déirc

Irish

Alternative forms

• déirce f

Etymology

From Old Irish deercc (“God's love; charity”), a Christian compound of Día (“God”) and serc (“love”).

Noun

déirc f (genitive singular déirce)

1. charity, alms(-giving)

   Proverb: Déirc dá chuid féin (a thabhairt) don amadán. ― (To) feed a dog with his own tail; literally “To give the fool charity from his own belongings.”

   Proverb: Déirc an Domhnaigh a bhriseas droim an diabhail. ― Occasional almsgiving is not charity in the true sense; literally “Sunday charity overloads the devil’s back.”

Declension

Declension of déirc

Second declension

Bare forms (no plural form of this noun) Case Singular Nominative déirc Vocative a dhéirc Genitive déirce Dative déirc

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Nominative an déirc Genitive na déirce Dative leis an déirc don déirc

Synonyms

• (alms-giving): déanamh déirce

Derived terms

• ábhar déirce (“an object of charity”)
• altú na déirce (“thanksgiving for alms, beggar's thanks”)
• bean déirce (“beggar(-woman)”)
• déirc don phocán lán (“undeserving charity”)
• díol déirce (“object of charity”)
• dóigh déirce (“person likely to give alms, generous almsgiver”)
• fear déirce (“beggar(-man)”)
• ord déirce (“mendicant order”)

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
déirc	dhéirc	ndéirc
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “déirc”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “deercc”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language