(le Róislín)

In a recent blog we looked at na horduimhreacha as they might pertain to days of the months:

an chéad lá de mhí na Nollag, an ceathrú lá d’Iúil, srl. 

Perhaps a little more practice with orduimhreacha wouldn’t be amiss.  For once, there are relatively few initial changes to worry about, but there are two basic rules to keep in mind:

1)      “an chéad” (the first) causes lenition of the following noun, unless it begins with one of the “resisting” consonants (d, t, s).  Or, of course, if it begins with h, l, n, r, or the non-traditional letters in the Irish alphabet (j, k, q, v, w, x, y, z).  Samplaí: an chéad fhear, an chéad teach, an chéad lá, an chéad jíp

2)      the other ordinal numbers (“dara” and those ending in -ú, like dóú, tríú, deichiú, etc.) cause no change to an initial consonant, but cause “h” to be prefixed before a vowel (an dara háit, but an chéad áit; an dara hurlár, but an chéad urlár)

Below, you’ll find some classic (or occasionally not-so-classic) book or movie titles which use ordinal numbers.  I’ve translated them into Irish (just na teidil of course, at least for present purposes) and turned them into a matching game.  As a memory jogger, I’ve included dates in parentheses, and occasionally other information.  Freagraí thíos. 

1. An Chéad                           a. Mac (2013 – le teacht)  

2. An Dara                              b. hIontas (1933, aka King Kong)

3. An Tríú                               c. Fear (1949;scannán & nóibhille le Graham Greene)

4. An Ceathrú                       d. Céadfa (1999; “Feicim daoine mairbh”)

5. An Cúigiú                          e. Dea-Rud faoi Bhearnaí (1987, le Judith Viorst)

6. An Séú                               f.  Muscaedóir (1923)

7. An Seachtú                       g. Teagmháil (1996, Star Trek a hOcht)

8. An tOchtú                         h. hAmharc (2003, le Jodi Picoult)

9. An Naoú                             i. hIníon (2009, le Barbara Hamilton)

10. An Deichiú                      j. Turas (de chuid Sinbad, 2011 – le teacht)

Sin é don mheaitseáil.  Ar éirigh leat?

Dála an scéil, an bhfaca tú an difear idir an dá stíl sna frásaí thuas (maidir le ceannlitriú)?  Seo arís iad:

ag na horduimhreacha: all lower case since it’s just an ordinary phrase within a sentence

but “na hOrduimhreacha,” le ceannlitir don “O,” since it’s part of capitalization within a title.  The “h” is simply a prefix, so isn’t the actual target of capitalization (same as we’d see in phrases like sna hIndiacha Thoir or go hIamáice, where the place names are capitalized).   

And when does that lower-case ”h” disappear?  When we’re just talking about ordinal numbers in general (indefinitely), not “the ordinal numbers” (which would be a ‘definite’ phrase, following the definite article “na”): orduimhreacha (ordinal numbers) but “na horduimhreacha” (the ordinal numbers)

Tá súil agam gur bhain tú sult as. SGF, ó Róislín

Oh, and right, none of the above were particularly Irish in reference.  Maybe sometime I’ll compile a list of such works that actually are in Irish, but I think the hunt’ll be a little harder, especially regarding films.  First one “faighte,” though: “An Chéad Chloch,” le Pádraig Ó Conaire.  Naoi gcinn eile le déanamh, ar a laghad!

Freagraí: 1g. An Chéad Teagmháil: (the) First Contact; 2h. An Dara hAmharc: (the) Second Glance; 3c. An Tríú Fear: The Third Man; 4f. An Ceathrú Muscaedóir: The Fourth Musketeer; 5j. An Cúigiú Turas: The Fifth Voyage (of Sinbad); 6d. An Séú Céadfa: The Sixth Sense; 7a. An Seachtú Mac: The Seventh Son; 8b. An tOchtú hIontas: The Eighth Wonder; 9i. An Naoú hIníon: The Ninth Daughter, in Hamilton’s  Abigail Adams Mystery series; 10e. An Deichiú Dea-Rud faoi Bhearnaí: The Tenth Good Thing about Barney (a poignant children’s book offering comfort on the loss of a pet; nice “léaráidí” by Erik Blegvad)