Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/keytostudyofgaelOOodal ^6 15X1 .02 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. LESSON 1. THE ALPHABET. The Gaelic Alphabet is composed of seventeen letters, Avliich, "with their sounds and equivalents, are as follow : — Caps Small Sound A ft. CI W B b bav c kay D d dliay E e ay F f eff G g 'gay I i ee L 1 ell M m emm N n enn 0 0 oh P P pay R r arr S s ess T t thay U u 00 2 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. The letter A, strange to say, is not reckoned as a letter of the Gaelic alphabet, although its aspirate sound is pre- valent in the language, and the letter itself very exten- sively used in writing. It is employed in the following- connections. 1. To prevent a hiatus between two vowels ; as na h-aingil^ the angels ; na h-Sigse^ the poets. In this posi- tion it is separated by a hyphen, to show that it forms no part of the following word. 2. To affect or change the radical sound of a con- sonant. Tliis power of h is well illustrated in English. Take, for example, the sound of c in curl^ compare it with the sound of c in churls and mark the difference. The sound of s in sock is not identical with the sound of s in shock. The sound of p in pant differs from the sound of p in phantom ; and the sound of g in rug differs from the sound of g in rough, etc. Tliis influence of h upon a con- sonant is called "aspiration." There are in Gaelic nine consonants — b, c, d, f, g, m, p, s, t, — each of which is susceptible of having its radical sound aspirated b}^ the influence of an h placed immediately after it. But it must be borne in mind that the effect of h upon any par- ticular consonant in Gaelic is not alwaj'-s identical with the effect of h upon the same consonant in English. The letter h is never used as an independent consonant in Gaelic. Even in English where it is so used, it can be shown to be only the corrupt form of another consonant. The Letters — Their Di\asiON A.n^d Classification. The letters of the alphabet are divided into two classes known as vowels and consonants. The vowels are five in number; namely, a, o, u, e, i. There are twelve con- sonants; viz., b, c, d, f, g, 1, m, n, p, r, s, t. ORTHOGRAPHY 3 The Vowels And Their Sounds. A vowel is a pure vocal sound ; and as a sound of the voice may be either long or short, every one of the five vowels, therefore, has two sounds ; viz., the long sound and the short sound. When a vowel is long it is gene- rally distinguished by having an acute accent mark ( ' ) placed over it, thus a, 6, u, e, i. When no such accent mark is placed over a vowel it is understood to be short in sound. SOUNDS OF the VOWELS WHEN LONG. a (long) sounds like a in fall; as "bas," death. 6 " " (? " old; as "mor," great, u " " " rule; as "ur," fresh, e " e where; as "ere," clay. 1 " " ee " green; as "mm," fine. SOUNDS OF THE VOWELS WHEN SHORT. a (short) sounds like a in hat; as "gas," stalk. 0 44 4t ^ 4; mo^/ier; as "cos," foot, u " " 16 " full; as "tur," raw. e " " e " met; as "ceil," deny. 1 " " i " hit; as "mil," honey. TWO CLASSES OF VOWELS. The five vowels (whether long or short) are divided into two classes, known as hroad vowels and slender vowels. The broad vowels are a, o, u. The slender vowels are e, i. The Consonants And Their Sounds. A consonant is distinguishable from a vowel in this respect: that a vowel is a pure, independent sound of the voice, and a consonant does not admit of being 4 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. uttered without the aid of a vowel. A consonant by itself has no sound properly so called, but it always derives its sound from the vowel with which it is written. The very meaning of the name (from the Latin con, with or together and sonus, a sound) shows this. Its office is to be sounded with, or offer a certain kind of resistance to, the vowel sound, thus forming a pleasing articulation or sort of stepping-stone for the organs of speech. The consonant being thus dependent upon the vowel for its own sound, gives rise to two distinct sounds of the consonant itself, corresponding to the two classes of vowels termed broad and slender. Thus when a con- sonant is written with any of the broad vowels, a, o, u, it will have a hf'oad sound, and when written w^ith either of the slender vowels, e, i, it will have a slender sound. In this manner each consonant has two distinct sounds; viz., the BROAD SOUND and the slendee sound, accord- ing as it is written with a broad or a slender vowel. The difference between the broad and slender sound of any consonant is ver}^ slight, but it forms an important factor in the orthography of the language. Tliis differ- ence may be easily noticed by taking each one of the consonants and pronouncing it, first in conjunction ^vith the three broad vowels, a, o, u, and next with the slender vowels, e, i, in the following order : — SLENDER. BROAD. SLENDER. BROAD. ba bo bu ca CO cu da do dti fa fo fu ga go gu la 16 lu be bi ce ci de di fe fi le If ma mo mu na no nu pa p6 pu ra ro ru sa so su ta to tu me mf n^ ni pi r6 ri se SI te tf ORTHOGKAPHY. 5 This influence of the vowel upon the consonant is per- ceptible to a certain extent in every language, but scarcely any language exists in wliich the distinction between broad and slender is so marked and perfect as in Gaelic. In English the vowels e and i have a special effect upon some of the consonants ; as, for instance, the sound of c in cur- tain is quite different from the sound of c in certain: the one being ''hard," like A:, and the other "soft," like s; and the sound of g in log differs from the sound of g in logic: the one being termed "hard" and the other "soft," like y. Tliis complete change of the sound of c and g in English is due to the influence of the slender vowels e and i following them. In Gaelic, however, though every con- sonant has a decided slender sound as distinguished from its broad sound, no consonant changes its sound to that of another (as the c and g sometimes do in English): but, on the contraiy, every consonant retains its individual characteristic in passing from broad to slender. Of all the consonants the letter s shows the most marked differ- ence bet^veen its broad and slender sound, being sounded like s in Boon when broad and like sli in M'p when slender. THE CONSONANT SOUNDS ILLUSTKATED. B, broad, sounds like h in hull; as "bo," a cow. B, slender, sounds like h in hit; as "beim," a wound. The broad sound of b is produced by the lips being slightly protruded, wliile in gi^^ng it the slender sound the lips are to be contracted. C, broad, sounds like c in call; as " cas," a case. C, slender, sounds like h in hindred; as " cir," a comb. The broad sound of c is produced by the root of the tongue closing against the epiglottis, and the slender sound by pressing the middle part of the tongua against the back part of the palate. 6 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. D, broad, sounds like th in without; as "dan," a poem. D, slender, sounds like d in din; as "dein," do. The broad sound of d is got by placing the tip of the tongue at the root of the upper front teeth, and lapng it partly flat against the palate. The slender sound is ob- tained by relaxing the tongue from the position indicated and placing the tip thereof against the palate, a little space away from the root of the teeth. F, broad, sounds like/in/aZZ; as "fas," growth. F, slender, sounds like/ in /^le; as "fine," a tribe. The broad sound of f is obtained by slightly protruding the under lip and bringing it in contact Avith the upper front teeth. The slender sound is got by contracting the under lip and pressing it against the upper front teeth. G, broad, sounds like g in goali as "go," a lie. G, slender, sounds like g in begin; as "ge," a goose. The broad and slender sound of g are obtained by placing the organs in the same position as in articulating the letter c broad and slender. L, broad, sounds broader than I in law; as "Ian," full. L, slender, is more liquid than I in valiant; as "leim," leap. AVe get the 1 sound, broad and slender, by placing the tongue in nearly the same position as in articulating the d. M, broad, sounds like m in most; as "mor," great. M, slender, sounds like m in mint; as " mil," honey. The broad and slender sound of m are got by protrud- mg and contracting the lips as in uttering the letter b. N, broad, is broader than n in no ; as " nos," a custom. N, slender, is more slender than n in news; as "m," not. The sounds of n are obtained by putting the tongue in the same position as in articulating the d or 1. ORTHOGRAPHY. 7 P, broad, sounds like jt? in poor; as "port," a harbor. P, slender, sounds like jt? in pure; as "pic," a peck. The letter p being a labial, its sounds are produced by protruding and contracting the lips as in articulating the letter b or m broad and slender. R, broad, sounds like r in car ; as " mor," great, R, slender, sounds like r in care ; as " cir," a comb. The difference in the positions of the tongue in uttering the letter r broad and slender is very slight, and cannot be well defined. S, broad, sounds like s in soo7i ; as " sort," a sort. S, slender, sounds like sh in she; as "se," he. This consonant needs no explanation. It is always a liissing sibilant. The old Gaelic grammarians called it the " queen of consonants." T, broad, sounds like th in rhythm ; as " tur," a tower. T, slender, sounds like t in tin; as "teist," a testimony. The broad and slender sound of t are produced by placing the tongue in the same position as in sounding d, 1, n, broad and slender. The exemplification of the sounds of the letters given above (that part devoted to the consonants at least) is not to be exclusively relied upon. The English speaker can discern no difference between the broad and slender b, d, f, 1, m, n, p, r, t ; neither will the indicating of the posi- tion of the organs be any use to liim in determining the sounds of these letters in Gaelic. The sounds of these letters must consequently be learned by ear^ from a good Gaelic speaker. And when the learner has once acquired the sounds of the letters in this way, he will find no diffi- culty in pronouncing words, for letters are the component ■^arts of 2vords, 8 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. Vocabulary. The folloTving vocabulary, composed of words of one syllable, shows the vowels in conjunction with consonants forming words, and exhibits the broad and slender sounds of the consonants together with the long and short sounds of the vowels. In the left hand column the vowels are all long ; in the opposite right hand column they are all short. A cas, a case, has, death* ban, white, ard, high. bad, a boat, Ian, full. cas, twisted. bas, palm of hand. gian, clean. cat, a cat. brat, a mantle. lag, weak. gas, a stalk. glas, green; chilly. bard, a hard. dan, a poem. O port, a harhor. port, a tune. gort, a garden. olc, had. bog, soft. folt, fdlet. dos, a hush. cros, a cross. cos, afoot. bron, grief ros, a rose, mor, great, 6g, young. bord, a table. nos, a custom, pog, a kiss. U xir^ fresh; novel. pus, a lip. clu, fame, cul, poll. bun, hottom. rud, a f/iwi^. gus, energy. lus, a?i 7ier6, suit, mirtli. dun, a fort, lub. Zoo/?, run, a secret. OKTHOGRAPHY. 9 E sp^ir, sky. g^is, a swan. ge, a goose. f eis, festival. gle, pure. spre, a dowry. leim, a leap. speir, a ham. teist, a testimony. ceist, a question. geir, tallow. geilt, a lunatic. seilg, a chase, sgeilg, a nun, minute. mi, a month. spin, a thorn. tir, a ?^i7i6?. If, coZ(?r. cli, tAe cA^si. im, butter. min, m^aZ. mis, a maiden, glic, cunning. tim, timid. slis, a Zat^. lil, a lily, dris, a In tliat part of the above vocabulary under the vowel e, it will be noticed that m some words, instead of the single vowel e, we have the digraph ei. This accompanying vowel (i) is inserted because the vowel e can never stand alone in a syllable, except when it ends a word; as "gle," " spre," etc. Whenever it is followed by a consonant it must take the slender vowel i if the following consonant be slender, and the broad vowel u (or a) if the foUomng consonant be broad; as "feis," a festival; "beus," (or "beas,") a habit. From this it will be seen that the vowel e has no influence over the consonant that follows it in determining the broad or slender sound thereof ; hence it is that it must always take the adventitious vowel i or u after it in a syllable, wliich vowel is never heard in the pronunciation, being inserted only to preserve the sound of the consonant after e. 10 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. Double Consonants And Vowel Changes. When a double consonant — 11, nn, rr, or m (which in old Gaelic was doubled in monosyllables) — stands at the end of a monosyllabic word, the preceding vowel is length- ened in sound or otherwise changed in quality; as "barr," top, pronounced hawr ; "mall," slow, pron. mawl; "clann," children, pron. klawn; "trom," heavy, pron. throam ; " cill," a church, pron. heel. This is the analogical pro- nunciation, but between the dialect of Munster and Con- nacht there is the following difference. In Munster the vowel a or o coming before 11, nn, m, ng in monosyllables, and nc, nl, nr, nt in dissyllables, is cor- rupted into a diphthongal sound, like ow in liow\ as " dall," blind, pron. dhoiuli " clann," children, pron. Mown; "trom," heavy, 2?ron. throwm. In Connacht, though the vowel a gets its proper long sound in these positions, the o or i is never long before the forementioned double consonants. The following list of monosyllables ending in a double consonant or in m, illustrates every instance of vowel change to perfection. The student in pronouncing these words, is expected to follow the custom of his native dia- lect, while those who are stud3T.ng Gaelic as a foreign language may adopt the analogical pronunciation, mall, dow. poll, a hole. coll, hazel. lom, hare. fann, weary. cam, crooked. clami, children. barr, summit. tonn, a wave. cill, a church. fonn, diligence^ inclination, horm, footing. oorr, thick^ clustering. binn, melodious. In Munster the vowel o before nn, ng in a few words is sounded like o in do\ as "tonn," a wave, pron. thoon; "long," a ship, 2?ron. Ihoong ORTHOGRAPHY. 11 It should be here noted that when a monosyllable end- ing in a double consonant has another syllable affixed to it, or, in other words, when it becomes a polysyllable, the double consonant loses its influence over the preceding vowel, which assumes its ordinary short sound; thus "clanna," "tonna," "loma," "binne," "cille." In this case the double consonant becomes divided between the two syllables: — "clan-na," "ton-na," "bin-ne," "cil-le," etc. If the double consonant, however, is followed by another consonant it will retain its influence over the preceding vowel; as "poUtha," "camtha," "tomitach." Combinations of Consonants. Two or three consonants coming together in a word without any vowel intervening, constitute what is called a "combination of consonants." There are some conson- ants wliich, when thus combined, do not coalesce, and in the pronunciation a very short vowel sound is heard be- tween them — as that heard between in the English word alarm; between Im in fdm, etc. A combination of this kind is easily known by its containing a liquid ( 1, n, orr), which is the only letter in Gaelic that, from the nature of its abrupt sound, very rarely admits of coal- escing with diXij of the other consonants. The following list of abrupt combinations will illustrate tliis. l = lb, Ic, Ig, Ibh, Ich, Im, In dl, tl. r = rb, rc, rg, rbh, rch, rm, rn sr, tr. n = — - — nbh, nch, nm, — cn, gn, mn, tn. The following list of words, though not exhibiting all the abrupt combinations, mil, nevertheless, form a good exercise for pronouncing the most important of them. Every word given herein or elsewhere should, together with its pronunciation, be committed to memory; for the 12 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. words set down in this treatise are, indeed, the commonest and most essential in the language, and later on the stud- ent will find them employed in a more important function than that of illustrating the sounds of their component parts — the letters. enoc, a hill. borb, fierce^ haughty, gno, business^ bolg, a sack, belly. mna, women. garg, rough. earn, a cairn. colm, a dove, sgolb, a splinter, gorm, blue. ASSIMILATION. In the combination dl and In the d and n become assi- milated with the 1, which sounds hke 11; as '*codla," sleejD, j;?ron. col-la-, "ailne," beauty, awl-le. The dn becomes mi; as "ceudna," same, ^:>ro?i. kayn-na. The combination ng at the end of dissyllabic words is, in parts of ^lunster and Connacht, pronounced like nn when slender and like gg when broad; as "aisling," a dream, j9ro?i. ash-linn; "fairseang," wide, ^j>ro?i./(9r-s7iw^(7. The student should bear in mind that both consonants in any combination are sounded alike; i. e. both are broad if written with a broad vowel, and slender if \NTitten Avith a slender vowel. The only exception to this rule is the letter s, wliich retains its broad sound before b, p, m, r, whether the accompanying vowel be broad or slender; e, g, "spin," a thorn, pron. speen (not shpeen^ ; "smigfn," a chin, pron. smi-geeyi (not shmi-geen^ ; "srian,"' a bridle, pron. sree-an (not shree-an^. Some speakers give the s its broad sound also before g; as "sgian," a knife, "sgeilg," a rock, which are sometimes pronounced sgee-an, sgel-lig; but shgee-an, shgel-lig is the proper pronunciation of these words. ORTHOGRAPHY. 13 A Few Rules of Syntax. THE NOUN, ADJECTIVE AND VERB. Article and noun: The definite article in Gaelic is "an," which is equivalent to the English the. It parti- cularizes or makes definite the noun to which it is pre- fixed; as "an bad," the hoat\ "an ros," the rose. When a noun is used without the definite article it is understood to be indefinite ; as " bad," a boat (any boat) ; " ros," a rose (any rose) ; there being no indefinite article in the Gaelic language; nor, indeed, is there any necessary, be- cause the absence of the definite article is a sure guar- antee that the noun is indefinite. Adjectr'E and noun : An adjective is always placed along with its noun. It is a word usually denoting size or quaUty, and as such it modifies or qualifies the noun with wliich it is written. The natural position of the adjective in Gaelic is after the noun it qualifies; as "bad mor," a boat large^ or, a large boat; "port binn," a tune melodious^ or, a melodious tune. Verb and noun: The verb in Gaelic is put before the noun or subject, and is generally the first word in the sentence ; thus, the dog barks would be expressed in Gaelic barks the dog; the orator speaks would be expressed speaks the orator; "ta an ros," the rose is^ literally reads is the rose; "ta an bad," the boat is, liter- ally reads is the boat, etc. But the verb " ta," is, does not convey any definite idea in itself, as, for instance, when we say the rose is, we im- part no particular information, but when we say the rose is white, here the adjective, white, completes the meaning of the verb is, and makes a definite assertion. Such an adjective is called a predicate adjective or attribute. The position of the predicate adjective or attribute in Gaehc is 14 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. after the noun or subject, and the order of the sentence is: 1, Verb, 2, Subject, 3, Predicate adjective; thus : i. Verb, 2, Subject, 3, Fred, adj. "Ta I an ros ( ban," = the rose is ivhite, "Ta I an bad | Ian," = the boat is full. The learner is to carefully distinguish between the predicate adjective or attribute (used always in con- nection with some form of the verb meaning to be') and the ordinary qualifying adjective, because both these ad- jectives in Gaelic follow the noun to wliich they refer: thus: Verb, Subject, Pred. adj. "Ta I an ros ban | olc," = the ivhite rose is bad. In this example we perceive that both adjectives follow the noun in the Gaelic sentence, that the first of these is an ordinary qualifjdng adjective, forming part of the log- ical subject, and the second a predicate adjective ; where- fore the rule is that, no matter how many adjectives may follow a noun or subject, the predicate adjective will always be the last in the sentence. And when two ad- jectives are predicated of the same noun, they are con- nected by the conjunction "agus," and ; as "ta an ros ban agus ur," the rose is lohite and fresh. Another particular to be noted in connection with the verb to be in Gaelic is, that it never changes its form ex- cept for tense only. In English tliis verb changes its form not only for tense but for number and person ; thus, the verb is becomes am, art, are, according as its subject is singular or plural, first, second, or thirt person ; but the verb " ta " never changes in this manner, as may be seen from the following : ORTHOGRAPHY. 15 Ta me, / am, Ta sinn, we are. Ta tu, thou art (jyou are.} Ta sibh, i/ou are (jje are.) Ta s6, lie is (it is.) Ta siad, thei/ are. Ta SI, she is (it is.) EXERCISE L 1. Bard. 2. An bard. 3. An bard lag. 4. Bad Ian. 5. An bad Ian. 6. An bard agus an dan. 7. Gas glas agus bad Ian. 8. Ta an brat ban. 9- Gas lag agus brat ban. 10. Ta an cat ban agus ta an gas glas. 11. Gas ard, glas. 12. Bord mor. 13. Bron agus bas. 14. Ta an cat 6g agus ta an ros ban. 15. Nos olc. 16. Pog agus ros. 17. Ta an gas agus an ros ban. 18. Ta an bad mor agus an port Ian. 19. Dos glas agus ros bog. 20. Port agus dan, brat agus an bard. 21. Lus agus gas. 22. Lub mor. 23. Ta rud ban glan. 24. Ros ban, ur. 25. Ta an cat ban 6g. 26. Rud mm, gle. 27. Ros agus lil, pog agus dris. 28. Ta an ros agus an lil nun, agus ta an dris cas. 29. Cat glic. 30. Dris cas agus ros min, ur. 31. Bun agus barr. 32. Folt borr. 33. An folt borr. 34. Bard glic, dan binn. 35. Ta an gort lorn. 36. Poll mor. 37. Sgeilg ard agus leim olc. 38. Cnoc ard agus an colm. 39. Gno olc. 40. Cnoc agus earn, clu 'gus dan. 41. Brat gorm. 42. Ta an brat gorm. Translation. 1. A bard. 2. The bard. 3. The weak bard. 4. A full boat. 5. The full boat. 6. The bard and the poem. 7. A green stalk and a full boat. 8. The garment is white. 9. A weak stalk and a white garment. 10. The cat is white and the stalk is green. 11. A tall, green stalk. 12. A large table. 13. Grief and death. 14. The cat is young and the rose is white. 15. A bad cus- tom. 16. A kiss and a rose. 17. The stalk and the rose are white. 18. The boat is large and the harbor fulle 16 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. 19. A green bush and a soft rose. 20. A tune and a poem, a mantle and the bard. 21. An herb and a stalk. 22. A large loop. 23. A white thing is clean. 24. A white, fresh rose. 25. The white cat is young. 26. A fine, bright tiling. 27. A rose and a lily, ^^ kiss and a brier. 28. The rose and the lily are fine, and the brier is knotty. 29. A cunning cat. 30. A knotty brier and a fine, fresh rose. 31. Bottom and top. 32. A cluster- ing tress. 33. The clustering tress. 34. A cunning bard, a melodious poem. 35. The field is bare. 36. A large hole. 37. A high rock and a bad leap. 38. A high liill and the dove. 39. Bad business. 40. A hill and a cairn, fame and a poem. 41. A blue garment. 42. The garment is blue. : o : LESSON II. WOKDS OF MOEE ThAN OnE SYLLABLE. ACCENT. In pronouncing a word of two or more syllables it will be noticed that one of its syllables is uttered vnth. more emphasis than the others. Tliis emphasis on a particular S3'llable in a word is called accent or ictus. There are two methods of accentuating Gaelic words, which char- acterize respectively the Munster dialect and the Con- nacht dialect. THE MUNSTER METHOD. 1. Words whose syllables are short have the accent on the second syllable ; as "galar'," "capallV "maras'- gal," " gramas 'gar." If the second syllable occurs be- tween an abrupt combination of consonants it will, never- theless, take the accent; as "calm'a," "borb'." ORTHOGRAPHY. 17 2. A dissyllabic word having both its syllables long takes the accent on the second syllable; as "dolas"' "urlarV "bundun'." 3. A trisyllabic word having the first and last syllable long (with the short syllable intervening), takes the accent on the first syllable; as "dur'adan," '^monWan." 4. A word which has only one long syllable takes the accent on that syllable, be it first or last; as "cur'am," "cis'te," "cadas'," "comor'tas," "amadan'." THE CONNACHT METHOD. In the Connacht dialect the accent is always, with few exceptions, placed upon the first syllable of a word; as ''garar," "cap'all," gram'asgar," "carma," " doras," "ur'lar," "dur'adan," "mon'adan," "cur'am," "cis'te," "cad'as," com'ortas," "am'adan." The most conspicuous difference between the Munster and Connacht pronunciation lies in the accentuation of those words which contain only one long syllable ; as "cadas," ''comortas," "amadan.'' When the solitary long vowel in such words happens to be in the first syllable, both dialects agree in the accent ; as " curam," "ciste," "mala," "arsa." But if the long vowel occur in any other than the first syllable, the Connacian will in- variably ignore its existence and, to be consistent with his general rule of accentuation, place the ictus on the first (short) syllable; as "cad'as," "com'ortas," "am'adan." Tliis placing of the ictus on the short syllable tends to modify, if not absolutely cancel, the quantity of the soli- tary long vowel. The reason is obvious. In articulating any word a speaker has at his disposal but a limited amount of vocal energy to expend in pronouncing it. If an undue share of this vocal volume is given to the first syllable in pronouncing a word like " amadan " the result 18 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. is that when the speaker has reached the final sjllahle the strength of the voice have been expended, and that syllable will suffer the loss of its full and broad enunci- ation. To remedy this evil in our own language the Connacians must adopt a compromise and not cling to the too general rule of always accenting words on the first syllable. In the old Gaelic we have sufficient reason to believe that there was no particular rule regulating the position of the accent either at the beginning or at the end of words : but, on the contrary, it is evident that the position of the accent in a word depended more upon the form of the word itself than upon any arbitrary rule. In the Munster dialect the variation of the accent is very marked; where, for instance, in words like "cadas," "amadan," the accent is placed upon the final syllable, while in such words as "duradan," "monadan, ' ''ughda- ras," it it invariably placed on the first syllable. In this respect the Munster dialect, which seems to be more con- servative of ancient forms than any other, bears a striking resemblance to the Greek. This divergence in practice between the people of Munster and Connacht is not to be understood as a defect peculiar to Gaelic alone. In every language are to be found classes of words, more or less extensive, regarding the pronunciation of which there is a wide difference of opinion, or the accentuation of which has not been deter- mined even by the best authorities. In English, the word demonstrate is often accented on the first syllable (dem'on- strate')^ while as ofteii again, and with as much propriety, is it accented on the second syllable (demon' strate^ . To tliis may be added alternate^ decorous^ ally^ blasphemous^ and a host of other words which are accented by some persons on the first syllable and by others on the second syllable. Regarding the accentuation of the word bias ORTHOGEAPHY. 19 phemous, John Walker, the celebrated English lexicog- rapher, has the following remark: ''We sometimes hear this word pronounced w^ith tlie accent on the second syllable, like blaspheme ; and as the Avord hlasphemus^ in Latin, has the second syllable long, and tl\e English word has the same number of syllables, it has as good a right to the accent on the second syllable as sonorous^ bitumen^ acumen^ etc. ; but placing the accent on the first syllable of blasphemous is by much the most polite, as, unfortunately for the other pronunciation, though a learned one, it has been adojDted by the vulgar." It may appear strange, indeed, to many that the En- glish language should betray the same defects which exist in Gaelic. This will seem far more inexplicable when it is considered that the English language has been steadily undergoing a process of cultivation for at least four hundred ^^ears, while during that same length of time the ill-fated Gaelic has been banned, proscribed, and relegated to the keeping of a down-trodden, tyrannized j)easantry. An intellectual peasantry, indeed, these were, and, as they have been truly styled, ''the finest peasantry in Europe," still when we compare the sp>oke7i Gaelic of to-day with the standard vernacular of London or New York, we are comparing the language of a peasantry with the language of a pampered, educated aristocracy. To be more just to the peasantry of Ireland, of Celtic origin, — who have happily preserved to us the language and liter- ature of a great past — it will be fitter to compare them with the English classes of their own social standing — - the peasantry of England — who, however, enjoy far greater advantages. Have the country boors of Britain preserved and cultivated their English language among them vn\h as much assiduity and success as the Irish peasantry have preserved and cultivated their native 20 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. Celtic ? The great ethnic differences between the Saxon and the Celt would seem to be all summed up in the answer to this question. Throughout the rural districts of England, the English language is not only, in many cases, wrongly accented, but corrupted and hoj^elessly distorted. " Nearly every county in Britain," says Noah Webster, "has its local dialect, its peculiar words and forms, wliich are used by the common people of the lower classes. * * * This great variety of local idioms may be classified, according to Mr. Ellis, in six divisions: Southern, Western, Eastern, Midland, Northern and Lowland (Scotch), each of which falls ajDart into several subdivisions or districts. For most of the dialects, glossaries have been published, often with specimen compositions of greater or less extent : but only the Scotch (the lineal descendant of the Old Northum- brian) can be said to have a literature." Mr. A. J. Ellis, above referred to, has given a general outline of the location of those several dialects in liis work on the English Dialects." In his public capacity, as man of letters and President of the London Philolosr- ical Society, he made a personal canvass of Britain, to ascertain the condition of the English language among the country folk ; and according to his own testimony, in several of the districts which he visited, the English lan- guage was so wretchedly corrupted that he failed to un- dei-stand it when spoken. From among the almost in- numerable instances of corruption wliich he gives, the folloTvdng examples are taken at random, without refer- ence to any particular dialect or district. To begin with, the vowel e is sounded like a; as marri iox merry ; the vowel 0 is corrupted into uo ; as suom for some ; and the vowel a is broken up into ei\ as neim for name. The consonant s is sounded like z ; as zuom for some ; and/ is ORTHOGRAPHY. 21 sounded like v ; as vra7n for from. The word pull is pronounced puol^ time is pronounced taoym and taum., and is pronounced hium. Road is pronounced roud^ take is pronounced taiuk^ and Aoi^s^ is pronounced Aoo«. The words we hnoiv are corrupted into ivi noan^ have you into ann yoa^ ivill they into woan dhi^ and do we into In this manner, every word which the English peas- antry have occasion to use is turned by them into a cor- rupt form, which in ahnost every instance differs so much from the written form that it may be said to demand an orthography of its own. This is precisely what consti- tutes the dialectic peculiarity. Wherever the spoken word differs from the written word, there you have a new dialect. Now, in considering the difference between the two dialects, so-called, of the Gaelic language, we are not in- volved in a question of corruption, but simply in a ques- tion as to the proper position of the accent, and that only in regard to a certain class of words. It is naturally to be inferred, therefore, that in Gaelic there are no cor- ruptions. This is perfectly true; and not only is the Gaelic tongue comparatively free from corruptions, but it is evidently plain to any one who knows even the fundamental principles of the language, that it is i^roof against corruption. This redeeming virtue of the Gaelic tongue, and which distinguishes it from all other lan- guages now in existence, lies mainly in those nice dis- tinctions which obtain in its j^rimary alphabetic sounds, and which are usually termed broad and slender^ long and short. The twelve consonants of the language, as has been already explained (pages 3 to 7), are so character- istic that each is susceptible of two distinct sounds, com- monly called the broad sound and the slender sound. Now, each of these sounds, which a consonant is capable 22 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. of assuming, is so distinguished from its opposite, that it would be considered the greatest violation, orally or otherwise, to confound them. Hence it is that, no matter what vicissitudes the language may have passed through, the broad consonant could not by any possible phenom- enon become slender, or the slender consonant become broad. The consonantal sounds, then, that were broad \n ancient times are broad to-day, and those that were : 'lender in ancient times are slender to-day. And by this singularly happy principle in our language, which has preserved it — in its consonantal framework at least — in- violable and inviolate for thousands of yeai-s, we. Irish- men of the present day, can affirm, as can also our kin of the Highlands of Scotland, that we speak the same lan- /^iiage wliich was spoken by the bards and brehons, the 'I' ui'ds Sindfdidhe of antiquit}^* The same principle which has preserved the consonants torn corruption has also preserved the vowels. These Litter are classified into broad and slender, from which, irdeed, the consonants derive their broad and slender srunds. In addition to this, each one of the five vowels is capable of assuming two sounds, the lone/ sound and th e short sound, which are as distinct, one from the other, as the broad and slender sounds of a consonant, and equally uninterchangeable. With the exception of two vowels (o and e) which have, in a number of words. 'Xotwitbstaucling tbis remarkable conservation of tbe Gaelic tongue, it bas suffered from its five centuries of neglect and proscription. In tbe spoken language of tbe present day tbere ai-e, indeed, a few corruptions, as mig "it be expected ; but these corruptions have been introduced through tbe infl^^ence of tbe English language, and prevail only in the North of Ireland, whf le tbe English influence was first felt. Thus, in Ulster, tbe combination of consonants, cn, is never pronounced, simply because such a combination .\C!,A not occur in English. Cn is therefore pronounced like the English com bi'^Vition cr; as " cnoc," a bill, pronounced " croc." Tbe slender sound of tbe Jf»v\al (d or t) is also somewhat corrupt, but slightly differing from the broad sound. (For proper sound, see page 6.) ORTHOGRAPHY. 23 broken up into partly diphthongal sounds (thus, immedi- ately after the Danish invasion, the vowel o produced the sound of e, represented by the digraph oe, ae, or ao ; and the vowel e produced the sound of a, represented by the digraph ea), the language is, in its vowel element, the same to-day as it was two thousand years ago.f Assuming that the student has formed a good concep- tion of this preservative principle of the Gaelic tongue — a principle which has not been heretofore sufficiently elu- cidated — we shall now resume the study with wliich we started, and wliich forms the subject of our present les- son; namely, the consideration of "Words of more than one Syllable:" There is, in every word of more than one syllable, as has been already stated, an accented syllable, which is distinguished from all the other syllables in the same word by having a particular stress of voice placed upon it, wliich gives it a certain degree of prominence or audi- bility. The degree of audibility, however, which the ac- cented vowel receives is entirely at the expense of some other vowel in the same word, which latter is called the tSome of the vowels and their combinations — the diphthongs and triph- thongs—are somewhat corrupted in the semi- Anglicized vernacular of the North. In the extreme solicitude which the Ultonians, and sometimes, too, the Connacians, betrayed in making their native Gaelic resemble as much as possible the language of their masters, they made certain peculiar vowel sounds of the former agree exactly with certain sounds peculiar to the latter. Thus, the prominent vowel, o, in the digraph oi, is sounded like e; as "coirce," oat.-, pronounced "ceirce." The proper diphthong ia is sounded like a single voM'el i, and ua like a single vowel u. The digraph ao (oe or ae) is sounded like oe in Croesus. In Munster there are only two vowel corruptions; viz., the vowel o in the word " mor," great, which is sounded like the diphthong ua; and the digraph ea (now generally written eu), which is improperly sounded like the diph- thong ea in the English word "fear." These, however, are of recent intro- duction, and occur only in common conversation. In repeating poetr3% prayers, or any exalted kind of composition, they are scrupulously discarded, even by the most illiterate peasant, as vulgar modernisms. If the Ultonians were equally as candid about acknowledging the corruptions which have obtained among tbem, all would be well ! 24: KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. obscure vowel. Obscurity is the very antithesis of prom- inence ; wherefore it is that a word which has an accented vovv^el must also, as a matter of necessity, have a corres- pondingly obscure vowel. In illustration of this we can do no better than reproduce the observation of Walker upon the obscure vowels in English : "If," says Walker, the accent be kept strongly on the first syllable of the word tolerable^ as it always ought to be, we find scarcely any distinguishable difference to the ear, if we substitute u ov 0 instead of a, in the penultimate syllable ; thus, tolerable^ toleroble, and toleruble^ are exactly the same word to the ear, if pronounced without premeditation or trans- posing the accent for the real purpose of distinction." etc. The obscure vowel in Gaelic was very carelessly dealt with by the celebrated scribes of old. In the Gaelic manuscripts we find the three broad vowels, a, o, u, writ- ten indifferently for an obscure broad vowel, and the two slender vowels, e, i, for an obscure slender vowel. But it never occurs that a broad vowel is written for a slender vowel, or a slender vowel for a broad voAvel, in an obscure syllable.J The two classes, broad and slender, are never confounded however obscure the syllable may be. In all cases of obscurity, modern writers of Gaelic prefer to use the vowel a for the broad class and the vowel e for the X This holds true ia regard to words of more than one syllable. There are a few monosyllables in the language written at present with a broad vowel, which in ancient times wei3 written with a slender vowel; and a few others again which, though now written with a slender vowel, were anciently writ- ten with a broad vowel. For instance, the definite article ''an" was an- ciently written "in." The verb "is" (the present tense of the verb "to be," meaning the same as " ta," but used in a different collocation), was anciently written "as"; as in the expression, "is fear me," I am a man, anciently written " as fer me," more anciently still, " asam fer." This word, however though now written with a slender vowel, has the consonant s broad in sound and in this connection, it should be borne in mind that it forms the onlj' ex- ception, in the modern language, to the rule which declares that a consonant must derive its sound from the vowel with which it is written. ORTHOGKAPHY. 25 slender class, except in certain words where the etymol- ogy determines the identity of the obscure vowel. Short vowels only are obscure. Long vowels may be, and often are, modified b}^ the influence of a strong ac- cent, but they are never really obscure. § The vowel preceding or following an accented syllable is, as a general rule, obscure in sound. A final vowel in a word of more than one syllable, is always obscure. Final e is never silent in Gaelic, as in English ; it al- ways forms a separate syllable. Thus, ''file," a poet, and ''fine," a tribe, are both pronounced in two syllables, jil-le fin-ne^ etc. § There are, even in English, quite a number of vowels, naturallj- long or grave in sound, which are very much inoditied hy the influence of a strong accent. Take, for example, words ending in -ary and -ory — such as neces- sarj", contrary, exemplary, territory, promontory, etc. — which are pronounced in the United States with a secondary, or grave, accent on the penultimate syllable. Now, as these words are pronounced in England, the accent is so energeticallj- placed upon the first syllable that it completely cancels the secondary- accent so prominent in the language of the United States. This gives a good example of how words like "amadan" are pronounced in the province of Ulster. The difference, in fact, that exists between the rival dialects of " Leath Choinn" and " Leath Mhogha" (The Northern and Southern half of Ireland), is no greater than that which distinguishes the several varieties of English which prevail in England and in the United States. The only difference is that while the Gaelic has only two slightly varying dialects, the English lan- guage is broken xip into several dialects of the greatest dissimilarity. We can easily conceive what might have been the fate of the English language had it been subjected to the same ill-treatment, proscription, and calumny which the language of Ireland suffered at the hands of the savage Saxons. That must be a gi-eat language which, after centuries of enforced obloquy, blooms up again into perennial freshness and challenges comparison with the cultivated languages of the world. The Gaelic language had reached a high stage of evolutional perfection long before the blighting hand of Eng- land was laid upon it; so tliat, like a strong man battling against some wild beast of the woods, it bravely resisted the encroachments of its adversaiy, and now, after the long struggle and its triumph, it needs but a little encour- agement to display its former vigor and activity. In its inherent character- istics, the language is such that it resists corruption and corrupting influ- ences, and in this respect it forms a lasting symbol, or memorial, of that un. swerving moral purity of the people whose language it is. The Irish Ian. guage and people have now been sufficiently put to the test; they have been weighed in the balance, and they have not been found wanting. 26 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. Vocabulary. The following vocabulary consists of words of two and three syllables. In the left hand column, every word has at least one of its syllables long in sound. In the oppo- site right hand column, every word has all its syllables short. mala, a hag, ciste, a cake. aran, bread, arus, a dwelling^ habitation, solas, solace, dolas, dolor^ sorrow, dana, bold, curam, care, arsa, old^ ancient. dilis, true ^ faithful., dear. granna, ugly., unbecoming. urlar, a floor. pisgin, a kitten, brusgar, fragments., debris. bradan, a salmon, morn an, a tray, mortus, boasffulness. bundun, a blunder. cadas, cotton. cuntas, a7i account. camog, a curl., a comma. monadan, a mountain berry. duradan, a speck. amadan, a fool. comortus, comparison. galltrumpa, a trump>et, fosgadan, an umbrella. mala, an eyebrow, ciste, a chest., a treasure, galar, a disease, anam, a soul ; life, doras, a door, capall, a horse. obann, sudden, tobar, a well, focal, a word, file, a poet, pobal, people,, popidace, turns, a journey, srimile, a. slouch, mustar, self-conceit. gustal, affluence., ostentation, fada, long ^ far. sonas, prosperity, donas, misfortune. ocras, hunger, mills, siveet, cumas, 2?oiver, tamall, a time., a ivhile. Colm-cille, Columkill, macalla, an echo^ marasgal, a marshal., herald, gramasgar, a rabble, calma, brave. ORTHOGRAPHY. 27 EXERCISE II , 1. Turus. 2. All turns. 3. An turns agus an cimtas. 4. Mala mor agus an turus fada. 5. Ta an turus fada. 6. Ta an doras mor agus ta an cnoc ard. 7. Bas obann agus cuntas olc. 8. Aran ban agus ciste mor, Ian. 9. Ta an capall ban, agus ta an ciste mor Ian. 10. File 'gus an pobal, clu 'gus dan. 11. Ciste mills. 12. Ta an ciste mor agus mills. 13. File dana agus focal borb. 14. Suit agus solas, dolas agus donas. 15. An marasgal calma agus an capall ban. 16. Pobal dilis, port agus an bad. 17. An file agus an macalla. 18. Colm-cille agus an bard. 19. Ta an capall 6g mall, agus ta se fann lag.* 20. Turus mor agus cuntas Ian, Gustal, gas, agus duradan. 21. Focal dana, bord a's bas, Curam granna, gort a's gas. 22. Urlar mor, glan, bord a's bonn, Arus, mortus, gort, a's clann. 23. Pobal arsa, capall mall, Ciste granna, gort a's poll. 24. Gustal a's gort a's mortus dana, Turus, an dos, 's an folt ur, granna. Translation, 1. A journey. 2. The journey. 3. Tlie journey and the account. 4. A large bag and the long journey. 5. The journe}' is long. 6. The door is large and the hill is high. 7. Sudden death and a bad account. 8. AVhite * Ta se fann lag. (He is Aveary and weak.) In translating this sentence into English, the adjectives, "fann," "lag," must be connected by the con- jiinction, and. In Gaelic, the conjunction is used to connect two adjectives only when they are collectively predicated of the same noun, to preclude the possibility of one of them being taken for an ordinarj- qualifier. In case of two adjectives referring to a pronoun, as in the above sentence, the con- junction is not necessar5% as a pronoun admits of no other than a predicated 28 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. bread and a large, full chest. 9. The horse is white and the large chest is full. 10. A poet and the people, fame and a poem. 11. A sweet cake. 12. The cake is large and sweet. 13. A bold poet and a haughty word. 14. Mirth and solace, dolor and misfortune. 15. The brave marshal and the white horse. 16. A faithful people, a harbor and the boat. 17. The poet and the echo. 18. Columkille and the bard. 19. The young horse is slow, and he is weak and wear}-. [ Nos. 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24 are in metre, and the student is expected to make his o^m translation.] : o: LESSON III. Combinations of Vowels — Diphthongs. A diphthong is composed of two vowels coming to- gether, without any consonant intervening; as ua in truant^ ea in fear. Vowels thus combined unite in three ways : (I.) Each vowel is distinctly pronounced. (II.) Both vowels coalesce and produce a sound quite different from either. (HI-) One of the vowels only is heard, while the other becomes silent or nearly so. Aft^r these three modes of coalescing, Gaelic diphthongs may be di- vided into three classes, as follow : adjective. In analogy to this, the modem speaker of Gaelic has come to omit the conjunction even between two adjectives predicated of the same noun. Thus, the expression "Ta an file faun lag," (the wearj- poet is weak) is made to convey the same meaning as " Ta an file faun agus lag," (the poet is weary and weak.) The difficulty is obviated, however, in the spoken lan- guage, where there is a slight pause made between the logical subject and the predicate, which serves to draw the line, as it were, between both. ORTHOGRAPHY. 29 Class I. This class comprises those diphthongs in which both vowels are distinctly sounded. Only two diphthongs belong to this class ; namely, ua and ia. In these diphthongs both vowels are not of equal promi- nence, the firet being somewhat longer than the second,* while both blend together to form 07ie syllable. Examples: gual, coal. ciall, sense. fuar, cold. nal, generous. cluas, an ear. sgian, a knife. uan, a lamb. grian, the sun. Class II. Only one diphthong belongs to this class; namely, ao. This diphthong sounds like ao in gaol^ or the first vowel, in where , but the consonants before and after it are both broad. When ao is final — that is when not followed by a consonant — it is written ae.f Examples : gaol, a relation. ' saor, cheap; free. maor, a steivard. daor, dear; dire. aos, an age. aol, lime. caol, slender. rae, the moon. * In the Northern dialect, these two proper diphthongs ( ia and ua ) are converted into improper diphthongs, by false analogy; that is, the second A owel, a, of both diphthongs is suppressed in the pronunciation, while the first vowel, i of the one and u of the other, is the only vowel pronounced. A good illustration of this corrupt pronunciation of the proper diphthongs (See foot-note page 23) may be afforded by the following rhyming couplets, taken from Dr. McHale's Gaelic translation of Homer's Iliad: Thus, the proper diphthong ia is made to rhyme -with the improper diph- thong io ( i. e. with the single vowel i ) in the following couplet : " Go subhach, gach duine d' ith do reir a mhian, 'Gus d' ol go saoitheamhail 'gus go suairc an fion." — Book I.; line 593. The proper diphthong ua is made to rhyme with the single vowel u in the following couplet: " Idir fir a's mna, mo bhriathra 'gus mo run Ta daingean fastuighth' i mo chroidhe go buan." — Book VIII.; line?, t In the Northern dialect (including Ulster and Connacht), the diphthong ao receives a light, drawn, slender sound, like that of the single vowel i, or 30 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. Class III. This class comprises those diphthongs in Avhich one vowel only is heard, like ou in four^ journey^ etc. They are, ei, ea, lo, ai, 6i, ui, eo, iu. One of the vowels in a diphthong of this class — that over wliich the accent mark is placed — may be termed the audible or pro7n{ne7it vowel, the other being known as the inaudible or silent vowel. But it is characteristic of this prominent vowel that in some words it is long, like o in four^ while in other words it is short, like o in journey; for which reason these are often called variable diphthongs, more correctly improper diphthongs. EI. The first vowel, e, is the prominent vowel in this diph thong, the second vowel, i, being inaudible or silent; consequently the sound of this diphthong is that of the single vowel e in there', as "feis," a festival. When the diphthong is short it sounds like e in belt; as " geilt," a lunatic. Examples : beim, a wound. leirg, a plain. geim, a belloiv. meirg, rust. sgleip, shoiv. geir, tallotv. speis, heed^ concern. breis, a superiiuity. The presence of the silent vowel, i, in this diphthong is determined by the slender sound of the following con- sonant, for, though the letter e is itself a slender vowel, it exerts no influence in making slender, or attenuating., as it is called, the consonant which follows it. (See page 9.) "ee" in the English word "feel," with, of course, the preceding and follow ing consonants broad. This sound is well illustrated in the followiiiir couplet from Dr. McHule's Tliad, where ao is made to form an as.«^nai<.co with io (i. e. with the single vowel i.) " Las fraoch an oirc go li-obann suas mar chaor, Do bhagair dioghaltas, a's rinn a bhagairt tior.'= — T-ooU T.; liu*» 'rl ORTHOGRAPHY. 31 EA. The first vowel, e, is the prominent vowel in this diph- thong, the second vowel, a, being inaudible or silent; consequently this diphthong sounds like the single vowel e, except that the consonant following it is broad, as shown by the presence of the silent broad vowel, a. Examples : fear (feur),* grass, fear, a man. sgeal (sgeul), a story. bean, a ivoinan. beal (beul), a month. geal, bright. mear (meur), a finger. deas, pretty. When this diphthong is long the vowel u is inserted, instead of a, for a silent vowel ; but when the diphthong * Fear (feur). Words in Mrhicli tbe diphthong ea (loag) was anciently em- ployed are now spelt with the diphthong eu (that is, in other words, substi- tuting one silent vowel, u, for another silent vowel, a). This innovation was brought iuto use as early as 1650, by the celebrated Celtic scholar and his- torian, Dudle}' Forbes (Dubhaltach Mac Firbisigh). The principal advantage of the substitution lies mainly in the fact that it dispenses with the accent mark, on the prominent vowel, which otherwise would be requisite, in order to distinquish the diphthong ea when long from the same diphthong when short. Another good reason why eu should be used, provisionally at least, in preference to ea (long), is this: We have already learned (See foot-note page 23) that in Munster the diphthong ea (long) is corruptly sounded like the proper diphthong ia, or "ea" in the English word " fear.*' Now, if we substi- tute eu for ea, the Munsterman who reads the language will have no pretext for infusing the sound of a into this diphthong, or corrupting its prominent vowel, e, into the sound of i. It should be liere noted that eu, in a number of monosyllables, is suscep- tible of being changed to eo, by poetic license. Thus, the word " feur " may be also written '-feor"; "meur" " meor sgeul " "sgeol,"etc. These words, then, may be said to have each two forms: the primary foi-m, with the diphthong eu, and the secondary form, with the diphthong eo. The differ- ence between the primary ami the secondary form, both of which are iden- tical in meaning, is, that the former is used in prose and the latter in poetry. ' Feur" is a prosaic form, and "feor" a poetic form, both of which denote the same thing. And in this connection, it may be well to remember that there are, in Gaelic, quite a number of words which have two forms, identical in meaning, one of which forms is relegated to one sort of discourse, and the other to a different sort of discourse. Later on, therefore, we shall have some more to say I'egarding primai-y and secondary forms. 62 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. is short the a is retained, because the accent is then shifted from e to a. So that, as the short diphthong is now pronounced in monosyllables and in the first syllable of polysyllables, the a, and not the e, is the prominent vowel.f Ea, short, is therefore sounded like ea in heart; as "fear," a man; "bean," a woman. And in some words also the a is lengthened ; as " ceard," a crafty etc. 10. The first vowel, i, is the prominent vowel in this diph- thong, the second vowel, o, being silent; consequently tliis diphthong sounds like the single vowel i, except that the consonant following it is broad, as shown by the pres- ence of the silent broad vowel, o. Examples : cios, rent. fios, knowledge. fion, ivine. lios, a fort. fior, true. sgrios, a destruction. siol, seed. mior, myrrh. "When this diphthong is short, there is a tendency, ob- servable in the spoken language, to bring the silent vowel, 0, into undue prominence; as " sioc," J (^lyronounced fit is only in monosyllables and in the first syllable of polysyllables that the first vowel, e, loses its prominence when the diphthong is short. When the diphthong occurs in the second or third syllable of a word, the e is then, as it ought to be, prominent (though obscure) ; e, g., " muilleann," a mill, (pron. mul-len); "Caiseal," Cashel, (pron. kha-shel). The exception to this rule are words of two syllables ending in ch, which, in Munster, have the accent so strongly placed on the final gutteral that the vowel a, of the diph- thong ea (short) is decidedly brought into prominence; e.g., "coileach," a rooster, (pron. kulh-ach) ; "aireach," careful, (pron. ir-rach). In Old Gaelic, the first vowel, e, of this diphthong, maintained its promi- nence in all cases, when short as well as when long. This old pronunciation even yet lives in the counties of Louth and Monaghan, where the vowel a, of the diphthong ea, is never brought into prominence. Thus, "fear" is pron ounced "fer"; "bean" "ben"; "geal" "gel"; "deas" "des," etc. J Some monosyllables containing io (short) change that diphthong into ea when, in the course of inflection, they take an additional syllable; as " lios," "feasa"; "lios," "leasa"; "sioc," "seaca," etc. ORTHOGRAPHY. 33 shook). This is especially noticeable in the Munster dia- lect, when the diphthong is followed by nn in a mono- syllable, the silent vowel being then brought into prom- inence and sounded like o in do^ or u in tune; as " fionn," fair^ ( pronounced foon.') AI. The first vowel, a, is the prominent vowel in this diph- thong, the second vowel, i, being silent. Ai sounds, therefore, like the single vowel a, except that the conson- ant following it is slender, as shown by the presence of the silent slender vowel, i. Examples : stair, a history, stair, a paragraph. ait, a 2?laee. ait, queer; sraid, a street. bail, a blessing. lair, a mare. stail a stallion. When ai (short) appears in the second or tliird syllable of a word, the silent vowel, i, is brought into prominence ; as "carraig," a rock, Q)ron. kar-rig') ; '^Padraig," Patrick, Qyron. pau-dhrig). Compare the English diphthong ai in such words as curtain, certain, Britain, again, etc. 01. The first vowel, o, is the prominent vowel in tliis diph- thong, the second vowel, i, being silent. Oi sounds, therefore, like the single vowel o, except that the con- sonant following it is slender, as shown by the presence of the silent slender vowel, i. Examples : coir, just, right. sgoil, a school. gloir, glory. toil, will. toir, a jmrsuit. toirt, bulk, substantiality. moin, moor; mountain, coirt, bark of trees. 34 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. When oi (short) appears in the second or third syllable of a word, the silent vowel, i, is brought into prominence ; as "anois," now^ (^pron, an-nish^; "anoir," easterly^ (^pron, an-^ir^. UI. The first vowel, u, is the prominent vowel in this diph- thong, the second vowel, i, being silent. Ui sounds, therefore, like the single vowel u, except that the con- sonant following it is slender, as shown by the presence of the silent slender vowel, i. Examples : cuis, a cause. full, blood, suil, an eye. cruit, a harp. dull, desire; an element. cuil, a fly. smuit, dust^ mist. duig, a pang. When ui (short) occurs in the second or third syllable of a word, the silent vowel, i, is brought into prominence ; as "tarcuisne," contempt (^pron. tar-khish-ne^ . EO. The second vowel, o, is the prominent vowel in this diphthong, the first vowel, e;- being silent. Eo sounds, therefore, like the single vowel o, except that the con- sonant preceding it is slender, as shown by the presence of the silent slender vowel, e. Examples : seol, a sail. deoch, a drink. ceol, music. eochair, a key. meon, a habit. Eochaidh, Hugo. leon, a lion. There are only three words in the modern language in which this diphthong is short in sound; viz., "deoch," a drink; "eochair," a and "Eochaidh," Hugo. In all OKTHOGPvAPHY. 35 other words the diphthong is long and need not take the accent mark. lU. The second vowel, n, is the prominent vowel in this diphthong, the first vowel, i, being silent. lu sounds, therefore, like the single vowel u, except that the con- sonsLut preceding it is slender, as shown by the presence of the silent slender vowel, i. Examples : slur, a sister. fliuch, wet. fiu, worth. tiugh, thick. liugh, a scream. andiugh, to-day. diu, a place. There are only three words in the modern language in which this diphthong is short in sound; viz., "fliuch," wet; "tiugh," thick, and "andiugh,'' to-day. In all other words the diphthong is long and need not take the dis- tinguishing accent mark. The eight improper diphthongs (or those of the third class, according to the above classification) form a very important factor in the orthography of the Gaelic lan- guage. When they are thoroughly comprehended the very secret of Gaelic orthograph}^ will have been mas- tered. The study of them is so intimately connected with the study of the sounds of the consonants, already set forth (pages 3 to 7), that it may be well to impress upon the student the advisability of again taldng up the study of the consonants in connection with the improper diphthongs. There is one thing in connection with these improper diphthongs which the student can never expect to understand, until he first understands the difference between the two sounds — broad and slender — of every 36 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. one of the twelve consonants, and that is the nature and function of the silent vowel. The silent vowel of an improper diphthong is used to regulate the sound of the consonant next to it. Thus, for instance, in the word "cuis," (which is universally pronounced koosK)^ the broad vowel, u, is the only vowel discernible to the ear. Now, if this were, in reality, the only vowel in the word, it is certain that it would give a broad sound not only to the preceding c but also to the following s. But, as the pronunciation will show, the following s has its slender sound (that of &7i in sldp')^ and as we know that this slender sound must be occasioned by a slender vowel (for otherwise the s, like the c, vrould come under the influence of the broad vowel, u), we con- clude, therefore, that there does exist a slender vowel be- tween the broad vowel, u, and the following attenuated consonant, s. Consequently, instead of spelling this word v\'ith a single vowel (cus), it must be spelt with the im- proper diphthong ui (cuis). Whenever, therefore, a con- sonant sounded along with an audible vowel has a timbre different from that which the audible vowel would ofive it. it is certain that an inaudible vowel intervenes, to account for the sound of the consonant. Tliis brings us now to the very important fact, that the existence of the silent vowel in an improper diphthong is to be determined only by the sound of the consonant which it influences. We have, in any particular case, onl\- negative proof of its presence. From the fact that \\iien- ever its use is made requisite, it is always employed in connection with, and to regulate the sound of, a con- sonant, the silent vowel of an improper diphthong may, on that account, be very appropriately called the consonant voweL The distinction implied in tliis (new) name the student should well bear in mind, as we shall hence- ORTHOGRAPHY. 37 forward refer to the two vowel elements of an improper diphthong as the prominent voivel and the consonant vowel. In all the improper dij)hthongs — with the exception of ei — it will be noticed that when the prominent vowel is broad the accompanj-ing consonant vowel is slender, and when the prominent vowel is slender the accompanying consonant vowel is broad. Tliis regularity is of utmost importance, as it enables the student, in any particular case, to infer the nature of an omitted consonant vowel (for consonant vowels are generally omitted in old writ- ings.) If, in writing the word "cuis," the consonant vowel be omitted and such omission indicated by an apos- trophe, or au}^ other conventional mark — thus "cu's" — it is evident that the reader can infer from the nature of the remaining prominent vowel, which belongs to the broad class, that the omitted consonant vowel belongs to the slender class. In like manner may the consonant vowel be inferred in '-c'ol," music; "s'ur," a sister ; "c'ard, a craft; "sta'r," a story; "glo'r," glory. In words like *'fe'r," grass^ and "ci's," rent., we can infer that the omitted consonant vowel belongs to the broad class, whereas the retained prominent vowel is of the opposite slender class. In some of our Gaelic manuscripts the omission of the consonant vowel is indicated by two dots, resembling a colon, which are placed in its stead ; thus, ''cu;s,'' '-feir,'* "ciis,'' etc.* In the most ancient manu- * For an illustration of this method of contraction tlie student is referred to the " ^sriscellanj' of the Celtic Society," w herein are to be found a number of historical poems by Giolla Brighde Mac Coumidhe and others, in which this sj'stem of contracting- the improper diphthongs, by omitting the con- sonant vowel and supplying its place with two dots, is employed. But it must be observed that this method of contraction is not carried to its full length in the orthography of the poems referred to, for onlj- the diphthong io is found thus contracted. Thus, for example, "giolla" is written "gi:lla,*' "cios" is written " ci: s," and "fion" is written "fl:n," etc. The two dots are placed almost directly over the retained prominent vowel, and bear a striking resemblance to an inverted diceresis. It maybe intended by these 38 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. scripts the omission of the consonant vowel is not indi- cated by any mark whatever, it being left to the reader's judgment to justify the sound of the consonant. In many instances we find the consonant vowel re- tained, but written in a subordinate position, somewhat after the manner of the Greek Iota subscript. A good illustration of this are the familiar contractions used in some manuscripts for the diphthongs ea and ui. two dots to notify the reader that, in the syllable in which they are placed, two vowels are understood to be employed (one of which is left to be in- ferred.) Wliy it is that the consonant vowel should be omitted from the diph- thong io and retained in all the other improper diphthongs? is a question that cannot be very satisfactorily answered. Perhaps it may have seemed to the writer, or rather transcriber, of those poems that the consonant vowel was less indispensable in io than in any other of the improper diphthongs; or perhaps again, he did not wish to encumber his pages with too many dots. The student should here bear in mind that this method of omitting the consonant vowel iu Gaelic is not on a par with the sj'stem emploj'ed bj- some English lexicographers of omitting certain useless vowels in English. We all know that Webster has omitted the vowel o from the diphthong ou at the end of certain dissyllabic words. For example, the words neighbour, labour, vapour, colour, vigour, rigour, are written in the United States, on tlie au- thority of Webster, thus neighbor, labor, vapor, color, vigor, rigor, etc. The best authorities agree, indeed, that some of those silent vowels in English are simply useless, because they suit no purpose, and consequently the general tendency has been to discard them altogether. In Gaelic, on the other hand, the silent vowel cannot, in any case, be absolutely discarded without violat- ing the sound of a consonant : but, on the contrary, wherever it is omitted, for contraction purposes, the reader must always suppose it to be present and regulate the consonant sound accordingly. There are employed, even in English, certain silent vowels which are identical in every respect witli the consonant vowels of Gaelic orthography. Now, there is a rule in English Grammar which says that primitive words ending in e, wlien they take the derivative sufRx -able, drop the final e; as sale, salable; compare, comparable; receive, receivable, etc. In this case it would be utterlj- useless to retain the linal silent e of the primitive form in the derivative form. If, however, we take primitives whose final e is pre- ceded immediately by c or g, such as notice, change, marriage, etc., and to them we add the suffix -able, we are not permitted to drop the final e; but, on the contrary, this otherwise useless vowel must be retained in the derivative forms in order to preserve the slender sound of the preceding c or g of the primitive forms, thus noticeable, changeable, marriageable. The silent e in these words, being used simply to preserve the sound of a consonant, is iden- tical with what, in Gaelic, we have known as the consonant vowel. We have already learned (page 5) that c and g are the only consonants in English that have a decidedly broad and slender sound. In Gaelic everj- consonant has a broad and a slender sound, consequently consonant vowels are more prev- alent in Gaelic than in Eiiglish. ORTHOGRAPHY. 39 The omission of the consonant vowel is, in reality, a method of contraction employed systematically by our ancient scribes to save time and parchment. It is not to be assumed, as some have done, that because the con- sonant vowel of modern Gaelic is found omitted in the most ancient manuscripts we possess, it therefore had no legitimate existence in the ancient grammatical structure of the language. If, when those old books were written, the strict grammatical requirements of the language had been consulted, it is manifest that the consonant vowel would never have been dispensed with. The fact is that the consonant vowel, though silent and used ostensibly to regulate the sound of a consonant, is no less effective in regulating the sound of the prominent vowel with which it is written. Thus, for example, the prominent vowel, o, in the word "ceol," assumes a graver sound than the single o in the word "mor:" and this relative intensity of sound of the prominent vowel is due mainly to the in- fluence of the silent consonant vowel accompanying it. It will, hence, seem obvious that the consonant vowel has, in every improper diphthong, a legitimate existence, and should therefore never be omitted. The two diphthongs ea and io (short), in the second syllable of a word, have the slender vowel prominent, and as a short slender vowel is, in such position, always ob- scure, it follows that ea and io are often confounded. Thus "muilleann," a mill, is quite often written "muil- lionn," and " Caiseal," Cashel, is often written " Caisiol." Modern writers prefer to use the diphthong ea in all such cases, except in certain words where the etymology favors the diphthong io; such as cuilfhionn," fair-haired, (ap- plied to a woman); "druimfliionn," white-hacked, (ap- plied to a cow.) 40 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. The three diphthongs ai, oi, ui, (short), in the second syllable of a word, have the slender vowel, i, prominent, the broad vowel becoming correspondingly silent. This gives the three diphthongs the same sound — that of i short — in the position indicated: and consequently, in old writings, we find them written indifferently. The Four Masters write the word ••carraig" in three ways, thus "^carraig," "carroig," "carruig," without using any discrimination whatever. Modern writers prefer to use the diphthong ai in the second syllable of words, except in a few cases where oi or ui seems more suitable ; such as "anois," noiv; tarcuisne,' contempt. There is a tendency, observable in the spoken language of the present day, to suppress the sound of the broad vowel of the three diphthongs ai, oi, ui, not only in the second syllable of words, as above stated, but also in the first syllable and even in monosjdlables. This is well illustrated in the Munster pronunciation of . dissyllables ending in ch — such as cailleach," a hag^ (^j^ron. khil- lack); coileach,'' a rooster^ Qpron. khil-lach); "tuir- seach, ' tired^ Qpron. thir-shach^ — in which the accent is so strongly placed on the final syllable that it completely sinks the sound of the prominent vowel in the first sji- lable. We have already shown (See foot-note page 23) that in Connacht the prominent vcwel of oi is sounded like e ; as coirce," oats, (^pron. Jceirke.} This corrupt sound of the prominent vowels o and a obtains also, in a few words, in the Munster dialect; as "troid," strife, (^pron. thred) ; '^air," on, (^pron eir.) This suppression or corruption of the prominent vowel of an improper diphthong occurs only when the diphthong is short — that is, when the prominent vowel itself is short — and never when the diphthong is long. It has been brought about mainly through laziness on the part ORTHOGRAPHY. 41 of the speakers and custodians of the language for the past two centuries to maintain the identity of the short vowel sound. Walker says of the English that " Where vowels are under the accent, the prince and the lowest of the people, with very few exceptions, jDronounce them in the same manner: but the unaccented vowels, in the mouth of the former, have a distinct, open sound ; wliile the latter often totally sink them, or change them into some other sound." To properl}^ pronounce an improper diphthong, then, the student should always maintain the sound of its prom- inent vowel, when short as well as when long ; except in certain eases where, according to rule, that vowel loses prominence and the accompanying consonant vowel as- sumes it. Vocabulary. The following vocabulary, composed for the most part of words of one syllable, is intended to illustrate the sounds of the twelve diphthongs. First in order come the six "Long Diphthongs," or those which have always the same invariable, long sound; and next come the six "Variable Diphthongs," or those which, in some words, are long, and in other words are short. THE SIX LONG DIPHTHONGS. suan, slumber, duan, an ode, cuas, a cave. sguab, a hroom^ a sioeep. tuar, an omen; hleach-yard, buan, durable,, lasting, dual, inheritance, ruag, a rout, fiar, slanting^ awry, iasg, fish, ciar, hlaek, rian, a sign^ track, mian, mind,, ivill^ desire, cian, distant^ remote, pian, torment, srian, a bridle. 42 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. maol, hald^ blunt. taom, a fit^ plague, faon, void^ exhausted. caor, a berry; thunderbolt. leun, sadness, grief. seun, luck, prosperity. breug, a lie. geug, an arm,, branch. ceol, music. leor, abundant, sufficient. eol, knowledge. ceo, fog, mist. siur, a sister. gliu, glew. fiu, worth. liugh, a scream. braon, a drop. craos, a craw; gluttony. aor, air. cae, leisure. geui', sharp; sour. eun, a bird. gleus, tackle. eug, extinction, death. beo, alive, living. gleo, noise, tumult. seol, a sai7. reo, frost. gniud, a whine. diu, a place. trius, trowsers. giusta, a clown. THE SIX VARIABLE DIPHTHONGS. sgail, a glare, shadoiv. grain, hatred. cain, tribute, exaction. cairn, fault, blemish. poit, excess of drinking. moid, a voiv. coip, a copy; troop. doid, hand. cuil, corner, depository. gnuis, visage. uir, earth. suil, a?i reim, reign, sway. meinn, leir, manifest. ceim, a s^gp, grade; dignity. tais, humid. dair, an fail, hiccough. carraig, a rock. sgoilt, a cleft, split. troid, strife. toil, ^7ie will. anois, now. cuil, <7^/?^. cuid, part, portion. muir, sea. tarcuisne, contempt. geit, a start. Neid, il/ar^. geilt, a lunatic. ceist, a question. ORTHOGRAPHY. 43 dfon, shelter^ protection, sfor, constant. lion, flax, cnon, ivithered. ceard, a crafty trade, geaiT, sJiort^ curt, feaiT, better, millean, blame. crios, girdle; zone, smior, ^narrow, slios, slope, cion, fondness, ceart, 7'ight, meas, esteem, tearc, rare, fireann, male. EXERCISE IIL 1. Ta an rae geal agus ta an speir ard. 2. Ta an sgian geur. 3. Bad mor, fada agus seol ard. 4. Ta an seol ard agus ta an turus fada. 5. Fear calma agus an leon. 6. Suan fada agus ceol binn. 7. Giusta borb agus an capall deas. 8. Ciste milis agus im ur. 9. Cuis agus teist, fear agus tarcuisne. 10. Fear 6g agus cuis arsa. 11. Tci an teist ait. 12. Cruit agus ceol, bard agus sgoil. 13. Ta an toil saor. 14. Ta fion daor. 15. Dun mor agus ceol binn. 16. Stair arsa agus cuntas ffor. 17. Carraig ard agus ait olc. 18. Ta an cnoc ard fiar, agus ta an capall 6g ban. 19, Ta iasg ur saor agus tii tion daor. 20. Ta an fear ard agus ta se lorn, crion. 21. Ta tii ceart. 22. Cruit a's ceol dea.s, seol a's grian, Giusta mor, glic, bron a's pian. 23. Ta an cnoc mor, arsa ard a's fiar. An capall ban 's an mala ciar. Translation. 1. The moon is bright and the sky is high. 2. The knife is sharp. 3. A large, long boat and a high sail. 4. The sail is high and the journey is long. 5. A brave man and the lion. 6. Long slumber and melodious mu- sic. 7. A haughty clown and the nice horse. 8. A 44 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. sweet cake and fresh butter. 9. A cause and a testi- mony, a man and contempt. 10. A young man and an ancient cause. 11. The testimony is queer. 12. ^ harp and music, a bard and a school. 13. The will is free. 14. Wine is dear. 15. A large fort and melodious mu- sic. 16. Ancient history and a true account. 17. A large rock and a bad place. 18. The high hill is slanting and the young horse is white. 19. Fresh fish is cheap and wine is dear. 20. The man is tall and he is lean and decrepit. 21. You are right. (Nos. 22 and 23 are in metre and the student is expected to make his own trans- lation.) : o : LESSON IV. Combinations of Vowels — Triphthongs. A triphthong is the union of three vowels in one sound or syllable. There are, in Gaelic, five triphthongs ; viz., uai, iai, aoi, eoi, iui. These are formed from the five long diphthongs — ua, ia, ao, eo, iu — simply by the ad- dition of the slender vowel i, which is practically silent and serves only to attenuate the sound of the following consonant. The sound of a triphthong, therefore, is pre- cisely the same as that of the diphthong from which it is formed, except that the consonant following the triph- thong is slender, as shown by the presence of the slender consonant vowel, i. The triphthong aoi is rather exceptional in this respect, for, in pronouncing it, the ao loses its characteristic diph- thongal sound and serves only to lengthen the sound of ORTHOGRAPHY. 45 the following i. Aoi is, therefore, sounded like uee in queen; as "saoi," a sage; " daoi," a dunce. Examples: — fuaim, a sound, gruaim, surliness^ glo.om, biail, an axe. spiaire, a spy. baois, folly. caoin, gentle. feoil, meat^ flesh. beoir, heer. ciuin, cahn^ silent. stiuir, a steer. TRIPHTHONGS OF INFLECTION. Triphthongs are frequently formed in the course of grammatical inflection. These latter, which may be called Triphthongs of Inflection, are to be distinguished from those which are not the result of inflection. The triphthong of inflection is generally produced in the for- mation of the genitive ( or possessive ) case singular and also the nominative case plural of some nouns. To illus- trate tills, however, it will be necessary to glance at the manner in which these cases are formed in Gaelic. In all inflected languages, the genitive, or possessive case singular and the nominative case plural of most nouns are identical in their termination ; that is, these two cases are inflected alike. In English, both are dis- tinguished by the suflixed consonant s (the remnant of an older syllable is.^ Thus, in the phrases, the sun^s disk; the moon^s sphere; the mountain'' s top; we have the nouns sun^ raoon^ and mountain in the genitive, or possessive case singular. But the nominative case plural of these nouns is formed in the same way; thus, sunSy moons^ mountains. In Gaelic these two cases are formed by the slender vowel i, wliich, if the noun to be inflected ends in a slender consonant, appears in the form of a suffix. Thus "tir," landy forms its genitive case "tiri"; and "sraid," 46 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. a street^ forms its genitive case "sraidi." In the phrase "ceann tiri," we find that the first noun, ^'ceann," a head, end, or terminus, is in its nominative case, and the accompanying noun, "tir," land, is in its genitive case (tiri), and we conclude, from this, that the second noun simply possesses the first; or, in other words, that the first noun belongs, or pertains to the second. The second noun being thus the possessor, source, or origin of the first, must have its relationship signalized by being put in the so-called genitive case (tiri.) ''Ceann tiri" means, therefore, a head, end, or terminus belonging, or pertain- ing to the land — '''land^s end'' — as distinguished from a head, end, or terminus belonging, or pertaining to any tiling else. "Ceann sraidi," in like manner, means the head, terminus, or end of* a street. But the nominative case plural of these nouns is formed exactly the same as their genitive case singular ; thus, " tiri " means lands, and "sraidi" means streets. When the final consonant of the noun to be inflected is broad, instead of slender, the office of the genitive suffix, i, is to make that consonant slender in the genitive case ; consequently the i, in this instance, is not suffixed, but infixed. Thus, "cuas," a cave, forms its genitive "cuais" (not ''cuasi.") ; "ceol," music, forms its genitive "ceoil" (not "ceoli.") ; and " aol," li7ne, forms its genitive "aoil" (not "aoli.") It is in the inflection of nouns of this * There are, in English, two ways of expressing what in Gaelic is Icnown as the genitive relation. According to the native Saxon method, as has al- ready been shown, the possessing noun is indicated hy the suflSxed conson- ant 's: as "the sun's disk"; "the moon's sphere"; "the mountain's top." According to the other method, which has heen borrowed from the French, the possessing noun is denoted by having prefixed to it the preposition " of " ; as " the disk of the sun " ; " the sphere of the moon " ; " the top of the moun- tain." This preposition " of," which, grammaticallj' considei-ed, governs the following noun in the objective case, expi'esses the same idea of genitiveness or possession that in Gaelic and most other languages is indicated bj- a special suffix. Now, the question naturally suggests itself, how ic is that the ORTHOGRAPHY. 47 class, then, that the "triphthong of inflection," above referred to, is formed. When the final consonant of a noun in the nominative case is preceded by a diphthong, we see how that diphthong becomes a triphthong by the addition of the infixed i of the genitive case. Most of the Gaelic diphthongs, however, when they take this attenuating i after them, cannot stand in their triphthongal forms. Under the influence of the infixed i, they become excessively attenuated, sometimes dwindling down to single vowels, and sometimes disappearing alto- gether. For example, the diphthong ia is reduced to e ; thus "grian," the sun, becomes ''grein" (not "griain"): and ''ciall," sense, becomes "ceill," (not "ciailL") There are only five diphthongs which resist this excessive atten- uation ; namely, ua, ao, eo, iu, ea. The other diphthongs suffer modification, as may be seen from the following : — 1. The diphthong ia is reduced to e; thus: "grian" becomes "grein," not "griain." 2. The diphthongs ea (eu) and lo drop the con- sonant vowel ; thus : preposition and the suflSx can have the same signification? This can be an- swered only by assuming that the suffix, which is now indeed anomalous, was originally a preposition; and this we shall fijid scientifically to be the case. The only difference, in fact, between the preposition and the suffix is, that the latter is retained at the end of the noun, instead of being placed at the beginning, and points to a time in the development of language when all those particles which we now call prepositions were placed at the end of the nouns they go%'erned. According to this view of the matter, then, we see how such genitive expressions as " ceann tiri," land's end, and " ceann sraidi," street's end, may be resolved into the more intelligible " ceann i dtir," i. e., end in a land, and " ceann i sraid," i. e., end in a street. The student should here remember that the inflectional i when final is, in the modern language, changed to e : as " tire," " sraide," and is retained in the plural of dissyllabic nouns ending in a liquid, 1 n r, in which case the i is long — and the long i and the short e are never commutable. Examples: "miorbhail," a miracle, plural " miorbhaili " ; " cailin," a girl, plural " call- iui"; "fioghdoir," a weaver, plural "fioghdoiri." 48 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. "sgeiil" becomes "sgeil," not "sgeuil" or "sgeail.'* "siol" " "si'l," " "sioil" " "siil." 3. The three short diphthongs ea, eo, and iu drop both vowels ; thus : "fear" becomes "fir," not "feair." "deoch" " "digh" " "deoich." "flinch" " "flich"" "fliuich." In the old language, the diphthong ao (also written ae and oe) dropped one of its vowels; thus "maor," "maer," or "moer" became "mair" or "moir," instead of the modern "maoir," "maeir," or "moeir." And this, it should be noted, is in strict accordance with the modern pronunciation, where, as we have seen, the ao loses its diphthongal sound in its triphthongal or attenuated form. DIPHTHONGS OF INFLECTION. In the same manner as triphthongs are formed in the process of inflection of some nouns so also are diphthongs formed. If the final consonant of a noun in the nomin- ative case is immediately preceded bj a single broad vowel, a o or u, and the attenuating i is inserted in form- ing the genitive case, it gives rise to the diphthong ai, oi, or ui. For example, " bad," a boat^ becomes in the gen- itive case "baid:" "port," a harbor, becomes "poirt:" and "dun," a fort, becomes "duin," When the broad vowel of the nominative is long (accented), as in the above words, it resists the modifying influence of the attenuating i; but when the vowel is short it suffers a decided modification. The vowels a and o are both changed to u (the sound of u being naturally more atten- uated than that of a or o) while the vowel u itself re- mains unchanged. Thus "brat," a mantle, becomes ORTHOGRAPHY. 49 "bruit,"' (not "brait") and "port," a tune^ becomes "puirt" (not "poirt.") This change of the broad vowel of the nominative is, in reality, only a method of showing that the infixed i is prominent in the newly-formed diphthong. Hence it is that some Gaelic writers do not change the broad vowel (a or o) of the nominative at all: and with very good reason, for it is generally understood that the i is always, with few exceptions, the prominent vowel in a short diph- thong of inflection. In the Munster dialect, the infixed i is long in a mono- syllabic word ending in 11 or nn; as "crann," a tree^ gen. "crainn" (or "criiinn"), pron. kreen. "poll," a liole^ gen. "poill" (or "puill"), pron. pueel. (See page 10.) The student will not fail to recognize in the internal change of words in Gaelic something similar to the in- flection which in English changes mouse into mice^ man into men^ strike into stroke^ break into broke, etc. In Gaelic the internal vowel change is, however, governed by rule, while in English it is not governed by rule. The following vocabular}^, which is composed of both monosyllables and dissyllables, is intended to give further illustration of the sounds of the five triphthongs. The two triphthongs iui and iai are found in only a few words. Vocabulary. uair, an hour; time. gruaim, surliness, gloom. duals, a reward. saoi, a sage. baois, folly. draoi, a druid, ivizard. suairc, pleasant, joyful. uain, leisure; time. stuaim, steadiness, sobriety. caoin, gentle, mild. aois, an age. daoi, a dullard. 50 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. beoir, heer. treoir, guidance. deoin, will^ consent, stiuir, a steer, ciuin, silent^ still. tuairim, impression^ opinion. tuairisg, tidings. cluain, a lawn^ glade. daoirse, bondage^ slavery. saoirse, freedom^ liberty. maoilinn, a knoll. ■ feoirlinn, a farthing. dreoilm, a wren. gleoite, neat^ nice. neoin, evening; noon. feoil, meat^ flesh. geoin, tumult, noise. biail, an axe. spiaire, a spy. cluairean, mumbling. uaine, green. cuaiseud a closet. calaois, cheat, guile. caoine, a lament. faoileann, a sea gul. breoite, sick. coinnleoir, a candle-stick, gleoism, a prattler. EXERCISE IV. 1. Ta an uain fuar. 2. Ta tu ceart: ta an uain fuar agus flinch. 3. Ta an brat uaine agus ta an crann ard. 4. Ta daoirse olc agus ta saoirse suairc. 5. Feoil ur agus an eat ban. 6. Ta an cat ban breoite. 7. Fear ciuin, bad agus an stiuir. 8. Cluairean sior, fear crion agus feoirlinn. 9. Coinnleoir ard. 10. Ta calaois olc. 11. Cnoc ard agus ceo, maoilinn agus cluain. 12. Ta an tuairisg olc. 13. Ta an draoi glic. 14. Ta an sgeul fior. 15. Beoir agus gruaim agus cluairean sior. 16. An dreoilm binn. 17. Ta an ceol suairc. 18. Ta tu ceart: ta se binn, suairc. 19. Ait ard. 20. Ta an ait ard glan agus ta an dun mor arsa. 21. Cnoc agus maoilinn lom. 22. Cnoc ard. 23. Ta an cnoc ceannard. 24. Baois a's mortus, bord a's cat, Draoi a's ros deas, bron a's brat. 25. Gruaim a's daoirse, saoirse 's siur, Cluain deas, mm, agus maoilinn ur. ORTHOGRAPHY. 51 26. Ta 'n mala Ian, Ta 'n capall ban, Ta 'n giusta borb, A's ta 'n colm fann. 27. Ta 'n dan deas, gleoite. An sgeol 's an bard; Ta 'n cat ban breoite, 'S ta 'n ros ceannard. Translatio7i, 1. The weather (time) is cold. 2. You are right: the weather is cold and wet. 3. The cloak is green and the tree is tall. 4. Slavery is bad and freedom is pleasant. 5. Fresh meat and the white cat. 6. The white cat is sick. 7. A reticent (silent) man, a boat and the steer. 8. Perpetual mumbling, a decrepit man and a farthing. 9. A tall candlestick. 10. Guile is bad. 11. A high hill and mist, a knoll and a lawn. 12. The account (tidings) is bad. 13. The druid is cunning. 14. The story is true. 15. Beer and surliness and perpetual mumbling. 16. The melodious wren. 17. The music is pleasant. 18. You are right: it is melodious and pleasant. 19. A high place. 20. The high place is clean and the large fort is ancient. 21. A bare hill and knoll. 22. A high hill. 23. The hill is prominent (lit high-headed.) (Nos. 24, 25, 26 and 27 are in metre.) Translate the Following twelve Sentences into Gaelic. 1. The cat is young. 2. The tree is green. 3. Fresh bread is sweet. 4. The cat and the dove are white and the horse is black. 5. It is bad. 6. He is cunning. 7. She is pretty. 8. We are right. 9. They are white. 10. The tall grass is green. 11. The young horse is sick and he i>; weak and wear}^ 12. A white thing is clean. ASPIRATION AND ECLIPSIS. LESSON V. I. ASPIKATION, OR, MUTABLE CONSONANTS. The nine mutable consonants — b, c, d, f, g, m, p, s, t, — are so called because they lose their radical sounds or timbres and assume other sounds apparently foreign to themselves. In this altered condition they are called aspirates^ and are distinguished by having an h placed immediately after them ; thus bh, ch, dh, fh, gh, mh, ph, sh, th * ( See remarks on the letter 7i, page 2.) The secondary, or aspirate, sounds which these consonants as- sume may be gathered from the following : — *The consonants that are aspirated at present were un-aspirated, or radi- cal, in ancient times ; and this holds true not only of Gaelic, but of every lan- guage in which aspirated consonants occur. The modern English word " church," in Anglo-Saxon or Old English, was spelt and pronounced " cure," with the c radical, like k; and this old pronunciation yet lives in the Scottish "kirk." The aspirate sound of a consonant is, in reality, a corruption of its radical sound ; nevertheless, in some instances, the derivative aspirate sound has been accorded the rank and title of an independent alphabetic consonant- The aspirate sound of a consonant in English and most modern languages, is denoted by having an h postfixed to the radical consonant thus changed or corrupted. In English, there are, at present, five consonants the aspirate sounds of which are indicated in this way. These are c, g, p, s, t. The radi- cal, or alphabetic, sounds of these consonants are exemplified in the words "can," "rug," "pant," "sip," "tan,"; and their aspirate, or secondary, sounds are exemplified in the words " chant," " rough," " phantom," " ship," "than," In some languages, as in Greek, the aspirate sounds of old radi- cals are denoted by having new letters invented to represent them, and conse- quently they are looked upon as independent consonants in writing. Thus in ORTHOGRAPHY. 53 Bh and Mh. Bh and Mh both take the sound of v, with the follow- ins: modifications : I. Bh, or mh, broad, sounds like v broad or thick (which sound approaches that of w at the beginning of a word or syllable); as "dubh," black Qpron. dhuv^; ''lamh," a hand (jpron. lauv) "garbh," rough (^pron. garuv)\ "talamh," land {jpron, thalav)-, "a bhord," his table (^pron. a voardh or a woardh); "amhac," his son (^pron, a vak or a wak); "gabhail," conquest (^pron. ga-vauil or ga-wauil}; "amhain," onl^ (^pron, a-vauin or a-wauin.^ Greek, for instance, the guttural ch has a special letter to represent it, made in the shape of an x. So also have the ph and th each a special letter, bearing no resemblance in shape or form to the radical letter from ^vhich it has been phonetically derived. In Hebrew, also, the aspirates have new letters to ex- press their sounds; but in all cases the new aspirate letters, in Hebrew, bear a striking resemblance, in form, to their primitive radicals, of which they are modifications graphically as well as phonetically. The old English, or Anglo-Saxons, adopted the same expedient in regard to the Gaelic aspirates bh, mh, dh gh, sh, th. The aspirate sound of bh and mh they represented by T, (sometimes by w, which is but a broadening of the v sound), and the aspi- rate sound of dh and gh they repx-esented by y. The aspirates sli and th they represented by h. Thus the English word " worry " is an obvious corruption of an older form in which the initial w is either a b or an m, and the final y either a d or a g. Now, this ancient form we find well preserv^ed in the Gaelic "buaireadh," pronounced very nearly "borry"; but when the initial, under certain circumstances, is aspirated, it is pronounced " vorry," or, according to the Connacht method, " worry." The English pronoun " he," in like man- ner, presupposes an older form in which the initial h is either an s or a t (it might also be a ch, as we shall see later on) ; and this form we find preserved in the Gaelic " se," the masculine pronoun of the third person. The aspirate sounds of radical consonants are undoubtedly best denoted by having attached to the radicals themselves a conventional mark (such as the h or the dot), or else by having their form so slightly altered as not to disguise the original identity; such, for instance, as the W and the M in Ger- man, and most of the aspirates and the radicals in Hebrew. The h as a mark of aspiration in Gaelic print, has been objected to as occurring too frequently, and as occupying too much space. For this very reason, the scribes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries omitted the h altogether and instead placed a point or "dot" over the aspii'ated consonant. The dot in all such cases, however, only indicated the omission of the h; for it was used by the old scribes in the same capacity as that in which the apostrophe is used at present (see foot-note, page 37.) The general use of the dot, instead of the h. 54 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. II. Bh, or mh, preceded by a (short) and followed by another short vowel, or a consonant, has, in the first syllable of a word, the vowel sound of u in rule ; which, in union with the preceding a, produces a diphthongal sound like au in German or ow in the English word 'power \ as "gabhar," a goat (^pron. gower); "ramhar," in modern Gaelic print, while it saves time and space, does not lessen one iota the objections that are urged against the whole system of aspiration. Too many dots are as objectionable, and are as embarrassing to the eye, as too many h's. The mutables b, m, d, g, occur so frequently in their aspir- ated condition, that the radical sounds of these letters outside of the initials of words — which are never aspirated — is the exception rather than the rule- It were far more convenient, therefore, to mark or dot the b, m, d, g, when radical than to have them, as they now are, marked in every case in which they are aspirated. Any one of these four mutables, in Old Gaelic, whenever it did not form the initial consonant of a word, was understood to bear its aspirated sound; and whenever it got the exceptional radical sound, the letter was doubled. The double mutable consonant, therefore, represented the radical sound, the single mutable consonant the aspirate sound. This ingenious method of treating aspiration, which dispenses with two-thirds of the number of h's, or dots, used in modern Gaelic books, is observable in the most ancient manuscripts we possess. In order, therefore, that the student may be enabled to read those manuscripts and published works of ancient Gaelic, the system of aspiration which is found in them is given concisely as follows : The aspirate sound of bh is represented by a single b, and the radical sound of the same letter is represented by pp (or bb) ; while the aspirate sound of p itself is represented by ph, and the radical sound by a single p. The aspirate sound of dh is represented by a single d, and the radical sound by tt; while the aspirate sound of t itself is represented by th, and the radical sound by a single t. The aspirate sound of gh is represented by a single g, and the radical sound by cc; while the aspirate sound of c itself is repre- sented by ch, and the radical sound by a single c. The letter s is never aspirated in the middle or at the end of a word, hence a single s, in whatever position, has always the radical sound. The letters f and p are practically initial letters; hence whenever either of these consonants occurs in the middle of a word, as is frequently the case in the Ogham inscriptions, it represents the aspirate bh. The ff, in like man- ner, represents the aspirate mh. In most manuscript works the aspirate mh is, of course, represented by a single m, and the radical sound by mm. When, however, the single m is immediately preceded by 1, n, r, s, or ch, it is radi- cal in sound. The mutables b and d are also radical in this position. The letter t is practically an initial letter also; hence in some old manu- scripts it is employed, instead of tt, in the middle and at the end of words, to represent the softer sound of d radical. When, however, the t is immedi- ately preceded by 1, n, r, s, or ch, it has its radical or initial sound. The initial euphonic aspiration, which is so prevalent in modern Gaelic text, either did not obtain so frequently in the older text, or else it was, on account of its transient nature, entirely ignored. ORTHOGRAPHY. 55 plump (^pron. rower) ; "leabhar," a book (^pron. Vower); " meamhair," memory (^pron. m^ow-ir) ; "feabhra," Feb- Tuary (^pron. fowra) ; "samhra," Summer (^pron. sowra.) Bh, or mh, in the same position, in the second syl- lable of a word, or when immediately preceded by 1, n, r,t has the pure vowel sound of u in rule^ or that of w in renewal; as " duilleabhar," foliage (^pron. dku-lure); "fearamhail," manly Qpron. fa-rule) \ "gealbhan," a sparrow (^pron. g'a-loon ) ; " ionmhain," dear (^pron. in- noo'n ) ; " Cearbhall," Carroll (^pron, h^a-rule.) t A consonant immediately preceding or following the aspirate (bh or mh) is the result of syncopation. The word "gealbhan" is a syncopated form of " gealabhan," and " samhra " a syncopated form of " samhara." According to this view of the matter, then, we see that bh or mh is vocalized only when preceded and followed by a (short). The substance of Rule II., given above, might therefore be more concisely stated thus: — abha or amha in the first syllable of a word sounds like ow (or ou in our) ; in the second syllable it sounds like ew (or ou in your). The diphthongal sound of ow (or ou) is not as natural to the Gaelic lan- guage as it is to the German. Hence in Gaelic the sound is permitted to ex- ist only in the first syllable of a word, while in the second syllable it is re- duced to the vowel sound of u. This elimination of the diphthongal sound has a few analogies even in English, Compare the words renounce and i-e- nunciation, denounce and denunciation, etc., and you will find that among the differences between them not the least important is the elimination of the diphthongal sound, ou. While this sound never occurs outside of the first syllable in a Gaelic word, there are, on the contrary, two words in common use in which the sound is eliminated (i. e. reduced to u) even in the first syl- lable. These are "tabhairt," to give (pron. thoo-irt) and "abhall," an apple (pron. ool). But, however, when these words take a suffix and become dis- syllables, tlie diphthongal sound is heard; as "tabharthas," a gift (pron. thow- arhas) ; " abhall -ghort," an orchard (pron. owl-'orth.) It may be well to inform the learner that the vowel sound of bh or mh is a mcdei'n development. In the old language these aspirates were inva- riably articulated (like v) in positions where, in the spoken language of the present daj', they get the simple sound of u or the compound sound of ou. The old pronunciation prevailed longer in Munster than in any of the other provinces, and even as late as the latter half of the last century Gaelic speakers of Coi-k and Kerry were noted for their tendency to articulate the bh and mh in the two positions mentioned in Rule 11. Thus " gabhar," a goat, was pronounced ga-var (in two syllables), and " fearamhail," manly, was pronounced far-ra-vhil (in three syllables). Even at the present day this old pronunciation is sometimes heard, but it is confined mainly to poetry. There is, however, one word in common use — viz., "amharc," a glance — which gives a good example of the articulated aspirate, the word being universally pronounced, as far as I know, in two syllables — a-vark (not owark). 56 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. III. Bh, or mh, preceded by o or u and followed by another short vowel,, or a consonant, is silent (like in olowing)^ in which case the preceding o or u is sounded long; as " comhai-sa," a neighbor (^pron. koarsa) ; "subh- ach," cheerful (^pron, sooch^ ; "umhal," humble (^pron, ool^; ''subhlach," juice (^pron, soo-lach^ ; "cumlira," fragrant (^pron. koo-ra.^* IV. Bh, or mh, preceded or followed by a long vowel or syllable, is always articulated (like v in Munster, like IV f in Connacht), and forms the first letter of the follow- ing syllable; as "crabhadh," piety ^ (^pron. krau-va or krau-wa) ; "diamhar," deep^ mystic (^pron. dea-var or dea- war~) I "faobhar," edge (^pron. fhay-var ot fhay-war') "gabhail," conquest (^pron. ga-vau'l ov ga-wau^l^ \ "subhailce," virtue (^pron, su-vau'l-ke or su-wau'l-ke^ ; "amhain," only (^pron. a-vaun or a-wau'n^ ; "diomhaoin," idle Qpron. dee-vheen or dee-ween,') *In the Munster dialect the bh and mh are quiescent not only after o and u, but also after the vowel i and long a and the long diphthongs ao, ia, ua, in a few words of common use; as "deimhin," certain (pron. dine); "Eibhlin," Ellen (pron. Ileen) ; " faobhar," edge (pron. faor) ; " cliamhain," a son-in-law (pron. klean) ; " uamhar," pride (pron. oo-ar.) When, however, the following vowel or diphthong is long the aspirate is sounded as it always ought to be. [See Rule IV.] t It may be well here to state that in speaking English some Irishmen give the English w the more radical sound of v. Thus " will " is pronounced " vill," and " wine " is pronounced " vine " ; but in compensation for this the V is in other words sounded like w; thus " vine " is pronounced " wine," and " voice " is pronounced " wice." The wh in some words gets the sound of f or ph; as when," pronoimced fen; " whei*e," pronounced fere "; but in com- pensation for this the f is, in other words, sounded like wh; as "fine," pro- nounced " whine," "fight," pronounced " whight," etc. This interchange of elemental sounds between two words is one of the most important pheno- mena in language. It is well illustrated in the Cockney dialect, in which the h is omitted from words to which it naturally belongs and inserted in other words to which it does not belong; thus "horse" becomes " 'orse," and "oats " becomes " boats." From this it will be seen that when a sound dis- appears from one word it reappears in another, and thus we have a veritable law of compensation; so that no elemental sound is absolutely lost. This conservation of sound in language bears a striking resemblance to what, in the physical world, is known as the conservation of matter. ORTHOGRAPHY. 57 V. Bh or mh, slender^ sounds like v slender or thin ; as "luibh," an herb (^pron. Ihuv); "nimh," poison (^pron. 7iiv); ''aoibhinn," delightful (^pron. ee-vin}; *'sgnbhinn," a loriting (^pron. shgree-vin); "doimhin," deep (^pron. dho-vin^; deimhin," eertain (^pron. devin.^ Ch. Ch takes a hissing guttural sound, like the German ch, with the following modifications : I. Ch, hroad^ has a rough or explosive guttural sound like ch in loch; as "loch," a lake; "luch," a mouse; *'macha," a plain; ''lacha," a duck; "mullach," a summit. II. Ch, slender^ has, in the beginning of a word, a light guttural, or rather palatal sound, like h in hue ; as "a chiall," his sense; "a cheann," his head. In the middle and end of a word it sounds more like the aspirate AinMunster; as "fiche," twenty (^i^ron. fihe) ; "seiche,'' a hide (pj-on. shehe)^; but in Connacht the analogical palatal sound is heard as in German. Dh a7id Gh. Dh and Gh both take the sound of y, with the follow- ing modifications : tTbe h i3 a natural secondarj-, or aspirate, sound of tbe ch. Most of the b's that appear in modern languages can be traced to the radical c (or k) of more ancient (i. e., better preserved) languages. Thus, for instance, the Latin -word "caput" is more primitive and far better preserved than the German " Haupt," which is a corruption of it; and the Gaelic word "cura" is more primitive than the English " hero." In both these instances we find the radical c dwindling down into the aspirate h. Nearly all the h's in Hebrew are traceable to the c (or k); and the old Assyrian language, of which the Hebrew is only a corrupt dialect, still holds the i-adical guttural where, in Hebrew, we find the aspirate h. We have, then, three radical consonants, s, t, and c, any one of which may be the origin of the modern h. 58 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. I. Dh or gh, broad, when a consonant — which it al- ways is at the beginning of a word — sounds like ^ broad or thick; as "mo dhan," mi/ poem (^pron. mu t/haun^ ; " mo ghort," mi/ field (^pron. mu yhorth,') II. Dh or gh preceded by a (short) and followed by a vowel or consonant, has, in the FIKST syllable of a word, the vowel sound of i in machine ; which, in union with the preceding a, produces a diphthongal sound, like ai in aisle; as ''adharc," a horn (^pr on. eye-ark) \ "radharc," sight (^pron. rye-ark) ; "Tadhg," Timothy (^pron, thyg) \ "Sadhbh," Sahia (^pron. seyev.) Dh or gh in the same position in the second syllable of a word, or when immediately preceded by d, 1, n, r, has the pure vowel sound of i in machine; as "ealadha,*' science (^pron. al-lee-a) ; "feadghal," whistling (^pron. fa-dhee-al) ; "loilgheach," a milch cow (^pron. lo-lee-ach) : ''inghean," a daughter (^pron. ; .''garrdha,'' a garden (^pron, gar-ree-a)^ When the preceding a is long (accented) the dh or gh is treated as a silent consonant; as ^'sidheiil,^^ pleasure (^2^'^on, saiv-il); ''bragha," a breast (^pron. braiv.) *Tbe substance of Rule II., as given above, might be more concisely stated tbus: Dh or gh in the first sjilable of a -word, has the vowel sound of y in " eye " ; in the second syllable it has the vowel sound of y in " Assjrria," Another way still in which the rule might be stated would be: adh(a) or agh(a) in the first syllable of words, sounds like ai in "aisle"; in the second syllable it sounds like single i. From this it will be seen that the diphthongal sound of ai, like the diphthongal sound of ou (for Avhich see footnote, page 55) cannot stand in the second syllable of a Gaelic word. According to the modem orthographj-, the aspirate dh or gh, when it occurs outside the first syllable of a word, is not a vowel; in this position it is generally treated as a silent consonant; and, to account for the vowel sound, the vowel i is inserted before it; thus "ealadha" is now generally written " ealaidhe." The old plural ending " adha " is now always written " idhe." Hence such old plural forms as " maladha," bags, and " fileadha," poets, r.re now written " malaidhe," "filidbe," etc. In the old language, the aspirates dh and gh did not have precisely the same sound, except at the beginning of words. While the gh was sounded as y (vowel or consonant) as indicated in the above rules, the dh was, in the ORTHOGRAPHY. .59 III. Dh or gh, preceded by o or u and followed by a vowel or consonant, is silent : in which case the preceding o or u is sounded long; as "bodhar," deaf (^pron. hoar) ; " rogha," a choice (^pron, roa); "foghlaim," learning (^pron, foal-lim-\); "pudliair," blemish (^pron. poo-ir^l "ughdar," an author (^pron, oo-dhar). [In this case, it is the contiguity of the vowel following the silent aspi- rate, and not the silent aspirate itself, that helps to leng- then the preceding o or u.] Dh or gh preceded by a long diphthong is also silent, but the increase in the quantity of the preceding diph- thong, occasioned by the following vowel, is not in this case as perceptible as it is in the case of the preceding o or u. Examples: "saoghal," the world; "buadliach," victorious; " criadhaire," a laborer; " Eoghan," Eugene; '*leigheann," literature; "fioghar," a figure ; "caidheach," polluted; "oighe," ^;^V^^?^s; " tuidhean,'* fl^ ^wmV ; "liugh- adh," screaming. IV. Dh or gh, slender^ Avhen a consonant, is sounded like y slender or thin; as "mo dheoin," my consent; "mo gheug," my arm^. y. Dh or gh j^receded by i and followed by a vowel or consonant, is silent, causing the preceding i to be middle of words, sounded like the aspirate b, or tli. Hence in old manu- scripts the dli is often ■written where, in modern texts, the th would be used. In Connacht, the aspirate dh or gh, when immediately followed by 1, m, n, or r, in the first syllable of words, is treated as a silent consonant, the pre- ceding a being long in sound; as " adhlacadh," burial, (pron. aw-laka); "adhmad," timber (pron. aw-mudh) ; "adhradh," adoration (pron. aw-ra.) Such words as these, however, are only syncopated forms and should follow the general rule. t In the Munster dialect, the vowel o in this position, gets the diphthongal sound of ou (or ow); as "bodhar" (pron. bower); "rogha" (pron. row); "foghlaim" (pron. fowlim.) 60 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. sounded long; as "slighe," away; "dlighe," a law; "croidhe," a heart; '•feidhm," an effort \ "buidhe," yellow.* YI. Dh or gh final is absolutely silent, and has no in- fluence over the preceding vowel; as "margadh," a bar- gain (^pron. mar-ga^; '•magadh," mockery (^pron. ma- ga'); deireadh," ■ aw eyid (^pron. der-re^; "samhradh," Summer (^pron, soiv-ra^; ''gradh," love (^pron. graw^ ; "tmigh," a strand (^pron. traw^; "faidh," a prophet Qj^fon, faw ^ \ "troigh," afoot (^pron. thro'' or thrV ^ ; "iarraidh," asking Qpron. ear-ri or ear-ra^ ; "Eochaidh," Hugo (^pron. ochi or ocha.)^ Fh. Fh is always silent, but the vowel or consonant follow- ing it is forcibly sounded ; as "mairt-fheoil," beef (^pron. moL rt oivil^; " muic-flieoil," jt?(?rA: Qpron. mu'k owil.^ Fh is never final in a word, nor does it occur in the middle of any word except a compound. * Tbe vowel i is not lengthened before a silent aspirate, when it occurs in any of the triphthongs uai, iai, eoi, iui, or in any of the improper diphthongs when the accompanying prominent vowel is long; as in the words "leigh. eann," literature; "caidheach," polluted; "oighe," %T:rgins; etc. When the prominent vowel is short, then the i becomes long, sometimes — as iu ei — assuming the diphthongal sound of i in the English word " fire." The other exception to this rule are passive participles of verbs of the second conjugation ending in "ighthe," in which termination the i is always short; as " arduighthe," elevated, " orduighthe," ordered. t In West Munster, the dh or gh final is often sounded like g (hard). This generally occurs when a word ending in dh or gh is followed by another word beginning with a vowel, in which case it becomes necessary that the silent letter at the end of the preceding word should assume its consonantal sotmd to prevent a hiatus. Kow, it is impossible to maintain the y sound, as a consonant, at the end of a word, hence the cognate sovmd of g (radical) given to the dh or gh final. Examples: " Feadli na h-oidhche." throughout the night (pron. fa na heehe) ; " feadh an lae," throughout the day (pron. fag an lhay) ; " d' imthigh na fir," the men went (pron. dimmi na fir) ; " d' imthigh an fear" the man went (pron. dimmig an far.) The proper sound of dh or gb, in this situation, is a light guttural, pailaking both of the consonantal ORTHOGRAPHY. 61 Ph. Ph takes the sound of ph or/; as "a phus," his lip; "a phort," his tune. Sh and Th. Sh and th both take the sound of Ji; as "shuas," above (^pron. Jioo-as') ; "brathair," a brother (^pron. braw-hir.') Sh never ends a word, and occurs in the middle of com- pounds only. The letter s never admits of being aspir- ated except when followed by a vowel or an immutable consonant ( 1, n, r.) Th final is faintly sounded, except when the following word begins with a vowel. sound of y and the aspirate sound of h. This sound the student can easily arrive at, by pronouncing the dh or gh final as if it formed the initial letter of the following word, somewhat after the manner of the French liaison." In Connacht, the hiatus is avoided, not by articulating the final aspirate of the preceding word, but by lengthening the vowel immediately preceding that aspirate ; as " d' imthigh an fear," (pron. dim-mee an far.) This method of preventing a hiatus is sometimes used in English. The definite ai'ticle, the," for instance, when placed before a word beginning with a consonant, has the vowel e very short in sound; as " the man," the book," " the time " ; but when placed before a word beginning with a vowel, there is a perceptible lengthening of the e sound, to prevent a hiatus; as "the ocean," "the altar," "the air." From this we see, then, that when two vowels come together, there are two ways of preventing a hiatus between them ; viz., (1) By leng- thening one of the vowels (generally the preceding one) ; (2) by interposing a consonantal sound. The aspirate dh is always employed at the end of certain tenses of the verb, and in this position it would seem to demand a decided consonantal aiticulation, whether the following word begin -with a vowel or not. In the past indefinite (or habitual) tense, it sounds like ch; as " do bhuaileadh se," he used to strike; "do ghlanadh se," he used to clean. In the past tense, definite, of the Passive Voice (which is the same in form as the past inde- finite of the Active Voice, with the exception of the absence of the initial aspiration) it sounds like g (hard) in most parts of 3Iunster, but in the countj- Kerry it sounds like mh, and sometimes like ch; as "do buaileadh e," he was struck; " do glanadh e," it was cleaned. In Connacht, the dh at the end of a verb gets no consonantal sound whatever, but, as above stated, the preceding vowel is lengthened in sound, the vowel a being sounded like u; as "do buaileadh e," he was struck (pron. dhu boo-loo a.) 62 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. Aspiration, in the sense in which it is used here, means the softening of the radical sound of a consonant, for the sake of euphony or ease of utterance. When two words are united in forming a compound, the second usually suffers a softening or aspiration of its initial consonant ( if that consonant be of the aspirabe or mutable class.) Thus "treun," noble and "croidhe," a hearty form the compound " treun-chroidheach," noble-hearted: in which the initial c of "croidhe " suffers aspiration, to enable the two words to blend together more smoothly and form a composite whole. So also " mor-chroidheach," big-hearted; "geur-shuileach,"' sharp-eyed. When the second part of the compound begins with d or t, and the first part ends in d, t, s, 1, or n, aspiration does not take place, as the blending of these lingual letters Ls considered euphonic enough \\dthout aspiration. The necessity of euphony in language is the main cause of aspiration. There is, however, another necessity, equally urgent, which occasions aspiration — generally of the final consonant of a word — and that is the necessity of differentiation. The adjective "anamh," rare^ for in- stance, has been differentiated from the noun "anam,'* a soul, by having the final consonant aspirated; and the noun "cath," a battle, has been differentiated from the noun "cat,'' a cat, in the same way. When, therefore, a word has been differentiated in meaning, a corresponding differentiation must take place in its sound, and this is conveniently brought about by aspirating one of its con- sonants. The initial consonant of a word is never aspirated either for the sake of euphony or differentiation. All Gaelic words, then, taken individually, have their initials radical. There are a few words which appear with affected initials such as ''shuas," above, "shios," belozv, and "chum,'' to or ORTHOGRAPHY. 63 for ; but these affected consonants are not the real initials of those words, which are but corruptions of the older compounds "ba-shuas," "ba-shios," "do-chum." The sound which an aspirate consonant has in a simple or primitive word does not change when the simple word forms part of a compound or derivative. The compound " glan-radharcach," clear-sighted^ is pronounced glan-rey- erkach (^not glan-reerkach^ ; and " deagh-labhartha," well- spoken^ is pronounced da-lowrha (^not da-loorha.) The exception to this rule are primitive words ending in bh or mh preceded by r, o, or u. The primitive " garbh," roughs is pronounced garav^ but the derivative "garbhas" comes under the general rule, being pronounced ga-roos (^not gar-vas.^ The primitive "dubh," blacky is pronounced dhuv, but the derivative " ur-dhubhadh," obscuration, is pronounced oor-yhoo (^not oor-ghuva.} Under this head, also, may be classed proper nouns and verbs ending in dh or gh, which, when they take an additional syllable in the course of inflection, change the vowel a of the last syl- lable into u; as "Murchadh," Murcha, "mac Murchudha," (genitive) son of 3furcha ; "ardaigh," elevate, "ardugh- adh, elevation. II. ECLIPSIS. Eclipsis is the complete or partial suppression of the sound of a consonant by the influence of another con- sonant of softer timbre placed immediately before it ; as appears in the combination mn in hymn, condemn, and 7nb in lamb, limb, etc. This suppression of the sound of the second consonant by the influence of the first, is called, in the old Gaelic grammars, " ur-dhubhadh," which word literally means obscuration or eclipsis. There are in Gael- ic eight combinations of eclipsis; viz., mb, gc, nd, bhf, ng, bp, dt, (ts). 64 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. The letter n does not completely eclipse the letter g, as both consonants are distinctly sounded, like ng in song. The combination nd has the force of nn. A combination of eclipsis, like aspiration, never appears, at the beginning of an individual word, and never at the end except ng, and in the old manuscripts nd, now repre- sented by nn. Eclipsis, therefore, takes place when words are compounded, but it is generally confined to cases where words are compounded with the negative prefix "eu,"n(?^;as "eugcoir," injustice (from "eu," not and "coir," y^s^zcg) ; "eudtrom," light (from " eu," tio^ and "trom," heavy. ^ The negative particle "di," which, like all such prefixes, has the power of causing aspiration, causes eclipsis when the following consonant is a b; as "diombuan," transient (from "di," not and "buan," lasting.^ The privative "an," eclij)ses the consonant f and aspirates all others; as "ainbhfios," ignorance (from "an," not and "fios," knowledge.^ The English privative in causes a change somewhat like the Gaelic eclipsis ; thus in-possible becomes impossible, in-personal becomes impersonal, and so forth. Eclipsis, like aspiration, means the modification of the radical sound of a consonant from hard to soft. The main difference between these two modifications is, that one is a degree softer than the other. Aspiration is marked, as we have seen, by an h placed after, or a dot placed over, the consonant affected ; and eclipsis is mark- ed by having the consonant expressing the secondary sound placed before the consonant assuming that sound. Both aspiration and eclipsis, it will be seen, are based on the same principle — that of euphony, or ease of utter- ance — the difference between them being one of degree only. ORTHOGRAPHY. 65 Vocabulary. The following vocabulary is intended to illustrate the phenomena of Aspiration and Eclipsis. Every word therein given contains at least an aspirated or an eclipsed consonant. lamh, a hand. samh, sedate, luach, p7'ice, value, breagh, fiiie, beautiful, adh, luck, traigh, a strand. cruaidh, hard; steel, rath, a rath. ath, a ford. dubhan, a kidney, sglabhaidhe, a laborer, dubhach, melancholy, taobh, a side. uamhan, terror, leamh, raw^ fresh. craoiseach, a javelin, baoghal, danger, buidhe, yellow, lomhaigh, image, lathair, a site^ leathar, leather, cathaoir a chair. arthach, a vessel^ ship, diombuan, transient^ eugcoir, injustice^ lan-tsasamli, full-satisfaction. coimheasgar, a conflict. dubh, black, damh, an ox, seiche, a hide, sleagh, a spear, fleadh, a feast, troigh, afoot, aghaidh, a face, rath, prosperity, teith, hot., warm, abha, a river, cabhair, help, meabhair, mind., mentality. leabhar, a book, lanamha, a couple, leamhnacht, fresh milk, bruighean, feud^ strife, bliadhain, a year. laoigh-flieoii, veal. leath-phigin, a half -penny, mathair, a mother, cathair, a city, soitheach, a vessel; barrel, leathan, broad. ainbhfios, ignorance^ teanga, a tongue^ language, eudtrom, light. taoiseach, a chieftain 66 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. EXERCISE K 1. Ta an teanga arsa. 2. Samhradh breagh, teith. 3. Ta laoigh-fheoil saor. 4. Leabhar agas fios, ceist agus ainbhfios. 5. Fear diomhaoin, damh dubb agus baoghal. 6. An galar buidhe. 7". Ath agus abba agus Samhradh breagh, teith. 8. Ta an abha leathan. 9. Solas buan agus cuan breagh, fear agus lomhaigh. 10. Ta an leabh- ar ag^s an mala eudtrom. 11. Ta an sglabhaidhe dall, agus ta se fann, lag. 12. Ta an ceol arsa, agus ta se breagh, binn. 13. Urlar cruaidh agus doras leathan. 14. Ta an talamh saor agus ta an cios daor. 15. Cios ard. 16. Fear agus capall, talamh agus cios. 17. Aran saor. 18. Ughdar 6g agus leabhar deas. 19. Ta ainbhfios olc. 20. Ta an sgian geur agus ta an sglabhaidhe umhal. 21. Gort a's giusta, siur a's mathair. Port a's curam, dun a's lathair. 22. Ta 'n coinnleoir ard a's ta 'n mala mor, Ta 'n inghean breagh a's ta 'n folt tiugh, borr. Translation. 1. The language is ancient. 2. A fine, warm Summer. 3. Veal is cheap. 4. A book and knowledge, a question and ignorance. 5. A ti idle man, a black ox and danger. 6. The yellow disease (^jaundice.') 7. A ford and a river and a fine, warm Summer. 8. The river is wide. 9. Perpetual comfort and a fine harbor, a man and an image. 10. The book and the bag are light. 11. The laborer is blind (or dull), and he is weary and weak. 12. The music is ancient, and it is fine aiid melodious. 13. A hard floor and a wide door. 14. The land is cheap and the rent is dear. 15. High rent. 16. A man and a hcrse, land and rent. 17. Cheap bread. 18. A young author and a pretty book. 19. Ignorance is bad. 20. The knife is sharp and the workingman is humble. INITIAL ASPIRATION AND ECLIPSIS. LESSON VI. We have already seen that Gaelic words, when taken separately, have their initials radical: i. e., unaffected by aspiration or eclipsis. When, however, words are strung together in a sentence, they so affect one another that the initial consonants of some words are sometimes affected — aspirated or eclipsed — by the influence of other words immediately going before them. The words which are susceptible of having their initials affected in this manner are the Nouns, Adjectives, and Verbs ; and the words which have the power of influencing them are the Part- icles, that is, the uninflectional element in the language. For example, the possessive pronouns, singular, "mo," my^ "do," thy^ and "a," his^ cause aspiration of the initial consonant of the following noun; while their plural forms " ar," our^ " bhur," your^ and " a," their^ cause eclipsis, as may be seen from the following : — mo bhad, my boat. ar mbad, our boat. do bhad, thy boat, bhur mbad, your boat, a bhad, his boat. a mbad, their boat, a bad, her boat ( causes no change,') 68 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. From the foregoing it will be seen that a mutable con- sonant, when initial, is susceptible of assuming three dis- tinct sounds, according to the nature of the particle that precedes and affects it. These are: (1) the radical sound, (2) a softer sound, called eclipsis, (3) a softer sound still, called aspiration. This mutability of the initial consonant of a word, under the influence of a preceding and independent word, which forms the subject of the present lesson, is to be clearly distinguished from the change which a mutable consonant suffers when two words enter into composition, as exemplified in Lesson V. ; and yet the modification of the consonant in both these instances is based on the same principle — that of euphony, or ease of utterance. When two words are brought together in the formation of a compound term, we can easily see that, as both com- ponents of the term are closely connected, a principle of euphony — as also a principle of differentiation — requires that the initial consonant of the second word be affected, to enable both words to fuse together and become incor- porated the more smoothly. We can easily see also that, by an extension of this rule, it will be made to include words which, though independent, are closely connected in a sentence. Now, as a particle, from its nature and office, is a word which, in many cases, is closely connected in thought and even in expression mth the more promi- nent word to which it pertains : so much so, indeed, that both may be said to form constituent parts of a single term ; it will not seem strange that certain particles, thus logically and grammatically connected with the words following them, should have the power of affecting the initials of these words, on the principle of euphony al- ready referred to. So well was this fact understood by the ancient scribes, and so solicitous were they to impress ORTHOGRAPHY. 69 it on the mind of the reader that, in the manuscript works which they wrote, they usually incorporated the particles with the words following them. Such incorporated par- ticles have now come to be called Proclitics^ wliich they really are. In modern writings, it will be observed, of course, that the particles are never incorporated with the words following them, but are always written out anal}^- tically; notwithstanding that, however, the fact remains that they are proclitic : that is, that they are closely con- nected in thought and expression with the words whose initials they affect. How far this affection of the initial consonants of in- dependent words is prevalent in other languages, and how far it may be supposed to be a characteristic of language in general, may be now considered. The following ex- tract from Prichard's Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations (page 27), will bear some testimony on this point: — " It is a habit common to many of the Indo-European languages to interchange certain letters according to rules founded originally on euphony, or on the facility of utter- ance ; and from this circumstance arises the great capa- bility which these languages possess, of composition, or the formation of compound words. The substitution of consonants of particular orders for their cognates, which takes place in Greek, in the composition of words, and in some other instances, is an example of this peculiarit}^ In Greek, in Latin, and in the German dialects, the mutation of consonants is confined to words brought to- gether under very peculiar circumstances, as chiefly when they enter into the formation of compound terms, and it is scarcely observed in words which still remain distinct, and are merely constituent parts of sentences. Either the attention to euphony, and the ease of utterance, has not extended so far, or the purpose was attained by a change of collocation, the words themselves remaining unaltered. But in the Sanscrit language, words merely in sequence have an influence upon each other in the change of ter- 70 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. minations, and sometimes of initial letters, on the prin- ciple above alluded to." Here we find, then, that the very phenomenon which we have been studpng ; namely, the euphonic changes of initial consonants of words in sequence, is also observable in Sanscrit; or, as Prichard expresses it, "in the Sanscrit language, words merely in sequence have an influence upon each other in the change of * * * initial con- sonants." A phenomenon wliich is common to two lan- guages so widely separated as Gaelic and Sanscrit cannot be said to be entirely foreign to the other members of the Aryan family of languages, not^vithstanding Prichard's statement that ''it is scarcely observed in Greek, in Latin and in the German dialects." For those who, like Prich- ard, doubt the existence of tliis phenomenon in any lan- guage other than Gaelic and Sanscrit, it may, possibh', be a sufficient refutation to show that instances of its occur- rence in modern English are conspicuous enough. In- itial consonant mutation, strange as it may seem, does indeed take place in English, but it is confined to the consonant y in a few words. The initial y in the word you^ for example, when preceded by a monosyllable end- ing in a dental, is changed to cli ; as may be heard in tlie following expressions : " Doitt you hioiv'^ (^pron. don'' cliou know'); 1 grant you tliaV^ (^i?ron, I gran^ cliou that.) etc. In the expression '•''Last year'''' (^pron. las' gear)^ the initial y is changed to g (soft). From these examples we see that, in colloquial speech at least, the initial in English, is sometimes changed to ch and to g (soft), when preceded by a monosyllable ending in a dental. We see, too, that the final dental of the preceding word, which causes the change, is sunk in the pronunciation. So also in Gaelic, the rule is that Aspiration is caused by a mono- syllabic word which originally ended in a d, and Eclipsis ORTHOGRAPHY. 71 is caused by a monosyllabic word Avhich originally ended in an n. Another good example of the "influence of words merely in sequence in the change of initial consonants," is furnished by the modern Greek. Scholars who are ac- quainted with the modern pronunciation of Greek, know that, in that language, the definite article ten (accusative) changes the initial p of the following noun into 5, and changes the initial t into d. Thus ten polin is pronounced ten bolin, or, as it would be written according to the Gael- ic system of eclipsis, ten hpolin ; and ten timen is pro- nounced ten dimen (ten dtimeii) etc. These euphonic changes in Greek, and in ever}^ other modern language in which they occur, are never indicated in writing, but are merely colloquial. Even in ancient Gaelic, the modified sound of a consonant Avas never pointed out by any special mark in the written language, except in situations where that sound was permanent and organic* Some persons have conjectured that, because of the ab- sence of initial mutation in the written Gaelic of ancient times, the initial consonants must been sounded as written, i. e., redical, in all cases where they are now either aspirated or eclipsed. But this idea is entirely er- roneous, and deserves to be put on a jDar with that other idea, so often inculcated in times gone by, namely, that Aspiration and EclijDsis were phenomena peculiar to Gael- ic alone ! — were, in fact, linguistic blemishes, of which *Tbe transient sounds of Gaelic laave become permanent in other Ian- guages. Thus the Gaelic " Baile," a habitation, Avhich after an aspirating particle is, for the time being, pronounced " Vaile," is, in Latin, always writ- ten and pronounced *' Villa," the radical b having altogether disappeared from the Latin word. It is only when the radical sound and the aspirate, transient sound are both held and exist side by side, as in Gaelic, that the phenomenon of consonant mutation is seen at its best, 72 KEY TO THE STUDY OF GAELIC. our immaculate (?) English, and every other fasliionable jorgan, contained not a single trace ! ! A more extensive knowledge of the Gaelic language, and of languages m general, will dispel many a false notion, hitherto enter- tained, even by reputable persons, and will enable the student to recognize the fact that, as the late Professor William D wight Whitney, of Yale College, Connecticut, truly said, " every living and growing language has that within it wliich exemplifies the essential facts and prin- ciples belonging to all human speech." The three cognate sounds which an initial mutable con- sonant is susceptible of assuming, in accordance with the laws of euphony, are exemplified in the following table : KADICAL. ASPIRATED. ECLIPSED. b bh mb* c ch gc d dh nd f fh bhf 8 ng m mh P ph bp s sh (ts) t th dt * When, in modern times, a radical consonant changes its sound, or be- comes softened for the sake of euphony, the secondary sound it assumes belongs to the same organ of speech as the radical itself. In ancient times, "When the number of distinct consonantal sounds produced by any given or- gan was more limited than at present, there existed a system of aspiration, or consonant mollification, according to which consonants belonging to two different organs of speech were interchangeable, just as the b and m, or the b and v are at present. Away back in prehistoric times, when the residents of certain localities of the European continent thought of aspirating, or soft- ening, the radical c, they did not change it to ch — for that sound was then unknown — but they changed it to p. Hence, the Gaelic "cenn," a head, be came in Welsh "pen," the Gaelic "mac," a son, became in Welsh "map," and the Gaelic "lec," a flagstone, became in Latin "lap(is)." The prehis- toric woi-d " gia," food ( Basque " oguia," Egryptian " oik "), became in Gael- ORTHOGRAPHY. 73 All consonants susceptible of initial aspiration are also susceptible of initial eclipsis, with the exception of m and s. The letter m is never eclipsed, and the apparent ec- lipsis of s, as seen in the combination ts, is but another liind of aspiration, and occurs only after aspirating par- ticles which terminate in an n ; as " aon bhean," any wo- man ; "aon tsort," any sort (not "aon sh6rt.)f There are three kinds of particles ; viz., Eclipsing Par- ticles^ Aspirating Particles^ and Neutral Particles. The influences which these have upon a word beginning with a vowel are set forth in the following three rules : — I. Eclipsing Particles take n before an initial vow- el; as "ar n-aran," our bread; "bhur n-aran," your bread; "a n-aran," their bread. [Here we have the reappear- ance of the n which originally ended the particle.] When the particle already ends in n ( such as a compound part- icle made up of a preposition and the definite article, an), the eclipsing, or hyphenated n is not used ; as " ar an ur- lar," on the floor (not " ar an n-urlar.") The same rule holds good when the following word begins with a d (the ic " bia," now written " biadh." In all such cases, we find that the guttural ( c or g ) has become a labial ( p, b, or m.) In some localities, the guttural ( c or g ) was changed to a dental ( t, d, or s ). Thus, the Gaelic " cabhair," help, became in Greek " timoria," the Gael- ic "oll-cu," a wild-dog, modern "on-chu," became in Spanish " onza " ( Bas- gue "otzoa," Egyptian "ounsh," English "ounce"), and the Gaelic " cor- caca," marshes, became in Latin "Corsica," which is the name of a well known island in the Mediterranean, noted for its marshes. The great characteristic of this system of prehistoric aspiration, as we may call it, is that it involves a law of compensation : so that for every prim, itive guttural that was changed to a labial or dental, there was a primitive labial or dental changed back to a guttural. While, for example, the prim, itive "crann," a tree, became in Welsh "pren," as a compensation for this the primitive "plat," a prince (Gaelic "flaith," Assyrian "bulata,") became in Welsh " culat," modern " gwlad." For modern instances of this law of compensation in language, see footnote page 56. t Another peculiarity to be noted in connection with Aspirating Pai'ticles terminating in an n, is that they have no effect on a dental ( t or d ) ; as " aon duine," any man, " aon teine," any fire. 74 KEY TO THE STUDY CF GAELIC. eclipsing letter of which is n) ; as "ag an doras," at the door (not " ag an ndoi*as.") II. Aspirating Particles have no influence upon a word beginning with a voAvel ; but (1) If the final vowel of the particle is short, it is elided, to prevent a hiatus; as ''m' anam," my soul; '*d' anam," thy soul ; "'anam," his soul (for "a anam.*') (2) If the final vowel of the particle is long, it is not elided, as the long vowel is, in itself, sufficient to pre- vent a hiatus (see foot-note, page 61); as "fa uir na cille,*' under the clay (^of) the churchyard ; " ro imthigh se," he went (i. e.^ he did go^ or^ literally^ did go he.) III. Neutral Particles take h before an initial vowel; as "ah-anam," her soul; " na h-eigse,"' f/ie j:>06?^.s; "tri h-eisg," three fishes; "le h-eirghe an lae," at the daivn of day (literally^ iv\1:h the rising of the day.) This threefold classification of the particles is not to be confounded with that twofold classification of the words of the language into particles and non-particles. The Gaelic language divides itself up, naturally, into two grand divisions ; viz., (1) words that cause initial cliange and (2) words that suffer initial change. We lia\-e al- ready stated, at the commencement of the present le:ist ;ala!<;h. As a sn^iii contribution to the renewed elfoits which are being made in the United States, for tlie preservation of the Gaehc or Irish Language, the present treatise is oli'ered to the public, with the conviction that it will re- ceive from self-respecting Irishmen th«i encf>rirHgement v.hieh it undoubtedly deserves. Part I,, which is now put into the hf nds of tlie student, contains a good deal more than an exposition of Gaeiie ( )rthog]-apjiy : it contains some important rules of Ety- ni(jh>gy. :ind even some principles of Comparative l^hilr^i- ogy. S:; :-..'«t the reader, afte]* stijdying t})e tivatis.- ruvr- fuUv. v'i^' cthfe ^0 read and trrif*- fln^ Iri>ih LinnfHthft' tritii t'fiSi^, ai;d will know a good deal about its affinilii's. 'J'he Council respectfully i(-<-)uest the individual leath-r to procui'e as many new subscribers as possible, as suirai^h* premiums will be offered for circulating the work, and thereby spreii.-'i^g a knowledge of the natioiial tongue. Keujittances are to be sent by Money Ordei* or by (^]ie(dc anayable to Mr. Ralph J. Hatemax, Manage]-. Gaelic SoIiomI. 11.51 Washinsfton Sti'eet, llostoii. Mass. This book is a preservation photocopy. It is made in compliance with copyright law and produced on acid-free archival 60# book weight paper which meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper) Preservation photocopying and binding by Acme Bookbinding Charlestown, Massachusetts 1 2002 BOSTON COLLEGE 3 9031 028 59334 1