íaru

Old Irish

Etymology

Possibly from Proto-Celtic *wiweros.[1] Alternatively, an "individualising" n-stem meaning "swift one", derived from Proto-Celtic *isaros (“swift”) (a word attested in the names of many rivers in Europe[2]), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ish₂ro-, for which compare Sanskrit इषिर (iṣirá-, “swift”) and Ancient Greek ἱερός (hierós, “supernatural”).[3]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈiːa̯ru/

Noun

íaru f (genitive íarann, nominative plural íaranna)

squirrel, stoat

Inflection

Feminine n-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	íaru	íarainn^L	íarainn, íaranna
Vocative	íaru	íarainn^L	íarna^H
Accusative	íarainn^N	íarainn^L	íarna^H
Genitive	íarann	íarann^L	íarann^N
Dative	íarainn^L, íaru^L	íarnaib	íarnaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: ^H = triggers aspiration ^L = triggers lenition ^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

Irish: iora
Manx: feòrag
Scottish Gaelic: fiorag

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
íaru	unchanged	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

Matasović, Ranko (2011 December) “Addenda et corrigenda to Ranko Matasović’s Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Brill, Leiden 2009)”, in Homepage of Ranko Matasović‎, Zagreb, page 43
Delamarre, Xavier (2003) “isara”, in Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental [Dictionary of the Gaulish language: A linguistic approach to Old Continental Celtic] (Collection des Hespérides; 9), 2nd edition, Éditions Errance, →ISBN, page 192
Sabine Ziegler (2002) “Altirisch íaru, das 'flinke' Eichhörnchen”, in Matthias Fritz, Susanne Zeilfelder, editors, Novalis Indogermanica: Festschrift für Günter Neumann zum 80. Geburtstag, Graz: Leykam, →ISBN, pages 537-39