760
AN GAODHAL.
west Munster: and I, of East Munster.
All are Irish speakers since infancy,
and nearly all first class Irish speakers
as well as Irish scholars. None of us
have ever heard the words pronounced
buaileóchadh &c., except Mr. Walsh, who
heard them in some parts of his native
county, but the people there all use
the other forms as well. In Waterford
three verbs are pronounced as Mr. Log¬
an would pronounce them : as marbhó¬
chadh sé me, he would kill me; gheobhadh
se bó go d-tí an earball orm, he would
win a cow to the tail from me (from
the verb gabh); and gheóbhadh sé rud
amach dá g-cuirfeadh duine ina chluais é,
he would find out a thing if one had
put it into his ear.
Mr. Ward’s remark, that a great deal depends
upon the ear that hears, is well worth taking no¬
tice of. The celebrated Archbishop Usher went
to Fore, in Westmeath, and heard the people there
pronounce the name of the place baile
leabhair, "the town of books," Archdall,
Lannigan, and all the writers followed this pronun¬
ciation until Dr. O’Donovan visited the place two
centuries afterwards For his ear the place was
bhaile fhobhair, "the town of Fore." The
Rev. James Graves was at Affane, near Cappoquin,
County Waterford, where the Fitzgeralds and But¬
lers fought a fierce battle. The people showed him
where the battle was fought, and they
called it bothar na bh-fodra. He wrote
to Dr. Joyce for an explanation, and Dr. Joyce en¬
closed a note to me to Dungarvan, where I was
then sojourning. I took the note immediately to
Mr. William Williams, and we both were at fault,
A man in the office of Mr. Williams remarked,
"perhaps he meant bothar an mhachaire.
the road of the battle.” Now, this name is pro¬
nounced as clearly as New York is, yet Dr. Graves
an Irish scholar, did not catch it. More singular
still is the fact that Mr. O'Donnell had not distinct¬
ly caught the Munster pronunciation of the words
now being discussed in America. He allowed in
one passage of a letter that in Munster the people
pronounce these words as Mr. Logan says, and in
another place that they appear to pronounce them
so. Now to my ear they do not; in the imperative
mood, third person singular, the verb
buail for instance, is buailfead (sé,) let
him strike, pronounced in Munster as if written
buaileach sé). The conditional mood
third person singular, is bhuailfeadh sé,)
The terminations of these two verbs are identical,
and there is no ochadh sound in either of
them. Now, Mr. O'Donnell is a ripe Irish schol¬
ar; he spoke Irish in his cradle; he has always
spoken it: for years he heard as good Irish as there
is in Munster, and yet he was not quite certain of
the Munster pronunciation of the words in question
The discussion in America has brought to light
a trait of Irish character that we should set before
ourselves as a model. Mr. Logan disclaimed hav¬
ing Canon Bourke on his side of the argument,
preferring truth to the advantage of the learned
Canon's authority. Mr. O'Donnell, though, as
nearly sure as possible of the Munster pronuncia¬
tion being in favour of his contention, would not
say so for certain. Of course l know the truthful¬
ness of my friend, Mr. O'Donnell, and I am glad to
call him my friend. Alas ! some whom they have
left behind in the old country would not forego
an advantage over an oppouent for truth's sake.
Mr. Logan found in O'Reilly’s Dictionary that the
number of verbs taking ochadh in the
conditional are far in excess of those
making fadh. I have totted up some
pages of Keating and of others, and the excess is
the other way, The poems in this number of the
Gaelic Journal tell the same tale. No doubt the
Irish language is being disintegrated; on my own
side of a range of mountains in Water¬
ford. tá sinn, &c., is the rule where¬
as at the other side, about bóthar an
mhachaire tamaoid, &c. are always heard.
I would appeal, then, to Mr. Logan * to help in
keeping the old forms in the mouths of the people.
In the case of ochadh and such like they
are easier. It may as well be stated here that
third sing. of the habitual tense active is pronounc¬
ed exactly like the same person of the imperative
and conditional. Thus in dún, shut.
dúnadh se, let him shut, pron. dúnach sé.
dhunadh se, he used to shut, ,, dhúnach sé.
dhunfadh sé, he would shut, ,, dúnfach sé.
* We have said our say, elicited the ripe sense
of Gaelic scholars on the subject, and are satisfied.
We, children of free America, are rather saucy.
We do not stand shivering in the class afraid of the
frown of our professor, but we stand boldly for¬
ward, with our hands in our pants' pockets, and
argue the question with him and when convin¬
ced that he is right we gracefully submit to his
superior authority — not otherwise. We now sub¬
mit gracefully, for who could resist the authority of
Canon Bourke, Wm. Russell, and of the suave dic¬
tum of the learned editor of the Gaelic Journal.
As some misapprehension has obtained in relat¬
ion to our criticism on the letters which form the
subject of Mr. Fleming's article, a few words in
their regard cannot be out of place here. Some
think that our criticism on Messrs O'Donnell and
Ward was too severe, but, by a careful perusal of
all the matter written, pro and con, it will be seen
that there is no ground for such an opinion.
Mr. O'Donnell says on page 641, lines 31 & 32,
2nd column of the GAEL, that Canon Bourke made
the future tense and conditional mood of the 3rd
sing. in ochadh. As the College Irish Grammar
shows, per paradigm, that he makes the future in
ochaidh and the conditional in ochadh. We felt
warmly on the subject as we did not wish to see
the Very Rev. Canon misquoted in the GAEL. In
