Aether vs Mether - What's the difference?
aether | mether |
(dialect) Four in the old counting system of Northern England.
(historical, Ireland) A communal drinking vessel used in Gaelic times for drinking mead. It had squared sides and one drank from a corner. Also, a trophy in this shape.
* 1912 James Henry Cousins, "The Loving Cup" I (
* 1912 "Our Lady Correspondent" "Fashions at Leopardstown" The Irish Times 27 August 1912, p.8:
As nouns the difference between aether and mether
is that aether is an alternative spelling of lang=en while mether is a communal drinking vessel used in Gaelic times for drinking mead. It had squared sides and one drank from a corner. Also, a trophy in this shape.As a proper noun Aether
is one of the Greek primordial deities, who was the personification of the upper air of the gods. His parents of Erebus and Nyx, and his sister-wife is Hemera/Dies.mether
English
(Yan Tan Tethera)Etymology 1
From (etyl) numerals.Alternative forms
* (l) (qualifier)Cardinal numeral
(head)Derived terms
* mether-a-dick * mether-a-bumfitEtymology 2
Related to (m), (m)Alternative forms
* medar, meatherNoun
(en noun)Etain the Beloved and Other Poems , p.84) (Maunsel & Co):
- I raise to you, O Queen, this Loving Cup, this Mether ,
- Filled with Mead
- Made from honey of the heather
- Lord Herbert and Mr. Luke White were to be seen on the roof pouring water down the chimney, while the Marchioness of Ormonde was seen carrying the Regimental Cup (the silver Irish mether to be competed for) from the scene of the fire.
References
* P. W. Joyce A Social History of Ancient Ireland (Longmans, Green, and Co; 1903)Vol.2 Chap.XX p.75* electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language (RIA)
M col.117 lin.43English cardinal numbers ----