seisear

Irish

Irish numbers (edit)
 ←  5 6 7  → [a], [b]
    Cardinal:
    Ordinal: séú
    Personal: seisear

Etymology

From Old Irish seisser.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈʃɛʃəɾˠ/

Noun

seisear m (genitive singular seisir, nominative plural seisir) (triggers no mutation)

  1. group of six people
    • 1894 March, Peadar Mac Fionnlaoigh, “An rí nach robh le fagháil bháis”, in Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge, volume 1:5, Dublin: Gaelic Union, pages 185–88:
      Bhí sé pósta ar sheisear ban i ndiaidh a chéile, acht do mharbhuigh sé alig an tsaoghal iad, ar eagla go mbeidheadh páistídhe ar bith aca.
      He was married to six wives, one after another, but he killed all-in-the-world of them for fear they should have any children at all.

Usage notes

  • Generally used with the genitive plural when referring to human beings; also sometimes used with other nouns, especially if the things they denote are being personified.

Declension

Declension of seisear (first declension)
bare forms
singular plural
nominative seisear seisir
vocative a sheisir a sheiseara
genitive seisir seisear
dative seisear seisir
forms with the definite article
singular plural
nominative an seisear na seisir
genitive an tseisir na seisear
dative leis an seisear
don seisear
leis na seisir

Derived terms

  • (six) (non-personal)

Mutation

Mutated forms of seisear
radical lenition eclipsis
seisear sheisear
after an, tseisear
not applicable

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

References

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish seisser.

Pronunciation

Noun

seisear m (genitive singular seiseir, plural seisearan)

  1. (Lewis) six
    Synonym: sianar

Usage notes

  • Only used about persons (cf numerical noun).
  • Following noun is in the genitive:
    seisear bhalachsix boys
  • Alternatively, de and the dative are used:
    seisear de bhalaichsix boys
  • Prepositional pronouns used are those formed from de and aig
    an seisear dhiubh / acathe six of them
  • Also used on its own:
    Bha seisear ann.There were six.

Mutation

Mutation of seisear
radical lenition
seisear sheisear
after "an", t-seisear

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

References

  1. ^ Borgstrøm, Carl Hj. (1940) A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. I: The dialects of the Outer Hebrides, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap

Further reading

  • Edward Dwelly (1911) “seisear”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
  • Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “seisser”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language