imm-

See also: imm and Imm

Old Irish

Alternative forms

imb-
imme- (in relative verb forms)

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *ambi-, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂m̥bʰi.

Prefix

imm-

around, about
‎imm- (“around”) + ‎soïd (“to turn”) → ‎imm·soí (“to turn around”)

‎imm- (“around”) + ‎téit (“to go”) → ‎imm·tét (“to go around”)

‎imm- + ‎aigid (“drive”) → ‎imm·aig (“drive [someone else] around”)

‎imm- + ‎beirid (“to carry”) → ‎imm·beir (“to play”, literally “carry around”)
indicates a reciprocal relationship; always unstressed and followed by a (usually plural) infixed pronoun: each other, one another
‎imm- (“each other”) + ‎-un ·cúalammar (“we have heard (of) ourselves”) → ‎immun·cúalammar (“we have heard (of) each other”)
intensive prefix for adjectives and nouns: very, super-
‎imm- (“very”) + ‎ecal (“fearful”) → ‎immecal (“very fearful”)

‎imm- (“very”) + ‎lobur (“sick person”) → ‎imlobor (“a very sick person”)

Usage notes

The reciprocal sense, which is always unstressed, loses its initial i after ní (“not”): nímun·accammar (“we have not seen each other”) (also written ní ’mun·accammar by some editors).

Derived terms

imma

Related terms

imb (“around, about”, preposition)

Descendants

Irish: im-

Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “imb”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940) [1909], D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, translation of Handbuch des Alt-Irischen (in German), →ISBN, § 841, pages 516–18; reprinted 2017