lachu

See also: Lachu and łachu

Old Irish

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *lek-. Cognate with Lithuanian lak (“to fly”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈl͈axu/

Noun

lachu f (genitive lachan, nominative plural lachain)

1. duck
   • c. 900, Sanas Cormaic, from the Yellow Book of Lecan, Corm. Y 829

     lacha .i. lichiu quam aliæ auess

     duck, which is wetter than other birds

Inflection

Feminine n-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	lachu	lachainL	lachain
Vocative	lachu	lachainL	lachnaH
Accusative	lachainN	lachainL	lachnaH
Genitive	lachan	lachanL	lachanN
Dative	lachainL, lachuL	lachnaib	lachnaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Derived terms

• lachnach (“abounding in ducks”)

Descendants

• Irish: lacha
• Manx: laagh
• Scottish Gaelic: lach

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
lachu also llachu after a proclitic	lachu pronounced with /l(ʲ)-/	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), “lachu”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language