banaltra

Irish

Etymology

PIE word
*gʷḗn

From Middle Irish banaltra (“foster-mother, nurse”), from ben (“woman”) (see bean) + altra (“foster-father”) (see altram (“fosterage”)).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /ˈbˠɑn̪ˠəɾˠl̪̥ˠhə/ (as if spelt banarlt(h)a, with irregular metathesis of 'ltr' to 'rlt', but regular Munster change of 'lt' to 'lh')
• (Aran) IPA^(key): /ˈbʲænəl̪ˠt̪ˠɾˠə/ (as if spelt beanaltra)
• (Conneamara, Mayo, Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈbˠanˠəl̪ˠt̪ˠɾˠə/

Noun

banaltra f (genitive singular banaltra, nominative plural banaltraí)

1. (female) nurse

Declension

Declension of banaltra (fourth declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative banaltra banaltraí vocative a bhanaltra a bhanaltraí genitive banaltra banaltraí dative banaltra banaltraí forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an bhanaltra na banaltraí genitive na banaltra na mbanaltraí dative leis an mbanaltra don bhanaltra leis na banaltraí

Coordinate terms

• banaltra fir (“male nurse”)

Derived terms

• banaltra cheantair (“district nurse”)
• banaltra chíche (“wet-nurse”)
• banaltra fir (“male nurse”)
• banaltra na cuaiche (“meadow pipit”)
• banaltra ospidéil (“hospital nurse”)
• banaltracht (“nursing”)

 

Mutation

Mutated forms of banaltra

radical	lenition	eclipsis
banaltra	bhanaltra	mbanaltra

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “banaltra”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “banaltra”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “altra”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 39