ceannaí

Irish

Alternative forms

• ceannaidhe, ceannuighe (superseded)

Etymology

From Old Irish cennaige. By surface analysis, ceannaigh (“to buy”) +‎ -aí.

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /caˈn̪ˠiː/

Noun

ceannaí m (genitive singular ceannaí, nominative plural ceannaithe)

1. merchant, trader, monger
   • 1939, Peig Sayers, “Inghean an Cheannaidhe”, in Marie-Louise Sjoestedt, Description d’un parler irlandais de Kerry (Bibliothèque de l'École des Hautes Études; 270) (overall work in French), Paris: Librairie Honoré Champion, page 193:

     Fear saidhbhir agus ceannaidhe fairrge do b’eadh é.

     He was a rich man and a sea merchant.

Declension

Declension of ceannaí (fourth declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative ceannaí ceannaithe vocative a cheannaí a cheannaithe genitive ceannaí ceannaithe dative ceannaí ceannaithe forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an ceannaí na ceannaithe genitive an cheannaí na gceannaithe dative leis an gceannaí don cheannaí leis na ceannaithe

Mutation

Mutated forms of ceannaí

radical	lenition	eclipsis
ceannaí	cheannaí	gceannaí

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1904) “ceannuiġe”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 1st edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 127
• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927) “ceannaiḋe”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “ceannaí”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN