Oh, I just couldn’t resist a few more, especially since these compound words are almost transparent – in other words, they mean just about exactly what you think they’d mean.  That’s assuming you spot the cognates, of course:

 

a) ceanncheathrú [say: KYAN-HYAH-roo, 2^nd “c” is silent, “t” is silent]

 

b) ceannfhocal [say: KYAN-OK-ul, “f” is silent]

 

c) ceannlíne

 

d) ceannsolas

 

So, what have we got here?  Here’s a list of the second elements.  The actual freagraí  are below:

 

ceathrú, quarter [KYA-hroo, silent “t”].  One might think the plural (ceathrúna) would be used for the above compound, but, somehow, it’s not. 

 

focal, word, vocable

 

líne, this one’s pretty much a tabhartas in aisce (giveaway)

 

solas, light

 

But keep in mind that not all compound words or phrases are formed with consistency in mind.  Here are a few more to mull over.  The English translation uses “head” but, as you can see, the Irish doesn’t use “ceann.”

 

ardmháistir, ardmháistreás, cnoga taifeadta, príomhoide, uiscí uachtair

 

And finally, in case you were wondering, to be “head over heels in love” with someone in Irish involves neither ceann nor sála (heels).  For that matter, the word for “love” (grá) isn’t needed either.  Instead, you’d just have a sentence like:

Tá sé splanctha ina diaidh, lit. He is “flamed up” over her, from “splanc” (flash, spark) [taw shay SPLAHNK-huh in-uh DJEE-uh, note the silent “t” of splanctha]

 

Freagraí: a) headquarters, b) headword, c) headline, d) headlight; “headwords” without “ceann”: headmaster, headmistress, recording head (from cnoga, peg), head teacher / principal, headwaters (lit. “upper” waters)

Slán tamall! (goodbye for a while).  Perhaps you noticed that in this blog’s title the word “tamall” got an extra “i” (go ceann tamaill, lit. until the end of a period of time).  There’s no exact Irish equivalent for the English word “of” in this context; instead, in Irish, the ending of the relevant word is changed.