AN GAOḊAL.
39
dúnfaiḋ sí, she, or it, will shut.
dúnfaiḋ sinn, we will shut
dúnfaiḋ siḃ, you (plural) will shut
dúnfaiḋ siad, they will shut.
The past tense, —
ḋúnas, I did shut; ḋúnais thou didst
shut; ḋún sé, he, or it, did shut; ḋún
sí, she, or it, did shut; ḋún siad, they
did shut.
There are but two genders in Irish
the masculine and feminine; sé, rep¬
resents nouns classed as masculine, sí
those classed as feminine. In the ab¬
sence of gender or when an infinitive
clause or a part of a sentence is used
as the nominative, the masculine pro¬
noun, sé, is employed; as, is maiṫ an
niḋ siúḃal air maidin, tugann 'sé' goile
do ḋuine, it is a good thing to take a
walk in the morning, it gives one an
appetite; tá 'sé' (ag) feaṫrainn, 'it
rains, etc.
"A" The lrish for silver is airgead;
airgead-beo, quick-silver. Money, in
general, is also called airgead.
2. O’Reilly defines "Gaoḋal" thus. —
Gaoḋal, a hero, an Irishman, High¬
land Scot, etc.
The characteristics of the provinces,
"Gaoiḋil na Muiṁneaċ flaṫaċ, feol¬
ṁuir, féastaċ, fíonṁuir, daoin¬
eaċ, mórġálaċ.
Gaoiḋil na Laiġneaċ faoḃraċ, niṁ
neaċ, fealṁar, gléasṁuir, ceol¬
ṁuir, daoinneaċ, connaġaraċ.
Gaoiḋil na g-Conaċtaċ freaċṁuir
focal lioṁṫa, gasta, deáġlaḃraċ.
Gaoiḋil na n-Ultaċ brontaċ, taḃair¬
ṫeaċ, neartṁar, coḃarṫaċ, neaṁ-
sgaṫṁaraċ."
Some write to us in such a strain as would indi¬
cate that they were complimenting us by taking
THE GAEL. — We never were, or ever will be, un¬
der a personal obligation to any one — it is repul¬
sive to our nature — that nature which could not
brook the odium of being satisfied with picking up
the fragments of the remains of our fatted ox re¬
hashed for the Gotho-Saxon table. Compliment
yourselves by placing the evidence of your social
superiority before the world — not us. This, in
the interests of your children, you are morally,
as well as patriotically, bound to do.
We had a visit from Major Maher the other day
Eaḃraċ Nuaḋ, an t-oċtṁaḋ air Ḟiċid
lá d'oċdṁí, '9 .
Ċum Eagarṫóir an Ġaoḋail.
A Ṡaoi Ḋíl: Cuirim ċugat ceann
eile de na dántaiḃ breáġṫa, tógṫa ó
'n sean sgríḃin air ar laḃaras ċeana.
Dob' é sealḃóir agus sgríoḃnóir an
leaḃair sin, Uilliam Ó hÓgáin ó Innis
Ċuillin, aċt giḋ go d-tugann sé Innis
Ċuillin mar áit ċóṁnuiġṫe, is ró-urus
aiṫint gur Ṁúṁaineaċ é, mar atá an
litir 'g' cruaiḋ a n-deire na ḃ-focal a¬
gus go minic, tá sí curṫa a n-ionad 'd'
múċta (ḋ) Ciḋ náċ ḃ-fuil an ċuid is
sinne de 'n leaḃar so sgaíoḃṫa níos mó
ná seaċt m-bliaḋna air ṡeasgaid, bu
ḋóiġ le duine gur ċuir mac ui hÓgáin
a ínntleaċd agus a ġliocas le ċéile
ċum na sgríḃine do ḋeunaṁ ċó lán de
ċrapaiḃ agus de ċóṁarṫaiḃ is do ṫig
leis. Agus mar a dúḃart ċeana, do
ṁeas sé go g-cirfeaḋ sé cuid d'a léiġ¬
ṫeoiriḃ a sgríoḃaḋ a g-cinn. Do ḃíod¬
ar na sean-sgoláiríḋe ċó fáiḋeaṁuil
agus ċó lán de ċleasaiḃ gur ḃ' áil leo
a ċéile do ċur air mire air uairiḃ. Leis
sin, do riṫeadar na focail aisteaċ 'nna
ċéile, agus do ċuireadar síos a n-ion
ad facail, gaċ níd do ṡaoileadar go
raiḃ cosaṁlaċt nó deáraṁ, a g-clóḋ,
a n-guṫ nó a ḃ-fuaim aca le na focail
do ḃíḋeaḋ na n-inntiniḃ féin, ann am a
sgríoḃṫa. Cuireann so a g-cuiṁne
dúinn na focail a deir O'Donoḃáin
linn 'nna ġraimeur, air dulṫaoḃ 432,
mar leanas, —
"Arbitary contractions are very numerous, and
are used chiefly, in modern manuscripts. They
depend chiefly on the caprice of the scribe, and
can be learned only by practice."
Agus deir sé airís anns an dulṫaoḃ
as neasa, .i. 433, —
“But the contractions of this class are rather rid¬
dles than legitimate abbreviations, and are not
found in any manuscript of authority."
Aċt caiṫfimíd a ḃeiṫ gaḃáilt dóiḃ; a¬
gus le congnaṁ Dé, beiḋ ceann díoḃ
ulluṁ agam do gaċ uiḃir de 'n Ġaoḋal.
Do ċara fíor-ḃuan,
Tomás D. de Norraḋ.
So é an Dán —
