I put up some seanfhocail on another thread to illustrate a grammar point, but while I was searching them out, I came across these two which have left me a little baffled..not least whether abhar should be ábhar or not.

Fear óg diagaithe abhar diabhail seanduine. (A pious young man is the subject(?) of an old devil)??
and
Fear óg díomhaoin abhar an tseanduine bhuain. (An idle young man is the subject(?) of a steadfast old fellow)??

Anyway I wonder if anyone can help

The word is indeed abhar
abhar – the makings of

Fear óg diaga(ithe) abhar diabhail seanduine. – A pious young man is the makings of an ould devil.

Fear óg díomhaoin abhar an tseanduine bhuain. – An idle young man is the makings of a steadfast ould fella.

Of course ábhar means material = makings as well.
Ah thanks a lot for that, never thought of it.

I was taught that abhar means "the makings of" or "material"
and ábhar means "quantity" or "amount".

I guess the "new" spelling combines everything together into only one word ábhar – not a good idea.