AN GAOḊAL.
261
THE GAELIC ALPHABET.
Irish.
Roman.
Sound.
Irish.
Roman.
Sound.
a
a
aw
m
m
emm
b
b
bay
n
n
enn
c
c
kay
o
o
oh
d
d
dhay
p
p
pay
e
e
ay
r
r
arr
f
f
eff
s
s
ess
g
g
gay
t
t
thay
i
i
ee
u
u
oo
l
l
ell
SECOND BOOK.
Sound of the Aspirated Letters,
B. C. D. F. G. M. P. S. T.
Secondary or Aspirated form. —
ḃ. ċ. ḋ. ḟ. ġ. ṁ. ṗ. ṡ. ṫ.
An approximation to the sound is
given at the head of each exercise.
The consonants have a broad or a
slender sound when immediately pre¬
ceded or followed by a broad or a sle¬
nder vowel. a, o, u, are broad, e and i,
slender vowels.
EXERCISE I. Ḃ.
Ḃ broad sounds nearly like "w" in
wool, as ḃur (woor), your. Between
two "short broad” vowels it is sounded
softly, much like "w" in power, as gaḃ¬
ar (gower), a goat.
Ḃ slender sounds exactly like “v",
as ḃí, (vee, was; final it sounds “v.”
Vocabulary.
agaiḃ, at, or with, you, agg-iv.
ḃí, was, were, vee.
ḃur, your, woor.
duḃ, black, dhuv.
fíor-ḃuan, steadfast, feer-woon.
gaḃar, a goat, gower.
buan, lasting. boo-un.
cara, carad, a friend, carra, carrud.
garḃ, rough, garruv.
leaḃar, a book, lhower.
leanḃ, a child, lhann-uv.
liḃ, with you, liv.
siḃ, you, ye, shiv.
tarḃ, a bull, thor-uv.
1. An gabar. 2. tarḃ duḃ. 3. ḃí
siḃ garḃ. 4. ḃí sé duḃ. 5. Ḃí an gaḃar
duḃ. 6. ḃí leaḃar agaiḃ. 7. tá an
leaḃar agaiḃ. 8. ḃur leanḃ. 9. cara
fíor-ḃuan. 10 ḃí gaḃar agaiḃ.
1. The goat. 2. a black bull. 3.
ye were rough. 4. he was black. 5.
the goat was black. 6. you had a
book. 7. you have the book. 8. your
child. 9. a steadfast friend. 10. you
had a goat.
EXERCISE II. Ċ.
Ċ broad has always a deep guttur¬
al sound. The loċ, "lough," as gene¬
rally pronounced in Ireland, will afford
an example.
Ċ slender has a smooth guttural
sound, as in críċ, a country, pronoun¬
ced like “creegh."
Ċ slender when final is pronounced
very faintly, as in deiċ, ten.
These souuds must be learned by
ear as they do not exist in English.
Sometimes the slender sound of ċ is
almost exactly like h.
aċt, but, acht.
amaċ, out, amauch.
asteaċ, in, asthach.
caoċ, blind, khayuch.
cloċ, a stone, klugh.
cloċaire, a stone-cutter, klughirhe.
ċugam, to me, unto me, huggam.
deiċ, ten, dhieh
eaċ, a steed, ach.
fiaċ, a raven, feeugh.
fiċe, twenty, figh-eh.
fíor-ċara, a true friend, feer-uchara.
laoċ. a hero, lhayuch.
loċ, a lake, lhoch.
luċ, a mouse, lhuch.
ḃeir, bring. take, beeirh.
cuir, put, kooirh.
1. laoċ & eaċ. 2. deiċ & fiċe. 3.
tá an fiaċ duḃ. 4. ní eaċ é aċt fiaċ.
5. tá an loċ duḃ, 6. ḃí an luċ caoċ.
7. cuir an luċ amaċ. 8, beir cloċ as¬
teaċ ċugam. 9. is cloċaire é. 10. tá
fíor-ċara agam.
1. A warrior and a steed. 2. ten &
twenty, 3. the raven is black. 4. it is
not a steed but a raven. 5. the lake is
black. 6. the mouse was blind. 7.
put the mouse out. 8 bring in a
