Elements of Gaelic Grammar Part 7

It seems, therefore, unnecessary to employ any more vowels in the adjected syllable than what are sufficient to represent its own vocal sound. The rule under consideration has, notwithstanding, been extended to the orthography of the oblique cases and tenses, and a supernumerary vowel has been thrown into the termination, whenever that was requisite to preserve the supposed necessary correspondence with the foregoing syllable. Thus, in forming the nominative and dative plural of many nouns, the syllables _an_ and _ibh_ are added to the singular, which letters fully express the true sound of these terminations. If the last vowel of the nominative singular is broad, _an_ alone is added for the nominative plural; as, lamh-an _hands_, cluas-an _ears_. But if the last vowel be small, an _e_ is thrown into the termination; as, suil-ean _eyes_, srin-ean _noses_. Now if it be observed that, in the two last examples, the small sound of the _l_ and _n_ in the root is determined by the preceding small vowel _i_, with which they are necessarily connected in one syllable, and that the letters _an_ fully represent the sound of the termination, it must be evident that the _e_ in the final syllable is altogether superfluous. So in forming the dative plural: if the last vowel of the root be small, _ibh_ is added; as, suil-ibh, sroin-ibh. But if the last vowel of the root is broad, the termination is written _aibh_; as, lamh-aibh, cluas-aibh, where the _a_, for the reason already a.s.signed, is totally useless.

These observations apply with equal justness to the tenses of verbs, as will be seen by comparing the following examples: creid-idh _will believe_, stad-aidh _will stop_; chreid-inn _I would believe_, stad-_a_inn _I would stop_; creid-_e_am _let me believe_, stad-am _let me stop_; creid-ibh _believe ye_, stad-_a_ibh _stop ye_.

The same observations may be further applied to derivative words, formed by adding to their primitives the syllables {33} _ach_, _achd_, _ag_, _an_, _ail_, _as_; in all which _e_ has been unnecessarily introduced, when the last vowel of the preceding syllable was small; as, sannt-ach _covetous_, toil-_e_ach _willing_; naomh-achd _holiness_, doimhn-_e_achd _depth_; sruth-an _a rivulet_, cuil-_e_an _a whelp_; cauch-ag _a little cup_, cail-_e_ag _a girl_; fear-ail _manly_, caird-_e_il _friendly_[25]; ceart-as _justice_, caird-_e_as _friends.h.i.+p_.

The foregoing observations appear sufficient to establish this general conclusion, that in all cases in which a vowel serves neither to exhibit the vocal sound, nor to modify the articulations of _the syllable to which it belongs_, it may be reckoned nothing better than an useless inc.u.mbrance.

There seems, therefore, much room for simplifying the present system of Gaelic Orthography, by the rejection of a considerable number of quiescent vowels[26].

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Almost the only quiescent consonants which occur in Gaelic are _d_, _f_, _g_, _s_, _t_, in their aspirated state. When these occur in the inflections of declinable words, serving to indicate the Root, or in derivatives, serving to point out the primitive word, the omission of them might, on the whole, be unadvisable. Even when such letters appear in their absolute form, though they have been laid aside in p.r.o.nunciation, yet it would be rash to discard them in writing, as they often serve to show the affinity of the words in which they are found to others in different languages, or in different dialects of the Celtic. The aspirated form of the consonant in writing sufficiently shows that, in speaking, its articulation is either attenuated or wholly suppressed.

The writers of Gaelic seem to have carefully avoided bringing into apposition two vowels which belong to different syllables. For this purpose they have sometimes introduced a quiescent consonant into the middle of compound or of inflected words; as, gneidheil, or rather gnethail _kindly_, made up of gne and ail; beothail _lively_, made up of beo and ail; diathan _G.o.ds_, from the singular dia; lathaibh _days_, from the singular la, &c.

It may at least bear a question, whether it would not be better to allow the vowels to denote the sound of the word by their own powers, without the intervention of quiescent consonants, as has been done in {35} mnaibh _women_, deibh _G.o.ds_, rather than insert consonants which have nothing to do with either the radical or the superadded articulations of the word.

From the want of an established standard in orthography, the writers of Gaelic, in spelling words wherein quiescent consonants occurred, must have been often doubtful which of two or three consonants was the proper one, and may therefore have differed in their manner of spelling the same word.

Accordingly we find, in many instances, the same words written by different writers, and even at different times by the same writer, with different quiescent consonants. This variation affects not indeed the p.r.o.nunciation, or does it in a very slight degree. Hence, however, some who judge of the language only from its appearance in writing, have taken occasion to vilify it, as unfixed and nonsensical[27]. A proper attention to the affinity which the Scottish Gaelic bears to some other languages, particularly to other dialects of the Celtic, might contribute to fix the orthography in some cases where it appears doubtful, or has become variable[28].

IV. The last principle to be mentioned, which ought to regulate orthography, is that every sound ought to be represented by a corresponding character. From this rule there is hardly a single deviation in Gaelic, as there is no sound in the spoken language which is not, in some measure, {36} exhibited in the written language. The fault of the Gaelic orthography is sometimes a redundancy, but never a deficiency of letters.

A few observations on the mode of writing some particular words, or particular parts of speech, remain to be brought forward in the sequel of this work, which it would be premature to introduce here.

The Scottish writers of Gaelic in general followed the Irish orthography, till after the middle of the last century. However that system may suit the dialect of Ireland, it certainly is not adapted to the Gaelic of this country. In the Gaelic translation of the New Testament, printed in 1767, not only were most of the Irish idioms and inflections which had been admitted into the Scottish Gaelic writings rejected, and the language adapted to the dialect of the Scottish Highlands, but the orthography also was adapted to the language. In later publications, the manner of writing the language was gradually a.s.similated to that pattern. The Gaelic version of the sacred Scriptures lately published has exhibited a model, both of style and orthography, still more agreeable to the purest Scottish idiom, and has a just t.i.tle to be acknowledged as the standard in both. Little seems to be now wanting to confer on the orthography of the Scottish Gaelic such a degree of uniformity as may redeem its credit and ensure its stability. This, it is to be hoped, may be attained by a judicious regard to the separate, and especially the relative powers of the letters, to the most common and approved modes of p.r.o.nunciation, to the affinity of the Scottish Gaelic with other branches of the Celtic tongue, to the a.n.a.logy of inflection and derivation, and, above all, to the authority of some generally received standard, to which pre-eminence the late Gaelic version of the Scriptures has the only indisputable claim.

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PART II.

OF THE PARTS OF SPEECH.

The parts of speech in Gaelic may be conveniently divided and arranged as follows:--Article, Noun, Adjective, p.r.o.noun, Verb, Adverb, Preposition, Conjunction, Interjection. Of these, the first five are declinable; the other four are indeclinable.

CHAPTER I.

OF THE ARTICLE.

The Gaelic article an corresponds to the English definite article _the_.

There is in Gaelic no indefinite article corresponding to the English _a_ or _an_. The inflections of the article are but few. They depend on the gender, the number, and the case, of the noun to which it is prefixed.

Hence the article is declined by gender, number, and case, as follows:

Singular. Plural.

_Masc._ _Fem._ _Masc. & Fem._ _Nom._ an, am an, a' na _Gen._ an, a' na nan, nam _Dat._ an, a', n' an, a', n' na

In the singular, final _n_ of the article is sometimes cut off, and its absence marked by an apostrophe. The same happens to the initial _a_ of the dative singular.

CHAPTER II.

OF NOUNS.

A Noun is the Name of any person, object, or thing whatsoever, that we have occasion to mention. In treating of {38} this Part of Speech, we have to consider the _Gender_ and the _Declension_ of Nouns.

OF GENDER.

In imposing names on sensible objects, the great and obvious distinction of s.e.x in the animal world suggested the expediency of inventing names, not only for the particular species of animals, but also for distinguis.h.i.+ng their s.e.x. Such are _vir_, _femina_; _bull_, _cow_; _coileach_, _cearc_, &c. To mark at once ident.i.ty of species, and diversity of s.e.x, the same word, with a slight change on its form, was applied to both s.e.xes: as _equus_, _equa_; _lion_, _lioness_; _oglach_, _banoglach_. In most languages, distinction of s.e.x has been marked, not only thus by the form of the noun, but further by the form of the adjective connected with the noun.

Most adjectives were furnished with two forms, the one of which indicated its connection with the name of a male, the other its connection with the name of a female. The one was called by grammarians the _masculine gender_, the other the _feminine gender_ of the adjective. Adjectives possessing thus a two-fold form, must necessarily have appeared under one or other of these forms, with whatever noun they happened to be conjoined. Even nouns significant of inanimate objects came thus to possess one mark of nouns discriminative of s.e.x, as they happened to be accompanied by an adjective of the masculine or by one of the feminine gender. If any noun was observed to be usually coupled with an adjective of the masculine gender, it was termed by grammarians a _masculine noun_; if it was found usually coupled with an adjective of the feminine gender, it was termed a _feminine noun_.

Thus a distinction of nouns into masculine and feminine came to be noted, and this also was called gender.

It is observable, then, that gender, in grammar, is taken in two different acceptations. When applied to an adjective, {39} it signifies a certain _form_, by which _bonus_ is distinguished from _bona_. When applied to a noun, it signifies a certain _relation_ of the word to the attributives connected with it, by which _amor_ is distinguished from _cupido_. As s.e.x is a natural characteristic pertaining to living objects, so gender is a grammatical characteristic pertaining to nouns, the names of objects whether animate or inanimate. The gender of nouns is not, properly speaking, indicated; it is const.i.tuted by that of the attributives conjoined with them. If there were no distinction of gender in adjectives, participles, &c. there could be none in nouns. When we say that _amor_ is a noun of the masculine gender, and _cupido_ a noun of the feminine gender, we do not mean to intimate any distinction between the things signified by these nouns; we mean nothing more than to state a grammatical fact, viz., that an adjective connected with _amor_ is always of the same form as when joined to a noun denoting a male, and that an adjective connected with _cupido_ is always of the same form as when joined to a noun denoting a female[29].

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When an adjective was to be connected with a noun that denoted an object devoid of s.e.x, it is not always easy to guess what views might have determined the speaker to use the adjective in one gender rather than in the other. Perhaps s.e.x was attributed to the object signified by the noun.

Perhaps its properties were conceived to bear some resemblance to the qualities characteristic of s.e.x in living creatures. In many instances, the form of the noun seems to have decided the point. It must be confessed that in this mental process, the judgment has been often swayed by trivial circ.u.mstances, and guided by fanciful a.n.a.logies. At least it cannot be denied that in the Gaelic, where all nouns whatever are ranked under the cla.s.s of masculines or of feminines, the gender of each has been fixed by a procedure whereof the grounds cannot now be fully investigated or ascertained. Neither the natural nor artificial qualities or uses of the things named, nor the form of the names given them, furnish any invariable rule by which the gender of nouns may be known. It ought to be remembered, however, that the Gaelic is far from being singular in this respect. The oldest language with which we are acquainted, as well as some of the most polished modern tongues, stand in the same predicament.

The following observations may serve to give some idea of the a.n.a.logy of gender in Gaelic nouns; though they do not furnish a complete set of rules sufficient to ascertain the gender of every noun:--

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MASCULINES. Nouns signifying males are masculines; as, fear _a man_, righ _a king_, sagart _a priest_, tarbh _a bull_, cu _a dog_.

Many nouns, signifying the young of animals of either s.e.x, are masculine, even when the individual objects they denote are mentioned as being of the female s.e.x; as, laogh _a calf_, isean _a gosling_, uan _a lamb_, &c.[30].

Diminutives in _an_; as, rothan _a little wheel_, dealgan _a little pin_, &c.

Derivatives in _as_, which are, for the most part, abstract nouns; as, cairdeas _friends.h.i.+p_, naimhdeas _enmity_, ciuineas _calmness_, breitheamhnas _judgment_, ceartas _justice_, maitheas _goodness_, &c.

Derivatives in _air_, _ach_, _iche_, which are, for the most part, agents; as, cealgair _a deceiver_, sealgair _a huntsman_, dorsair _a door-keeper_, marcach _a rider_, maraiche _a sailor_, coisiche _a foot traveller_, &c.

Names of such kinds of trees as are natives of Scotland; as, darach _oak_, giuthas _fir_, uimhseann _ash_.

Most polysyllables whereof the last vowel is broad, are masculine.

FEMININES. Nouns signifying females are feminine; as, bean _a woman_, mathair _a mother_, bo _a cow_, &c. Except bainionnach or boirionnach _a female_, mart _a cow_, capull _a horse_ or _mare_, but commonly _a mare_, which are masculine, and caileann or cailinn _a damsel_, masculine or feminine.[31] Mark, vi. 28.

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Some nouns denoting a species are feminine, even when the individual spoken of is characterised as a male; as, gabhar fhirionn, _a he-goat_. Psal. l.

9.

Names of countries; as, Albainn _Scotland_, Eirinn _Ireland_.

Names of musical instruments; as, clarsach _a harp_, piob, _a pipe_.