364
AN GAODHAL
cruinnighthe, gathered, pron. cornniheh.
Some verbs end their progressive
participles in adh; as, deun, do, deunadh,
doing; and their perfect participles in
tadh, and te; as, deuntadh, done; buail¬
te, beaten, pronounced, respectively,
dheeuneh, dheeuntheh, and booiltheh.
Hence, then, we have this table —
iughadh, an ughadh sound oo.
adh and a " eh.
ighthe and uighthe " iheh.
uigh and igh " ih.
In the beginning of a word adh and
agh are pronounced like the pronoun I,
adharc, a horn, pronounced, eye-urk;
dn sounds nn, as, muidne, we, us, pro-
nounced, muinneh ; dl sounds like ll;
as, codladh, sleep, pron. colleh.
Omit the sounds of the aspirates al¬
together in the middle of words, mar¬
king their places as the division of a
syllable, and you have a very close
outline of Irish pronunciation. Take
saoghal, the world, for instance, omitt¬
ing the gh in the minds eye, you have
sao-al, and, substituting the sound of
the diphthong ao (ay), you have say-
al, the proper pronunciation.
Now, it is as easy to learn the fore¬
going as Pitman's phonetic system; in
fact it is phonetics. Here is Pitman's
system. —
á represents the first, ó the second,
and ú the third place of Pitman's long
open sounds; é the first and second
and í the third place of the long slen¬
der sounds. The unaccented Irish
vowels represent Pitman's short vow¬
el sounds
Pitman's Table — Long,
Irish sound.
1 a as in alms,
*
2 a ,, ape,
é.
3 e " eat,
í.
4 au “ all,
á.
5 o " ope,
ó.
6 oo " ooze,
ú.
Short. —
1 a “ at,
a,
2 e " bet,
e.
3 i “ it
i.
4 o “ on,
o.
5 " up,
u.
* The a as in alms is not found in
Irish except before double ll, as, mall,
slow.
The eclipsing letter needs no men¬
tion hardly as its sound is substituted
for that of the initial letter of the ec¬
lipsed word; as, sagart, a priest, pro¬
nounced, soggarth; tabhair an leabhar
do 'n t-sagart, (pron. thoggarth) give
the priest the book. Conceive the e¬
clipsed letter dropped entirely and
you have mastered eclipses.
Muirnín na Gruige Báine
'S i mBaile na h-innse shiar
Atá mo ghrádh le bliadhain,
Is áille í ná grian an fhóghmhair,
'S go bhfásann mil 'na diaigh
Air lorg a cos 'san tsliabh
Dá fhuaire an uair 'réir na Samhna.
Dá bhfághainn féin mo mhian
Go ngabhainn í ann mo líon
A's go gcuirfinn-se 'n brón so dhíom ó'n
lá sin
A's air chómhairle a rugadh riamh
Ní phósaidh mé acht mo mhian
Is í Muirnín na gruaige báine.
Tá mo cheuchta le sgur
A's mo bhranra le cur
Agus an méad úd eile le deunamh,
Mé do bheith amuigh
Air fhearthainn a's air shioc
Air súil go dtiúbhrá spéis dam.
Is coma leat é
A charaid ó mo chléibh,
Ní ort atá an phian chráidhte,
Agus dúithche Flaithdheas Dé
Nár fheicfidh tú go h-eug
Mur dtugaidh do chroidh-stigh grádh dham
Dá bhfághainn-se mo roghain
De mhnáibh deasa 'n domhain,
Agus fághaim orra roghain shásta,
Agus réir mar deir na leabhair
Do thug sí buaidh ó 'n domhan
Is í Muirnín na gruaige báine.
— Ó'n gCraoibhín Aoibhinn — beagnach.
Féach Vol. VI. l. 776.
