Old Irish

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Proto-Celtic *adkʷiseti, from ad- +‎ Proto-Celtic *kʷiseti, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷeys- (to observe), the only other reflex of which in Celtic is Gaulish pissiumi (I will see). Cognate with Sanskrit चायति (cā́yati, perceives), Old Avestan 𐬗𐬋𐬌𐬱𐬙 (cōišt, assign, allocate).

The deuterotonic augmented preterite (perfect) ad·condairc is from Proto-Celtic *darke, an ā-preterite restructured from Proto-Celtic *dedorke, from Proto-Indo-European *de-dórḱ-e, the perfect of Proto-Indo-European *derḱ- (to see).[1] Cognate with Sanskrit दृश् (dṛś, to see), Ancient Greek δέρκομαι (dérkomai, (I) see, watch; shine), Old English torht (bright, clear), Albanian dritë (light).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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ad·cí (prototonic ·aicci, verbal noun aicsiu)

  1. to see, to behold
  2. to perceive
  3. (in passive) to seem, to appear
    • c. 750, Preface to Saint Patrick's Breastplate, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus, (1901–03, Cambridge University Press; reprinted 1975, 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, 2:354–58:
      conid annsin atchessa fiad lucht na netarnade comtis aige alta ⁊ iarróe ina ndiaid .i. Benen
      And then it appeared before those lying in ambush that they were wild deer with a fawn (Benén) following them.

For more quotations using this term, see Citations:adcí.

Usage notes

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ad·cí is mostly immune to augmentation (with ro- or a similar preverb). For example, in the following dependent clause all three verbs are expected to have the potential augment:

  • c. 9th century, Bethu Brigte, edited Donncha Ó hAodha (1978), lines 434-5
    "Raga" ar Brigit, "conid·n-acarconid·n-arladarco·tarda bennacht form"
    "I shall go" said Brigit, "that I may see him (unaugm.) and that I may talk to him (augm.) and that he may bestow (augm.) a blessing upon me".

In the preterite however ad·condairc serves as the suppletive augmented form (perfect), but only in independent position! Other ro-forms, like ·airciu, ad·rodarcar, etc., meaning “can see”, “can be seen”, etc., are rare late forms.[2]

Conjugation

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Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Irish: feic, chí
  • Manx: faik
  • Scottish Gaelic: faic, chì

Mutation

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Old Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
ad·cí ad·chí ad·cí
pronounced with /-ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

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  1. ^ Schumacher, Stefan, Schulze-Thulin, Britta (2004) “*-de-dork-/*-de-drik-”, in Die keltischen Primärverben: ein vergleichendes, etymologisches und morphologisches Lexikon (Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft; 110) (in German), Innsbruck: Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen der Universität Innsbruck, →ISBN, pages 270-71
  2. ^ McCone, Kim (1997) The Early Irish Verb (Maynooth Monographs 1), 2nd edition, Maynooth: An Sagart, →ISBN, page 146

Further reading

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