·p· co tinfeth – i n‑epertaib Latinṅdaib.

     Although we preserve the rule of the ancient Greeks in writing the two charac­ters in those conso­nants, we have, however, formed one character – f instead of p with lenition – in Latin words.

Declension

Neuter o-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	carachtarN	carachtarN	carachtra
Vocative	carachtarN	carachtarN	carachtra
Accusative	carachtarN	carachtarN	carachtra
Genitive	carachtairL	carachtar	carachtarN
Dative	carachturL	carachtraib	carachtraib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Irish: carachtar

Mutation

Mutation of carachtar

radical	lenition	nasalization
carachtar	charachtar	carachtar pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/

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