oirthear

Irish

Etymology

From oir- (“facing, front, east”) + thear (“beyond”, literally “facing the horizon”), from Old Irish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈeɾʲhəɾˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈɔːɾˠhiːɾʲ/

Noun

oirthear m (genitive singular oirthir)

1. (literary) front, front part
2. east (any absolute geographic location as one faces the rising sun), eastern part
   1. The East (of any geographic place)

Declension

Declension of oirthear (first declension, no plural)

bare forms case singular nominative oirthear vocative a oirthir genitive oirthir dative oirthear forms with the definite article case singular nominative an t-oirthear genitive an oirthir dative leis an oirthear don oirthear

Coordinate terms

• deisceart (“south”)
• iardheisceart (“southwest”)
• iarthar (“west”)
• iarthuaisceart (“northwest”)
• oirdheisceart (“southeast”)
• oirthuaisceart (“northeast”)
• tuaisceart (“north”)

Derived terms

• in oirthear
• um an oirthear
• um an oirthear arís

See also

• anoir (“from the east”)
• soir (“to the east”)
• thoir (“in the east”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of oirthear

radical	eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
oirthear	n-oirthear	hoirthear	t-oirthear

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

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “oirthear”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• “oirthear”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2025