djwebb2021 wrote:
Thank you for that. I can't be sure that An Bíobla Naofa shows Ó Fiannachta's local dialect. He was writing in Standardised Irish in the Bible?
You're quite right, I should have given an example from his dialectal works.
djwebb2021 wrote:
Looking at these, I think "his four houses" is "a cheithre tithe", and "her four houses" is also "a cheithre tithe". I think "their four houses" is "a gceithre tithe", but I don't think "ceithre" without lenition can be used ever, not even with a feminine antecedent. Do you agree?
I agree. The only occasions where "ceithre" is often used is in fixed phrases like "ceithre fichid" as you know. Ceithre bliana, ceithre cinn and ceithre páirc are other examples. Again this just shows the complexity of the Irish number system where the exceptions are often based on specific
numeral + noun or
numeral + initial consonant combinations. I remember Ó Sé talking about how egg and card counting operate slightly differently to typical counting.
I'm in the middle of a 40-odd page article about lenition in Muskerry Irish, but it will take some time to complete. Maybe I'll post some more questions over the weekend on awkward areas of lenition, of which there are many!!