feum

Middle English

Noun

feum

1. Alternative form of fume

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Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish feidm (“effort”), from Proto-Celtic *wédes-men- (“need-service”), from Proto-Indo-European *wed.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /feːm/

Noun

feum m (genitive singular feuma or fèim)

1. need, necessity

   ann 'am fheum ― in my time of need

   'S e am feum a thug air sin a dhèanamh. ― Dire necessity made him do that.

2. use, usefulness

   Chan eil feum annad. ― There is no use in you.

   Dè is feum dha? ― What is the use of it?

   Is beag feum a tha ort. ― You are quite useless.

3. poverty
4. worth
5. occasion

   Chan eil feum ort. ― There is no occasion for (or need of) you.

Derived terms

• dèan feum de (“use, exploit, make use of, utilize”, verb)
• feumach (“necessitous, needful, needy”)
• feumail (“useful, beneficial, helpful, handy, of use, serviceable, requisite”)
• gun fheum (“useless, needless; uselessly, needlessly”)
• mì-fheum m (“abuse, misapplication”)

 

References

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “feum”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “feidm”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language