68
AN GAODHAL
of 300 other common words will be
found in this part
In the Fourth Series will be ex¬
plained, as far as permitted, (A) the
rule of caol le caol, which pervades
the whole language, spoken and writ¬
ten, (B) the gender of Irish nouns,
which is so closely connected with
aspiration and declension and, (C)
the declension in Irish. — This last
subject has never yet been fully treat¬
ed. We shall, as usual, be glad to
receive suggestions from our friends
The pronunciation of words not alrea¬
dy given will be added.
CHAPTER I.
THE RULE "CAOL LE CAOL."
Many persons interested in Irish
studies, especially those who would
do away with our present mode of
spelling and substitute a purely pho¬
netic method, have attacked in a spe¬
cial manner this rule, as useless and
mischievous. Hence, in drawing up
the Lessons, no mention has been made
so far, of this rule, although I am now
convinced that it should have been
explained at the end of Part I. of the
lessons. We shall most easily under¬
stand the rule, by examining how di¬
minutives in -ín are formed, the rule
then comes into operation very fre¬
quently and undeniably.
The termination -ín (een) is heard
added even in English words; as,
sleeveen, a sly person, one who would
"go up your sleeve," blind you with
flattery.
In forming diminutives we can di¬
vide words into classes :—
1. words ending in a consonant pre¬
ceded by slender vowel. These sim¬
ply add -ín; as, áit, áitín; carraig,
carraigín; muirn, affection, muirnín,
darling; Róis (rósh) Rose, Róisín;
Brighid, Brighidín; láirín, páircín.
2 Words ending in a slender vow¬
el. This vowel is replaced by -ín; as,
Máirín, páisdín.
3. Words ending in a consonant
preceded by a broad vowel a, o or u
Example, Tomás. It is not sufficient
to add -ín and pronounce the new
word (Thum-aus'-een) but the s be¬
comes slender, and we say (Thum¬
aush'-een). Therefore we must so write
the word that everyone will see that
s is to be pronounced sh, and that can
be done in either of two ways: (1) We
might write Tomásín, laying it down
as a general rule that the last consonant
of the simple word Tomás was to be
always broad or slender according as
the vowel added was broad or slender.
Thus the word would be divided into
syllables thus, To-má-sín. This would
be very simple, but unfortunately it is
not sufficient as a general rule, because
in many words it is obvious that when
a termination like -ín is added, a change
takes place before the last consonant
of the simple word. Thus breac, a
trout, has bricín (brik'-een) as dimin¬
utive. (2) Therefore we are forced to
adopt the ordinary rule, that when a
termination beginning with a slender
vowel is added to a word like Tomás,
breac, etc, a change takes place in the
vowel sound before the last consonant,
the broad vowel sound becoming slen¬
der. Hence the rule, siender with slen¬
der — caol le caol (Kae'-al in Munster,
kee'-al in Connacht), that is, when in
an Irish word there is a slender
vowel on one side of a consonant, there
must be a slender vowel on the other
side. As, báidín, a little boat; muicín,
(mu'-keen) a little pig; póirín, a little
pór or seed; bróigín; capaillín; fóidín.
4. Examples of the vowel change:
Gort, guirtín; cat, cuitín (koth, kut'¬
een).
5. Words ending in a broad vowel:
the broad vowel is omitted and the
word treated as if of the previous class;
as, cóta, cóitín (kó-teen); póca, póicín
(Pó'-keen); cába, a cape, cáibín a little
