imb

See also: imb' and imb-

Maltese

Alternative forms

• imb' (superseded)

Etymology

The -m- is probably a fossiled rest of the Arabic nunation. Compare Arabic وَجْهاً لِوَجْهٍ‎ (wajhan liwajhin), راساً لِراسٍ‎ (rāsan lirāsin), where Maltese has only replaced the preposition لِ‎ (li) with بِ‎ (bi). Compare also the nunation in Maltese xejn.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɪmp/

Preposition

imb

1. Alternative form of b' used in a few expressions.

   wiċċ imb wiċċ ― face to face

   ras imb ras ― head to head

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Old Irish

Alternative forms

• imm (both etymologies)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /imʲbʲ/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *amben (compare Welsh ymenyn), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃engʷen- (compare Latin unguen (“grease”), Old High German ancho (“butter”)), from *h₃engʷ- (“anoint”).

Noun

imb n or m (genitive imme, no plural)

1. butter

Inflection

Neuter n-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	imbN	—	—
Vocative	imbN	—	—
Accusative	imbN	—	—
Genitive	imme	—	—
Dative	immimL	—	—
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Irish: im
• Manx: eeym
• Scottish Gaelic: ìm

Etymology 2

From Proto-Celtic *ambi (compare Welsh am), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi (“round about, around”). Cognate with Latin ambi-, Sanskrit अभि (abhí, “towards, over, upon”), Old Persian 𐎠𐎲𐎡𐎹 (a-b-i-y /abiy/, “towards, against, upon”), Old High German umbi, Ancient Greek ἀμφί (amphí, “about, around”) and the first part of Old Armenian ամբ-ողջ (amb-ołǰ, “whole”).

Preposition

imb

1. around
   • 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. 27^b16

     Gaibid immib a n‑étach macc coím-sa, amal nondad maicc coím-a, .i. uiscera is hé in dechellt as·beir.

     Put on (literally, put around you) this raiment of servants, as you all are servants, i.e. viscera is the garment that he mentions.

Inflection

Inflection of imb

Person	Normal	Emphatic
1st person sing.	immum
2d person sing.	immut
3d sing. masc./neut., dative
3d sing. masc./neut., accusative	imbi, immi
3d sing. fem., dative
3d sing. fem., accusative	impe
1st person pl.	immunn
2d person pl.	immib
3d person pl., dative
3d person pl., accusative	impu, impo

Forms with a definite article:

• immin, immun (“around the (masculine/feminine accusative singular)”)

Forms with a possessive determiner:

• imdu (“around your sg”)
• imma, imme (“around his/her/its/their”)

Forms with a relative pronoun:

• immo·, immua·

Descendants

• Irish: um
• Scottish Gaelic: mu
• Manx: mysh

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
imb	unchanged	n-imb
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), “imb, imm ‘butter’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 imm, imb ‘around’”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940, reprinted 2003)D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, →ISBN, pages 273, 516–18