foreith

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *uɸoreteti (“to help”) (compare Welsh gwared), a calque of Latin succurrō. By surface analysis, fo- +‎ reithid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɸoɾˈeθʲ/

Verb

fo·reith

1. to help, to aid, to succour

   Synonyms: for·tét, con·gní, cobraithir

   • c. 700–800, Táin Bó Cúailnge; published in Táin Bó Cúailnge. Recension I (1976, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Cecile O'Rahilly , TBC-I 223:

     Luid Fergus didiu fordul mór fadess co fórsed do Ultaib terchomrac slóig.

     Fergus went out of his way to the south in order to aid [by buying time] the Ulstermen gathering their army.

   • c. 808, Félire Oengusso, Ep. 405; republished as Whitley Stokes, transl., Félire Óengusso Céli Dé: The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee, Harrison & Sons, 1905:

     Ar écnairc ind ríg-sa fris·n-agar a nnúall-sa, fa·rith asint sním-sa, in pauperán trúag-sa!

     For the sake of the king to whom this cry was made, help him out of this sadness, this wretched pauper!

Inflection

Complex, class B I present, á preterite, s future, s subjunctive

		active						passive
		singular			plural			singular	plural
		1st	2nd	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd
present indicative	deut.	fo·riuth		fo·reith			fo·rethat
	prot.
imperfect indicative	deut.
	prot.
preterite	deut.			fu·rráith
	prot.			·faráith
perfect	deut.			fo·roraid, fu·rroraith
	prot.
future	deut.			fum·ré (with infixed pronoun m-)
	prot.						·farrésat
conditional	deut.
	prot.
present subjunctive	deut.
	prot.			·foír
past subjunctive	deut.
	prot.			·fórsed
imperative			fa·rith (with infixed pronoun a-)
verbal noun
past participle
verbal of necessity

Mutation

Mutation of fo·reith

radical	lenition	nasalization
fo·reith also fo·rreith	fo·reith pronounced with /ɾʲ-/	fo·reith also fo·rreith

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

Further reading

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