Imatges de pàgina
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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 Greek to, 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 use. Do frith was formerly used, as well as fuaras, in the preter; as, do frith Philip, Philip was found.

The futures affirmative, geabhad, and geabbar, are bor rowed 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, faicion, 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 gceadna, it seemed good to me also.

X

$8. Eist,

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 cluinim, in the present, indicative; and do chlos, (still used in Munster,) was the original preter, instead of do chualas; 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 numerous; but those here exhibited will afford a specimen of the manner in which they are formed.

91. These words are commonly called inseparable prépositions; 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.

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drochmhuinte, ill taught.

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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 allowable than that used in the Irish.

106. This mode, 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.

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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 e 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 modifies 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 au 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,

or, as it is pronounced in Scotland, and the North of Ireland, nian, a daughter.

117. It seems most convenient to treat of the several kinds of pronouns separately, though it may occasion some repetition; as the use of them is more clearly shewn thus, than by attempting to reduce them to general rules.

118. The anomaly, in the use of these pronouns, was probably introduced, for better sound's sake, and afterwards committed to writing. In the Scottish Galic, inn, ibh, &c. are much more frequently used, as nominatives.

119. This might be variously expressed in Irish; thus, is e an ni a dfag me a nocht faoi bhròn, a bheith am aonar indiaigh chaich, the thing that left me this night in sorrow, is to be alone after all.

120, 121. A distinction is observed in the use of these compound pronouns. Liom is used to denote mental affection only; but agam, and orm, relate both to mind, and bady.

122. As there is nothing, in the Irish language, in which learners are apt to find more difficulty, than in the use of the emphatical increase, the closest attention to these rules is. necessary. There is a remarkable analogy between the emphatical Greek particle ys, added to pronouns, and the increase, in the Irish language.

123. This is agreeable to the principle of the most polished languages, in which these pronouns alone never can follow the verbs with which they agree.

124. The use of the personal terminations is very inconsiderable, in those parts of Ireland that are adjacent to Scotland. In the latter country they are now little used. But in ancient writings they are continually used. And, in the south and west of Ireland, they are so frequent, in the mouths of the common people, that it occasions a considerable difficulty to an illiterate native of the north in understanding them.

125. The pronoun is never used in the first and second persons of the consuetudinal, after da; as, da mbuailfinn, had I struck; da mbuailfeadh, hadst thou struck.

126. This corresponds exactly to the absolute case, in other languages; but it is much more frequently used, in Irish. For wherever the word when can be used with a noun, or pronoun, in English, it may be turned in this manner, in Irish; as, when the old man heard that, ag gcloinsin, sin don tseanduine.

127. This form of expression is much more common,

in

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