Citations:air

English citations of air

			1678	1719	1843 1851
ME «	15th c.	16th c.	17th c.	18th c.	19th c.	20th c.	21st c.

• 1678 — John Bunyan. The Pilgrim's Progress.

  I saw then in my dream, that they went till they came into a certain country, whose air naturally tended to make one drowsy, if he came a stranger into it.

  Now I saw in my dream, that by this time the Pilgrims were got over the Enchanted Ground, and entering into the country of Beulah, whose air was very sweet and pleasant, the way lying directly through it, they solaced themselves there for a season.

  They therefore went up through the regions of the air, sweetly talking as they went, being comforted, because they safely got over the river, and had such glorious companions to attend them.

• 1719 — Daniel Defoe. Robinson Crusoe.

  When he stepped upon the ground with his feet, I thought the earth trembled, just as it had done before in the earthquake, and all the air looked, to my apprehension, as if it had been filled with flashes of fire.

  The reason why I could not go naked was, I could not bear the heat of the sun so well when quite naked as with some clothes on; nay, the very heat frequently blistered my skin: whereas, with a shirt on, the air itself made some motion, and whistling under the shirt, was twofold cooler than without it.

  And no doubt they did; for as soon as ever my fire blazed up, I heard another gun, and after that several others, all from the same quarter. I plied my fire all night long, till daybreak: and when it was broad day, and the air cleared up, I saw something at a great distance at sea, full east of the island, whether a sail or a hull I could not distinguish—no, not with my glass: the distance was so great, and the weather still something hazy also; at least, it was so out at sea.

• 1843 — Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol.

  The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already — it had not been light all day — and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air.

  The hair was curiously stirred, as if by breath or hot air; and, though the eyes were wide open, they were perfectly motionless.

  There were Cains and Abels, Pharaoh's daughters; Queens of Sheba, Angelic messengers descending through the air on clouds like feather-beds, Abrahams, Belshazzars, Apostles putting off to sea in butter-boats, hundreds of figures to attract his thoughts; and yet that face of Marley, seven years dead, came like the ancient Prophet's rod, and swallowed up the whole.

• 1851 — Herman Melville. Moby Dick.

  It was even so; in their headlong eagerness, the men had mistaken some other thing for the whale-spout, as the event itself soon proved; for hardly had Ahab reached his perch; hardly was the rope belayed to its pin on deck, when he struck the key-note to an orchestra, that made the air vibrate as with the combined discharges of rifles.

  Rising with his utmost velocity from the furthest depths, the Sperm Whale thus booms his entire bulk into the pure element of air, and piling up a mountain of dazzling foam, shows his place to the distance of seven miles and more.

  Shrouded in a thin drooping veil of mist, it hovered for a moment in the rainbowed air; and then fell swamping back into the deep.

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Old Irish citations of air

• c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 23^d23

  Cía thés hí loc bes ardu, ní ardu de; ní samlid són dúnni, air ⟨im⟩mi ardu-ni de tri dul isna lucu arda.

  Though he may go into a higher place, he is not the higher; this is not the case for us, for we are the higher through going into the high places.

• c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 55^d11

  Amal du·berad nech hi ceist do Dauid: “Húare is móir sléb fírinne Dǽ, cid ara fodmai-siu, ⟨a⟩ Dauid, didiu a ndu imnedaib ⁊ frithoircnib fo·daimi? Air it fírián-⟨s⟩u.” Ícaid-som didiu anísin, a n-as·mbeir iudicia Domini abisus multa .i. ataat mesai Dǽ nephchomtetarrachti amal abis ⁊ amal fudumain. Is ed in sin fod·era in n-erígim, cid ara fodaim int aís fírián inna fochaidi, ⁊ cid ara mbiat in pecthaig isnaib soinmechaib.

  As though someone had put as a question to David: “Because God’s righteousness is as great as a mountain, why then, David, dost thou suffer what of afflictions and injuries thou sufferest? For thou art righteous.” He solves that then when he says “iudicia Domini abyssus multa”, i.e. there are judgments of God incomprehensible like an abyss and like a depth. That is what causes the complaint why the righteous folk endure tribulations, and why sinners are in prosperity.

• c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 56^b15

  Ar chuingid inna sóinmech i mbïat ind ingoir, as·berat-som nád ndignet inna degnímu, húare is hi fochaidib bíthir hi suidib, ⁊ du·ngénat immurgu inna du⟨á⟩lchi, air is sóinmige ad·chotar tri sui{i}dib.

  Because of seeking the prosperity in which the impious are, they say that they will not do the good deeds, since it is in tribulations that one is in regard to these [good deeds], and that, however, they will engage in (lit. “do”) the vices, for it is prosperity that is obtained through these [vices].

• c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 77^a12

  Air du·roimnibetar mo popuil-se a rrecht dia n‑uilemarbae-siu a náimtea .i. mani bé nech fris·chomarr doibsom ⁊ ⟨du⟩da·imchomarr dia chomalnad tri fochaidi ⁊ ingraimmen.

  For my peoples will forget their law if you sg kill all their enemies, i.e. if there is no one who will hurt them and constrain them to fulfill it through tribulations and persecutions.

• c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 118^b6

  Air mad panem nammá du·berad-som ⁊ ní taibred meum, ro·bad dund ṡásad dïant ainm panis tantum no·regad; húare immurgu du·n-uic meum, is ar chech ṡásad da·uic-som amal sodin.

  For if it were panem only that he put and he did not put meum, it would be only to the food to which is [given] the name panis that it would apply; however, because he has put meum, it is for every food then that he has put that.

• 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. 159^a2

  Air in tan no·labrither in cétni persin ꝉ in tánaisi do·adbit ainm hi suidiu.

  For when you say the first person or the second, you show a noun in this.

• 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. 159^a3

  Is airi ní táet comsuidigud fri rangabáil, húare as coibnesta do bréthir: ar is lour comsuidigud fri suidi, air bid comsuidigud etarscartha comsuidigud rangabálae.

  This is why composition does not occur with a participle, because it is akin to a verb: for composition with the latter is sufficient, for composition of a participle will be separated composition.

• 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. 203^a6

  arna derṅmis cum nobis; air dïa ndénmis cum me, do·génmis dano cum nobis

  that we might not make cum nobis; for if we made cum me, then we should make cum nobis