linn

See also: Linn and linn-

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lɪn/
  • Rhymes: -ɪn

Etymology 1

From Scottish Gaelic or Irish linn, conflated to some extent with linn (waterfall).

Noun

linn (plural linns)

  1. (Scotland, Northern England) A pool of water, especially one below a waterfall.
    • 1868 September 24, James Hardy, addressed delivered at Chirnside, quoted in the History of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, volume 5, page 386:
      The pool is there — the true linn, in the original acceptance of the word — dark and bottomless.
    • 1812, Forbes, Poems, 49:
      There frisks the freckl'd finny tribe,
      In linns both wide and steep.
    • 1823, Galt, Gilhaize, xxviii:
      In the clear linn the trouts shuttled from stone and crevice.
    • 1894, Haliburton, Furth, 177:
      His successful angler landing the linn-lier [fish that inhabits a pool of water].
    • 1896, Crockett, Grey Man, vii:
      The running of deep water in a linn.
Alternative forms

Etymology 2

From Middle English *linne, from Old English hlynn (torrent), though this and linn (pool) have been somewhat conflated.

Noun

linn (plural linns)

  1. (UK dialectal, especially Scotland, Northern England) A waterfall or cataract, or a ravine down which its water rushes.
    • 1814, J. H. Craig [pseudonym; James Hogg], The Hunting of Badlewe: A Dramatic Tale, London: H[enry] Colburn; Edinburgh: G. Goldie, OCLC 612459984, page 1; quoted in “The Hunting of Badlewe, a Dramatic Tale. 8vo. Edin. 1814. [From the Scottish Review.]”, in The Analectic Magazine, Containing Selections from Foreign Reviews and Magazines, together with Original Miscellaneous Compositions, volume V (New Series), Philadelphia, Pa.: Published and sold by Moses Thomas, [], May 1815, OCLC 974441451, pages 353–354:
      What seek we here / Amid this waste where desolation scowls, / And the red torrent, brawling down the linn, / Sings everlasting discord?
    • 1844 December, The Legend of Stumpie's Brae, in The Dublin University Magazine, page 720:
      "For it's o'er the bank, and it's o'er the linn,
      "And it's up to the meadow ridge—"
      "Ay," quo' the Stumpie hirpling in,
    • 1866, John Harland, Lancashire Lyrics: Modern Songs & Ballads of the County Balatine, 85:
      And the roaring of the linn.
    • 1896, Lewis Proudlock, The Borderland Muse, page 51:
      Hear! now, Yon linn's melodious thunder!
Alternative forms

Estonian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Finnic *litna. Compare Finnish linna.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈlinː/

Noun

linn (genitive linna, partitive linna)

  1. city (large settlement)
  2. (archaeology) fortified settlement

Declension

Derived terms

nouns

Further reading


Irish

Etymology 1

From Old Irish lind (pool, lake; sea, ocean), from Proto-Celtic *lindos (lake, liquid).

Pronunciation

Noun

linn f (genitive singular linne, nominative plural linnte)

  1. pool, pond; body of water, lake, sea
Declension
Derived terms
  • linn chalaidh (harbour creek)
  • linneach
  • linn éisc (fish-pond)
  • linn lachan (duck-pond)
  • linn mhuilinn (mill-pond)
  • linn snámha (swimming pool)
  • linn trá (sandy creek)

Etymology 2

From Old Irish linn (period, space of time).

Pronunciation

Noun

linn f (genitive singular linne)

  1. space of time, period
Declension
Derived terms
  • le linn (during)

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lʲɪn̠ʲ/

Pronoun

linn (emphatic linne)

  1. first-person plural of le: with us, to us

Further reading


Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly from Old Norse *linnr, from Proto-Germanic *linþaz. Related to linnorm.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /lɪnː/

Adjective

linn (masculine and feminine lin, neuter lint, definite singular and plural linne, comparative linnare, indefinite superlative linnast, definite superlative linnaste)

  1. weak

Synonyms

Further reading


Old Irish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈl͈ʲin͈ʲ/

Pronoun

linn

  1. first-person plural of la
    • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 14c2a
      Gigeste-si Día linn ara·fulsam ar fochidi.
      You pl will pray to God for us so that we may endure our sufferings.
    • c. 845, St Gall Glosses on Priscian, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1975, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, pp. 49–224, Sg. 207b11
      Cit comṡuidigthi la Grécu ní écen dúnni beta comṡuidigthi linn.
      Although they are compounds in Greek (lit. with the Greeks), it is not necessary for us that they be compounds in our language (lit. with us).

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish linn (period, space of time).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʎiːɲ/

Noun

linn m or f (genitive singular linn or linne, plural linntean)

  1. era, age, period
    Linn ÙrNew Age
    Linn an UmhaBronze Age
  2. century
    san 20mh linnin the 20th century
  3. generation (genealogy)
    bho linn gu linnfrom generation to generation
  4. offspring, clutch

Synonyms

Derived terms

References

  • Edward Dwelly (1911), linn”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
  • G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), 3 linn”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
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