neim

Old Irish

Etymology

Originally a neuter men-stem verbal noun (*nem-men) with degemination of -mm- to -m-.[1] Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to give”). For the semantic relationship, compare German Gift (“poison, toxin”).[2]

Noun

neim n or f (originally neuter)

poison
venom

Inflection

This term declines as a neuter n-stem in the singular and an i-stem in the plural.

Neuter n-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	neim^N	neim^N	neimi^H
Vocative	neim^N	neim^N	neimi^H
Accusative	neim^N	neim^N	neimi^H
Genitive	neime	neime^N	neime^N
Dative	neimim^L	neimib	neimib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: ^H = triggers aspiration ^L = triggers lenition ^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

Irish: nimh
Manx: nieu
Scottish Gaelic: nimh

References

Byrd, Andrew Miles: 2006, "Return to Dative Anmaimm". Ériu 56:152
Matasović, Ranko (2009), “*nemo-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 288

[1] Byrd, Andrew Miles: 2006, "Return to Dative Anmaimm". Ériu 56:152

[2] Matasović, Ranko (2009), “*nemo-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 288