ciúnas

Irish

Alternative forms

• ciúineadas, ciúineas, ciúntas

Etymology

From Middle Irish ciúnas. By surface analysis, ciúin (“calm, silent, still”, adjective) +‎ -as).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈcuːnˠəsˠ/

Noun

ciúnas m (genitive singular ciúnais)

1. calmness; stillness, quiet, silence

Declension

Declension of ciúnas (first declension, no plural)

bare forms case singular nominative ciúnas vocative a chiúnais genitive ciúnais dative ciúnas forms with the definite article case singular nominative an ciúnas genitive an chiúnais dative leis an gciúnas don chiúnas

Derived terms

• an ciúnas roimh an doineann (“the hush before the storm”)
• ciúnas critheaglach (“a breathless silence”)
• ciúnas domhain (“heavy silence”)
• ciúnas na huaighe (“dead silence”)
• ciúnas tuarúil (“an ominous silence”)
• le cóir is le ciúnas! (“by and large!”)

 

Mutation

Mutated forms of ciúnas

radical	lenition	eclipsis
ciúnas	chiúnas	gciúnas

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

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “ciúnas”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “ciúnas”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “ciúnas”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “ciúnas”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

Middle Irish

Etymology

From ciúin +‎ -as.

Pronunciation

• (earlier) IPA^(key): /ˈkʲiːu̯nəs/
• (later) IPA^(key): /ˈkʲuːnəs/

Noun

ciúnas m (genitive ciúnais, no plural)

1. calmness, quiet
2. repose

Descendants

• Irish: ciúnas
• Manx: kiunys
• Scottish Gaelic: ciùineas

Mutation

Mutation of ciúnas

radical	lenition	nasalization
ciúnas	chiúnas	ciúnas pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/

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

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “ciúnas”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language