# féith
## Irish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /fʲeː(h)/

### Etymology 1

From Old Irish féith, from Proto-Celtic *wētā, *wēttā (“swamp, stream”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁- (“to wither”), see also Latin viēscō (“wither”), Lithuanian výsti (“wither”), Old High German wesanēn (“wither, wilt”) and Old Norse visna.

#### Noun

féith f (genitive singular féithe, nominative plural féitheacha)
* (anatomy) sinew; muscle
** (mollusks) adhesive muscle, foot
* (anatomy) vein
** (mining) seam, thread, lode
** (figuratively) streak, bent, talent
** (botany) rib
* soft seam in bogland, swampy strip
* (botany) climbing, twining plant; trailer, vine

##### Declension

bare forms
case
singular
plural
nominative
féith
féitheacha
vocative
a fhéith
a fhéitheacha
genitive
féithe
féitheacha
dative
féith
féitheacha
forms with the definite article
case
singular
plural
nominative
an fhéith
na féitheacha
genitive
na féithe
na bhféitheacha
dative
leis an bhféith don fhéith
leis na féitheacha :

##### Derived terms

* féith bhorrtha
* féithpholladh
* meánfhéith

### Etymology 2

From Old Irish féith (“calm, stillness”).

#### Adjective

féith (genitive singular feminine féithe, plural féithe, comparative féithe)
* calm, still, hushed, quiet (of sea, air)
* smooth, unruffled (of surface)
* shy, bashful; quit, retiring (of person)

##### Declension

$^1$ When the preceding noun is lenited and governed by the definite article. $^2$ When the preceding noun ends in a slender consonant.

##### Derived terms

* féithchiúin

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### Further reading

* Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “féith”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
* de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “féith”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
* “féith”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2025

### References

* ↑ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “1123”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 1123

## Old Irish
### Alternative forms

* féth

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ɸʲeːθʲ]

### Noun

féith m
* calm, stillness
** c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 126$^a$4
    arna té .i. féith forsna muireso that it may not go, i.e. a calm over the seas

#### Declension

Masculine i-stem :
| | Singular | Dual | Plural |
| Nominative | féith | — | — |
| Vocative | féith | — | — |
| Accusative | féith$^N$ | — | — |
| Genitive | fétho$^H$, fétha$^H$ | — | — |
| Dative | féith$^L$ | — | — |
| Initial mutations of a following adjective: $^H$ = triggers aspiration $^L$ = triggers lenition $^N$ = triggers nasalization ||||

#### Descendants

* Irish: féith
* ⇒ Middle Irish: féthamail
** Irish: féithiúil

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### Further reading

* Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “3 féth”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language