noíb

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• nóeb

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *noibos (compare Gaulish Noibio), from Proto-Indo-European *neybʰ- (“blessed, holy, fortunate”); cognate with Old Persian 𐎴𐎡𐎲 (n-i-b /⁠naibaʰ⁠/, “good, beautiful”) (Persian نیو (niv, “brave, valiant”)).

Pronunciation

Nominative singular all genders; dative/accusative singular masculine; dative singular neuter; genitive plural all genders:

• IPA^(key): [ˈn͈oːi̯β]

Vocative/genitive singular masculine; dative/accusative singular feminine; genitive singular neuter; nominative plural masculine:

• IPA^(key): [ˈn͈oːi̯βʲ]

Adjective

noíb

1. holy, sacred
   • 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. 69^a21

     Co n-epred, “Du·gén a nnoíb sa ⁊ ní digén ⟨a n-⟩ærgarth{a}e se, cid accubur lium”; ní eper insin.

     So that he should say, “I will do this holy thing and I will not do this forbidden thing, though it is a desire of mine”; he does not say that.

2. (nominalized) saint
   • 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. 51^a18

     In tan imme·romastar són nach noíb, ara cuintea dílgud Dé isind aimsir sin.

     That is, when any saint sins, that he may seek the forgiveness of God at that time.

Inflection

o/ā-stem
Singular	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	noíb	noíb	noíb
Vocative	noíb
Accusative	noíb	noíb
Genitive	noíb	noíbe	noíb
Dative	noíb	noíb	noíb
Plural	Masculine	Feminine/neuter
Nominative	noíb	noíba
Vocative	noíbu noíba†
Accusative	noíbu noíba†
Genitive	noíb
Dative	noíbaib
Notes	† not when substantivized

Derived terms

• noíbaid

Descendants

• Middle Irish: náem
  • Irish: naomh
  • Manx: noo
  • Scottish Gaelic: naomh

Verb

·noíb

1. third-person singular preterite conjunct of noíbaid

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
noíb also nnoíb after a proclitic	noíb pronounced with /n(ʲ)-/	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

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