476
AN GAOḊAL
PROF. ROEHRIG ON THE RSH LANG¬
UAGE.
Continued from page 452,
The same is the case in Hungarian, where, "I have
a house" — has to be expressed by nekem van ha¬
zam, literally "to me is my house;" also in Turk¬
ish, where the same phrase is "ev m war," liter¬
ally, "my house exists." so in Arabic, where, for'
instance, "I have a book," would be "andi kita'
"with me is a book."
Let us now, also, say something, in passing, a¬
bout the material itself of the Irish language, that
is, its words. A comparison of Celtic words with
Sanskrit will, at once, throw a clearer light on this
mode of relationship with the same and the Aryan
languages. We shall take any few words in Irish,
just as they happen to occur to our mind, and make
without entering into any tedious and unnecessary
details, simply a short allusion to their connection
or ffinity with the Sanskrit or with some of the
of their several Indo-European languages
Thus, for instance, cluas (claus, the ear), connects
with the Irish clu (clu, to hear), just as we find, in
other languages, ear and hearing closely connect¬
ed; e.g., the Paris substantive kul-ak (ear) re
appears in Finnish, as a verb, cuull en (to hear);
Hungarirn halla-ni. I is in Kymric clust, Anglo-
Saxon hlust; in Celtic, it reappears in clu (clu,
rumor) and clotac (clotach famous, renowned);
Greek klu-o, klu too, kleos :Latin clu-o, clu-eo, cli¬
ens, cliuentius, in clu-tus; Gothic, hliuma; Ger¬
man, eumund, ver-leumund; Old High German
hlut, laut, English loud; Old High German the
verb hlosen, now laushen: English listen (Anglo-
Saxon hlust); in Sanskrit, the root is sru (to hear)
this, too, connects with the German huren, the
English to hear, &c. Let us take some other
words in the same way. The Irish lam (lamb,
hand) ; Kymric and Cornish, lan; Gothic — lofa
(palm of the hand), — corresponds with the San¬
skrit verb labh (to take, seize); Greek lab and
lamu. In the same relation stand the Sanskrit
verb hri (to take), with guna har, and the Greek
substantive kheir (hand). So, too, we say in
English to hand — to give, and the hand. The
Irish atair (father, — originally atar athor — ,
stands for patar (pathar): Sanskrit piar [pitri],
Latin mater, etc. The Irish mathair (mothe) is
the Sanskrit mater (matri), Latin mater, German
mutter, English mother, etc. The Irish bratair is
the Sanskrit bhratar (bhratri), the Latin frater,
Greek frater (a clansman, member of a brotherh¬
ood), German bruder, English brother, &c. The
verb to go is of the root i; in Irish, eta (etha), he
went; Kymric a-eth ; Sanskrit emi, imas; Latin
eo, imus, ire; iter (journey]; Greek eimi. imer; Li¬
thuanian eimi; Sanskrit past participle ita, subs¬
tantives it is (the going, eman (road).
The Irish gamog (gamog, a step), is related to
the Sanskrit verb gam, (to go), and the Gothic
gu'ma, guam: the German kommen, the English
to come. The Irish car-aigh caraig, to go], con¬
nects with the Sanskrit char (= car) meaning to
go: the Latin curro, and the Gothic fara — to move
about. A related root to char is chal, and this
stands to the German fallen and English to fall in
the same relation as char to fara, the German fahr¬
en and the English fare. From the Sanskrit char
derives charana (foot) which reappears in the Cel¬
tic cara. Another such verb in Sanskrit, at (to wan¬
der about, to ramble) occurs again in Celtic, where
we have in the Welsh ath-u (to go). The Irish
toich, toic — to go, toicheal — toiceal, journey —,
tochar — tocar, way —, is reducible to the Sanskrit
tauk — to go —. The Irish cos — cos. foot —, Kymric
coos — hip, hip-joint, Latin coxa, French cuisse
connect with the Sanskrit kas — to go: just as the
Sanskrit charaman — foot — derived from char — to
go —. In the same way lui — lui, leg, — is related
to the Sanskrit lvi — to go —. So is the Irish fir
firb, — rapidity, velocity, — closely allied to the
Sanskrit parb — to go —. Let us take still another
Sanskrit verb of the same meaning — to go, — tag.
This stands as it seems, altogether unconected and
isolated, and no where in the Indo-European lan¬
guages a cognate to it can be obtained. Only in
Irirh we meet it again in tag (tag, to approach,
and in tigh (tig, to come). Another such isolated
and, according to all appearance, unrelated and
unaccounted for verb in Sanskrit, is am (to pass).
(To be continued)
As we are going to press we have received the
Report for 1884 of the Dublin Society for the Pre¬
servation of the Irish Language. It is full of en¬
couragement for the future of the language. We
hope our countrymen all over the world will give
their serious consideration to the cultivation of
their language, It is the one thing which keeps
a people intact. A large number remark that
the Irish do not cling to one another like the peo¬
ples of other nations. The cause of this is, that
the majority of them have no common bond of bro¬
therhood, and are left to the mercy of every wind
that blows — nondescripts, without a country,
without a language, — a butt for ridicule to the ci¬
vilized world. The common bond ot brotherhood
is the language. Wellington is reported as saying
"If a man be born in a stable that does not make
a horse of him." Hence, the root of Nationality
is the language, and Irishmen, deserving the
name, should assist those who are endeavoring to
preserve it.
Send Sixty Cents for the Gael for one
year. It will teach you Irish.
