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AN GAODHAL.
Plural.
Mholadh sinn, we used to praise.
Mholadh sibh, you used to praise,
Mholadh siad, they used to praise.
For the Perfect
Mhol mé; mhol tú ; mhol sé.
Plural, Mhol sinn; mhol sibh; mhol siad.
In the same manner the Future and
Conditional Tenses are conjugated.
The habitual present ends in — ann;
by annexing ann, therefore, to the root,
the "habitual" present is formed; as,
mol, molann mé, I am wont to praise;
molann tú, thou art wont to praise;
molann sé, he is wont to praise.
So, too, the relative and emphatic
forms of the present and future are
formed from the root mol, by annex¬
ing for the present tense — as; for the
future — fas; as,
an te a mholas, he who praises; an te
a mholfas, he who will praise.
The personal inflections of the “im¬
perfect" and “conditional" tenses are
alike; so are those of the present and
future tenses — except that the "first"
person singular future ends in d.
In the second person plural, which
ends aidh, the vowel i is peculiarly long,
as, indeed, it commonly is before dh
(or gh) aspirated.
OBS. — The first letter, if aspirable, of
the imperfect, perfect, and conditional
tenses, must be always aspirated. So,
in verbs, every initial letter that ad¬
mits aspiration, should it follow — ar,
do, ro, gur, má mar, nachar, ní, níor,
or the pronouns, a, noch, in the nomin¬
ative case, — suffers aspiration.
VOCABULARY.
A's, contracted from agus, and.
Arán, bread, all nouns of two syllables
in Irish are accented on the first, a
few like the present instance (arán)
excepted : it is commonly pronounc¬
ed as if written "raan”, but the first
a should be slightly sounded.
baile, a town, a village,
baile mór, a large town, the metropolis,
a market town, as opposed to a vill¬
age. From this Irish word baile, are
derived all those topographical names
in Ireland beginning with the word
Bally, Ballin; as, Ballingarry (Baile-
an-gharrdha), the town the garden
in Ormond; Ballintober, (Baile-an-
tobair), the town of the well in Ros¬
common and in Mayo; Ballynahinch
(Baile-na-h-innse), the town of the is¬
land. There are many names of
places in Ireland spelled commonly,
yet incorrectly with the prefix Bally,
Ballin, that are not derived from
baile, town; but from the compound
word — beul atha, from beul mouth,
and átha, fords; as Ballina, from
Beul-an-átha; Ballinasloe (Beul-átha
na sluagh), the mouth of the ford of
the hosts; Ballyshannon (Beul-átha
seannaigh, the mouth of the ford of
the fox.
Bliaghain, a year, derived, according to
Dr O’Brien, from bel, the sun — the
god of the Chaldeans and of the pa¬
gan Irish ; and ain, a circle; an ap¬
parent revolution of the sun during
his annual course in the heavens
Bruithte, boiled, from bruith, to boil.
Ceud, first; ceud, a hundred. Ceud
first has the article an, always before
it ; ceud, a hundred has not; as ceud
fear, a hundred men; an ceud fear,
the first man ; please remember this
Clog, a bell, a clock; from which Dr.
Johnson derives the English word
clock.
Corn, a goblet, a drinking cup, a tum¬
bler. So called because in days of
old, drinking cups were commonly,
amongst the Kelts, made of horn
(corn) Latin, cornu; Corn-aill, the
horny cliff, Cornwall.
Col, a hindrance, a prohibition, a dis¬
gust; col gaoil a prohibition on acc¬
ount of kindred Col ceathar, a pro¬
hibition arising from kindred in the
fourth degree. Hence col comes, in a
secondary sense, to mean, kin, and
kindred ; col-ceathar, at presert
