ginn
English
Etymology 1
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡɪn/
Noun
ginn (plural ginns)
- Alternative spelling of jinn
- 1892, E. Cobham Brewer, Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama, Vol 1:
- AZA'ZEL, one of the ginn or jinn, all of whom were made of "smokeless fire," that is, the fire of the Simoom.
Etymology 2
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡɪn/
Irish

Alternative forms
Etymology
From Middle Irish gend (“wedge”), from Proto-Celtic *gendis (“wedge”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰed- (“to take, seize”). Cognate with Welsh gaing (“chisel, wedge”), Breton genn (“wedge”) within Celtic and more distantly with Latin (pre)hendō and Ancient Greek χανδάνω (khandánō).[1]
Pronunciation
- (Cois Fharraige) IPA(key): /ɟiːn̠ʲ/[2]
Noun
ginn f (genitive singular ginne, nominative plural geanntracha)
- (Cois Fharraige) Synonym of ding (“wedge; thickset person”)
Declension
Second declension
Bare forms
|
Forms with the definite article
|
Mutation
Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
ginn | ghinn | nginn |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
References
- Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*gendV-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 157
- de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1977) Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge: An Deilbhíocht (in Irish), 2nd edition, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, § 24
Further reading
- Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “geinn”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 359
- G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “genn”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “ginn”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
Luxembourgish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡin/
- Rhymes: -in
Etymology 1
From Middle High German geben, from Old High German geban, from Proto-West Germanic *geban, from Proto-Germanic *gebaną. Cognate with German geben, Dutch geven, West Frisian jaan, Danish give, Icelandic gefa.
The sense “to become” is found throughout Moselle Franconian and also (though less commonly) in Ripuarian. It can be understood as a generalization from expressions such as “wheat gives good bread” or “2 and 2 gives 4”. Compare German ergeben. Imagine also a sentence like et gëtt schéint Wieder (“there will be nice weather”), which was then turned around to d’Wieder gëtt schéin (“the wheather will be nice”). The first sentence corresponds to German es gibt schönes Wetter, but the second would be ungrammatical (*das Wetter gibt schön).
Verb
ginn (third-person singular present gëtt, preterite gouf or guff, past participle ginn, past subjunctive géif or giff, auxiliary verb hunn or sinn)
- (transitive) to give
- (impersonal) there be, there is, there are; used to indicate that something exists or is present
- (intransitive) to become
- (auxiliary) Used with the past participle of a transitive verb to form the passive voice.
- (auxiliary) Used with the past participle of any verb to form the impersonal passive voice.
Usage notes
- The perfect auxiliary is sinn for the sense “to become” and the passive auxiliary, otherwise hunn.
- The sense “there be” has two possible and interchangeable constructions: (1.) with a direct object as in German: et gëtt hei vill Kanner (“there are a lot of children here”), or (2.) with a subject: et ginn hei vill Kanner. The difference is that the verb may become plural with the second construction.
Conjugation
Irregular | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
infinitive | ginn | |||
participle | ginn | |||
auxiliary | hunn | |||
present indicative |
past indicative |
conditional | imperative | |
1st singular | ginn | gouf | géif | — |
2nd singular | gëss | goufs | géifs | gëff |
3rd singular | gëtt | gouf | géif | — |
1st plural | ginn | goufen | géifen | — |
2nd plural | gitt | gouft | géift | gitt |
3rd plural | ginn | goufen | géifen | — |
Derived terms
Verb
ginn
- inflection of goen:
- first-person singular present indicative
- first/third-person plural present indicative
Yagara
References
- State Library of Queensland, 2019 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES ‘WORD OF THE WEEK’: WEEK EIGHTEEN., 13 May 2019.