by M'Curtin, and Molloy, they are sufficient to deter any one from attempting to learn this language; whereas, they are neither more numerous, nor more difficult, than those of the Latin, French, and English languages." 77. Nim, I do, in old manuscripts, is written gnim; and rinneas, I did, is written roighneas. M'Curtin remarks, that g should always be retained in this verb, to distinguish it from ni, not; but this is not observed in the Irish bible, or many correct modern works. The preter interrogative of all the irregular verbs, except abair, say, is formed by a or an, instead of nar.. 78. The imperative abair is compounded of ad, and beir; as also the preter dubhairt, of do, and beirt. Thus, in ancient manuscripts, we read, amhuil is beirt an file, as the poet says; ad beart an file, the poet said. Hence dubhras, and dubhairt, will not admit of do as the sign of the preter, because this particle is compounded in the verb itself. Deirim, dearaid, &c. are also contractions of do, and beir. The participles radh, radha, and the passive ràite, said, are from an obsolete verb, raitear, it is said, or called; to be found in old manuscripts. 79, 80. Tabhair is compounded of to, an obsolete particle, or sign of the dative, and beir; and properly means give. Beir is often used alone, in the imperative, to signify give, bring, carry, lay hold on, overtake, or bring forth young. The preter tense of tabhair is tugas, tug me, I gave, or brought. The preter of beir is rugas, rug me, I took, laid hold on, overtook, or brought forth. 81. The entire imperative is thus formed; Sing. 2. Tarr, come thou 3. Tigeadh se, let him come Plural. 1. Tigeamois, let us come. The participle teacht, is also found written tiacht, tigheacht, and toigheacht. 82. The obsolete verb rigim; preter, rainic, to arrive at, or come to, is sometimes used in the preter. It seems to be compounded of ro and tigim, ro and thainic. 83. It is probable that e is the radical letter, in this verb, as in the Greeks, and Latin eo, I go; hence te, go, having t prefixed. In ancient manuscripts, do dheach is found, instead of do chuaidh, in the preter; as, sochaidh dheach on magh, a troop went over the plain. The participle passive is used, compounded with in, or ion, fit, or proper to be done; as, iondulta, fit, or proper to go, or to be gone. 84. Fagh signifies also get, and may be so translated throughout. In the North of Ireland it is pronounced as if written fogh. 85. The passive infinitive, and participle, are not in Do frith was formerly used, as well as fuaras, in the preter; as, do frith Philip, Philip was found. use. The futures affirmative, geabhad, and geabhar, are borrowed from gabh, have, take, or receive. 86. Feuch signifies behold, or take a view of any thing. Dearc, and amharc, observe, or look at; with which may be classed breathnaigh, notice, remark. Cim, I see, or perceive an object. Feic, or faic, is used after negative, interrogative, and conditional particles; as, na feic air sin, do not look on that; ma fheic tu, if you see. And, in the imperative, first person plural, faiciom, or feiciom, let us see. 87. The passive infinitive, and participle, are not in use. Faicear, or as it is sometimes written feicthear, is often used impersonally, with a dative of the person, (as in other languages,) to express, think, or imagine; as, na habair a bhfaicear dhuit, do not say what you think; ma chitear dhuit, if you imagine. To which may be added the ancient preter, choncas; as, do choncas damhsa mar an geeadna, it seemed good to me also. 88. Eist, listen, is more commonly used, in the imperative, than cluin, hear. In antient writings, cluas was the imperative of this verb; but it is now used to signify an ear. Cloisim is used, as well as cluinin, in the present, indicative; and do chlos, (still used in Munster,) was the original preter, instead of do chuala s; as, do chlos guth a Rama, a voice was heard in Rama. 89. This can be done only with adjectives signifying quality. As to numerals, they are expressed adverbially by prefixing ann, annsa, or, more commonly, 'san, in the, (see page 91, rule 7*,) to the ordinal adjective, and adding ait, place; as, 'san treas ait, thirdly, i. e. in the third place. To express once, twice, &c. fa, upon, about, is used with the cardinal adjective; as, fa dho, fa tri, &c. 90. Adverbial expressions of this kind are very numeYous; but those here exhibited will afford a specimen of the manner in which they are formed. 91. These words are commonly called inseparable prepositions; but, as they predicate no relation, they are more properly denominated adverbial particles. To those here inserted, some authors have added the following; viz. Dagh, Deagh, good, as, daghmhuintir, good people. Droch, bad, Priomh, first, Feil, very bad, Riomh, before, Ro, very, Sior, continual Tiomna, a will, Tuath, rusticity, drochmhuinte, ill taught. priomhadhbhar, first cause. feilgniomh, a very bad action. riombraidte, before said. But the five first of these are adjectives; the three next, separable adverbs; and the two last, nouns. The following particle was inadvertently omitted; viz. Sar, very great; as, sàrdhomhain, very deep. 92. Mur is only an abusive pronunciation, and orthography, for muna, although it is very common. See note 48. 93. It appeared simpler to give the following alphabetical list of prepositions, than to class them according to their influence, as usually done, which infringes on the business of syntax. 94. Some other words have been enumerated as prepositions; such as, amach, out, thall, beyond, suas, up, and the the like; but these are evidently adverbs, requiring the preposition de, or, as it is commonly written, do, after them; as, taobh amach don thigh, the outer side of the house. Do, and go, both signify to; but the difference between them (as well remarked by Mr. Stewart) is, that do implies motion towards, and go, motion terminating at an object; as, chuaidh se do thigh an righ, he went to, or towards the king's house; thainic se go thigh an righ, he came unto the king's house. De is not used as a simple preposition; but it is clearly distinguished from do, to, in compounds; as, diom, from me, de, or dhe, from him, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99. These words are never used separately, as nouns, yet they appear to have a clear and distinct signification, which may be ascertained from the corresponding phrases. 100. It is more probable that de, of, is the simple preposition, in such phrases as do dhith; although it is always written do. 101. Some other conjunctive phrases might be added to these; but, as they are formed by the combination of the simple conjunctions with other words, it did not seem necessary to insert them. The common conjunction agus, and, or, as it is often pronounced is, was inadvertently omitted, in this table. 102. With these perhaps may be classed niar, neither. 103. For the use of muna, and mur, see note 92. Many words are used with ma, and go, to form a variety of conjunctive phrases, the meaning of which is always ascertained by the leading word. 104. No language abounds more in passionate interjections, than the Irish: but it would be vain and useless to attempt an enumeration of them. 105. This is certainly a common, but it is not a correct mode of speaking and writing. The Scottish Galic changes n into m, before labials; as, for an bàs, the death, they say, am bàs. This licence, for sound's sake, is more allow able than that used in the Irish. 106. This inode, of separating the a and n, has been adopted, in order to accommodate the written to the spoken language; but it should not be practised, as it is commonly done, having the appearance, to the inexperienced reader, of deviating from the general rules of etymology. 107. If go de be considered as only an abbreviation for guid è? what (is) it? the phrase will run thus, in English, what is (it) the hour? 108. This is equivalent to the expression, ba saighideoir me, I was a soldier. 109. This is not properly an exception to the general rule; for the latter substantive really forms the subject of a separate proposition; as, mac Joseiph, eadhon, or, is è sin an saor, the son of Joseph, namely, or, that is the carpenter. 110. It may be observed, in general, that the form of the adjective depends upon the noun, only when it immediately follows the noun, in any degree of comparison. 111. The reason of this is well expressed by Mr. Stewart, in the following words (see his Grammar, page 143): "The grammatical distinction, observable in the following examples, is agreeable to the strictest philosophical propriety. "Rinn mis' an scian gheur," I made the sharp knife; here the adjective agrees with the noun, for it mo difies the noun, distinguishing that knife from others. "Rinn mis' an scian geur," I made the knife sharp; here the adjective does not agree with the noun, for it modifies not the noun but the verb. It does not characterize the object on which the action is performed; but it combines with the verb in specifying the nature of the operation performed. The expression is equivalent to "gheuraich mi an scian," I sharpened the knife." 112. Sometimes, when possession is strongly expressed, the phrase is changed, by inserting go, with; as, fear go bhfallaing ndeirg, instead of, fear na fallainge deirge, the man of, or, with the red cloak. 113. As this is only a licence, for better sound's sake, it is. frequently not done, 114. Le, with, by, or along with, is, very properly, the only sign of the ablative used under this rule; for it implies, not merely a tendency towards, according to the principle of other languages, but a juxta position, and, continuance. 115. Instead of na, than, iona was frequently used, some years since. In Aodh Mhac Aingil, Sgathan na haithrige, printed at Brussels, in the 17th century, it is always iona, before a singular, and ionaid, or inaid, before a plural; but why it should be forced to agree with the number, is difficult to conjecture, 116. Ni, and nic, may be abbreviations for inghean, or, |
