Freagróidh mé do cheisteanna, James:
(a)Handle of the man's door - Murlán doras an fhir. [Murlán dorais] but [Murlán doras an fhir]
Obviously "doras an fhir" is a definite doras yet there is no séimhiú / lenition. Why? DeNTaLS is why. DNTLS do not yield to séimhiú / lenition when they follow each other. In this case the "n" of "an" cannot put séimhiú / lenition on the "d" of "doras".
Why is "doras" not changed to the Tuiseal Ginideach? Because it is already locked into a Tuiseal Ginideach itself "doras an fhir". Irish -- as far as I know it -- regards "doras an fhir" as one word and hence only the last word of the sequence gets put in the TG. That is not to say that nuances of meaning cannot be created by putting one of the earlier words in a sequence in the TG. Foireann na Roinne Oideachais for example. The Staff of the Department of Education. On second thoughts that may just be an error of mine. Perhaps it should be "Foireann an Roinn Oideachais" Naaah. "Foireann na Roinne" is the unit here and Oideachais supplies the further information as to what Department is involved. Nothing is ever simple or absolute.
(b)The man's door-handle - Murlán dorais an fhir. In this case the "murlán" is off the door and may be all that remains of the man's house.
Murlán doras an fhir -- transfers the emphasis to the knob of the man's door which is still safely in place.
Incidentally, who has ever heard the word "murlán" spoken in any context? It seems to mean any rounded object like a knob or button. I have never heard it used. But then Irish was not -- until recently -- an urban language and the half-doors of the old cottages of my youth had not more than a latch and a "maide Éamainn" on them.
(a)Handle of a man's door - Murlán dorais fir: In this case the attention is directed more to the "murlán dorais" although the following word "fir" suggests there might be an alternative "murlán dorais mná" a woman's doorknob.
(b)A man's door-handle - Murlán dorais fir? (or fhir). No. Not "fhir".
(Would the likes of "Doras-mhurlán" fir ever be used in a case like this?)
As I have pointed out above even the word "murlán" itself is seldom used. If you look up the word "murlán" on
www.focal.ie you may find uses for this word that none of us know of yet. "Dorasmhurlán" has not been used yet and while there is nothing wrong with it grammatically it doesn't appeal to me as a word. In a 100 year's time? Who knows?
I imagine "hanla an dorais" is the most commonly used word. There is also a word "boschrann" which is the "knocker".
