tochmarc

Old Irish

Etymology

to- +‎ com- + the stem of Proto-Celtic *ɸarsketi.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtox.β̃ərk/, [ˈtoxβ̃ərk]

Noun

tochmarc n

1. wooing, courting (romantically or for marriage)
   • c. 800–825, Diarmait, Milan Glosses on the Psalms, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 7–483, Ml. 127^d3

     .i. mug luide húa Abracham do thochmurc Rebicae do Ísác

     i.e. the servant of Abraham who went to woo Rebecca for Isaac

Usage notes

As a quasi-verbal noun, genitive modifiers always refer to whoever was wooed or courted. For example, Tochmarc Emire ("the Wooing of Emer") refers to Emer being courted by Cú Chulainn, not Emer courting Cú Chulainn herself.

Inflection

Neuter o-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	tochmarcN	tochmarcN	tochmarcL, tochmarca
Vocative	tochmarcN	tochmarcN	tochmarcL, tochmarca
Accusative	tochmarcN	tochmarcN	tochmarcL, tochmarca
Genitive	tochmaircL	tochmarc	tochmarcN
Dative	tochmurcL	tochmarcaib	tochmarcaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Related terms

• imchomarc
• imm·comairc

Descendants

• Irish: tochmharc (“story of courtship”)

Mutation

Mutation of tochmarc

radical	lenition	nasalization
tochmarc	thochmarc	tochmarc pronounced with /d(ʲ)-/

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

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “tochmarc”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language