PROPER NAMES. 1. Ua, or o, signifying a descendant, and mac, a son, are prefixed to the sirnames of men; as, Pattruic O'Neill, Patrick O'Neill; Seamus Mhac Seain, James Johnson. 2. But ni and nic are prefixed to the sirnames of women; ni, if the masculine be o; and nic, if it be mac; as, Maible Ni Neill, Mable O'Neill; Caitrin Nic Seain, Catharine Johnson. (116) 3. When a person's sirname is asked, the answer is given of the tribe, stock, or branch from which he has his name; as, car sloinnead duit? of what sirname are you? do, or de clann O'Neill, of the O'Neills. Concubar o Hara, is Eiblin ni Ara ba iad sin cloinn Dhomṁnaill ui Ara. Connor O'Hara, and NUMERALS. 1. Adjectives signifying number precede their substantives; as, aon duine, one man; gaċ uile la, every day. 2. But if the number be expressed in two or more words, then the substantive follows the first adjective; as, tri fear dèag is ceitre fitċead, ninety-three men; an seisad caibidil fitċead, the twenty-sixth chapter. 3. Every number, in which do, two, is expressed, requires the substantive in the ablative singular; as, da cloic, two stones. 4. Every number, in which seaċt, oċt, naoi, deic, or dèag is expressed, requires the substantive in the nominative plural eclipsed; as, seaċt gcloċa, seven stones. 5. In speaking of the succession of kings, and the like, the cardinal numeral is rather used than the ordinal; as, Seoirse an tri, George the third; rather than Seoirse an treas. 6. There are several peculiar forms of expressing the numbers of different species, which may be collected from the following examples. The construction of Numerals promiscuously exem→ plified. Do be an cead duine an cead peacać, The first man was the first sinner. Lùi an se dèag, a riogas Lewis the sixteenth, who san Fhrainc, Leis nar bail don uile bean amaìn, aċt Muire matair, reigns in France. To whom there was no woman agreeable, but Mary the mother. Ta Ta da cloic mine ann so, Ta tri cloċa-ceitre cloċa -cuig cloċa-sè cloċa -seact gcloċa-oct gcloċa-naoid gcloċa deić gcloċa-aon cloc dèag-da cloiċ dèag, &c. Ta an da eaċ is fearr ar bit ag teact anois on geurrać, There are two stones of meal here. There are three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve stones, &c. The two best horses are now coming from the Curragh. Ta na tri heic ar ti rit The three horses are about aniu air cùrsa Mhullaig, an Ta seact neic go fior mait ag teaćt go Faite na maga, Ca lion, no ca mead daoine do ŝuid ag an 'mbord? Seact gcloigne dèag, idir fear agus bean, Ca mead cinn eallaig ag hatair? Ta naoi gcinn dèag air. fitċead, Tri gaile capall bealaig, to run this day on the course of Rathfriland. Seven excellent horses are coming to the Maze course. How many persons sat at table? Seventeen sculls, (i. e. persons) between men and women. How many heads of cattle has your father? He has thirty-nine. Three (stomachs of) road horses. Three milk cows. Seven lambs, and one old mare. Ca mead daoine cloinne How many children has ag hatair? your father? Ta 1. Personal pronouns agree in mumber, gender, and person, with the nouns to which they refer; as, is mor na daoine iad, they are great men. 2. If a sentence be in place of the antecedent, the pronoun is in the third person singular, masculine; as, an grian a faiceal is aoibin è, to see the sun is pleasant. S. If two or more persons or things be spoken of in a sentence, the pronoun will agree with the first person rather than the second, and with the second person rather than the third; as, cuaid tusa agus go Báileat cliat, agus bi sinn ann o bèaltine go dti an lugnosa, you and I went to Dublin, and we were there from May until August. misi . 4. The pronouns se, si, sinn, sib, siad, are com→ monly used in the nominative; and é, i, inn, ib, iad, in the accusative; as, do buail sinn iad, we struck them; do buail siad inn, they struck us. * E, i, inn, ib, iad, are used in the nominative after an, ba, as, ca, naċ, gurab, creud; as, naċ iad sin na daoine? are not these the men? as e so, or 'se so an la, this is the day. (118) P 5. The 5. The datives of the personal pronouns may be aspirated or not, as shall sound most smoothly. But after n, t, or d, they are never aspirated; as, is fearr duit, or duit, it is better for you; is miann dam, I desire. The construction of the personal pronouns promiscuously exemplified, Tabair dam an leine glan, Do Is trom an cloċ i, is fuar } Tame foġlaim mo leigion, Moran saotar air beagan Is mor a claoidean se an Is beag a cuiread se orm He is a naughty boy. I am learning my lesson, He found it under his meat. Greatly it afflicts the The death of my friends 'Se |
