seift

Irish

Alternative forms

• seibht, seibhte (obsolete)
• seifte

Etymology

From English shift in its archaic sense “contrivance, device to try when other methods fail”, from Middle English schiften, from Old English sċiftan (“to divide, appoint, arrange”), from Proto-Germanic *skiftijaną.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃɛfʲtʲ/

Noun

seift f (genitive singular seifte, nominative plural seifteanna)

1. contrivance, measure (action to achieve some purpose)
2. fig leaf (anything intended to conceal something undesirable)

Declension

Declension of seift

Second declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative seift seifteanna Vocative a sheift a sheifteanna Genitive seifte seifteanna Dative seift seifteanna

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an tseift na seifteanna Genitive na seifte na seifteanna Dative leis an tseift don tseift leis na seifteanna

Derived terms

• seifteoir
• seiftigh
• seiftiúil

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
seift	sheift after an, tseift	not applicable
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• “seift”, in Historical Irish Corpus, 1600–1926, Royal Irish Academy
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “seiḃte”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 632
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “seift”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, page 39