390
AN GAODHAL.
scended.
4 — The Leabhar breac, or Speckled Book, ap¬
pears to have been written in Duna Doighre, on
on the Galway side of the Shannon, about the close
of the 14th century, by the members of the liter¬
ary family of the MacÆgans.
5. — Leabhar buidhe Leacain was compiled about
1390, by a family of MacFirbises, in Sligo.
6. — Leabhar Lecain was compiled in 1416, in
Sligo, by Gilla loa Mor MacFirbis.
7. — The Book of Lismore is so called because it
was discovered in 1814, by workmen who were em¬
ployed by the Duke of Devonshire in repairing his
ancient Castle of Lismore, in the County of Water¬
ford.
The Annals of the Four Masters; such is the
name of a monument of Irish learning and patriot¬
ism to which there attaches a peculiar interest,
owing to the circumstances amid which it was com¬
posed and the comprehensive purpose which it
seeks to accomplish. O'Curry thus writes ; "In
whatever point of view we regard these Annals,
they must awaken feelings of deep interest and re¬
spect, * * * as the largest collection of natural,
civil, military and family history ever brought to¬
gether in this or perhaps any other country.” It
was John Colgan who gave the name, The Annals
of the Four Masters, to that work which was com¬
posed principally by four friars of the order of St.
Francis, in the County of Donegal. The Annals of
the Four Masters, written in Irish Gaelic, begin
with the deluge which, following the Septuagint,
they date Anno Mundi, 224. The Annals came
down to 1616, and, therefore, embrace 4500 years
of a nation's history. Sir James Macintosh thus
commends the Annals of the Masters, "No other
nation possesses any monument of literature in its
present spoken language, which goes back within
several centuries of these chronicles." The Annals
of the Four Masters, the result of most patriotic
faithfulness and unremitting diligence, beautifully
verify the statement which Michael O'Clery makes
in the Dedication: "Nothing is more glorious,
more respectable, or more honorable than to bring
to light the knowledge of ancient authors." Nach
ffuil ni as glormaire, agus as airmittnighe, onor¬
aighe ina fios s andachta na seanughdar.
John O'Donovan, another Irish scholar of great
learning, has edited The Annals of the Four Mas¬
ters and has added very useful annotations. Todd,
Hennesey, Petrie, Joyce, such are the names of
other Irish scholars who have done much in vari¬
ous channels of research to advance the cause of
Irish learning. There is a legend to the effect
that Finn MacCumhaill was, upon a certain occas¬
ion, hunting near Sliabh nan Ban, in the County
of Tipperary. As he was standing near a well, a
strange woman appeared and filled a silver tankard
at the well. Finn followed her unperceived, until
she came to the side of a hill, where a concealed door
opened suddenly and she walked: in Finn attempt¬
ed to follow her, but the door was shut so quickly
that he was only able to place his hand on the
door-post with his thumb inside. It was with
great difficulty that he was able to extract his
thumb which, bruised as it was, he put into his
mouth to ease the pain. No sooner had he done
so, than he found himself possessed of the gift of
foreseeing future events. This gift was not always
present, but only when he bruised or chewed the
thumb between his teeth. Such is the history of
the phrase, "Finn's thumb of knowledge," and of
the aphorism,
"Tabhair tordog fod' dhead fis
Is na leig sinn an eislis."
"Put the thumb of knowledge to thy tooth
And leave us not in ignorance."
When we interpret that aphorism in its practical
sense, it is to be cheerfully admitted that the Irish
scholars of our day are doing earnest honor to it.
To be continued
PROF. ROEHRIG ON THE IRISH LANG¬
UAGE.
Continued from page 380.
Ger., korb ; Swedish, korg; German, farbe; Swed¬
ish, farg; the f in the Latin words faba, facere, fil¬
ius, filia, fabulari, etc., becomes h in Spanish ha¬
ba, hacer, hijo, hija, hablar). In the Greek we find
dialectic changes, such as Ionic kos for pos, Ionic
kote often used by Herodotus for pote. Ionic ko¬
teros, for poteros, etc. The Greek hippos appears
in Latin under the form of equus (p=qu); the
Greek numeral pente (five) is the Latin quinque
(p=qu): the Latin quatuor is recognised in the
Gothic fidvor (qu=f); hence, the other Germanic
words fior, four, vier, etc. As a further illustra¬
tion, in Japanese, for instance, the sounds f and h
are in a sort of fluctuating state, so that they are
continually flowing one into the other and the
same sign or syllabic character is pronounced with
f as well as with h. So we have also, in Mantchoo
two forms for certain words, one with a labial, the
other with a guttural; e. g., fakouri, (drawers),
and khakouri ; foulgiyan (red) and khoulgiyan;
fako (rampant) and khako, etc. So we have in
Latin quisquam and quispiam; namque and nempe
etc. Another distinguishing feature between Irish
and Kymric is, where s stands in the former, the
latter has often h. Irish has this in common with
Sanskrit, Latin, German, and Slavonian, which
have s, while Zend [Old Bactrian], Persian and
Greek have h in the corresponding words: e.g.
Irish sen old, Kymric hen; Irish salann [salt]
Kymric halen; so, also in Latin sal [salt], Greek
hals; so we have in Sanskrit asmi [I am], in Zend
ahmi, etc., in Latin sex, septem, super, in Greek
hex hepta, hyper [huper] etc. It also happens that
while Irish preserves the guttural, Kymric, instead
of replacing it by the labial, as we have seen, sim¬
