# féin
## Irish
### Etymology 1

From Old Irish féin, from Proto-Celtic *swesin (from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“oneself”)) + *sin (anaphoric pronoun). Cognate to Scottish Gaelic fhèin, Manx hene.

#### Alternative forms

* féinig, fhéin, héin, péin

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /heːnʲ/, /fʲeːnʲ/
* (Aran, also) IPA: /pʲeːnʲ/ (corresponds to the form péin)
* (Ulster, rare) IPA: /hiːnʲ/

#### Pronoun

féin
* self
    mé féin ― myself (both emphatic and reflexive)
    sinn féin ― ourselves; we ourselves
* own
    Thóg mé mo theach féin.I built my own house.

##### Derived terms

* féin-
* Sinn Féin

#### Adverb

féin
* even, only
    má tá féin ― even if it is

#### Further reading

* “féin”, in Historical Irish Corpus, 1600–1926, Royal Irish Academy
* Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “féin”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 308
* Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “féin”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /fʲeːnʲ/

#### Noun

féin
* inflection of féan:
** vocative/genitive singular
** nominative/dative plural

### Mutation

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

### References

* ↑ Peter Schrijver (1997) Studies in the History of Celtic Pronouns and Particles (Maynooth Studies in Celtic Linguistics; II), Maynooth: The Department of Old Irish, National University of Ireland, →ISBN, § III.2, pages 75–76
* ↑ Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry [Phonetics of an Irish Dialect of Kerry] (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, § 57, page 30
* ↑ Finck, F. N. (1899) Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect] (in German), volume II, Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 109
* ↑ Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 120, page 46

## Old Irish
### Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *swe sim, from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“oneself”)) + *sim (anaphoric pronoun).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ɸʲeːnʲ]

### Pronoun

féin
* self
** c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 17$^b$12
    Non·samlafammar frinn fesine.We will liken ourselves to ourselves.
* (adjectival) one's own

#### Usage notes

The difference between the féin/céin set and the fadéin/cadéin set appears to be that the latter are contrastively reflexive (‘oneself as opposed to someone else’) while the former do not suggest any contrast. The difference between the f- forms and the c- forms may be that the latter have a connotation of ‘even/also oneself’ that the former do not have.

#### Inflection

| | féin | fadéin | céin | cadéin |
| 1 sg. | féin | fadéin | céin | cadéin |
| 2 sg. | féin | fadéin | — | — |
| 3 sg. m./n. | fes(s)in, feis(s)in féin | fades(s)in, fadeis(s)in fadéne | ces(s)in, ceis(s)in | cades(s)in, cadeis(s)in |
| 3 sg. f. | fes(s)in, feis(s)in, fissin fes(s)ine, feisine, feis(s)ne | fadisin fade(is)sne | — | — |
| 1 pl. | fes(s)ine | fanis(s)in | — | canisin |
| 2 pl. | fes(s)in, feis(s)in feis(s)ne | fanis(s)in | — | — |
| 3 pl. | fes(s)in, feis(s)in fes(s)ine, feisine, feis(s)ne | fades(s)in, fadeis(s)in, fedesin fades(s)ine, fadeisine, fadeis(s)ne | ceisne | cades(s)in, cadeis(s)in cades(s)ine, cadeisine, cadesne |

#### Descendants

* Middle Irish: féin
** Irish: féin
** Manx: hene
** Scottish Gaelic: fhèin

### Mutation

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

### References

* ↑ Peter Schrijver (1997) Studies in the History of Celtic Pronouns and Particles (Maynooth Studies in Celtic Linguistics; II), Maynooth: The Department of Old Irish, National University of Ireland, →ISBN, § III.2, pages 75–76
* ↑ Peter Schrijver (1997) Studies in the History of Celtic Pronouns and Particles (Maynooth Studies in Celtic Linguistics; II), Maynooth: The Department of Old Irish, National University of Ireland, →ISBN, §§ III.2, III.4, pages 72, 78–83

### Further reading

* Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “fadéin, féin”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
* Thurneysen, Rudolf (1940) D. A. Binchy and Osborn Bergin, transl., A Grammar of Old Irish, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, →ISBN, § 485, pages 306–7; reprinted 2017
* Pedersen, Holger (1913) Vergleichende Grammatik der keltischen Sprachen [Comparative Grammar of the Celtic Languages] (in German), volume II, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, →ISBN, page 153

## Old Norse
### Noun

féin
* definite nominative/accusative plural of fé