﻿92
AN GAOḊAL
LESSON V.
Words ending in a vowel.
30. A. All words in -ire, aire, de¬
noting persons, are masculine; as
timṫire (tim'hir-ĕ), a messenger teaċ¬
taire (taCH'-thăr.ĕ), a messenger, aoġ¬
aire (ae'-ăr-ĕ), a shepherd.
31 B. All words in -iḋe, aiḋe, uiḋe,
denoting persons, are masculine ; as,
sgeuluiḋe, a storyteller, ránuiḋe (raun'-
ee), a very thin person, sgláḃuiḋe
(sglauv'-ee), a labourer
32. C. Abstract nouns ending in a
vowel are usually feminine; as, tróc¬
are (thrŏk-ărĕ), mercy, tuirse, wea¬
riness. Those derived from adjectives
are all feminine; as, gile (gil'-ĕ), bright¬
ness; from geal, fáilte, welcome (lite¬
rally, gladness, from fáilid, OLD IRISH,
glad.)
33. Of the 180 nouns given in Part
I., these rules decide the gender of
145: that is, about 75 per cent : and
out of the 170 nouns in Part II., all
but 23, or over 5 per cent.
LESSON VI.
34. Exceptional. — The words caile
(Kal'-ĕ), a woman (rarely used), cailín
(Kal'-een) a girl, see Section 26, gearr¬
ċaile, a girl, are masculine, although
the persons represented by them are
of course female. Hence these words
are not aspirated in the nominative
case by the article, nor is the follow¬
ing adjective aspirated; as, is maiṫ an
cailín í, is cailín beag í, ċonnaic sé
gearr-ċaile beag ar an m-bóṫar, an
cailín deas. Of course, the feminine
pronoun is used.
35. The words staill, a stallion, and
sgológ (sgŭl'ōg), an old man, are fem¬
inine. is stail ḃreaġ é, ḃí sgológ ḃoḋ¬
ar ins an gcúinne. The masculine pro¬
noun is, of course, used.
36. Ships, boats, etc are usually
personified and spoken of as female.
Is long ḃreaġ í sud. The word long
presents no difficulty, as it is feminine
but the word bád, a boat, curraċ (kur'-
ucH), a canoe, soiġṫeaċ (see'-haCH), a
vessel, árṫaċ (aur'-hăch, properly eaṫ¬
raċ), a vessel, follow the general rule
and are masculine; hence we find, is
breaġ an bád í so, naċ deas an soiġ¬
ṫeaċ í sin? feuċ an t-árṫaċ amuiġ, naċ
h-áluinn atá sí; fuair Conn curraċ
nuaḋ, atá sí ṡíos ar an uisge.
37. There is in modern Irish no fe¬
minine terminatin like -ess in English
Jewess, authoress etc., which can be
added to nouns; hence we say is
sgeuluiḋe maiṫ é or í, the noun rem¬
aining masculine ; ní teaċtaire maiṫ
í.
38 So with words that can be appli¬
ed to both sexes, is duine maiṫ é, ní
duine maiṫ í. Here duine remains mas¬
culine, even when reference is made
to a woman. Is maiṫ an páisde í. Is
maiṫ an searraċ (shar'-ăCH, Munster
shăr-OCH') é or í sin, a good foal. Naċ
breaġ an capall é or í so, is not this a
fine horse — where capall is used, in
some places exclusively, for a mare.
36. For ní'l a ḟios agam, I do not
know (it), they say in Munster ní ḟea¬
dar (addher), I (you, he etc.) do not
know, does not know.
40. Feuċ an long ḋeas ar an ḃfair¬
rge — cia leis í? Ní ḟeadar, nó, ní'l
a ḟios agam féin cia leis í súd, aċt a-
tá a ḟios agam gur (ab) le Niall an
soiġṫeaċ mór eile, agus naċ deas an
soiġṫeaċ í. Is deas go deiṁin, an ḃfuil
an long ċoṁ mór leis an soiġṫeaċ eile?
Cionnus atá Conn anois, an ḃfuil
biseaċ air fós? Ṫáinic teaċtaire a¬
réir, agus deir sé go ḃfuil biseaċ air,
aċt naċ mbéiḋ sé 'na ṡuiḋe indiu ná i
mbáraċ. An tseanḃean, an cailín beag,
agus gearr-ċaile óg. Atá coirce agus
cruiṫneaċt ag an ḃféirméir láidir sin.
Láir agus searraċ.
41. The scythe belongs to the mow¬
er. That is a fine mower, he is work¬
ing well indeed. God bless your work,
Patrick. “The old woman is a fool,"
