"-a" meaning in Old Irish

See -a in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Pronoun

IPA: /-a/
Etymology: From Proto-Celtic *yo, from Proto-Indo-European *Hyós. Etymology templates: {{etymid|sga|relative}}, {{der|sga|cel-pro|*yo}} Proto-Celtic *yo, {{der|sga|ine-pro|*Hyós}} Proto-Indo-European *Hyós Head templates: {{head|sga|relative pronoun}} -a
  1. combines with prepositions to form a relative pronoun
    Sense id: en--a-sga-pron-icBR0sMJ Categories (other): Old Irish relative pronouns
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Suffix

IPA: /-a/
Etymology: An allomorph of -iu. It derives from Proto-Celtic *-is, the neuter of *-yūs. -is was extended to -ais thanks to a rebracketing of Proto-Celtic *mais (“more”) from *ma-is to *m-ais (neuter of *māyūs from which Old Irish mó). Etymology templates: {{etymid|sga|comparative}}, {{m+|cel-pro|*-is}} Proto-Celtic *-is, {{glossary|rebracketing}} rebracketing, {{m+|cel-pro|*māros|*mais|t=more}} Proto-Celtic *mais (“more”), {{m+|sga|mó}} Old Irish mó Head templates: {{head|sga|suffix|cat2=inflectional suffixes}} -a
  1. forms the comparative degree of some adjectives Tags: morpheme Synonyms: -iu
    Sense id: en--a-sga-suffix-9tEMHOoE Categories (other): Old Irish entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Old Irish entries with incorrect language header: 7 93
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2
{
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "relative"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "cel-pro",
        "3": "*yo"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Celtic *yo",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*Hyós"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *Hyós",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Proto-Celtic *yo, from Proto-Indo-European *Hyós.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "relative pronoun"
      },
      "expansion": "-a",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Old Irish",
  "lang_code": "sga",
  "pos": "pron",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Old Irish relative pronouns",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "ar (“for the sake of”) + -a → ara (“for the sake of whom/which”)",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "combines with prepositions to form a relative pronoun"
      ],
      "id": "en--a-sga-pron-icBR0sMJ"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/-a/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "-a"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "comparative"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cel-pro",
        "2": "*-is"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Celtic *-is",
      "name": "m+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "rebracketing"
      },
      "expansion": "rebracketing",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cel-pro",
        "2": "*māros",
        "3": "*mais",
        "t": "more"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Celtic *mais (“more”)",
      "name": "m+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "mó"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Irish mó",
      "name": "m+"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "An allomorph of -iu. It derives from Proto-Celtic *-is, the neuter of *-yūs. -is was extended to -ais thanks to a rebracketing of Proto-Celtic *mais (“more”) from *ma-is to *m-ais (neuter of *māyūs from which Old Irish mó).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "suffix",
        "cat2": "inflectional suffixes"
      },
      "expansion": "-a",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Old Irish",
  "lang_code": "sga",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "7 93",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Old Irish entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "lethan (“broad”) + -a → letha (“broader”)",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "forms the comparative degree of some adjectives"
      ],
      "id": "en--a-sga-suffix-9tEMHOoE",
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "-iu"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "morpheme"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/-a/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "-a"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "Old Irish entries with incorrect language header",
    "Old Irish inflectional suffixes",
    "Old Irish lemmas",
    "Old Irish relative pronouns",
    "Old Irish suffixes",
    "Old Irish terms derived from Proto-Celtic",
    "Old Irish terms derived from Proto-Indo-European",
    "Old Irish terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "Pages using catfix",
    "Pages with 63 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "relative"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "cel-pro",
        "3": "*yo"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Celtic *yo",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "ine-pro",
        "3": "*Hyós"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Indo-European *Hyós",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Proto-Celtic *yo, from Proto-Indo-European *Hyós.",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "relative pronoun"
      },
      "expansion": "-a",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Old Irish",
  "lang_code": "sga",
  "pos": "pron",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "ar (“for the sake of”) + -a → ara (“for the sake of whom/which”)",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "combines with prepositions to form a relative pronoun"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/-a/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "-a"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Old Irish entries with incorrect language header",
    "Old Irish inflectional suffixes",
    "Old Irish lemmas",
    "Old Irish suffixes",
    "Old Irish terms with IPA pronunciation",
    "Pages using catfix",
    "Pages with 63 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "comparative"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cel-pro",
        "2": "*-is"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Celtic *-is",
      "name": "m+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "rebracketing"
      },
      "expansion": "rebracketing",
      "name": "glossary"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "cel-pro",
        "2": "*māros",
        "3": "*mais",
        "t": "more"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Celtic *mais (“more”)",
      "name": "m+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "mó"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Irish mó",
      "name": "m+"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "An allomorph of -iu. It derives from Proto-Celtic *-is, the neuter of *-yūs. -is was extended to -ais thanks to a rebracketing of Proto-Celtic *mais (“more”) from *ma-is to *m-ais (neuter of *māyūs from which Old Irish mó).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "sga",
        "2": "suffix",
        "cat2": "inflectional suffixes"
      },
      "expansion": "-a",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Old Irish",
  "lang_code": "sga",
  "pos": "suffix",
  "senses": [
    {
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "lethan (“broad”) + -a → letha (“broader”)",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "forms the comparative degree of some adjectives"
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "-iu"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "morpheme"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/-a/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "-a"
}

Download raw JSONL data for -a meaning in Old Irish (2.6kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Old Irish dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-01 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.