The English Language Part 17

11. Va daa vac ec dooinney dy row:

12. As doort y fer saa rish e ayr; Ayr! cur dooys yh ayrn dy chooid ta my chour. As rheynn eh e chooid orroo.

13. As laghyn ny lurg shen, hymsee yn mac saa ooilley cooidjagh as ghow eh jurnah gys cheer foddey, as ayns shen hug he jummal er e chooid liorish baghey rouanagh.

14. As tra va ooilley baarit eihey, dirree genney vooar ayns y cheer shen; as ren eh tos.h.i.+aght dy ve ayns feme.

15. As hie eh as daill eh eh-hene rish c.u.mmaltagh jeh'n cheer shen; as hug eshyn eh magh gys ny magheryn echey dy ve son bochilley muickey.

16. As by-vian lesh e volg y lhieeney lesh ny bleaystyn va ny muckyn dy ee: as cha row dooinney erbee hug eooney da.

17. As tra v'eh er jeet huggey hene, dooyrt eh, Nagh nhimmey sharvaant failt t'ee my ayr ta nyn saie arran oe, as fooilliagh, as ta mish goll mow laecal beaghey!

18. Trog-ym orrym, as hem roym gys my ayr, as jir-ym rish, Ayr! ta mee er n'yannoo peecah noi niau, as kiongoyrt rhyt's.

19. As cha vel mee ny-sodjey feeu dy ve enmyssit dty vac: dell rhym myr rish fer jeh dty harvaantyr failt.

-- 133. Taken altogether the Celtic tongues form a very remarkable cla.s.s. As compared with those of the Gothic stock they are marked by the following characteristics--

_The scantiness of the declension of Celtic nouns._--In Irish there is a peculiar form for the dative plural, as _cos_=_foot_, _cos-aibh_=_to feet_ (ped-_ibus_); and beyond this there is nothing else whatever in the way of _case_, as found in the German, Latin, Greek, and other tongues. Even the isolated form in question is not found in the Welsh and Breton. Hence {78} the Celtic tongues are preeminently uninflected in the way of _declension_.

-- 134.--2. _The agglutinate character of their verbal inflections._--In Welsh the p.r.o.nouns for _we_, _ye_, and _they_, are _ni_, _chwyi_, and _hwynt_ respectively. In Welsh also the root=_love_ is _car_. As conjugated in the plural number this is--

car-_wn_ = am-_amus_.

car-_ych_ = am-_atis_.

car-_ant_ = am-_ant_.

Now the _-wn_, _-ych_, and _-ant_, of the persons of the verbs are the personal p.r.o.nouns, so that the inflection is really a verb and a p.r.o.noun in a state of _agglutination_; _i. e._, in a state where the original separate existence of the two sorts of words is still manifest. This is probably the case with languages in general. The Celtic, however, has the peculiarity of exhibiting it in an unmistakable manner; showing, as it were, an inflexion in the process of formation, and (as such) exhibiting an early stage of language.

-- 135. _The system of initial mutations._--The Celtic, as has been seen, is deficient in the ordinary means of expressing case. How does it make up for this? Even thus. The noun changes its initial letter according to its relation to the other words of the sentence. Of course this is subject to rule. As, however, I am only writing for the sake of ill.u.s.trating in a general way the peculiarities of the Celtic tongues, the following table, from Prichard's Eastern Origin of the Celtic Nations, is sufficient.

Car, _a kinsman_.

1. _form_, Car agos, _a near kinsman_.

2. Ei gar, _his kinsman_.

3. Ei char, _her kinsman_.

4. Vy nghar, _my kinsman_.

Tad, _a father_.

1. _form_, Tad y plentyn, _the child's father_.

2. Ei dad, _his father_.

3. Ei thad, _her father_.

4. Vy nhad, _my father_.

Pen, _a head_.

1. _form_, Pen gwr, _the head of a man_.

2. Ei ben, _his head_.

3. Ei phen, _her head_.

4. Vy mhen, _my head_.

Gwas, _a servant_.

1. _form_, Gwas fydhlon, _a faithful servant_.

2. Ei was, _his servant_.

{79} 3. Vy ngwas, _my servant_.

Duw, _a G.o.d_.

1. _form_, Duw trugarog, _a merciful G.o.d_.

2. Ei dhuw, _his G.o.d_.

3. Vy nuw, _my G.o.d_.

Bara, _bread_.

1. _form_, Bara cann, _white bread_.

2. Ei vara, _his bread_.

3. Vy mara, _my bread_.

Lhaw, _a hand_.

1. _form_, Lhaw wenn, _a white hand_.

2. Ei law, _his hand_.

Mam, _a mother_.

1. _form_, Mam dirion, _a tender mother_.

2. Eivam, _his mother_.

Rhwyd, _a net_.

1. _form_, Rhwyd lawn, _a full net_.

2. Ei rwyd, _his net_.

From the Erse.

Suil, _an eye_.

1. _form_, Suil.

2. A huil, _his eye_.

Slainte, _health_.

2. _form_, Do hlainte, _your health_.

-- 136. When we have seen that one of the great characteristics of the Celtic tongues is to express inflection by initial changes, we may ask how far the principle of such change is common to the two branches--British or Gaelic; this and a few other details being quite sufficient to show the affinity between them.

_Inflections formed by Changes of Initial Consonants._