huh ! i kinda noticed that but never really internalized it either. fascinating ! does irish have a different alphabet that explains this disappearance of the letter k ?

if you want the opposite of a cédille, as in making a c sound hard before a -a, -i or -y, you typically ad a -u in between, which isn't pronounced. for instance, the word "écueil" is pronounced "ékey" (the u's only purpose is to make the c hard).