ar aghaidh

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish ar agaid (“before, in front of”, literally “in front of the face of”), from Old Irish agad (“face”).[1]

Pronunciation

Preposition

ar aghaidh (plus genitive or possessive determiner, triggers no mutation)

  1. in front of, opposite, facing
    • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart, volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 4:
      hȧ šē əŕ m ai.
      [Sheas sé ar m’aghaidh.]
      He stood in front of me.
      ḱē n āc ə rø šē šin? əŕ ai ən cȧmpl̥ gāl̄də.
      [Cén áit a raibh sé sin? Ar aghaidh an teampaill gallda.]
      Where was that? Opposite the Protestant church.

Usage notes

Used with a possessive pronoun that agrees with the subject of the sentence, the prepositional phrase can be used as an adverb meaning “forwards, straight ahead”, for example Chuaigh mé díreach ar m’aghaidh (“I went straight ahead”); Tar ar d’aghaidh beagán (“Come forward a little bit”).

Inflection
Inflection of ar aghaidh
Person Normal Emphatic
1st person sing. ar m'aghaidh ar m'aghaidhse
2d person sing. ar d'aghaidh ar d'aghaidhse
3d sing. masc. ar a aghaidh ar a aghaidhsean
3d sing. fem. ar a haghaidh ar a haghaidhse
1st person pl. ar ár n-aghaidh ar ár n-aghaidhne
2d person pl. ar bhur n-aghaidh ar bhur n-aghaidhse
3d person pl. ar a n-aghaidh ar a aghaidhsean

Adverb

ar aghaidh

  1. forward

Derived terms
  • ceann ar aghaidh (“headlong; on purpose”)

References
  1. Vendryes, Joseph (1959) Lexique Étymologique de l'Irlandais Ancien [Etymological lexicon of Old Irish] (in French), volume A, Dublin, Paris: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, pages 23-24

Further reading
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