ém

See also: Appendix:Variations of "em"

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• ǽm (Würzburg and Milan glosses)
• ám (St. Gall glosses and Tallaght monasterial diaries)
• éim

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeːβ̃/

Particle

ém

1. indeed, for sure, truly
   • 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. 2^c4

     Cain ro·noíbad Abracham tri hiris? In tree ǽm didiu fa nacc?

     Hasn’t Abraham been sanctified through faith? Through it then indeed or not?

Usage notes

Used to affirmatively reinforce a statement in which this particle is inserted.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 éim, ém”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 ám”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940) [1909], D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, translation of Handbuch des Alt-Irischen (in German), →ISBN, § 880, page 549; reprinted 2017

Vietnamese

Etymology

Non-Sino-Vietnamese reading of Chinese 掩 (SV: yểm). Compare ẻm, a dialectal synonym.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [ʔɛm˧˦]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [ʔɛm˦˧˥]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [ʔɛm˦˥]

Verb

ém

1. to hide, to conceal, to keep quiet
2. to tuck in (blankets, a mosquito net…) under a mattress, mat…
   • 2005, Nguyễn Ngọc Tư, “Dòng nhớ”, in Cánh đồng bất tận, NXB Trẻ:

     Nửa đêm, má tôi đi ém mùng lại, […]

     In the middle of the night, my mother tucked in the mosquito net; […]

Derived terms

• ém dẹm
• ém nhẹm

Anagrams

• mé