foss

See also: FOSS, Foss, Foß, and fos

English

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɑs/, /fɔs/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fɒs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

foss (plural fosses)

1. Alternative spelling of fosse.

Etymology 2

From Icelandic or Norwegian foss, both from Old Norse fors (“waterfall”). Doublet of force (“waterfall”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /fɔs/

Noun

foss (plural fosses)

1. (Northern England) A waterfall.
   • 2017, Benjamin Myers, The Gallows Pole, Bloomsbury, published 2019, page 101:

     Another of his flock was spotted garrotted, one found twisted and drowned at the bottom of a foss and a third split cleanly from scut to teeth.

Faroese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔsː/
• Rhymes: -ɔsː

Noun

foss

1. indefinite accusative singular of fossur
2. indefinite genitive singular of fossur

Hungarian

Alternative forms

• fossál

Etymology

fosik +‎ -j

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfoʃː]
• Hyphenation: foss
• Rhymes: -oʃː

Verb

foss

1. second-person singular subjunctive present indefinite of fosik

Icelandic

Icelandic Wikipedia has an article on:

foss

Wikipedia ^is

Alternative forms

• fors

Etymology

Inherited from Old Norse fors.

Cognates: Faroese fossur, Norwegian fors, Danish fors, Swedish fors, English force (in the sense of a waterfall), Middle Low German vorsch and Norn fors.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /fɔsː/

• (Northern Iceland, Southern Iceland) IPA^(key): [fɔs̠ː]
• Rhymes: -ɔsː

Noun

foss m (genitive singular foss, nominative plural fossar)

1. a waterfall (permanent flow of water over the edge of a cliff)

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	foss	fossinn	fossar	fossarnir
accusative	foss	fossinn	fossa	fossana
dative	fossi	fossinum	fossum	fossunum
genitive	foss	fossins	fossa	fossanna

Declension of foss (masculine)

Descendants

• → English: foss

Norwegian Bokmål

Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:

foss

Wikipedia ^no

foss

Etymology

From Danish fos, revived through Norwegian foss, from Old Norse foss, fors, from Proto-Germanic *fursaz.

Noun

foss m (definite singular fossen, indefinite plural fosser, definite plural fossene)

1. a waterfall

Synonyms

• fossefall
• vannfall, vassfall

Derived terms

• fosse (verb)

Descendants

• → English: foss

References

• “foss” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:

foss

Wikipedia ⁿⁿ

Alternative forms

• fors
• førs, føss (dialectal)

Etymology

From Old Norse fors, foss, from Proto-Germanic *fursaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fosː/, [fɞ̞sː]

Noun

foss m (definite singular fossen, indefinite plural fossar, definite plural fossane)

1. a waterfall

   Synonyms: fossefall, vassfall

Derived terms

• fossa (verb)

• fossebrus
• fossedrev
• fossedur
• fossefall
• fossegrim
• fossekall
• fossekraft
• fosseskum
• fossestryk
• fossestup
• fosskoka
• fossregna
• fossro
• Ulefoss
• åfoss

 

Descendants

• → English: foss

References

• “foss” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
• “foss” in Ivar Aasen (1873) Norsk Ordbog med dansk Forklaring

Old Irish

Etymology 1

From Proto-Celtic *uɸostos, from Proto-Indo-European *upo-sth₂-ós, from *upó (“under”) +‎ *steh₂- (“to stand”) +‎ *-ós (“agent suffix”).^[1][2] Cognate to Welsh gwas (“servant”).

Noun

foss m (genitive foiss)

1. servant

Inflection

Masculine o-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	foss	fossL	foissL
Vocative	foiss	fossL	fossuH
Accusative	fossN	fossL	fossuH
Genitive	foissL	foss	fossN
Dative	fossL	fossaib	fossaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Etymology 2

From Proto-Celtic *wostos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂wes- (“to stay”). Cognate to Middle Welsh gwas (“abode”).^[3]

Noun

foss m (genitive foiss)

1. rest, halt, the state of not being in motion
2. perseverance

Inflection

Masculine o-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	foss	fossL	foissL
Vocative	foiss	fossL	fossuH
Accusative	fossN	fossL	fossuH
Genitive	foissL	foss	fossN
Dative	fossL	fossaib	fossaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Irish: fos

Mutation

Mutation of foss

radical	lenition	nasalization
foss	ḟoss	foss pronounced with /β(ʲ)-/

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

References

1. Delamarre, Xavier (2003) “uassos”, in Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise: une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental [Dictionary of the Gaulish language: A linguistic approach to Old Continental Celtic] (Collection des Hespérides; 9), 2nd edition, Éditions Errance, →ISBN, page 307
2. Uhlich, Jurgen (2002) “Verbal governing compounds (synthetics) in Early Irish and other Celtic languages”, in Transactions of the Philological Society, volume 100, number 3, Wiley, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 403–433
3. Schrijver, Peter C. H. (1995) Studies in British Celtic historical phonology (Leiden studies in Indo-European; 5), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, page 121

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 foss, fos 'man-servant'”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “2 foss 'rest'”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language