{"id":3611,"date":"2012-12-25T18:59:46","date_gmt":"2012-12-25T18:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=3611"},"modified":"2016-12-31T10:13:12","modified_gmt":"2016-12-31T10:13:12","slug":"bunuimhreacha-orduimhreacha-is-maoluimhreacha-a-thiarcais-oh-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/bunuimhreacha-orduimhreacha-is-maoluimhreacha-a-thiarcais-oh-my\/","title":{"rendered":"Bunuimhreacha, Orduimhreacha is Maoluimhreacha — A Thiarcais! (Oh my!)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Uimhreacha!<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, yet another m\u00e9imtheideal <\/strong>(meme title), with my old favorite “3 + Oh my!” as the “m\u00e9im<\/strong>.” \u00a0For this blog, we’ll look at three types of numbers in Irish: bunuimhreacha<\/strong> [BUN-IV-rukh-uh], orduimhreacha<\/strong> [ORD-IV-rukh-uh], and maoluimhreacha<\/strong> [MWEEL-IV-rukh-uh \/ MWAYL-IV-rukh-uh].\u00a0 And we’ll polish it off with some tagairt\u00ed Nollag<\/strong> from, you guessed it, “Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag<\/strong>” (an t-amhr\u00e1n carnach<\/strong>), since we’re speaking of, nay, we’re “leata ar na huimhreacha” sa bhlag seo<\/strong>.\u00a0 The Christmas gifts from the song are referred to here in a short form (i.e. without all the “a-drumming” bits), so that they’ll fit in the chart; the full terms and a lot more background information (colly vs. calling, etc.) can be found in the mionsraith<\/strong> of blogs on transparent.com, starting with: Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag (The Twelve Days of Christmas)<\/a>.\u00a0 The full webliography is given below.<\/p>\n

At any rate, before we dive ceann ar aghaidh<\/strong> into na huimhreacha iad f\u00e9in<\/strong>, let’s first look briefly at what those three categories of numbers mean:<\/p>\n

a) bunuimhreacha,<\/strong> cardinal numbers, lit. “basic”-numbers.\u00a0 These are your basic number forms like “one, two, three,” etc., used when actually counting things, but not usually used for counting people.\u00a0 Examples of bunuimhreacha<\/strong> would be “dh\u00e1 chat<\/strong>” and “tr\u00ed mhadra<\/strong>” (two cats and three dogs).\u00a0 Counting people is done differently and is treated in some other previous Transparent blogs (see more references in the webliography th\u00edos<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

b) orduimhreacha<\/strong>, ordinal numbers, i.e. numbers like “first, second, third, fourth,” etc., used for ranking things in order.\u00a0 Examples include “an ch\u00e9ad uair<\/strong>” and “an tr\u00ed\u00fa fear<\/strong>” (the first time, the third man)<\/p>\n

c) maoluimhreacha<\/strong>, independent (lit. “bald”) (!) numbers, used “independently,” i.e. when not actually counting.\u00a0 Examples include giving phone numbers; saying numbers for lottery tickets, buses, routes, and flights; saying arithmetic problems out loud; counting “down,” and saying the mysterious string of numbers in ABC’s Lost<\/em> (a ceathair, a hocht, a c\u00faig d\u00e9ag, a s\u00e9 d\u00e9ag, srl.<\/strong>).\u00a0 These numbers are preceded by the particle “a<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

While there is a reasonable amount of lean\u00fantas<\/strong> (continuity) as you go from number to number and purpose to purpose (bun-, ord-, <\/strong>and maol<\/strong>-), there are also slight differences, as you’ll see in the table immediately below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Uimhir <\/strong>(mar fhigi\u00far)<\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0Bun<\/strong>uimhir<\/strong><\/td>\nMaol<\/strong>uimhir<\/strong><\/td>\nFoirm <\/strong>ord-uimhri\u00fail<\/strong><\/td>\nOrd<\/strong>uimhir<\/strong><\/td>\nL\u00e1 den Nollaig<\/strong><\/td>\nBronntanas <\/strong>An Lae Sin**<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Do “n\u00e1id” (0), f\u00e9ach ar an miont\u00e1bla th\u00edos)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

1<\/td>\namh\u00e1in<\/td>\na haon<\/td>\n1d (1\u00fa)<\/td>\nch\u00e9ad*<\/td>\nan ch\u00e9ad l\u00e1 …<\/td>\npatraisc<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\ndh\u00e1<\/td>\na d\u00f3<\/td>\n2\u00fa (2a)<\/td>\nd\u00f3\u00fa (dara, tarna, srl.)<\/td>\nan dara l\u00e1 … (…\u00a0d\u00f3\u00fa …)<\/td>\nf\u00e9ar\u00e1in bhreaca<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\ntr\u00ed<\/td>\na tr\u00ed<\/td>\n3\u00fa<\/td>\ntr\u00ed\u00fa<\/td>\nan tr\u00ed\u00fa l\u00e1 …<\/td>\ncearca francacha<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nceithre<\/td>\na ceathair<\/td>\n4\u00fa<\/td>\nceathr\u00fa<\/td>\nan ceathr\u00fa l\u00e1 …<\/td>\nlonta dubha<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nc\u00faig<\/td>\na c\u00faig<\/td>\n5\u00fa<\/td>\nc\u00faigi\u00fa<\/td>\nan c\u00faigi\u00fa l\u00e1 …<\/td>\nf\u00e1inn\u00ed \u00f3ir<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\ns\u00e9<\/td>\na s\u00e9<\/td>\n6\u00fa<\/td>\ns\u00e9\u00fa<\/td>\nan s\u00e9\u00fa l\u00e1 …<\/td>\ng\u00e9anna<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nseacht<\/td>\na seacht<\/td>\n7\u00fa<\/td>\nseacht\u00fa<\/td>\nan seacht\u00fa l\u00e1 …<\/td>\neala\u00ed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nocht<\/td>\na hocht<\/td>\n8\u00fa<\/td>\nocht\u00fa<\/td>\nan t-ocht\u00fa l\u00e1 …<\/td>\ncail\u00edn\u00ed ble\u00e1na\u00ed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/td>\nnaoi<\/td>\na naoi<\/td>\n9\u00fa<\/td>\nnao\u00fa<\/td>\nan nao\u00fa l\u00e1 …<\/td>\nmn\u00e1 uaisle<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>\ndeich<\/td>\na deich<\/td>\n10\u00fa<\/td>\ndeichi\u00fa<\/td>\nan deichi\u00fa l\u00e1 …<\/td>\ntiarna\u00ed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11<\/td>\naon…d(h)\u00e9ag<\/td>\na haon d\u00e9ag<\/td>\n11\u00fa<\/td>\naon\u00fa…d\u00e9ag<\/td>\nan t-aon\u00fa l\u00e1 d\u00e9ag …<\/td>\np\u00edobair\u00ed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12<\/td>\ndh\u00e1…d(h)\u00e9ag<\/td>\na d\u00f3 dh\u00e9ag<\/td>\n12\u00fa<\/td>\ndara…d\u00e9ag (d\u00f3\u00fa … d\u00e9ag)<\/td>\nan dara l\u00e1 d\u00e9ag …<\/td>\ndrumad\u00f3ir\u00ed<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

* NB: “ch\u00e9ad<\/strong>\u201d will switch to “aon\u00fa<\/strong>” for 11th, etc. (i.e. also for 21st, 31st, etc.), but we won’t deal with those here since our theme song lasts for the 12<\/em> days of Christmas, not 21 or 31!)<\/p>\n

** de r\u00e9ir an amhr\u00e1in “Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

Now you might be wondering what’s the story with zero?\u00a0 I’ve decided to put it in a separate line, simply because it works a little bit differently as a number, especially when you get to the ordinals.\u00a0 “Zeroth” (or “zeroeth”) isn’t a word I use very much in English, n\u00ed nach ionadh<\/strong>, and I’m sure I use “nialasach<\/strong>” even less.\u00a0 Maybe some of you fisiceoir\u00ed <\/strong>or innealt\u00f3ir\u00ed<\/strong> out there might have some occasion to talk about the “dl\u00ed nialasach<\/strong>” (zeroth law), but, quite frankly, I don’t.\u00a0 Don’t know much about “teirmidinimic<\/strong>,” chun parafr\u00e1sa a chur ar amhr\u00e1n Sam Cooke<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Uimhir <\/strong><\/td>\nBun<\/strong>uimhir<\/strong><\/td>\nMaol<\/strong>uimhir<\/strong><\/td>\nFoirm <\/strong>ord-uimhri\u00fail<\/td>\nOrd<\/strong>uimhir<\/strong><\/td>\nL\u00e1 den Nollaig<\/strong><\/td>\nBronntanas <\/strong>An Lae Sin<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
0<\/td>\nNot really used for counting but various words for ‘zero’ \/ ‘nothing’ exist (n\u00e1id, neamhn\u00ed nialas<\/strong>, etc.)<\/td>\na n\u00e1id<\/strong><\/td>\n0\u00fa (rarely used IMThF)<\/td>\nnialasach, <\/strong>or, on a limited basis, n\u00e1idi\u00fa<\/strong><\/td>\nErrmm, is there a 0th day of Christmas?<\/td>\nIf the day is 0, is the gift a “neamhbhronntanas<\/strong>, or perhaps a “leagan frithdhamhna<\/strong>” of the original series of gifts?<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

So how do we use these “zero” words?\u00a0 Most useful, probably, is “a n\u00e1id<\/strong>,” which might occur in situations like uimhreacha f\u00f3in, c\u00f3id phoist<\/strong>, or tic\u00e9id\u00ed crannchuir<\/strong>. To say that there are “zero boxes” left, I wouldn’t actually use any of the words for “zero” given above, but instead I’d say “N\u00edl bosca\u00ed ar bith f\u00e1gtha<\/strong>” (there aren’t boxes at all left) or to be a little folksier about it, “Diabhal bosca at\u00e1 f\u00e1gtha<\/strong>” (Divil a box is left).\u00a0 The higher realms of counting “nothing” are probably best left to the matamataiceoir\u00ed, feals\u00fanaithe<\/strong>, and teoiriceoir\u00ed in bhur measc, n\u00edl siad “i mo bhaillt\u00edocht” f\u00e9in.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dl\u00edthe na Teirmidinimice — 0\u00fa go 3\u00fa<\/p><\/div>\n

While “nialasach<\/strong>” corresponds to “zero” as an adjective in phrases like “cluiche nialasach<\/strong>” (zero-sum game) or “buis\u00e9ad\u00fa ar bhonn nialasach<\/strong> (zero-based budgeting), it doesn’t occur frequently for “zeroth” or “0th.”\u00a0 The main example of “zeroth” I have found is “Dl\u00ed Nialasach na Teirmidinimice<\/strong>,” which precedes “C\u00e9ad-Dl\u00ed na Teirmidinimice<\/strong>,” “Dara Dl\u00ed na Teirmidinimice<\/strong>,” and “Tr\u00ed\u00fa Dl\u00ed na Teirmidinimice<\/strong>.”\u00a0 But then, neither “zeroth” nor “0th” are very frequent in English either!<\/p>\n

Of the tiny handful of “0\u00fa<\/strong>” references I found online (using the “-\u00fa<\/strong>” abbreviation), most appeared in strings of *cibearghabaild\u00edgi\u00fac<\/strong> (to coin a phrase).\u00a0 When I sorted for 0\u00fa + Gaeilge<\/strong>, I got 116 hits, most of which were equally meaningless except for a few repeated references to “0\u00fa haois<\/strong>” \u00a0in a string that included 1\u00fa haois, 2\u00fa haois<\/strong> etc., referring to the 0th century, 1st century, 2nd century, etc.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t think I had ever heard any references to a “0th century” until I went looking for it, but may be the coincheap<\/strong> does have its role in the study of time. \u00a0One of the hits for “0\u00fa”<\/strong> appears to be a typo for “10\u00fa,” “20\u00fa,”<\/strong> or “30\u00fa<\/strong>,” since it indicated that\u00a0 a certain meeting was held “ceithre huaire i rith 2007<\/strong> (four times in 2007), including on “0\u00fa Me\u00e1n F\u00f3mhair<\/strong>” (the 0th of September).\u00a0 Not necessarily a typo, you say?\u00a0 Hmm, well, glitch \u00e9igin sa lean\u00fantas sp\u00e1s-ama, is d\u00f3cha.\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

And now that we have the basic numbers from 0 to 12 and a set of Christmas references, how about some of those far-fetched items from the song “Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag<\/strong>“?\u00a0 Can you fill in the blanks for the following?\u00a0 Freagra\u00ed th\u00edos<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

a) dh\u00e1 _______________ fhrancacha<\/strong><\/p>\n

b) c\u00faig __________________ \u00f3ir (<\/strong>or, if you go with the ring-necked bird interpretation, you could do: c\u00faig ___________________ mhuinceacha)<\/strong><\/p>\n

c) s\u00e9 ____________\u00a0 ag breith<\/strong><\/p>\n

d) seacht ___________ ag sn\u00e1mh<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gluais: baillt\u00edocht,<\/strong> bailiwick; cibear<\/strong>-, cyber-; crannchur<\/strong>, lottery; frithdhamhna<\/strong>, antimatter; leata ar<\/strong>, reveling in; and, for the lighter moments, *cibearghabaild\u00edgi\u00fac<\/strong> (“gabaild\u00edgi\u00fac<\/strong>” is my adaptation of Maury Maverick’s deliberately and humorously “grotesque” 1944 coinage, “gobbledygook,” first used in a memo banning “gobbledygook language.” \u00a0That task would, of course, be as hopeless as the attempt of G. Vernon Bennett, a school superintendent, to enforce an anti-slang week in 1915 (among the offending words in Bennett’s day were: “cut it out,” “hand him a lemon,” and “give him the once-over”).<\/p>\n

Bhuel, sin \u00e9 don bhlag seo.\u00a0 T\u00e1 s\u00fail agam gur bhain t\u00fa sult as agus gur chleachtaigh t\u00fa an t-amhr\u00e1n.\u00a0 SGF, R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n

N\u00f3ta Maidir le Dl\u00edthe na Teirmidinimice:<\/strong>\u00a0 If anyone out there would like to explain, in Irish, why the laws of thermodynamics go from “zeroth” to “third” instead of from “first” to “fourth,” I’m sure you’d find many eager readers among l\u00e9itheoir\u00ed an bhlag seo<\/strong>.\u00a0 As for me, it’s a bailiwick thing.<\/p>\n

Freagra\u00ed: a) dh\u00e1 chearc fhrancacha<\/strong> (or “Fhrancacha<\/strong>“); b) c\u00faig fh\u00e1inne \u00f3ir<\/strong> (or: c\u00faig phias\u00fan mhuinceacha<\/strong>, to go with the “ring-necked pheasant” theory); c) s\u00e9 gh\u00e9<\/strong> [say: shay yay, the “g” is silent here], and d) seacht n-eala<\/strong>.\u00a0 (For more details on the francach\/Francach<\/strong> situation and the f\u00e1inne\/pias\u00fan<\/strong> situation, see the nascanna<\/strong> below)<\/p>\n

Webliography (The Twelve Days of Christmas–Irish language discussion)<\/p>\n

1, 2: Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag (The Twelve Days of Christmas)<\/a><\/p>\n

3, 4: Cearca Francacha agus Lonta Dubha (Cuid a D\u00f3 don tSraith: Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag)<\/a><\/p>\n

5:\u00a0\u201c\u00d3r,\u201d \u201c\u00d3ir\u201d or \u201c\u00d3rga\u201d? \u201cF\u00e1inne\u201d or \u201c\u00c9an\u201d? \u00c9an?! (Cuid a Tr\u00ed: Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag)<\/a><\/p>\n

6, 7: G\u00e9anna agus Eala\u00ed (Cuid a Ceathair: Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag)<\/a><\/p>\n

8, 9, 10, 11, 12: Na hUimhreacha Pearsanta i nGaeilge (Irish Personal Numbers and Cuid a C\u00faig or the Last Installment of Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag na Nollag)<\/a><\/p>\n

For the bunuimhreacha<\/strong> with sound and video, please see: https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/irish-numbers-1-20-with-video\/<\/a> OR\u00a0http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=a-t5NzoxdfE<\/a><\/p>\n

And for a little more on counting people, using the “uimhreacha pearsanta<\/strong>,” more or less avoided in this blog for reasons of space: Ag Comhaireamh Daoine i gCultacha O\u00edche Shamhna (Vaimp\u00edr\u00ed, G\u00fail, srl.)<\/a> and Na hUimhreacha Pearsanta (ar lean\u00faint)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le\u00a0R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Yes, yet another m\u00e9imtheideal (meme title), with my old favorite “3 + Oh my!” as the “m\u00e9im.” \u00a0For this blog, we’ll look at three types of numbers in Irish: bunuimhreacha [BUN-IV-rukh-uh], orduimhreacha [ORD-IV-rukh-uh], and maoluimhreacha [MWEEL-IV-rukh-uh \/ MWAYL-IV-rukh-uh].\u00a0 And we’ll polish it off with some tagairt\u00ed Nollag from, you guessed it, “Dh\u00e1 L\u00e1 Dh\u00e9ag…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":3614,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[272948,374916,374914,307016,365230,374891,374889,111796,374907,254993,374903,374900,229579,254980,374895,374902,13298,374911,374905,374890,460932,374922,374894,73,191129,166253,374896,374910,374898,6003,374893,6203,374915,374917,374912,96593,374913,6273,6274,255001,374897,305815,305816,272950,374888,254985,255441,374918,374904,251470,272949,374901,7231,7233,374920,96592,374909,374906,374921,272947],"class_list":["post-3611","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-0th","tag-0th-day-of-christmas","tag-0u","tag-307016","tag-365230","tag-anti-slang","tag-bailiwick","tag-bronntanas","tag-buiseadu-ar-bhonn-nialasach","tag-bunuimhir","tag-cead-dli","tag-cibearghabaildigiuc","tag-cluiche","tag-counting-in-irish","tag-cut-it-out","tag-dara-dli","tag-dha-la-dheag-na-nollag","tag-divil","tag-dli-nialasach-na-teirmidinimice","tag-dlithe","tag-dont-know-much-about","tag-frithdhamhna","tag-g-vernon-bennett","tag-game","tag-glitch","tag-gobbledygook","tag-hand-him-a-lemon","tag-leagan-frithdhamhna","tag-leanuntas-spas-ama","tag-maoluimhir","tag-maury-maverick","tag-naid","tag-naidiu","tag-neamhbhronntanas","tag-neamhni","tag-nialas","tag-nialasach","tag-nollag","tag-nollaig","tag-numbers-in-irish","tag-once-over","tag-orduimhir","tag-orduimhriuil","tag-partridge","tag-pearsanta","tag-personal-numbers-in-irish","tag-ring-necked-pheasant","tag-sam-cooke","tag-teirmidinimic","tag-the-twelve-days-of-christmas","tag-thermodynamics","tag-triu-dli","tag-uimhir","tag-uimhreacha","tag-wonderful-world","tag-zero","tag-zero-based-budgeting","tag-zero-sum","tag-zeroeth","tag-zeroth"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t