Source: http://edil.qub.ac.uk/31707
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 04:31:25+00:00

Document:
n i, f., (Lat. memoria). O.Ir. mebuir, Wb. 20a5 ; in Mid.Ir. also mebar (-or, -ur), memor.
(a) recollection, memory ( = that which is remembered), generally in early lit. as pred. of cop. and passing often into a pure adj. = remembered ; esp. in phrase: is m.¤ limm it is a memory with me, I remember . cani mebuir lib in senchas so? do ye not remember this story? Wb. 20a5 . m.¤ lem in ní dia fuil, Acall. 2491. memur lim aní diatá, ZCP viii 517.8 ( LL 191a28 ). memor latt . . . aní dosfuc, Met. Dinds. iii 102. ba mebur lais an laíd, BColm. 98.22 . linn as mebar gan merblad we remem- ber it without mistake, BB 13b = MacCarthy 310 (leg. mebair, : lebair). raḟiarfaigh doib inar meabor leo Tain Bó Cuilgni ina hóige, Arch. iii 4.22 . With pl. subj. used in pl. (?) form mebra: bit mebra lim-sa rim lá | a n-anmand, LL 16a9 = at memra liomsa, Leb. Gab. i 246. anmanna na sceul sin at mebra lat, Anecd. ii 43.8 , cf. ib. 3 . meabhra lim . . . a n-uirt is a n-an- manna, FM i 134 (poem). In the follg. ex.: `indat mebhair-siu itir' bar F. `isna airigthib gascid danímmís ac Scathaig?' `Isamm mebhair ám écin' bar C., TBC 3552 ( = an meabair leatsa . . . As meabair, St.), the forms indat, isamm probably represent 3 s. cop.+dat. pron. With fri of pers. remember- ing: memur fri cach sobard sen | a fhorard, Auraic. 1996. In follg. exx. mebra appears as a pure adj.: do laíde bid lán- mebra thy lays shall be fully remembered, Met. Dinds. iii 366. anmanna . . . do neoch dibh batar mebra [mebair v.l.] ndo of such of them as he remembered, Anecd. ii 43 § 3. geasa righ aluinn Eamhna | ┐ a lann lanmebhra, BB 280b43 = lán- chalma, BR 248.6 .
(b) as subst.: ? luan ┐ mairt, meabair mbind, Laws iv 216.31 (poem). ata a meabhair agam I remember them, BNnÉ 178 § 31. is meisdi go meinic meabair | mad eimilt leabair in laeidh if . . . be prolix, the harder it is to remember it, Ériu x 88 § 109 (leg. meabar . . . leabar ?). do (de ?) mebair by heart, by rote: gabail ind tsailm de memur, Mon. Tall. § 39. co ro techta do mebair a créda he should keep in memory his `credo', PH 4178. ge maith egna do mebar though wisdom committed to memory is good, ZCP xii 385.23 . gach a cluinedh . . . do bhídh aigi do meabair, Acall. 631. nach léigheann líne lebair Dubartán . . . 's gan aonfhocal do mhebair that D. cannot read one line of a book nor has even a word by rote, SG 280. do cuirthí do mheamhair leis na macaibh fóghluma é was com- mitted to memory, Keat. i p. 90 . co nach bi ní da gcluineadh gan a bheith do ghlainmeabhrae aige, MR 282.7 . go dtí an bráth biaidh ar meabhair an céadlá 'until the Judgement come they will remember the first day' Éigse xxi 42 § 10 . The form mebra may have come in later Mid.Ir. to be regarded as a variant and used in all cases.
Hence the faculty of memory: ba hollom berla féne, | ba leignid lēire mebra, LL 201b42 . toil ┐ tuigse ┐ meabhair, TSh. 5266 , cf. 827 . maoladh na meamhrach, 1785 .
(c) in early Mod.Ir. used in wider sense, reason, intelli- gence: níor mhíadh ┐ níor mheabhair leis labhairt ria he deemed it neither honourable nor sensible, RC xxix 142 § 65. ba cheannsa meabhair chum réitigh `that had a gentle way of making peace', E. O'Rahilly xxvi 51 (1911). éicen denamh a ndubairt . . . ni hiarrtha acht mebair Maghnais the mind (desire) of M., Ir. Texts ii p. 52 § 19 (cf. Eng. `I have a mind to . . .').

References: § 3
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 § 109
 § 39
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 § 65
 § 19