bannae

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• bainne

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *bandyo- (“drop”), loaned from a source akin to Proto-Slavic *baňa (“bath”), Latin balneum (“bath”), all from Ancient Greek βαλανεῖον (balaneîon, “bath”). Also compared is Proto-Indo-Aryan *bindúṣ (“drop, particle, globule”), but Matasovic rejects this.

Brittonic cognates include Middle Cornish and Breton banne (“drop”).

Noun

bannae (gender unknown)

1. drop
2. (medicine) pustule

Inflection

The gender is not specified in DIL, nor do the attestations provide any hints. The two possibilities of inflection are:

Masculine io-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	bannae	bannaeL	bannaiL
vocative	bannai	bannaeL	bannu
accusative	bannaeN	bannaeL	bannuH
genitive	bannaiL	bannaeL	bannaeN
dative	bannuL	bannaib	bannaib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

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

Neuter io-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	bannaeN	bannaeL	bannaeL
vocative	bannaeN	bannaeL	bannaeL
accusative	bannaeN	bannaeL	bannaeL
genitive	bannaiL	bannaeL	bannaeN
dative	bannuL	bannaib	bannaib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

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

Derived terms

• bannán m (“small drop, droplet”)

Descendants

• Middle Irish: bainne
  • Irish: bainne
  • Manx: bainney
  • Scottish Gaelic: bainne

Mutation

Mutation of bannae

radical	lenition	nasalization
bannae	bannae pronounced with /β-/	mbannae

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

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