AN GAOḊAL.
80
There are even yet a few traces of the old Gaelic
neuter, which we shall point out as they occur.
13. The question now arises, how
are we to know the gender of these
words which are names for things
without sex? It is necessary to
know the gender, as the gender af-
fects aspiration, selection of pron-
ouns, etc.
14. The gender of such words is
known chiefly from their ENDINGs.
Take first nouns ending in a
consonant — these are the majority
of words in the language. The ge-
neral rule is that all words are MAS-
CULINE which end in a consonant,
or two consonants, preceded by a
BROAD vowel (a, o, or u). Thus gort
brón, am, crann are all masculine.
Words like cailleaċ, an old woman,
óinseaċ (ōn-shăcH), a woman
fool, etc, which are names for fe-
males, do not fall under this rule.
15. Words ending in a consonant
preceded by a SLENDER vowel (e or
i) are, as a general rule, of the fe-
minine gender ; as, áit, coill. The
rule does not affect words like
flaiṫ, a prince, a name for a male
being.
These two simple rules will de-
cide the gender of the great majo-
rity of words — See § 33.
16. As explained, Section 430,
the pronoun sé is used for all mas-
culine nouns and the pronoun sí
for all feminines.
As explained, Section 438, the ar-
ticle an aspirates following femin¬
ine nouns in the nominative and
objective case, except the following
noun begins with d or t, see Sect-
ion 441. If the following noun be-
gin with s, the t of the article re-
appears, as ant ṡúil, the eye. See
Section 503.
17. Baintreaḃaċ (contracted bwan'
trăcH) a widow.
An ḃ-faca Nóra an coileaċ agus an
ċearc? Ní ḟaca sí iad (them, accu¬
sative form of siad). Ċonnaic an
bean óg an ċailleaċ ag teaċt. An í sin
an tsean-ċailleaċ? Ní h-í, aċt an ċail-
leaċ eile. Cailleaċ agus coileaċ; cearc
agus coirce. Beiḋ an ċailleaċ 'na suiḋe
ag an dorus ar stól, agus béiḋ an coi-
leaċ 'na ṡeasaṁ ar an mballa. Is beag
an ċearc í súd. Naċ í súd an óinseaċ
ċeart? Naċ breaġ an aimsir í? Is
baintreaḃaċ boċt í.
18. Before masculine words in the
NOMINATIVE case commencing with
a vowel, the form ant of the arti-
cle is used; as, atá an t-urlár glan.
A rich prince. The prince would
not be there now. Is he not
a great prince? A big well, a big
chair. Put the chair on the floor.
The floor is not clean, it is dirty
(salaċ sol'-ăCH, Munster săl-OCH').
The road is not dirty, it is clean. A
big wide road. The mower is work-
ing down in the meadow, he has a
scythe and a reaping hook (corrán
kur'-aun). There is a white rock
on the island. The island is green
in the summer. Wife and widow.
"Wait," says old Mr. Weller, “did
you see the widow in the house?"
LESSON III.
19. Names of rivers and of coun-
tries are feminine.
20. All words ending in -óg, al-
though ending in a consonant pre-
ceded by a broad vowel, are of the
FEMININE gender ; as, an tseamróg
(tam'-rōg), the shamrock; bróg ṁór
(wōr) a big shoe. These words are
all diminutives.
21. All words ending it are FE-
MININE, except fuaċt cold. These
words are very numerous, and de-
note abstract qualities; as, breaġaċt,
fineness ; áilneaċt, beauty.
22. Many words ending in -aċ
are feminine, and are learned by
practice. They were probably at
first adjectives in -aċ, qualifying
feminine nouns that have disap¬
peared. The commonest are: —
