is maith la
Old Irish
Etymology
Literally ‘X is good with Y’ for ‘Y likes X’.
Verb
is maith la
- to like
- c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 20c21
- Is dó da·gníat: maith leu indocbál apstal doib et ní fodmat ingreimm ar chroich Críst.
- It is for this they do it: they like to have the glory of apostles, and they do not endure persecution for the cross of Christ.
- c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 20c21
Usage notes
The person doing the liking is expressed as the object of la, while the person, object, or activity liked is expressed as the subject of the sentence (coming at the end by the normal rules of Old Irish syntax).
The word is can omitted from this idiom.
Descendants
- Irish: is maith le
- Scottish Gaelic: is math le