air

prep On, upon. 2 Of, concerning. 3 For, on account of. 4 By. 5 With. 6 Also signifying the same as if joined in its first sense with the personal pronoun e. 7 On, an oath or assertion. 8 On, upon, denoting time. 9 With, accompanied by. 10 Claim of debt. The above are the meanings of air used as a simple preposition, but it has idiomatic uses almost without number in various combinations with verbs and other parts of speech. Nam faighinn am fear a tha air chall oirbh, if I should find the man that is lost from you, [if translated here by you, it implies that “you” lost the man, which may not be true] theich e orm, he fled away from me; chluich e an cleas orm, he played the trick on me; cheil e an gnothach orm, he hid the matter from me; ghàir e orm, he laughed at me; nì mi sgeul ort, I will make a tale (inform) against you; dh'ith e ar n-iasg oirnn, he ate our fish for (on) us, [i.e. in spite of us, not to oblige us]. In these examples air translates differently into English in every case but the differences are caused by the English verbs, each of which requires its own preposition as a complement. Classing these under the various meanings would hide from the learner the fact that the Gaelic preposition has the same meaning in each case — adversity, adverse circumstances, mishap, disaster, trickery suffered &c. Examples given by MacAlpine: — iomradh air do ghliocas, a report of thy wisdom; air beinn, on a mountain; air sgàth, for the sake of; air ainm, by name; air bheagan, possessing little; air an adhbhar sin, for that return; air mo shon-sa dheth, for my part, as far as I am concerned; air éiginn, with much ado [with much difficulty, scarcely, hardly]; air a h-aon, for one, [thuit trì le Bran air a h-aon, Bran, for one, killed three]; air seachran, astray; air falbh, away, from home; air uairibh, sometimes; tha eagal air, he is afraid; tha acras air, he is hungry; air chor, so that; air choireigin, somehow or other; duine air choireigin, some person or other; air meud 's gu bheil i, let it be ever so great; [air a mheud 's gun tig dhiubh, however many of them come]; cha d'fhuair mi ni air, I got nothing for it; dé a tha a' cur air? what is the matter with him? Examples from Stewart's Gaelic Grammar: On, upon — air an làr, on the ground; air an latha sin, on that day. Claim of Debt – ìoc dhomh na bheil agam ort! pay me what you owe; cia meud a tha aig mo thighearna ortsa? How much do you owe to my lord? Oath — air m' fhacal, upon my word; air làimh d' athar 's do sheanar, by the hand of your father and grandfather; [air na chunnaic thu riamh na fosgail e, for the sake of all you ever saw do not open it]. (Thig air) Speak or Treat of — thig mo bheul air do cheartas is air do chliù, my mouth shall speak of your justice and your praise; sin cùis air a bheil mi nis a' teachd, that is a matter of which I am now to treat; tog ort! rouse yourself! chaidh agam air, I prevailed over him; 's ann ormsa a chaidh, it is I that was worsted; thug e am monadh air, he betook himself to the mountain. In Respect of — chan fhaca mi an samhail air olcas, I never saw their like for badness; air a lughad, however small it be [mar is lugha ’s ann is fheàrr, is the usual expression]. Joined with, Accompanied by — móran iarainn air bheag faobhar, much iron with little edge; oidhche bha mi 'na theach air mhóran bìdh 's air bheagan aodaich, I was a night in his house with plenty of food but scanty clothing; air leth làimh, having but one hand. Measure, Dimension — dà throigh air àirde, two feet in height. Alternation — Olc air mhath leat e, whether you like it well or ill. Examples from Armstrong: — air choir, nobly, properly, as usual [truthfully]; air seo, upon this, then; air iomrall, astray; air chuthach, mad; air neo, else or else; air muin, on, upon, above; chaidh e air a muin, he had carnal connection {sex} with her; bithidh sin air bhuil, that will come to pass. Additional: — Nuair a thig air duine thig air uile, this means that fortunes and misfortunes do not come singly and is a Gaelic equivalent of it never rains but it pours; tha a' mhisg air, he is drunk; chan eil air ach, there is nothing for it but — ; chaidh e air chéilidh orra, he went to visit them; air torradh, at a funeral; air banais, at a wedding; air a lughad is fheàirrd, the smaller the better; bha e air mo mhuin gun &c or bha e air m' aodann gun &c, he was always worrying me to &c; gabh air, thrash him; éirich air, belabour him; éirich air an òran, sing the song well; mór orm agus beag agam, very patronising to me and little thought of by me. ► Air, it may be stated, always signifies something of a very temporary duration. [Air governs the dative case of nouns following it. Though it is said not to cause aspiration by rule, there are many instances in set phrases in which it does, as, air dheireadh, behind; air thoiseach, before; air chionn, in readiness for, [air chionn dhomh a bhith deas, by the time I was ready]. It may be observed that where it causes aspiration it cannot he translated upon, — tha i air chall, she is lost. The reason for this difference seems to be that air in Modern Gaelic misrepresents the old propositions ar and for. Ar meant before, against, beside and it caused aspiration of the word following, because it formerly ended in a vowel (are or ari). For meant upon and did not cause aspiration. This for is the air proper of Modern Gaelic grammar‡]. Examples given above in Brackets, thus [ ] are additions to those given by the authors mentioned. Combined with the personal pronouns thus:

	Sing.	Plur.
1	orm	oirnn
2	ort	oirbh
3	air m. oirre f.	orra m. & f.
	Emphatic Forms
1	orm-sa, orm fhéin	oirnne, oirnn fhéin
2	ort-sa, ort fhéin	oirbh-se, oirbh fhéin
3	air-san, air fhéin m. oirre-se, oirre fhéin f.	orra-san, orra fhéin m. & f.

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