DASG Blog

LEACAN BLOG 4: The definite article with ciad ‘first’, ceathramh ‘fourth’, còigeamh ‘fifth’, ceudamh ‘hundredth’, ficheadamh ‘twentieth’, siathamh ‘sixth’, seachdamh ‘seventh’

In traditional Gaelic, the definite article inflects for gender, number and case. Some of its forms trigger particular initial mutations in the following noun:

1. Lenition of non-dentals & t-prefixation before initial s

• Nominative singular feminine: a’ chlach ‘the stone’, an t-sùil ‘the eye’
• Genitive singular masculine: a’ Ghàidheil ‘of the Gael’, an t-saoghail ‘of the world’
• Dative singular feminine and masculine: anns a’ bhaile ‘in the village’, fon chrao(i)bh ‘under the tree’, anns an t-saoghal ‘in the world’

2. t-prefixation before vowels

• Nominative singular masculine: an t-òran ‘the song’

3. h-prefixation before vowels

• Genitive singular feminine: na h-ùine ‘of the time’
• Nominative / dative plural: (air) na h-ùbhlan ‘(on) the apples’, (air) na h-itean ‘(on) the feathers’.

However, the definite article does not inflect regularly before certain numerals and preposed adjectives in present-day Gaelic; in other words, the initial mutations (lenition, t- and h-) do not always affect these words as expected. The inflection of the article is also irregular before recent loanwords beginning with f-, bh- / v-, s- and z- / x-. And finally, the original dual form of the article (an, identical to the nominative singular form) is used before the number dà ‘two’ in all cases, although other (singular and plural) forms can also occur. In order to determine how widespread these phenomena are in modern Gaelic and how long they have been present in the language, corpus-based research has been conducted using Corpas na Gàidhlig. The focus of this research was on post-1950 texts, although earlier sources were also considered.

Conservative inflected forms of nouns and adjectives, occasionally attested in the examples below, are not considered here and require further research.

This is our second blog dedicated to the inflection of the definite article and the accompanying initial mutations with the following words:

1. Initial vowels: ath ‘next’, aon ‘one; same’, aonamh ‘first’, ochdamh ‘eighth’
2. Initial c-: ciad / ceud ‘first’, ceathramh ‘fourth’, còigeamh ‘fifth’, ceudamh ‘hundredth’
3. Initial f-: ficheadamh ‘twentieth’
4. Initial s-: siathamh ‘sixth’, seachdamh ‘seventh’
5. Loanwords beginning with f-, bh- / v-, s- and z- / x-
6. dà ‘two’.

Our previous blog addressed the words listed in [1] and the present blog is dedicated to those in [2]–[4].
 
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The words in [2] and [3] begin with c- and f- respectively, and are expected to be lenited by the article in the feminine nominative singular and in the dative singular (both masculine and feminine). The words in [4], starting with s-, are expected to undergo t-prefixation in the same contexts.

Ciad (sometimes ceud) ‘first’ is always lenited with feminine nominative singular nouns, e.g. a’ chiad oidhche ‘the first night’. However, it is normally lenited when modifying a masculine nominative singular noun too, e.g. a’ chiad fhear ‘the first one’. The other forms usually follow the traditional inflexion and initial mutation patterns, with a few exceptions (occurring especially in the most recent texts).

• [M.NOM.SG] Conservative: an ciad ainm ‘the first name’ vs Innovative: a’ chiad rud ‘the first thing’
• [M.DAT.SG] Conservative: air a’ chiad latha ‘on the first day’
• [F.DAT.SG] Conservative: air a’ chiad oidhche ‘on the first night’; air a’ chiad luing / long ‘on the first ship’
• [M.GEN.SG] Conservative: mullach a’ chiad chnuic ‘the top of the first hill’; airson a’ chiad turas ‘for the first time’; (a’) toirt a’ chiad iomradh ‘giving the first account’
• [F.GEN.SG] Conservative: a thoirt na ciad bhuille ‘to give the first blow’; airson na ciad uaire ‘for the first time’ vs Innovative: a’ cosnadh a’ chiad duais ‘winning the first prize’
• [NOM.PL] Conservative: na ciad bhuidheannan ‘the first groups’ vs Innovative: a’ cheud fhianuisean ‘the first witnesses’
• [GEN.PL] Conservative: freagairtean nan ciad ochd ceistean ‘the answers to the first eight questions’ vs Innovative: mu dheidhinn a’ chiad daoine ‘about the first people’; airson a’ chiad seachd clasaichean ‘for the first seven classes’; airson a’ chiad trì là ‘for the first three days’.

Apart from the masculine nominative singular, the most common exception in the corpus is the expression airson a’ chiad uair ‘for the first time’, with the nominative form occurring instead of the genitive after the preposition airson ‘for’, which takes the genitive case. This expression, which might be a calque from English, is also attested with the genitive: airson na ciad uair(e) / uarach, especially in pre-1950 texts. Other similar expressions of time too tend to contain the nominative instead of the genitive case: note the nominative singular (!) airson a’ chiad trì là ‘for the first three days’ instead of the genitive plural *airson nan ciad trì làithean. Cf. similar examples with other ordinal numbers below.

Unlike ciad, the ordinal numbers ceathramh ‘fourth’ and còigeamh ‘fifth’ are almost never lenited in the nominative, not even when modifying feminine nouns. The other forms, however, are often conservative. This also seems to apply to the number ceudamh ‘one hundredth’, which is not well-attested in the corpus.

• [M.NOM.SG] Conservative: an ceathramh fear-cuideachaidh ‘the fourth helper’; an cóigeamh òran ‘the fifth song’
• [F.NOM.SG] Conservative: a’ cheathramh té ‘the fourth one’ vs Innovative: an ceathramh pàirt / àithne / uair ‘the fourth part / commandment / time’; an còigeamh oidhche ‘the fifth night’; an ceudamh caora ‘the one hundredth sheep’
• [M.DAT.SG] Conservative: anns a’ cheathramh leabhar ‘in the fourth book’; anns a’ chóigeamh àite ‘in the fifth place’
• [F.DAT.SG] Conservative: air a’ cheathramh té ‘on the fourth one’; air a’ chòigeamh oidhche ‘on the fifth night’
• [M.GEN.SG] Conservative: air feasgar a’ cheathramh latha fichead de’n Dùbhlachd ‘on the evening of the 24th (day) of December’; air crìoch a’ chòigeamh latha ‘at the end of the fifth day’ vs Innovative: airson an cóigeamh turas ‘for the fifth time’
• [F.GEN.SG] Conservative: toiseach na cóigeamh bliadhna ‘the beginning of the fifth year’; a’ comharrachadh na ceudamh bliadhna ‘celebrating the 100th anniversary’; airson na ceathramh uair ‘for the fourth time’ vs Innovative: airson a’ cheudamh uair ‘for the one hundredth time’.

The ordinal number ficheadamh ‘twentieth’ occurs predominantly in dative examples with regular lenition. Other forms are very few and most examples are conservative.

• [M.NOM.SG] Conservative: am ficheadamh triath ‘the 20th lord’ vs Innovative: an Fhicheadamh Leasan ‘the 20th lesson’
• [F.NOM.SG] Conservative: an fhicheadamh cuid ‘the 20th part’ vs Innovative: am ficheadamh cuid ‘the 20th part’ (from 19th century)
• [F.GEN.SG] Conservative: uabhasan na ficheadamh linne ‘the horrors of the 20th century’
• [DAT.SG] Conservative: anns an fhicheadamh linn ‘in the 20th century’.

The ordinal numbers in [4], which begin with s-, are expected to undergo t-prefixation in the feminine nominative singular and in the dative singular. A great majority of examples found in the corpus are dative singular forms occurring in expressions of time, such as: air an t-siathamh là deug den Mhàrt ‘on the 16th (day) of March’; anns an t-seachdamh linn deug ‘in the 17th century’. Other forms too usually follow the conservative patterns, with a few exceptions, chiefly in the nominative singular.

• [M.NOM.SG] Conservative: an siathamh leabhar ‘the sixth book’ vs Innovative: an t-siathamh latha ‘the sixth day’
• [F.NOM.SG] Conservative: an t-siathamh bliadhna ‘the sixth year’ vs Innovative: an siathamh cuid ‘the sixth part’
• [M.DAT.SG] Conservative: air an t-siathamh latha ‘on the sixth day’
• [F.DAT.SG] Conservative: air an t-siathamh bliadhna ‘in the sixth year’
• [M.GEN.SG] Conservative: gu linn an t-siathamh Sheumais ‘to the time of James VI’; aghaidh an t-siathamh fear ‘the face of the sixth one’
• [F.GEN.SG] Conservative: ann an dara leth na siathamh linne ‘in the second half of the 6th century’; bho thoiseach na siathamh linn ‘from the beginning of the 6th century’ vs Innovative: a’ còmhdach an t-siathamh cuid ‘covering the sixth part’.

Cf. Seumas an Seachdamh ‘James VII’, perhaps based on English, instead of more traditional an seachdamh (Rìgh) Seumas.
 
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The following conclusions can be drawn based on the corpus data presented above:

1. The ordinal number ciad ‘first’ modifying a masculine nominative singular noun is usually lenited. The other forms appear to follow the traditional pattern, with some exceptions.
2. Conversely, the ordinal numbers ceathramh ‘fourth’, còigeamh ‘fifth’ and ceudamh ‘one hundredth’ are often not lenited when modifying a feminine nominative singular noun. The other forms, however, mainly follow the traditional patterns.
3. The article preceding the ordinal numbers siathamh ‘sixth’, seachdamh ‘seventh’ and ficheadamh ‘twentieth’ seems to inflect according to the traditional patterns, although there are exceptions with siathamh and seachdamh, especially in the nominative singular. These numbers (especially ficheadamh) are attested mainly in dative singular contexts.
4. Plural forms are attested only with ciad.

Since not all of these words are well-attested in all grammatical contexts and because written texts tend to reflect more conservative usages than everyday spoken language, more research on actual vernacular usage is needed.
Based on the currently available data, the following recommendations can be made:

Conservative / high register / formal

Nom. sg. m.	a’ chiad an ceathramh an còigeamh an ceudamh	am ficheadamh	an siathamh an seachdamh
Nom. sg. f. Dat. sg. m./f. Gen. sg. m.	a’ chiad a’ cheathramh a’ chòigeamh a’ cheudamh	an fhicheadamh	an t-siathamh an t-seachdamh
Gen. sg. f.	na ciad na ceathramh na còigeamh na ceudamh	na ficheadamh	na siathamh na seachdamh
Nom./dat. pl.	na ciad
Gen. pl.	nan ciad

 
Innovative / informal

Nom. sg. m.	a’ chiad	an ceathramh an còigeamh an ceudamh
Nom. sg. f.	a’ chiad	a’ cheathramh or an ceathramh [?] a’ chòigeamh or an còigeamh [?] a’ cheudamh or an ceudamh [?]
Dat. sg. m./f. Gen. sg. m.	a’ chiad	a’ cheathramh a’ chòigeamh a’ cheudamh
Gen. sg. f.	na ciad or a’ chiad [?]	na ceathramh or a’ cheathramh [?] na còigeamh or a’ chòigeamh [?] na ceudamh or a’ cheudamh [?]
Nom./dat. pl.	na ciad or a’ chiad [?]
Gen. pl.	nan ciad or a’ chiad [?]

 
We would be very interested to receive comments, feedback and suggestions about the forms of the article and the initial mutations in the context of the numbers ciad, ceathramh, còigeamh, siathamh, seachdamh and ficheadamh. Do the conservative forms seem acceptable? Do the innovative / informal inflections presented above correspond to the current vernacular usage or is the system even more reduced / simplified than we have suggested here? Are the traditional forms more common with ficheadamh than with the other numbers?

Please email us with your feedback and comments at mail@dasg.ac.uk.

Dr David Mandić
Professor Rob Ó Maolalaigh
Oilthigh Ghlaschu / University of Glasgow