cuspair

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Middle Irish cuspóir m (“target, purpose, aim, object”) (compare Irish cuspóir), from Latin cuspis f (“point, tip”).

Noun

cuspair m (genitive singular cuspair, nominative plural cuspairean)

1. subject, topic

   is e seo an cuspair a bu toil leam bruidhinn air ― this is the subject I'd like to talk about

2. subject (at school)
3. (grammar) object
4. (dated) object (of emotion)

   cuspair mo ghràidh ― my lover (literally, “object of my love”)

Mutation

Mutation of cuspair

radical	lenition
cuspair	chuspair

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

Further reading

• Edward Dwelly (1911), “cuspair”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “cuspóir”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language