linn

See also: Linn and linn-

English

A linn or cataract

A linn or pool into which a cataract falls

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɪn/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Homophones: lin, Lynn, lyn
• Rhymes: -ɪn

Etymology 1

From Middle English *linne, from Old English hlynn (“torrent”).

Noun

linn (plural linns)

1. (Scotland, Northern England, Wales) A waterfall or cataract (torrent of water running over a rocky bed), or a ravine down which such a waterfall rushes.
   • 1814, J. H. Craig [pseudonym; James Hogg], The Hunting of Badlewe: A Dramatic Tale, London: H[enry] Colburn; Edinburgh: G. Goldie, →OCLC, page 1; quoted in “The Hunting of Badlewe, a Dramatic Tale. 8vo. Edin. 1814. [From the Scottish Review.]”, in The Analectic Magazine, Containing Selections from Foreign Reviews and Magazines, together with Original Miscellaneous Compositions, volume V (New Series), Philadelphia, Pa.: Published and sold by Moses Thomas, […], May 1815, →OCLC, pages 353–354:

     What seek we here / Amid this waste where desolation scowls, / And the red torrent, brawling down the linn, / Sings everlasting discord?

   • 1844 December, “The Legend of Stumpie's Brae”, in The Dublin University Magazine, page 720:

     "For it's o'er the bank, and it's o'er the linn,
     "And it's up to the meadow ridge—"
     "Ay," quo' the Stumpie hirpling in,

   • 1866, John Harland, Lancashire Lyrics: Modern Songs & Ballads of the County Balatine, section 85:

     And the roaring of the linn.

   • 1896, Lewis Proudlock, The Borderland Muse, page 51:

     Hear! now, Yon linn's melodious thunder!

Alternative forms

• lin, lyn, lynn

Etymology 2

From Scottish Gaelic or Irish linn (“pool, pond”), or else a Brythonic source such as Cumbric *lınn, all from Proto-Celtic *lindos (“lake, liquid”). Conflated to some extent with linn (“waterfall”).

Noun

linn (plural linns)

1. (Scotland, Northern England, Wales) A pool of water, especially one formed and agitated by the water from a cascade.
   • 1812, “Poems”, in Forbes, section 49:

     There frisks the freckl'd finny tribe,
     In linns both wide and steep.

   • 1823, Galt, Gilhaize, section XXVIII:

     In the clear linn the trouts shuttled from stone and crevice.

   • 1868 September 24, James Hardy, addressed delivered at Chirnside, quoted in the History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, volume 5, page 386:

     The pool is there — the true linn, in the original acceptance of the word — dark and bottomless.

   • 1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, Prince Otto:

     A trellised path led down into the valley of the brook, and he turned to follow it. The stream was a breakneck, boiling Highland river. Hard by the farm, it leaped a little precipice in a thick grey-mare's tail of twisted filaments, and then lay and worked and bubbled in a linn. Into the middle of this quaking pool a rock protruded, shelving to a cape; and thither Otto scrambled and sat down to ponder.

   • 1894, Haliburton, Furth, 177:

     His successful angler landing the linn-lier [fish that inhabits a pool of water].

   • 1896, Crockett, Grey Man, vii:

     The running of deep water in a linn.

Alternative forms

• lin

East Central German

Etymology

From Middle High German linde, from Old High German lind, lindi, from Proto-West Germanic *linþ(ī), from Proto-Germanic *linþaz. Compare German lind.

Adjective

linn

1. (Erzgebirgisch) mild, gentle

References

Hendrik Heidler (11 June 2020), Hendrik Heidler's 400 Seiten: Echtes Erzgebirgisch: Wuu de Hasen Hoosn haaßn un de Hosen Huusn do sei mir drhamm: Das Original Wörterbuch: Ratgeber und Fundgrube der erzgebirgischen Mund- und Lebensart: Erzgebirgisch – Deutsch / Deutsch – Erzgebirgisch‎^[1] (in German), 3. geänderte Auflage edition, Norderstedt: BoD – Books on Demand, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 81

Estonian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Finnic *litna. Compare Finnish linna.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlinː/

Noun

linn (genitive linna, partitive linna)

1. city (large settlement)
2. (archaeology) fortified settlement

Declension

Declension of linn (ÕS type 22u/leib, length gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		linn	linnad
accusative	nom.
	gen.	linna
genitive			linnade
partitive		linna	linnu linnasid
illative		linna linnasse	linnadesse linnusse
inessive		linnas	linnades linnus
elative		linnast	linnadest linnust
allative		linnale	linnadele linnule
adessive		linnal	linnadel linnul
ablative		linnalt	linnadelt linnult
translative		linnaks	linnadeks linnuks
terminative		linnani	linnadeni
essive		linnana	linnadena
abessive		linnata	linnadeta
comitative		linnaga	linnadega

Derived terms

nouns

• aedlinn
• aolinn
• eeslinn
• emalinn
• kesklinn
• linnak
• linnake
• linnus
• maalinn
• muinaslinn
• pealinn
• ülikoolilinn

Further reading

• “linn”, in [PSV] Eesti keele põhisõnavara sõnastik [Dictionary of Estonian Basic Vocabulary] (in Estonian) (online version, not updated), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2014
• “linn”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009
• “linn”, in [ÕS] Eesti õigekeelsussõnaraamat ÕS 2018 [Estonian Spelling Dictionary] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2018, →ISBN
• linn in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)

Irish

Etymology 1

From Old Irish lind (“pool, lake; sea, ocean”), from Proto-Celtic *lindos (“lake, liquid”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /lʲiːnʲ/
• (Galway) IPA^(key): /l̠ʲiːn̠ʲ/
• (Mayo, Ulster) IPA^(key): /l̠ʲin̠ʲ/

Noun

linn f (genitive singular linne, nominative plural linnte)

1. pool, pond; body of water, lake, sea

Declension

Declension of linn (second declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative linn linnte vocative a linn a linnte genitive linne linnte dative linn linnte forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an linn na linnte genitive na linne na linnte dative leis an linn don linn leis na linnte

Derived terms

• linn chalaidh (“harbour creek”)
• linn éisc (“fish-pond”)
• linn lachan (“duck-pond”)
• linn mhuilinn (“mill-pond”)
• linn snámha (“swimming pool”)
• linn trá (“sandy creek”)
• linneach

Further reading

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927), “linn”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 662; reprinted with additions 1996, →ISBN
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “linn”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Etymology 2

From Old Irish linn (“period, space of time”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /lʲiːnʲ/
• (Galway) IPA^(key): /l̠ʲiːn̠ʲ/
• (Mayo, Ulster) IPA^(key): /l̠ʲin̠ʲ/

Noun

linn f (genitive singular linne)

1. space of time, period

   cuntas na linne ― a contemporary account

Declension

Declension of linn (second declension, no plural)

bare forms singular nominative linn vocative a linn genitive linne dative linn forms with the definite article singular nominative an linn genitive na linne dative leis an linn don linn

Derived terms

• le linn (“during”)

Further reading

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927), “linn”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 663; reprinted with additions 1996, →ISBN
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “linn”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

Etymology 3

From Old Irish linn.

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /lʲiːnʲ/ ~ /lʲinʲ/
• (Connacht) IPA^(key): /lʲin̠ʲ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /l̠ʲɪn̠ʲ/ ~ /lʲɪn̠ʲ/

Pronoun

linn (emphatic linne)

1. first-person plural of le: with us, to us

Further reading

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927), “linn”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 663; reprinted with additions 1996, →ISBN
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “linn”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

References

References

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from Old Norse *linnr, from Proto-Germanic *linþaz. Related to linnorm.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɪnː/

Adjective

linn (masculine and feminine lin, neuter lint, definite singular and plural linne, comparative linnare, indefinite superlative linnast, definite superlative linnaste)

1. weak

Synonyms

• svak

Further reading

• “linn” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /linn/, [lin]

Verb

linn

1. singular imperative of linnan

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈl̠ʲin̠ʲ/

Pronoun

linn

1. first-person plural of la

   For quotations using this term, see Citations:linn.

Descendants

• Irish: linn
• Manx: lhien
• Scottish Gaelic: leinn

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish linn (“period, space of time”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʎiːɲ/

Noun

linn m or f (genitive singular linn or linne, plural linntean)

1. era, age, period

   Linn Ùr ― New Age

   Linn an Umha ― Bronze Age

2. century

   san 20mh linn ― in the 20th century

3. generation (genealogy)

   bho linn gu linn ― from generation to generation

4. offspring, clutch

Synonyms

• (generation): ginealach, glùn

Derived terms

• Linn Ùr na Cloiche (“New Stone Age, Neolithic Period”)
• Na Linntean Dorcha (“Dark Ages”)
• Na Linntean Meadhanach (“Middle Ages”)
• ri linn (“during; because of; with regard to”)

References

• Edward Dwelly (1911), “linn”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “3 linn”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language