Before completely leaving that intriguing compound in the surname Ó Cinnéide (ceann  éide), how about looking further at the word “ceann” itself?  It has lots of extended meanings besides “head” and “end” and is used in a few colorful expressions.  Seo cúpla ceann:

 

The preceding phrase was one example of the extended meanings of the word “ceann.”  It can also mean “one” in regard to a topic or item under consideration.  Unlike English, “cúpla” (couple) is followed by the singular form of the noun, so “cúpla ceann.”

 

If you’re actually counting things in Irish, you can use the word “ceann” after the number, but look out for its “special” form, “cinn,” and for séimhiú (lenition) and urú (eclipsis), and for when to skip the séimhiú but keep the urú.  Please do note that I said “things” for this section; counting daoine (people), as you may recall, is a capall of a fairly different color.  Seo samplaí:

 

Cé mhéad bosca atá ar an mbord?  Dhá cheann (2) OR dhá bhosca

Cé mhéad cuileog atá i do chuid anraith?  Trí cinn (3) OR trí chuileog

Cé mhéad dath atá ar thanagair sheachtdathach? Seacht gcinn (7) OR seacht ndath

 

Yes, that last question is a bit like asking, “Cén dath atá ar chapall bán George Washington?”, but it’s useful enough for practicing urú.

 

So, what did you notice about the presence or absence of séimhiú and urú?

 

a) séimhiú after dhá, as expected, on the generic word “ceann” and on “bosca”

 

b) séimhiú after trí (and ceithre, cúig, sé) on the actual noun “cuileog” BUT NOT on “cinn,” the special form of ceann used for counting from three and up (ceithre cinn, ceithre chuileog, cúig cinn, cúig chuileog, sé cinn, sé chuileog).  This special form for counting looks like the plural (also cinn) but is technically different. No lenition with this “cinn.”   

c) urú after the numbers 7 to 10 on both the generic “cinn” AND the specific “dath” (ocht gcinn, ocht ndath, naoi gcinn, naoi ndath, deich gcinn, deich ndath)

 

In case you’re wondering, why so much emphasis on repeating nouns after numbers anyway?  English can just give the shortest possible answer, like “two” or “seven,” so why can’t Irish?  There’s no absolute explanation for this, afaik, but a strong tendency not to simply use the number on its own.  One good thing about adding the ceann/cinn style of answers to your repertoire is you can simply internalize the initial change for that one word, rather than bouncing from answers like “seacht ndath” to “naoi bhfadhb” (nine problems) to “deich ndeichniúr den Phaidrín” (ten decades of the Rosary).  

 

With the end of this blog looming on the léaslíne (horizon), I’ll close with a couple livelier examples:

 

In direct address, if you dare, several ways to say, “You blockhead”: A cheann cipín! or  

A cheann máilléid!

 

Nótaí: X an fhocail [X un OK-il] the X of the word, as in “ciall an fhocail” (the meaning of the word); seacht gcinn [shakht geen, shakt gin, and that’s with a hard “g,” not like “gin and tonic”]; ndath [nah, note silent “d”]; naoi bhfadhb [nee waib].  That last word is hard to explain in any transcription system other than the official International Phonetics Alphabet, which has characters and symbols of its own.  It comes close to rhyming with English “bribe” or “scribe” and the closest equivalent I can think of, soundwise, is the somewhat derogatory German word “Weib,” which English learners of German may leap to equate with “wife” but which, as I understand it is more like calling a woman “a broad.”

 

And since we just happened to be speaking about the tanagair sheachtdathach, you might like to listen to one here: http://www.xeno-canto.org/browse.php?query=Seven-colored%20Tanager  Bíog (chirp) agus slán!