Imatges de pàgina
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Da gcuirinn,

Da gcuirfea,

or,

Da gcuirthea,

had I, or if Da gcuirea- } had we sent.

I had sent; S

hadst thou Da geurthaoi,

sent;

or,

Da gcuirfithe,.

had ye sent.

Da gcuireadh se, had he sent; Da gcuiridis, had they sent. 60. It will be an useful exercise for the learner, here, to form a number of potential phrases, by combining liom, leat, &c. damh, duit, &c. with such words as those exhiited in these examples.

61. The simple participle is buailte. The termination is somewhat various, in different verbs: see page 66, Formation of the passive voice. Thus, when the last vowel of the penult is broad, the termination is ta; as, casta, twisted; or an i is inserted in the penult; as, brugh bruighte, bruised. When the termination of the imperative is a soft guttural, the t is often aspirated, for sound's sake; as, giorruigh, shorten, giorruighte, or rather giorruighthe, shortened.

62. This termination is often lengthened by poetic invention, dh being inserted before the last syllable; as, buailfidhear, for buailfear.

63. The preter negative may be formed thus; muna be bualadh me; or, muna mbuailfidh me.

gur

64. These verbs nearly correspond, in their nature, to those commonly denominated neuter. But they are not so numerous, as none of them are used to denote any strong exertion, even when the action does not fall upon another object.

65. The observation made on the letter a, with respect to the preposition ann, is fully exemplified here, and throughout these verbs. See also page 92, rule 10*.

66. This interrogative can hardly be used, in the first person, but it is exhibited here, for the sake of uniformity.

67. As it has been more than once observed in other notes, there is some variety in this tense, as spoken in different places; thus,

Ni choidealam, ni choidealfad, or ni choideala me, I will not sleep.

A gcoidealfad? a gcoidealam? &c. shall I sleep? &c.

68. As the potential mood is formed, in these verbs, by aid of the same words that are already exhibited in bi, and buail, it is unnecessary to repeat it here. It may be almost superfluous to observe, that reflected verbs, implying no action done to another, are incapable of being inflected in the passive voice.

69. Having

69. Having studied the full examples of conjugations, the learner will here see the original simplicity, and remarkable regularity, of the Irish verbs. That the imperative is the root, from which all the other parts are forined, will be evident, on the slightest inspection. The same observation occurred to Mr. Stewart (Galic Grammar, page 82); but it is somewhat singular, that, in giving the examples of the conjugations, he does not place the imperative first in order.

70. The form, do bhuaileadh, corresponds more exactly with the general rule; although do bhualadh is more com'mon. The same may perhaps be observed of some other verbs, but the difference is so inconsiderable, that it does not seem worthy of being noted as an irregularity.

71, 72. When these references were made, for notes, it was intended to insert the observations, which have already been made, at notes 57, and 59,

73. In the following tables, as many of these verbs as occurred to the author's observation are inserted. He does not pretend to say, that the lists are complete; but they contain, at least, the greater part of such words; and the learner will easily attain the knowledge of any others, in the course of reading, and speaking.

74. Some of the foregoing verbs may be otherwise formed, in the infinitive; as,

Cosain,-do chosaint,-do chosnamh, defend.
Creid, chreidin heal,-chreideadh, believe.
Musgal,mhusgailt,mhusgladh, awaken.
Treig,-threigmheal,-threigint, forsake.
Tuig, thuigmheal,-thuigsin, understand.
Sambal,-shamhladh,-shamhailt, compare.

Note, that t is often added to n, where it might be wellomitted; as,

Lean, do leanmhuint, for, do leanmhuin, follow,

75. This, with the three foregoing blank references, is intended to point out words, in which there is some deviation from the general rules. But these irregularities are more owing to local idioms, than to any radical variety of expression; and they are noted here, that the learner may not hesitate in generally inflecting all verbs, according to the common rules.

If the imperative tioman, drive, were used, there would be no irregularity in this verb, in which the "a" is the leading and radical vowel.

76. It has been justly observed, by General Vallancey, that "from the description given of the irregular verbs,

by,

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, luid hold on, overtook, or brought forth.

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Beara si clann,

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Give it from you.

Lay hold on this.

I will give it to you.

We shall overtake them,

Beara me cloidheamh liom, I will bring a sword with me.

Rug si orra,

Rug si mac,

She will bear a child.

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31. The entire imperative is thus formed;

Sing.

2. Tarr, come thou

3. Tigeadh se, let him come

Plural.

1. Tigeamois, let us come. 2. Tigidhe, come ye.

3. Tigidis, or tigeadh siad, let them 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 ffith 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 gceadna, it seemed good to me also.

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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 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,

priomhadhbhar, first cause.

drochmhuinte, ill taught.

feilgniomh, a very bad action.

riomhraidte, before said.

romhaith, very good.
sioruisge, constant rain.
tiomchuairt, a friendly visit,
tuathchleas, rustic cunning.

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, sardhomhain, 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

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