forngaire

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• forgaire
• forgare

Etymology

From for- +‎ com- +‎ -gaire. Syncope and phonotactic restrictions caused the com- to vanish for many speakers, leading to its reinsertion in Middle Irish forcongra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfor.(ŋ)ɡə.rʲe/

Noun

forngaire n

1. verbal noun of for·congair: an order, command or direction to do something
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 10^a27

     .i. ar mad forṅgaire do·gnein, do·coischifed pían a thairmthecht.

     i.e. for if it were a command that I gave, punishment would follow transgression thereof.

   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 62^c5

     .i. du·arbaid Dia in déni as comallaidi a forgaire .i. in déni as ṁbuidigthi do ind fortacht imme·trenaigedar ⁊ du·mbeir.

     i.e. God showed the speed with which His command must be fulfilled, i.e. the speed with which the help which He assures and gives must be thanked to him.

2. warning notice
   • c. 850–900, Trecheng Breth Féne, published in The Triads of Ireland (1906, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy), edited and with translations by Kuno Meyer, Triad 140

     Trí dubthredtha: tuga co fúatchai, imme co forngaire, tírad co n-aurgorad.

     Three black husbandries: thatching with stolen things, putting up a fence with a proclamation of trespass, kiln-drying with scorching.

Inflection

Neuter io-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	forngaireN	forngaireL	forngaireL
Vocative	forngaireN	forngaireL	forngaireL
Accusative	forngaireN	forngaireL	forngaireL
Genitive	forngairiL	forngaireL	forngaireN
Dative	forngairiuL	forngairib	forngairib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• ⇒ Middle Irish: forcongra (with reinsertion of com-)
  • Irish: forchongra

Mutation

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

Further reading

• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “forngaire, forgaire”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language