Is mo iad na is feidir aiream, Ma ata naċ bfuil mo tig mar sin ag Dia, gidead do riune se ceangal liomsa, Leo fos teagasgtar do searbfogantuid, D'eagal go bfuigead sib bàs, Oir is tu is còir a faghail, They are more than can be numbered. Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made a covenant with me. Moreover by them is thy servant warned. Lest ye die. For you have a right to get it. Íonnas gur seun se a So that he denied his maigistir, master. Biod go bfuil tu said- Although you be rich. bir, Ge ta tu laidir, Notwithstanding you are strong. INTERJECTION, INTERJECTION. 1. The interjection a, o, requires the vocative; and aspirates the noun next to it; as, a Thiarna De, O Lord God. (147.) 2. Mairg, wo to, and the like, require the dar tive; as, mairg duitse a duine dona, wo to you, wretched man. (148.) The construction of interjections promiscuously exemplified. As truag naċ bfuilim. Monuar, is truag do Tar an so, a Sheamais, Uċ! uċ! ca truaige tu ras, Wo is me that I am not! Alas! we are all subject to death. Wo to me! who was silent. Alas, hard is your fate! Come hither, James. AND OF THE GRAMMAR T2 NOTES. 1. IT is impossible to find English words, which exhibit all the sounds of the Irish language. The words contained in this table, are such as most nearly resemble them; the examples, however, will be satisfactory to such as read for their private improvement, and will be found very important, in assisting the instructions of the teacher. 2. The preposition in, in, was anciently prefixed to many words; but, for sound's sake, the n was omitted; as, cath, a battle, igcath, in battle. In latter ages, in order to comply with a rule of comparatively modern invention, (which is noted in treating of the vowels,) the i was changed into a; as, agcath; still, however, the same rapidity of pronunciation, which the i received, was applied to a; and, in many instances, the i or a was entirely omitted, both in writing, and speaking; as, ta me in mo chodladh, properly contracted into, imo chodladh; but commonly written and spoken mo chodladh, I am asleep, or in my sleeping state. 3. The thick sound of d, and t, resembles the hardest sound of th, in the English word think; but, in forming this thick sound, the tongue must be strongly pressed against the root of the upper foreteeth, instead of being protruded between the teeth; by which means the aspiration is completely stopped, and these consonants receive nothing of that semivocal sound which is given to thin English. 4. and 5. The sounds of 1, and n double, are both formed by the same position of the tongue; viz. by placing it so as to press upon the upper foreteeth and gum, while the point of it is perceptible between the teeth. The only difference, in forming them, is, that the aspiration to l is guttural, and to n, nasal. 6. This sound is formed by slightly touching the sound of ee English, before, as well as after r; as if the word free was written and pronounced, feeree, 7. This 7. This sound of s is much more hard and forcible than that of single s in English: it is formed by presenting the point of the tongue to the aperture of the teeth, and expressing a very strong aspiration. 8. See note 3. 9. In ancient writings, the letter h was prefixed to vowels, much more frequently than in modern ones; thus è, he, i, she, were anciently written he, and hi. But it was very seldom attached to consonants, the pronunciation of which was left to the reader's own judgment. The contraction, formed by fixing a point over a consonant, is a modern invention. 10. The broad vowels are frequently commuted for each ather, when they are not emphatical; and, in like manner, the small vowels may be commuted for each other; as, oiriseall, humble, may be written uirisioll. This change can be made only when the vowel or diphthong is short; thus bàs, death, is always written with a; but bas, the palm of the hand, may be also written bos. 11. B and p, c and g, d and t, were frequently commuted, in ancient writings; thus agus, or ocus, and; labhairt, or laphairt, speak; cuairt, or cuaird, a visit; and, since it became usual to aspirate consonants, bh and mh, dh and gh, have often been commuted in the same manner; as, adhaigh, or aghaidh, the face. 12. Dh and gh may be written indifferently, in terminations, or where they are not radical; as, biadh, or biagh, meat; fiadhnuise, or fiaghnuise, witness. 13. Grammarians have commonly laid it down as a rule, that f may be eclipsed by d, m, or t, as well as by bh; but this is not correct. The examples given of these eclipses are only contractions for mo, do, (or to, instead of do); thus, do fheoil, or to fheoil, thy flesh, is commonly written dfbeoil, or tfheoil; and mo fhear, my husband, is written mfhear. 14. It will appear, from these tables, that the greater part of the words in Irish consist of one or two syllables; all radical words do so; but they are very easily com pounded into words of three or four syllables. In studying these tables, therefore, the learner should be accustomed to resolve the polysyllables into their constituent parts, and observe the separate force of each part. Although the directions already given are most agreeable to the true pronunciation of the Irish language, yet a con+ siderable diversity exists, in the manner of speaking it, in different |