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AN GAOḊAL.
he spoke.
b' árd é an fuagraḋ o'n t-saorsaċt
do ġáir.
Grand was the warning when liberty
spoke.
Irish Melodies, by John Archbishop of Tuam.
The adverb whose initial is a vowel
on coming after is, it is; ba, it was;
ní, not; is distinguihed from the adjec¬
tive whence it is derived by the aspi¬
rate, h, which it assumes; as, is olc an
fear é, he is a bad man; ní olc an
fear é, he is not a bad man; is h-olc
do ċaint sé, it is badly he spoke; ní
h-olc do ċaint sé, it is not badly he
spoke; ba h-olc do ċaint sé, it was
badly he spoke — in which sentences
to, olc, as adverb, h is prefixed, as well
for euphony ai to distinguish it from
the adjective from which it is derived.
The Article.
In Irish there is but one article. an
the. In the singular number it is an,
the ; all cases and genders, except the
possessive case feminine, in which it
becomes na, of the In the plural it is
na, the, in cases and genders ; as,
Singular.
Mas Fem.
Nominative and Obj. an, the; ...
Possessive na, of the na.
Prepositional (do)'n, to the ...
Plural.
mas. & fem.
nom. and obj. na, the
poss. na, ...
obj. na, ...
An h is prefixed to the initial vowel
of the noun or word immediately fol¬
lowing the form na of the Article an,
the possessive feminine feminine, and
the cases of the plural, Ex, —
Air ḃár na h-aille os cionn an ċuain.
Where the cliff hangs high and steep,
Literally,
On the cliffs top, above the beach.
Song — “By that lake whose gloomy shore."
Na hoiġe, the virgin's, poss of oiġ, a
virgin; derived from óg, young; na h-
aṫaire, the fathers; plural of aṫair; na
hóganaiġ, the young men; plural of ó¬
gánaċ, young man; derived from ógán,
a youngster, and that from óg, young,
The possessive plueal, however, which
takes n and not h, excepted; as dréim
na n-ógánaċ, the contention of the
youths.
Masculine nouns take after the arti¬
cle in the nominative and objective sin¬
gular t before the initial vowel; as,
an t-aṫair, the father; an t-ógláċ, the
young servant man ; an t-árd-riġ, the
sovereign king; an t-uan, the lamb.
Triphthongs.
All the triphthongs — aoi, eoi, iai, iui,
uai, are pronounced long, and differ
very little in their sounds from those
of the long diphthons, ao, o, ia, iu, ua,
from which they are formed. The
sound of each triphthong differs from
that of the diphthong from which it is
derived in two points; first, in a slight
prolongation of the diphongal sound;
secondly, in imparting to the conson¬
ant immediately following, on account
of its proximity to the slender vowel i,
a liquid or slender sound, which other¬
wise it would not receive.
Iu, though ranked amongst the diph¬
thongs naturally short, is found long
in most words into the spelling of which
it enters.
Aoi is sounded like 'uee' in queen,
as faoi [fuee] under; caoi, 'kuee', cry¬
ing; a way. Iai, is sounded like the
diphthong ia [ee] except that the final
i influences the succeeding consonant,
so as to have a slender or liquid sound.
Iui, 'eeyu', as ciuin [pr. keeyuin, in
one syllable], calm.
As the Triphthongs are naturally long, placing
the accent over them is unnecessary.
VOCABULARY.
baois, wontonness, foolish mirth, from
baoṫ, soft effiminate, buyish.
Bairréad, a cap or hat, any covering
for the head ; derived from bárr, top,
and ead, for eadaċ, clothing; top or
headdress, bawreyudh.
