sodhantach

Irish

Alternative forms

• sodhanta, sonntach, sóntach
• saonta, saontach
• súntach (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle Irish sontach, sonthach, modified by folk etymology to contain the prefix so- (“good”).

Pronunciation

• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈsˠoːn̪ˠt̪ˠa(x)/

Adjective

sodhantach (genitive singular masculine sodhantaigh, genitive singular feminine sodhantaí, plural sodhantacha, comparative sodhantaí)

1. (obsolete) vigorous, energetic
2. (obsolete) joyful, cheerful
3. Synonym of saonta (“simple-minded, gullible”)

Declension

Declension of sodhantach

	singular		plural (m/f)
Positive	masculine	feminine	(strong noun)	(weak noun)
nominative	sodhantach	shodhantach	sodhantacha; shodhantacha2
vocative	shodhantaigh		sodhantacha
genitive		sodhantaí	sodhantacha	sodhantach
dative	sodhantach; shodhantach1	shodhantach; shodhantaigh (archaic)	sodhantacha; shodhantacha2
Comparative	níos sodhantaí
Superlative	is sodhantaí

¹ When the preceding noun is lenited and governed by the definite article.
² When the preceding noun ends in a slender consonant.

Further reading

• “sodhantach”, in Historical Irish Corpus, 1600–1926, Royal Irish Academy
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “sontach, sonntach”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “súntach”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language