blíadain

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *blēdanī (“year”). Cognate with Cornish blydhen, Breton blizen, Welsh blwyddyn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʲlʲiːa̯ðinʲ/

Noun

blíadain f (genitive blíadnae, nominative plural blíadnai)

1. year

Inflection

Feminine ī-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	blíadainL	blíadainL	blíadnaiH
Vocative	blíadainL	blíadainL	blíadnaiH
Accusative	blíadnaiN	blíadainL	blíadnaiH
Genitive	blíadnaeH	blíadnaeL	blíadnaeN
Dative	blíadnaiL, blíadain	blíadnaib	blíadnaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Irish: bliain
• Manx: blein
• Scottish Gaelic: bliadhna

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
blíadain	blíadain pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/	mblíadain
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

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