attá

See also: Appendix:Variations of "atta"

Middle Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish at·tá.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈtaː/

Verb

at·tá

1. to be

Conjugation

• Third-person singular preterite absolute/conjunct: boí, bui
• Third-person singular perfect deuterotonic: ro·boí

Descendants

• Classical Gaelic: a-tá
• Irish: tá
• Manx: ta
• Scottish Gaelic: tha

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “attá”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• ad·tá, a·tá, at·táa, a·táa

Etymology

From ad- +‎ ·tá. For forms in b- and f-, see bí and fil respectively.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /at̪ˈt̪aː/

Verb

at·tá (prototonic ·tá, verbal noun buith, buid)

1. to be
2. to have (in the construction at·tá X oc Y (“Y has X”) or with an affixed pronoun)

   Synonyms: táth-, techtaid

For quotations using this term, see Citations:attá.

Usage notes

This is the so-called "substantive verb", which takes an adverb, an adverbial phrase, or a prepositional phrase as the predicate. When the predicate is a noun, a pronoun, or an adjective, the copula is is used instead.

As in modern Irish, if there is no other predicate in an existential “there is” clause, the adverb and is used:

• 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. 29^a28

  Ní taibre grád for nech causa a pectha ꝉ a chaíngníma: ar bíit alaili and ro·finnatar a pecthe resíu do·coí grád forru; alaili is íarum ro·finnatar. Berir dano fri láa brátha.

  You sg should not confer orders on anyone because of his sin or of his good deed: for there are some whose sins are found out before their ordination, others whose [sins] are found out afterwards. Reference is made, then, to the day of judgment.

  (literally, “…before orders shall go upon them…”)

Conjugation

Irregular

1st sing. 2d sing. 3d sing. Impersonal 1st pl. 2d pl. 3d pl. Pres.​indic.​prog.* at·tó ·tó at·taí, a·taí ·taí at·tá, a(d)·tá, a(t)·táa ·tá — ·táthar fil(e), feil, fail (relative) daas (relative; found only in cid daas, indaas, oldaas) at·taam ·taam at·taïd ·taïd a(t)·taat ·taat Pres.​indic.​hab. bíuu ·bíu — ·bí bíid; ro·bí (ro-form) ·bí; ·rubai (ro-form) bíthir; ro·bíther (ro-form) ·bíther; ·rubther (ro-form) bís (relative) bímmi ·biam — — bíit; ro·bïat (ro-form) ·bïat; ·rubat (ro-form) bíther (relative) bímme (relative) bíte (relative) Imperfect indicative ·bíinn — ·bíth ·bíthe ·bímmis — ·bítis Preterite bá ·bá — ·bá boí ·boí bothae ·both boíe (relative) bámmar ·bámmar — ·baid bátar ·bátar bátar (relative) Perfect ro·bá ·roba ro·bá — ro·boí ·robae, ·robæ, ·robe ro·both ·rabad ro·bámmar ·robammar ro·baid ·robaid ro·bátar ·robatar Future bia — bie — bieid ·bia bethir ·bether bias (relative) beimmi ·biam bethe ·bieid bieit ·bïat beite (relative) Conditional ·beinn — ·biad ·bemmis — ·betis Present subjunctive béo ·béo bee; ro·bé (ro-form) ·bé beid, beith; ro·bé (ro-form) ·bé; ·roib (ro-form) bethir ·bether bess (relative) beimmi; ro·bem (ro-form) ·bem; ·robam (ro-form) beithe; ro·beid (ro-form) ·beid; ·robith (ro-form) beit; ro·bet (ro-form) ·bet; ·robat (ro-form) bether (relative) Past subjunctive ·beinn ·betha ·beth ·bethe ro·beth (ro-form) ·robad, ·rabad (ro-form) ·bemmis ·bethe ·betis ro·betis (ro-form) ·roibtis (ro-form) Imperative bí bíid, bíth — bíid, bíth bïat verbal noun buith, buid past participle – verbal of necessity buithi *Certain conjunct forms of the present progressive are formed with fil, taking an infixed object pronoun as the logical subject, e.g. ní·ḟil "it is not", ní-n·fil "we are not", ní-s·fil "they are not" etc. Third-person forms with affixed pronouns expressing 'to have' Person of aff.​pron.→ singular plural first second third first second third m f Pres.​ind. táthum, nom·thá rod·mbí (relative, habitual, ro-form) ním·tha (negative) ním·that (negative; plural subject) táthut táithi táthus táthunn, táithiunn nín·tá (negative) táthuib, nob·tá nís·ta (negative) Preterite — — nís·mboí (negative) — — — — Perfect — — ro·mbaí — — — — Future rom·bia (ro-form) — — — — bethib bethus ros·mbia (ro-form) Conditional — — — — — — ronda·biad (relative, ro-form) Pres.​subj. rom·bé rot·bé — — — — — The person of the affixed pronoun corresponds to the subject of 'have' in English; the number of the verb form corresponds to the number of the direct object of ‘have’ in English. All forms in the table above have a singular subject unless otherwise indicated. Combinations expressing ‘than’ with al (“beyond”), ind (“for which”), a (“which”) singular plural first second third first second third Pres.​indic.​prog. ol·dáu, ol·dó a·doa ol·daí, ol·taí in·daí a·taí ol·daas, ol·doas in·daas, in·dá(a)s — — ol·dát(a)e, oldáta in·dát(a)e Pres.​indic.​hab. — ol·mbí — — — — Preterite — — ol·mboí i·mboí — — ol·mbátar Future — — — — ola·mbieid —

Related terms

• ad·cota
• táth-

Descendants

• Middle Irish: at·tá
  • Classical Gaelic: a-tá
  • Irish: tá
  • Manx: ta
  • Scottish Gaelic: tha

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “attá”, 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, §§ 777–90, pages 477–83; reprinted 2017