Scottish Gaelic

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Etymology

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From Old Irish cinntech.[1] By surface analysis, cinnt +‎ -ach.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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cinnteach (genitive singular masculine cinntich, comparative nas cinntiche, superlative as cinntiche)

  1. certain, sure, confident, positive
    Bha Seumas cinnteach gun robh an trèan a' tighinn.James was certain that the train was coming.
  2. certain, sure, actual, confident, definite
    Synonym: deimhinn
  3. accurate, authentic, veritable

Usage notes

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  • The preposition à (às before the definite article) or the appropriate prepositional pronoun is used to express "sure of" etc:
    Tha mi cinnteach à ceartas an tagraidh.I am certain of the justice of the claim.
    Bha sinn cinnteach às an toradh.We were sure of the result.
    Tha iad cinnteach asta fhèin.They are confident of themselves.

Derived terms

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Mutation

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Mutation of cinnteach
radical lenition
cinnteach chinnteach

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

References

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  1. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “cinntech”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
  2. ^ Oftedal, M. (1956), A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. III: The Gaelic of Leurbost, Isle of Lewis, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 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
  4. ^ Borgstrøm, Carl Hj. (1941), A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. II: The dialects of Skye and Ross-shire, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap, page 19
  5. ^ Oftedal, M. (1956), A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. III: The Gaelic of Leurbost, Isle of Lewis, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
  6. 6.0 6.1 Holmer, Nils M. (1938), Studies on Argyllshire Gaelic, Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells boktryckeri-A.-B., page 139
  7. ^ Wentworth, Roy (2003), Gaelic Words and Phrases From Wester Ross / Faclan is Abairtean à Ros an Iar, Inverness: CLÀR, →ISBN
  8. ^ Scouller, Alastair (2017), The Gaelic Dialect of Colonsay (PhD thesis), Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh

Further reading

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  • Edward Dwelly (1911), “cinnteach”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN