{"id":1196,"date":"2011-08-31T15:43:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-31T15:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=1196"},"modified":"2011-09-10T15:48:46","modified_gmt":"2011-09-10T15:48:46","slug":"using-your-head-counting-in-irish-with-the-word-%e2%80%9cceann%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/using-your-head-counting-in-irish-with-the-word-%e2%80%9cceann%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"Using Your Head: Counting in Irish with the Word \u201cCeann\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bhuel, <\/strong>it\u2019s not really your<\/em> head.\u00a0 Just a generalized application of the word \u201cceann\u201d <\/strong>(head) in Irish.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

So far, in all of the counting practice in recent blogs, we\u2019ve been practicing na huimhreacha <\/strong>with the actual items being counted (m\u00f3ideim amh\u00e1in, deich mbliana, srl.).\u00a0 <\/strong>But there\u2019s a convenient way to use the word \u201cceann\u201d <\/strong>in response to questions like \u201cC\u00e9 mh\u00e9ad m\u00f3ideim at\u00e1 sa bhosca sin?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead of repeating the noun used in the question, in this case \u201cm\u00f3ideim,\u201d <\/strong>we can simply answer with the appropriate number plus the word \u201cceann,\u201d <\/strong>understood now more as \u201cone(s)\u201d than as \u201chead\u201d per se.\u00a0 That means we only have to remember one lenited form (dh\u00e1 cheann) <\/strong>and one type of eclipsis (seacht gcinn, <\/strong>\u201cc\u201d changing to \u201cgc\u201d).\u00a0 <\/strong>When we use the full range of nouns in Irish, we have to keep every pattern of eclipsis in mind (b-mb, c-gc, d-nd, f-bhf, g-ng, p-bp, t-dt).\u00a0 Since \u201cceann\u201d <\/strong>can substitute for almost any noun while counting, we just have to do the \u201cc\u201d to \u201cgc\u201d eclipsis.\u00a0 Six less patterns of eclipsis to keep in mind!<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not a complete \u201cpiece o\u2019 cake.\u201d\u00a0 Now the \u201cunits of measurement\u201d rule kicks in. \u00a0\u00a0In a nutshell, certain units of measurements in Irish take a slightly different set of rules.\u00a0 More on the whole kit \u2018n\u2019 caboodle of them i mblag \u00e9igin eile, <\/strong>but as a teaser, the other special ones include \u201cuair\u201d <\/strong>and \u201cbliain\u201d <\/strong>but not \u201cn\u00f3im\u00e9ad\u201d <\/strong>or \u201cm\u00ed.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong>So, it\u2019s not all possible units of measurement, and it\u2019s not predictable, at least not by any common sense type of logic.\u00a0 \u00a0Here, we\u2019ll just deal with \u201cceann amh\u00e1in\u201d <\/strong>of these special units of measurement, the word \u201cceann<\/strong>\u201d itself..\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

To answer \u201cC\u00e9 mh\u00e9ad m\u00f3ideim at\u00e1 sa bhosca sin?\u201d, <\/strong>we can say either \u201cdh\u00e1 mh\u00f3ideim\u201d <\/strong>or \u201cdh\u00e1 cheann\u201d <\/strong>(two modems or \u201ctwo ones\u201d). \u00a0Or it could have been \u201cm\u00f3ideim amh\u00e1in\u201d <\/strong>or \u201cceann amh\u00e1in.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong>So far, so good.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starting with \u201ctr\u00ed,\u201d <\/strong>we have the units of measurement rule.\u00a0<\/p>\n

3 to 6, no, (that\u2019s right, no) lenition, but a vowel change!<\/p>\n

tr\u00ed cinn, ceithre cinn, c\u00faig cinn, s\u00e9 cinn<\/strong><\/p>\n

7 to 10, we do include eclipsis and also apply the vowel change.<\/p>\n

seacht gcinn, ocht gcinn, naoi gcinn, deich gcinn.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By changing the vowel from \u201cea\u201d to \u201ci,\u201d we create of form of the word \u201cceann\u201d <\/strong>that looks just like the standard nominative plural (cinn), <\/strong>which also happens to look like the genitive singular form (cinn).\u00a0 <\/strong>However, I prefer not to say that we\u2019re literally using the \u201cplural\u201d or \u201cgenitive\u201d form here, with the units of measurement rule, because as you go through all the possible nouns affected by this rule, some take a form like the genitive singular \u201ctr\u00ed bliana\u201d <\/strong>and some use a form like the nominative plural \u201cs\u00e9 seachtain\u00ed.\u201d\u00a0 <\/strong>I prefer just to think of this as a \u201cspecial form.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Furthermore, sometimes \u201cceanna\u201d <\/strong>is used as a plural of \u201cceann,\u201d <\/strong>so to say that we\u2019re switching to the plural for the units of measurement could be misleading.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I know we\u2019ve dealt with this issue in some previous blogs, and it\u2019s standard fare in most textbooks (although not always labeled as such), but it seemed apropos as we wind down from counting practice, and switch to noun declensions, or some of the other promised topics, including the long-backburnered donkey sanctuary blog, which I still intend to write l\u00e1 \u00e9igin<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In contrast to all of the above, if a dialogue or narrative simply started with the phrase \u201cceann amh\u00e1in\u201d <\/strong>and there was no indication of counting, it probably would refer to a physical head, perhaps a \u201cceann d\u00edcheannaithe\u201d <\/strong>being brought back from battle as a trophy.\u00a0 Yes, that was a practice of our sinsir Cheilteacha!\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

das, go m\u00f3r m\u00f3r do lucht labhartha na Breatnaise, t\u00e1 an focal \u201cceann\u201d gaolta leis an bhfocal \u201c<\/strong>pen<\/em>\u201d <\/strong>(head) sa Bhreatnais.\u00a0 Sampla deas den fheinim\u00e9an \u201cP-Cheiltis \/ Q-Cheiltis,\u201d \u00e1bhar blag eile, ar nd\u00f3igh. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Sin \u00e9 don bhlag seo.\u00a0 SGF, \u00f3 R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Bhuel, it\u2019s not really your head.\u00a0 Just a generalized application of the word \u201cceann\u201d (head) in Irish.\u00a0 So far, in all of the counting practice in recent blogs, we\u2019ve been practicing na huimhreacha with the actual items being counted (m\u00f3ideim amh\u00e1in, deich mbliana, srl.).\u00a0 But there\u2019s a convenient way to use the word…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[4598,96665,7364,96668,96666,96667,7233,96669],"class_list":["post-1196","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-ceann","tag-comhaireamh","tag-counting","tag-deich-gcinn","tag-dha-cheann","tag-se-cinn","tag-uimhreacha","tag-units-of-measurement"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1196"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1198,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1196\/revisions\/1198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}