n
f. (abstr. of as-ser-n-)
(1)
(a)
strewing, litter
;
applied to
straw or rushes used for floor-covering, bedding
,
etc.: easair `
litter for cattle, also a strawpallet
'
P. O'C.
`the
bed of corn-sheaves laid on the barn floor to be threshed is also
called easair' J. Fleming (RIA slips). aín nua dia essair
new straw for covering it (a wall)
Laws iv 314.7
. dīrech
n-airidi, noes nua dia esair the stripping of a dais, new
straw (?) to cover it
314.3
(wrongly punctuated in edn.). ro
ésraít a tigi do bethi barrglas ┐ essair urárd úrluachra litter
of fresh rushes
TFerbe 66
.
conaca M....in dairthach fo
lán-essair glain,
LL 286a42
. The ex.:
in tan do síned in
beist a bragit cosin n-esair,
FB 57
may belong to (2), but
the meaning
bedding
would not be out of place. Of
lining
for a grave (?):
ro hadnacht cen esair,
Metr. Dinds. iii 114.
71
(see note
p. 499
ib.).
(b) of things strewn about in
disorder, an untidy litter, a mess:
ro athchuiredar a n-airm
...┐ a cathberti...gurba hesair uathmar urscailti...cach laemluirech ┐ láighnead ┐ lebar-sciath ro ḟágsat...ar cert-lar
na cath-laithrech sin,
MR 314 y
.
re himad na n-easrach
n-uathmar n-urscailti,
316.18
. Cf.
o thictís a hesair áin,
Metr. Dinds. ii 78.14
, where reading áig (with another
copy) we might render (slaughter-)heaps of battle.
(2)
food, meat
(the origin of this sense is obscure; some
exx. suggest
dismembered carcase
which is on the whole the
most likely; the transl.
dish
would usually suit, but unless
the word is here a distinct one this cannot be an early
meaning, but may be a later development): esair bidh do
roind do cách (one of the labours permitted on a Sunday),
O'D. 1950
. aighe do tuit don easair itir da tech a joint
which fell from the meat [the dismembered carcase? or the
dish?] (when being conveyed) from house to house
Laws ii
234.7 Comm.
(Unterlage
ZCP xiv 346 x
).
ro fiafraig in
ba herrlamh in esair,
Lism. L. 1060
(referring to a
carcase of beef; the sentence corresponds to:
narb
ullamh cuid na meithli,
BCC § 212
). Cf.
Cu C. trén a
gach mbeirn a bhuille | baoi ar n-easoir aicce go cian | nior
chomhraic a lamh ria riamh,
24 P 5, 79
=
bai in esair aici
co dian,
Acall. 1118
(
Cú C. doroinded biadh,
1115
). Here
also, perhaps:
coin...ag gleic fán easair fhalaimh,
Dánfhocail 158
=
O'Gr. Cat. 617
, where
dish
makes better
sense than O'Gr.'s rendering `kennel;' eser, q.v., seems to
be a distinct word.
COMPD.
¤chosairt
trampling, stamping:
ro craith in
sliab...risin n-esarchosairt doroine in fer...dia chossaib ┐
dia lámaib,
Mer. Uil. 77
.