ABSTRACT
In the simplest cases the meaning of the compound is simply the combined meanings of its two parts, as in the following examples.
aerghunna air gun bogearraí software scórchlár scoreboard gormchló blueprint leathphionta half-pint dlúthbhaint close connection tráchtsolas traffic light ceannlíne headline
Although the English translations are written sometimes as one word, sometimes as two, and sometimes hyphenated, the Irish equivalents are all single words. This is clear from the fact that in all such compounds the initial consonant of the second element is lenited, unless, as in tráchtsolas, a word beginning with d, t, or s follows one ending with any of these, n or l (the same rule that prevents lenition of feminine nouns beginning with these letters after an ‘the’), or the initial letter can’t be lenited (as in ceannlíne). Exceptionally, the second word is not lenited in coiscéim ‘footstep’ and a very few others.
