Numbers, days, months and seasons.
by Myles Dillon
ALESSON XXIV We have already had the numbers from one to ten (Lesson X). Those from eleven to nineteen are formed by adding -deag (not deich) to the simple number, just as -teen is added in English fourteen, sixteen, seventeen. Thus aondeag 11, dodheag 12, trideag 13, ceathairdeag 14, cuigdeag 15, sedeag 16, seachtdeag 17, ochtdeag 18, naoideag 19. These numerals are separable, that is to say that a noun is inserted between the simple number and the second element. If the singular form of the noun is used, it is aspirated (p. 64) (except after seacht, ocht and naoi which eclipse), and the aspiration is carried over to deag as well; tri dhuine dheag "thirteen people"; cheithre choca dheag "fourteen cocks (of hay)"; dhd chapall deag 1 "twelve horses"; tri phunt deag 1 (or tri puint deag) "thirteen pounds". The word for "twenty" is fiche which is a noun. It is added to the simple numbers either with agus (is) "and" or in the genitive, fichead, or with ar "on" and the dative fichid. Thus "twenty-four miles" is cheithre mhile fhichead or cheithre mhile is fiche or cheithre mhile arfhichid. The other "tens" are reckoned by scores: 21 aon is fiche 22 do is fiche 23 tri is fiche 30 deich fichead 31 aondeag ar fhichid 32 dodheag ar fhichid 33 trideag ar fhichid 40 daichead 50 deich is daichead 1 See p. 17. 60 tri fichid 70 deich is tri fichid 80 cheithre fichid 90 deich is cheithre fichid 100 cead 105 cead is a cuig "105 sheep" cuig chaora is cead 110 cead is a deich 136 LESSON XXIV 137 200 dhachead 300 trichead 700 seacht gcead 800 ocht gcead 900 naoi gcead 1,000 mile 100,000 cead mile 1,000,000 milliun Here are some examples of high numbers: 334 tri chead is a ceathair deag ar fhichid 906 naoi gcead is a se 1959 mile naoi gcead is a naoideag is daichead Cead 100 and mile 1,000 are nouns and are indeclinable in counting, but the plurals ceadta and rrdlte are used elsewhere: bhi na ceadta agus na rrdlte arm "there were hundreds and thousands there". Fiche, cead and mile take the nom.-acc. sg. of a following noun: fiche duine "twenty people"; cead bean "a hundred women"; mile punt "a thousand pounds". There are special words for counting persons up to twelve. For "one person" you say simply duine. For "two", "three", "four" etc. there are personal numerals, which are nouns and are followed by the genitive plural: beirt "two people" is feminine (with the article an bheirt, g. na beirte) and aspir- ates a following noun: beirt jhear "two men", beirt bhan "two women". The other personal numerals (being compounds of fear) are masculine: triur three people ochtar eight people ceathrar/our people naonur nine people cuigear/iue people deichniur ten people seisear six people dareag twelve people mor-sheisear (seachtar) seven people Triur sagart three priests, ceathrar feinneoiri four farmers, cuigear Sasanach/iue Englishmen, seisear cailini six girls. The form for "eleven" agrees with the higher numbers: 138 IRISH aon duine deag "eleven people", se dhuine dheag "sixteen people". In counting animals and things the use of cinn, mentioned on p. 73, is common: tri cinn de bhuaibh "three cows", cuig cinn deag ar fhichid de mhucaibh "thirty-five pigs", ocht no naoi gcinn de leabhraibh "eight or nine books". Ordinal Numbers These are the forms corresponding to English "first, second, third", etc. The Irish for "first" is cead, which aspirates a following noun and is itself aspirated by the article: an cheadfhear "the first man"; "second" is dara: an dara fear. The other ordinals are formed by adding -u to the simple numeral: triu, ceathru, cuigiu, seu, etc. For "eleventh" the word is aonu . . .deag; anfichiu ceann "the twentieth (one)". The higher ordinal numbers should be avoided. We cannot propose a satisfactory form for "the two hundredth" (an da cheaduT), "the five hundred and sixtieth", etc., but these forms are clumsy in any language. Addition and Subtraction Addition is expressed as follows: a cuig agus a cuig, sin a deich, 5 + 5 = 10; deichfichead agusfiche, sin leath-chead, 30 + 20 = 50. For subtraction: a cuig 6na deich, sin a cuig, 10 — 5 = 5; a deich 6na daichead, sin a deichfichead, 40 — 10 = 30. Multiplication and Division. Multiplication is expressed by putting fe "under" before the multiplier: a do fe thri, sin a se, 2 x 3 = 6; a deich fe chuig, sin deich is daichead, 10 x 5 = 50. Division is expressed by putting a roinnt ar ("to divide by") before the divider: fiche a roinnt ar dho, sin a deich, 20 -f 2 = 10. LESSON XXIV 139 Days and Months. The names of the days are preceded by the definite article, except when used adverbially: an Domhnach (dounach) m. an Deardaoin (der-deen) f. an Luan (looan) m. an Aoine (eeni) f. an Mhairt (vaart) f. an Satharn (soharn) m. an Cheadaoin (cheea-deen) f. When used adverbially they are preceded by De "day" (except Deardaoin), and the masculine forms are inflected in the genitive: De Domhnaigh (dounig) Deardaoin De Luain De hAoine De Mairt De Sathairn De Ceadaoin Thus "today is Monday" is is e an la inniu an Luan or simply inniu an Luan. But "he is coming on Monday" is tiocfaidh se De Luain; "he is coming next Monday" tiocfaidh se De Luain seo chuinn. When a defining phrase follows, the form with the article is used: tiocfaidh se an Luan ina dhiaidh son "he will come on the following Monday". The names of months are usually preceded by the article and often by the word mi "month"; for December mi is required: Eanair (anaar) an Meitheamh (mihav) Feabhra (fyoura) Iuil (ool) or mi na Feabhra mi na Lunasa (loonasa) an Marta (maarta) Mean Fhomhair (maan or) an tAibrean (oba-raan) Deireadh Fomhair (deri for) an Bhealtaine (vyoulhini) mi na Samhna (souna) or mi na Bealtaine mi na Nollag (nolag) May, August and November are named from ancient pagan feasts, and December from the Christian Natalicia, and these names are feminine. The names here given for January, February and July are obsolete, but have now been restored in the schools. The colloquial names are an 140 IRISH chead mhi den bhliain, mi na Feile Bride, and July respec- tively. May l, August l, November 1 are Ld Bealtaine, Ld Lunasa, Ld Samhna respectively. For other dates, the preposition de "of is used: an triu Id deag d'Aibredn "April 13"; an chead Id de mhi nu Nollag "December 1". Ld Nollag means "Christmas Day". The names of the seasons are masculine: An tEarrach (ta-roch) An Fomhar (for) Autumn Spring An Samhradh (saura) An Geirnhreadh (geera) Summer Winter The hours of the day are expressed by the numeral followed by a chlog: a tri a chlog "three o'clock"; leath-uair tar eis a tri "half past three"; ceathru chun a ceathair "a quarter to four". The question "what o'clock is it" goes directly into Irish: cad a chlog e? At such a time is expressed by ar "on": ar a cuig a chlog "at five o'clock"; or deich neomatai chun a seacht "at ten minutes to seven". VOCABULARY Aibrean (oba-raan) m. April Fomhar (for) m. Autumn an mo? how many? La le Padraig (laale-paadrig) an mor? how much ? St. Patrick 's Day barra (bora) m. crop Marta (maarta) m. March Bealtaine (baulhini) f. May Meitheamh (mihav) m. June bliain (bleein) f. year real (ral) m. sixpence Ceadaoin (keea-deen) f. Wed- reitim (re-teem) ar / agree nesday upon ce (ke) m. quay seint (shaynt) vn. playing, to ceoltoir (kyol-hor) m. musi- play (music) cian saor cloiche (sar klohi) m. Deardaoin (der-deen) f. stone-mason Thursday tuistiun (tish-dyoon) m. four- Earrach (a-roch) m. Spring pence LESSON XXIV 141 Exercise 55 1. Cheannaios na beithigh sin ar thri puint fhichead 1 an ceann. 2. An mo peann ata sa bhosca san? 3. Ta cuig cinn deag ann. 4. Thugas an triu cuid den airgead dom athair. 5. An mor a thugais do? Tri puint deag agus daichead. 6. Ta tri chead agus cuig laetheanta agus tri fichid sa bhliain. 7. Ta deich la fichead (or is fiche) san Aibrean agus aon la deag ar fhichid i mi na Bealtaine. 8. Thanadar De Ceadaoin, an cuigiu la deag de Mharta, agus imeoid siad Deardaoin, an dara la de Mheitheamh. 9. Cuirtear an siol san Earrach agus baintear an barra sa bhFomhar. 10. Ta cuigear siuin- eiri agus triur saor cloiche ag obair sa tigh sin. 11. An mo ceoltoir a bhi ag seint sa halla anocht? 12. Do chonaiceamair tri dhuine dheag ann, ach do bhi ceathrar eile nar fheada- mair a fheiscint. Exercise 56 1. How much did you give the man for that horse? Seventy- nine pounds. 2. How many sixpences are there in a pound? Forty. 3. My aunt will be coming on the twelfth of August. 4. Next Sunday is the first of June. 5. Four sevens are twenty-eight, two shillings and fourpence. 6. Twenty-five and eleven are thirty-six. 7. Friday is the sixth day of the week. 8. The seventeenth of March is St. Patrick's Day. 9. I see two men and three boys coming across the field. 10. There are five priests in the parish. 11. There are only (see p. 153) thirty days in April, June and September. 12. Saturday is the fourth of November. 13. How many fisher- men did you see down at the quay tonight? Seven. 1 For aspiration after the nom. pi. see p. 15 .