438
AN GAOḊAL.
give but a few instances out of many, — all about
aspiration and eclipsis, in Irish grammar; that is
to say, we know the facts; but we do not know,
always, the exact reason why, under certain condit¬
ions, they take place. Now, it is not saying too
much that, even at present, we may, with more or
less success, give an answer to such questions, as to
why the singular of the possessive pronouns caus¬
es aspiration, while the plural requires eclipsis;
or why initial s, when it is to be eclipsed, is eclip¬
sed by t, or why, after budh (ba, b' ) of the verb
"to be," the first letter of a following adjective is
aspirated only when that letter happens to b a lab¬
ial; or why the masculine aspirates, after the ar¬
ticle, in the Genitive Singular, and the feminine
in the Nominative and Accusative; or why such
prepositions as a i, iar, ria eclipse without being
followed by the article, etc.
So, we see, for instance, that words beginning
with a vowel, have, when they are to be eclipsed,
n prefixed to them. Although this may seem, at
first, to be simply for euphonic purposes — to av¬
oid an unpleasant hiatus, — the real reason must be
deeper, and is to be looked for elsewhere. For,
we see that, also, words beginning with the con¬
sonants d or g, have this n prefixed to them, and
that b likewise prefixes a nasal, namely the labial
m; (for m is the equivalent of n), before labials;
as in the Greek "sympathy," for sympathy; sym¬
phony, for symphony, etc.) Hence, as a rule, the
sonants b, g, d, (the technically so-called "Me¬
diӕ in Greek ("Beta, Gamma, Delta," have the
nasal of their own class respectively, prefixed to
them. Now, to take as an instance the genitive
plural, in Sanskrit, Old Bactrian, Greek and Lat¬
in, it ends in a nasal [m, or n]. This, then, appli¬
ed to the Irish Article would give nam, which, m
being the labial nasal, remains before b, while be¬
fore other letters it becomes n, as it also, gener¬
ally, does in Greek, where — in case-endings, for
instance, — it takes the place of the Latin m.
Before proceeding any farther, we may, at the
same time, ask why the numerals 7, 8, 9, 10,
seaċ, oċt naoi, deiċ,
cause eclipsis, and why the other numerals do
not. We have to see the reason in a former con¬
dition of the language, — that is in an earlier state
of linguistic development; as in Sanskrit where
these same numerals end in n, viz., saptan, asbtan
navan, dasan . which has remained in the Eng¬
lish seven, also in ten, the German sieben, neun,
zebn; and which appears as a labial nasal [m in
the Latin septem, novem, decem. Now, this orig¬
inal n has beer, in these numerals, as well as in
the case of eclipsis above considered, carried [in
writing merely, to the next following word, with
which it connects, however, only by a dash or hy¬
phen, and forms, therefore, not one body or unit.
In Scotch, it still remains, in the article, as a fina.
[nam for na m — . Such erroneous disjoin¬
ing of the nusal can, however, not to be altogeth¬
er a matter of surprise, as something very similar
(although rather inverse,) also occurs elsewhere
in languages. Thus, for instance, in English,
where "an apron" stands (erroneously) for "a na¬
pron," an addsr" for "a nader (German, natter,
designating the same kind of reptile). So we find
an analogous displacement of l, in Macbeth, Act I.
sc. 7, where a lembic or limbec stands for al-em¬
bic [a and l belonging here together, as the Arabic
Article al, — just as we have it in alcoran, algebra,
alcohol, almanic, alcove, alcaline, alchemy, etc.]
So, also, in French, where an original final t is
euphonically revived, but displaced, as in a-t-il,
etc.
Now, this nasal will be of the labial class (m) be¬
fore b, and it becomes, either completely or parti¬
ally, assimilated to the class of letters to which the
"Mediӕ," b, g, d, respectively, belong, when it
comes to stand before them; as something similar
occurs in Sanskrit where certain finals are, or, un¬
der various conitions, may become assimilated to
the initial consonant of the next following word.
If we now pass on to another question, — for in¬
stance, the prefixing in certain cases, of t to a
word beginning with s, — we shall find s, before an¬
other s, in Sanskrit, becoming t, in accordance
with some euphonic law; for example — avs-sam
becomes avat sam; vas syami becomes vat syami,
etc. So, in Irish an t-srothan stands for ant-sro-
than this for ans srothan : as an stands for a
more primitive form ans, which can be easily es¬
tablished on philological grounds.
In Celtic, we meet with regular changes occur¬
ring in words placed in combination, one with the
other, very much like those alterations which, in
Sanskrit, bear the technical name "Sandhi." The
difference, however, consists, generally speaking,
in their being, in Celtic, initial modifications or
consonant rhanges, while they are terminal alter¬
ations in Sanskrit. In regard to such changes of
initial consonants, the entire Celtic group has de¬
veloped itself altogether independently of the oth¬
er Indo-European languages; in fact such a con¬
stant transformation of the initial consonants is
peculiar to the Celtic tongues, where the final let¬
ters of one word, on certain grammatical condit¬
ons, influence the initial characteristics of the
word next in succession. We have here something
analogous to "Notker's" law, according to which,
the initial consonant has to agree in nature with
the preceding letter; so that, for instance, p, c, t,
become, respectively b, g, d; that is, the tenues
become mediӕ, or the unaspirated surds turn in¬
to their corresponding sonants.
(To be continued)
We have not received Bourke's
Lessons yet The last account receiv¬
ed said they were re-printing.
