ailén

See also: ailen and Ai-len

Old Irish

Etymology

From ail (“boulder, rock”) +‎ -én, though this may be a folk-etymological alteration of Old Norse eyland.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.lʲeːn/

Noun

ailén m (genitive ailéoin, nominative plural ailéoin)

1. island

   Synonym: inis

Inflection

Masculine o-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	ailén	ailénL	ailéoinL
vocative	ailéoin	ailénL	ailéonuH
accusative	ailénN	ailénL	ailéonuH
genitive	ailéoinL	ailén	ailénN
dative	ailénL, ailéon	ailénaib	ailénaib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

• ^H = triggers aspiration
• ^L = triggers lenition
• ^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Irish: oileán
• Manx: ellan
• Scottish Gaelic: eilean

Mutation

Mutation of ailén

radical	lenition	nasalization
ailén (pronounced with /h/ in h-prothesis environments)	ailén	n-ailén

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