breith

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish breth, verbal noun of beirid (“to carry, bear, bring forth, judge”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /bʲɾʲɛh/
• (Connacht) IPA^(key): /bʲɾʲɛ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /bʲɾʲeh/

Noun

breith f (genitive singular breithe, nominative plural breitheanna)

1. verbal noun of beir
2. birth
3. lay (of hens)
4. bearing capacity
5. bringing, taking
6. seizing; catching, overtaking
7. judgment, decision
8. injunction

Declension

Declension of breith (second declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative breith breitheanna vocative a bhreith a bhreitheanna genitive breithe breitheanna dative breith breitheanna forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an bhreith na breitheanna genitive na breithe na mbreitheanna dative leis an mbreith don bhreith leis na breitheanna

Derived terms

• ainbhreith f (“perverse judgment, unjust judgment”)
• beobhreitheacht f (“viviparity”)
• breith clainne (“childbirth”)
• claonbhreith f (“perverse judgment, unjust judgment”)
• pobalbhreith f (“plebiscite”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of breith

radical	lenition	eclipsis
breith	bhreith	mbreith

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), “breith”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “breth”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Finck, F. N. (1899), Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect] (in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung
• Quiggin, E. C. (1906), A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 26
• Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931), Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry [Phonetics of an Irish dialect of Kerry] (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, page 50

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish breth, verbal noun of beirid (“to carry, bear, bring forth, judge”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɾʲeh/

Noun

breith f (genitive singular breith, plural breithean)

1. opinion
2. assessment, judgment
3. decision
4. sentence, verdict

Derived terms

• breitheamh m (“judge”)
• breithnich, thoir breith (“judge”, verb)
• leth-bhreith f (“discrimination”)
• eadar-bhreith f (“arbitration”)

Noun

breith f (genitive singular breith, plural breithean)

1. verbal noun of beir
2. birth

Synonyms

• beirsinn

Derived terms

• còir-bhreith (“birthright”)
• co-là-breith (“birthday”)

Further reading

• Edward Dwelly (1911), “breith”, 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), “breth”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language