385. Of the cardinal numbers only 1-10 have adjectival force, and of these only 2-4 are inflected. 1. oín-, óen-, always in composition ( § 365, 5 ).
2 masc. fem. neut.
NA da l, dá l di l, dá l da n, dá n
G da l, dá l da l, dá l da n, dá n
D (all genders) dib n, deib n (Sg.).
In the older MSS. the mark of length over da, di is very rare; the lengthening is doubtless secondary ( § 48 ). For independent diu see § 386.
Composition form de- , often written dé- and probably always to be so read; e.g. déṡillabchi (dat. sg.) 'disyllabism' Sg. 44b2, déchorpdae 'bicorpor' 65a13 (likewise 54a15, 187a1).
3., 4.
msc. neut. fem.
N tri ceth (a )ir teoir teuir,
téora
cethéoir, cethéora
A tri (m.) cethri Ml. 58a11 téora cethéora
G tri téora cethéora
Archaic nom. acc. neut. and gen. masc. tre ( Cam., ZCP. III. 453, 13, Bürgschaft p. 28 § 76a). Disyllabic teüir occurs Thes. II. 291, 6, but monosyllabic téoir Fél. Sept. 1; disyllabic cethéoir Thes. II. 292, 11. An intermediate spelling nom. fem. cetheoira occurs Ml. 118d10.
Composition forms: tri-, tré-, tre- (which is later generalized) cethar-, cethr-. Examples: trimsi 'quarters (of year)' Wb. 19d15 (from mís- 'month'), trédenus 'three days' 27a14, etc., (perhaps influenced by tréde,
§ 387 ), trechenélae 'threegendered'; cethargarait 'proceleusmaticus' ('four times short') Sg. 7b13, cethr-
ochair 'four-cornered' LU 6392.
5. cóic (leniting, before gen. pl. nasalizing).
-242
6. sé (geminating, before gen. pl. nasalizing).7. sechtn.8. ochtn.9. noín.10. deichn.386. The above forms
are used predicatively, and also as substantives when identical things are enumerated, except that dáu (dáo, dó) replaces da and that trí always has long i; dó and trí are also used as gen. fem. (Corm. 756, Laud); for the acc. fem., cp. fo dí 'twice' ( § 400 ). oín, óen is declined as an o- ā-stem.When these forms are not preceded by the article or by another numeral, or otherwise defined, the geminating particle a ( § 243, 6 ) is put before them. Examples: a dáu 'two', a ocht (Mid.Ir. a h-ocht) 'eight'; but inna ocht 'the eight (specified things)', húanaib oct-sa 'from these eight' Sg. 90b8, hónaib dib 'from the two' Ml. 14c6,
secht n-ocht 'seven (times) eight', oín di airchinchib Assiæ in sin 'that (was) one of the leaders of Asia' Wb. 7b11.387. Otherwise numbers in substantival use are represented by special numeral substantives,
particularly when different things are enumerated. Of these substantives, 2-10 are formed with the neuter suffix -de (io-stem), and may well be substantival adjectives in -de ( § 347 ).1. úathad (úaithed, § 166 ) 'single thing, singular number' (neut. o-stem); 2. déde; 3. tréde; 4. cethard(a)e; 5. cóicde; 6. séde; 7. secht(a)e; 8. ocht(a)e; 9. noíde (næde Auraic. 1022); 10. deichde.388. Personal numerals, except the word for 'two persons', are formed by compounding the cardinal with fer 'man'.
They are declined as o-stems and are neuter in O.Ir.; cp. tri nónbor 'thrice nine men' LU 4961, .ix. n- dechenbor 7150.
1. oínar, óenar, gen. oín(a)ir, dat. oínur.
-243-
2. dïas fem., acc. dat. dïs dís (later dís), gen. de(i)sse, dat. pl. de(i)ssib Fél. Prol. 210. 3. triar, dat. pl. tríribibid. 210.
4. cethrar, dat. pl. cethrairib Thes. I. 497, 16 (Arm.). 5. cóicer, dat. cóiciur.
6. se(i)sser.
7. mórfes(s)er (lit. 'great six'). 8. ochtar.
9. nónbor, -bur. 10. de(i)chenbor, -bur.
The use of the above forms in the dative of apposition after possessive pronouns ( § 251, 2 ) is particularly common; e.g. meisse m'oínur 'I alone'; táncatar a triur 'the three of them came'. In this construction they may also denote things; cp. the gloss on nam et uultur et uulturus et uulturius dicitur Sg. 93a2: biit a triur do anmaim ind éiuin 'they are all three (used) for the name of the bird'; similarly Ml.
121a4. Note also fuirib for n-oínur 'on you alone' Wb. 14d17 (oínar referring to a plural).
The neuter noun ilar 'great number' may be a similar formation, although it is used of things as well as persons. The dat. pl. ar thrib de(i)chib with thrice ten (persons)' Fel. Oct. 10 is poetical.
389. Any of the numerals of § 385 (and also il 'many') may combine with a singular noun (whose flexion remains unaltered) to form a collective. Examples: deichthriub 'the ten tribes' Ml. 137c8, gen. deichthribo
72d2; Noíndruimm placename ( § 235, 1 ), gen. Noíndrommo (from druimm 'ridge'); déblíadain,
Windisch, IF. IV. 294; Kelt. Wortkunde § 221.
390. Multiples of 10 and the words for 100 and 1000 are always substantives and are followed by the genitive of the objects enumerated, e.g. tricha cáerach 'thirty sheep'; they are used both of persons and things. For the inflexion of the decads, all of which are masculine, see §§ 324, 326.
20. fiche, gen. fichet (-t = -d, as also in the following).
-244 30. tricho, tricha, gen. trichot, -at.
40. cethorcho, gen. cethorchat. 50. coíca, gen. coicat, cóecat.
60. sesca (later attested), gen. sescot Thes. II. 254, 17, seseat Fél. 70. sechtmogo, gen. sechtmogat.
80. ochtmoga (Fél.), gen. ochtmugat. 90. (later attested) nócha, gen. nóchat.
100. cét (neut. o-stem), gen. céit. The nom. acc. pl. always has the short form after numerals, e.g. cethir chét '400'; but céta imda 'many hundreds' Laws I. 46, 23.
1000. míle (fem. iā-stem), gen. míle; dual di míli '2000'; pl. cóic míli '5000'.
There is a tendency to rearrange large numbers in smaller multiple groups; e.g. da f + ̇ichit 'two score', tri fichit 'three score', secht fichit 'seven score' (140), tri coícait '150', co trib nónburib 'with 27 men'. 391. In the combination of digits and tens the latter follow in the genitive. The genitive of deich 'ten' is rendered by disyllabic dëac dëacc (déec Wb. 15b1), which was contracted to déc in the course of the ninth
century (-c(c) = -g(g) in all these forms). A qualified noun comes immediately after the digit, with which it agrees in number.
Examples: a ocht deac '18'; a ocht fichet '28'; di litir (dual) fichet '22 letters (of the alphabet)'; i n-dib ṅ- úarib deac 'in 12 hours'; cóic sailm sechtmogat '75 psalms'.
On the other hand, digits and tens are combined with hundreds by means of the preposition ar (with dative); e.g. fiche ar chét '120'; a dáu coícat ar chét '152'; inna deich ar dib cétaib 'the 210'; cóie míli ochtmugat ar chét '185,000'. Here, too, a qualified noun comes immediately after the digit.
The same preposition is used to join the tens to (a) a numeral substantive, e.g. dias ar fichit '22 persons', deichenbor ar dib fichtib ar trib cétaib '350' Trip. 260, 7-8; (b) occasionally also to oín, e.g. a n-óen ar fichit (MS. fichet) 'the 21' Ml. 2d2. To judge from later examples, oín may be omitted before a
-245-
substantive in such combinations, e.g. bó ar fichit '21 cows' (collection: Robinson, RC. XXVI. 378).
In poetry and later prose other digits also may be combined with tens by means of ar ( ibid. 379 ).