Mnathan etymology

[charlie]

Anyone know what mnathan is derived from and how it relates to bean?

[charlie]

I’m aware the Irish equivialent of mnthan is mná but I presume same etymology.

[Labhrás]

Anyone know what mnathan is derived from and how it relates to bean?

McBain’s Etymological Dictionary:

bean, wife, so Ir., O. Ir. ben, W. bun, benyw, Cor. benen, sponsa, Celtic benâ, g. bnâs, pl. n. bnâs ; Gr. gyné, BÅ“ot. Gr. baná, Got. ginô, Eng. queen, Sc. queyn, Skr. gnâ

Celtic benâ, genitive bnâs

benâ -> bean
bnâs -> mná

-than plural suffix.

[charlie]

Cheers
Is there any reason why no other words don’t work the same way (you’ll need to excuse my ignorance).

Is it cause it was so common a word it carried on through and survived other language changes.

Thanks again

Charlie

[Onuvanja]

benâ -> bean
bnâs -> mná

-than plural suffix.

Labhrás, would you happen to know if this is a purely Scottish Gaelic suffix or did the form “mnathan” at some point also exist in Irish Gaelic? I thought the plural form was “mná” already in Classical Old Irish…

[Labhrás]

benâ -> bean
bnâs -> mná

-than plural suffix.

Labhrás, would you happen to know if this is a purely Scottish Gaelic suffix or did the form “mnathan” at some point also exist in Irish Gaelic? I thought the plural form was “mná” already in Classical Old Irish…

I don’t know if other plural forms of “bean” beside “mná” (/mna:/, /mra:/) exist or existed in Irish.
I guess the Irish equivalent for -an is -anna , The th in Scottish Gaelic -than is probably silent and due to the hiatus between mna- and -an .
-an is a frequent plural suffix in Gàidhlig, much more so than Irish -anna, so I’m not surprised about “mnathan”.

[Labhrás]

Is it cause it was so common a word it carried on through and survived other language changes.

Yes, certainly.
Irregular forms are most common in the most frequent words. in every language.

[charlie]

Cheers, wiser, a wee bit and a big bit 😉

Beannacht dhuit

Charlie

[Onuvanja]

benâ -> bean
bnâs -> mná

-than plural suffix.

Labhrás, would you happen to know if this is a purely Scottish Gaelic suffix or did the form “mnathan” at some point also exist in Irish Gaelic? I thought the plural form was “mná” already in Classical Old Irish…

I don’t know if other plural forms of “bean” beside “mná” (/mna:/, /mra:/) exist or existed in Irish.
I guess the Irish equivalent for -an is -anna , The th in Scottish Gaelic -than is probably silent and due to the hiatus between mna- and -an .
-an is a frequent plural suffix in Gàidhlig, much more so than Irish -anna, so I’m not surprised about “mnathan”.

Ah, that’s interesting! So technically, “mnathan” has two plular markers – the special plural stem “mna” plus the plural ending “-an”. 🙂

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