XPost: rec.puzzles, alt.usage.english, soc.culture.irish
From: rh@rudhar.com

Fri, 24 May 2024 10:21:57 +1000: Peter Moylan
 scribeva:

>On 24/05/24 05:15, Ruud Harmsen wrote:
>
>> See Google Translate:
>> Ar an tríú lá is fiche de mí Bealtaine, scríobh Ross Clark.
>> On the twenty -third day of May, Ross Clark wrote.
>>
>> Word for word:
>>
>> On
>> The
>> Third
>> day
>> is
>> twenty
>> of
>> Month
>> May,
>> Ross Clark wrote
>
>It's true that the most common use of Irish "is" is as a copula, just as
>in English. However, there is a second meaning of "is": it can mean "and".
>
>I have no idea why three-and-twenty is expressed with "is" rather than
>"agus". I would be interested to hear from anyone who knows.

It's a reduced form of agus, in that sense, says Wiktionary:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/is#Irish

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