From Middle Irish cennaid, an alteration of Old Irish cennais under the influence of its antonym allaid (“wild”). The Sanas Cormaic itself proposes the folk etymologies that allaid is from al fid (literally “beyond the wood”) while cennaid is from cen fid (literally “on this side of the wood”).[1] Pedersen agrees that the two words do form a pair originating with al and cen but believes the second syllable to be a suffix rather than the word fid (“wood”).[2]
ceannaidh (genitive singular feminine ceannaidhe, plural ceannaidhe, comparative ceannaidhe)
| singular | plural (m/f) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Positive | masculine | feminine | (strong noun) | (weak noun) |
| nominative | ceannaidh | cheannaidh | ceannaidhe; cheannaidhe2 | |
| vocative | cheannaidh | ceannaidhe | ||
| genitive | ceannaidhe | ceannaidhe | ceannaidh | |
| dative | ceannaidh; cheannaidh1 |
cheannaidh | ceannaidhe; cheannaidhe2 | |
| Comparative | níos ceannaidhe | |||
| Superlative | is ceannaidhe | |||
1 When the preceding noun is lenited and governed by the definite article.
2 When the preceding noun ends in a slender consonant.