Samain

See also: samain

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *samonios (compare Gaulish samoni-), either from Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“together”) (compare Old High German saman (“together”), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌼𐌰𐌽𐌰 (samana, “together, in common”), Sanskrit समन (samaná, “together”), सम् (sám, “with”), Avestan 𐬵𐬀, 𐬵𐬀𐬨 (ha, ham, “together”)), or alternatively from Proto-Celtic *samos (“summer”) (compare sam (“summer”), Welsh haf (“summer”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsaβ̃ɨnʲ]

Proper noun

Samain f

1. November
2. (Christianity) Halloween
3. (Christianity) All Saints' Day, All Hallows
4. (paganism) Samhain
   • c. 1200, John Strachan, J. G. O'Keeffe, editors, The Táin Bó Cúailnge from the Yellow Book of Lecan with variant readings from the Lebor na hUidre, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, published 1912, page 5, line 81:

     In lúan iar Samain is and documlaiset.

     The Monday after Samhain they set out.

Descendants

• Irish: Samhain
• Manx: Sauin
• Scottish Gaelic: Samhain

See also

• (month): Previous: Octimber. Next: Deicimber

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
Samain	Ṡamain	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), “samain”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language