amadán

See also: amadan

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish ammatán (“fool, simpleton”); synchronically amaid (“foolish woman; simpleton, idiot”) +‎ -án (masculine diminutive suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɑmˠəˈd̪ˠɑːnˠ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈamˠəd̪ˠɑːnˠ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈamˠəd̪ˠænˠ/

Noun

amadán m (genitive singular amadáin, nominative plural amadáin)

1. (derogatory) fool
   • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart, volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 8:

     əs amədān ān wōr ē.

     conventional orthography:

     Is amadán an-mhór é.

     He is a great fool.

   • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart, volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 8:

     ńīl šē xō mōr n̥ amədān agəs vŕȧnīn šē ə ve.

     conventional orthography:

     Níl sé chomh mór an amadáin agus a bhreathnaíonn sé a bheith.

     He’s not as great a fool as he appears to be.

   Synonym: dúramán

Declension

Declension of amadán

First declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative amadán amadáin Vocative a amadáin a amadána Genitive amadáin amadán Dative amadán amadáin

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an t-amadán na hamadáin Genitive an amadáin na n-amadán Dative leis an amadán don amadán leis na hamadáin

Derived terms

• amadáinín m (“bat”)
• amadán Aibreáin m, amadán earraigh m (“April fool”)
• amadán móinteach m (“dotterel”)
• amadánta (“foolish; fatuous”, adjective)
• Lá na nAmadán m (“All Fools' Day”)
• pleidhce amadáin m (“silly fool”)

 

Descendants

• → English: amadan

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
amadán	n-amadán	hamadán	t-amadán
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “amadán”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “ammatán”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Finck, F. N. (1899) Die araner mundart (in German), volume II, Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 8
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “amadán”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 25
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “amadán”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “amadán”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024
• “amadán”, in Historical Irish Corpus, 1600–1926, Royal Irish Academy