An Irish-English dictionary - National Library of Scotland

REMARKS ON THE LETTER C
letters naturally commutable with each other, like D and T, as indeed they always were in most of the ancient languages.
But it is particularly to be observed, that, although the letters C and G usurp each other's places, yet in the Irish language
they never exchange sound or power, each invariably preserving its own natural power and pronunciation, wherever it
appears; for C is ahvijys :i Kuj.pa or K; and G is as constantly a strong unguttural Gamma, excepting the case of their
being aspirated by th- iniiin -lint.- pubjoining of an li. This property seems peculiar to the Irish or Celtic amongst the old
languages; since w.- > c ii; tlir "1 l>-t draiiclit of tbi' Ikl.n \v and Greek letters, that the Gime/ of the former and the Gamma
of the latter are markr.l .h.«),, a^ 1, iviui; the \\,rr.- a,,, I ,,,oi,unfiation of either G or C indifferently; which is likewise the
case in the Armenian, Jail a i: ;' ;; ;!!':. i i a ijicars by the tables of Doctors Bernard and Morton. Thus
i
:
likewise do all the otlier lit i< , ; i
I :ii\ presei-ve their respective force and power, without usurping
i one another's pronunciati"!! ; i;:.; !
, ^; a!, languages, in which C often usurps that of S, as in the Latm
word Cicero, as does likewijL i v.lajii iama .l.at' ly Ivi; a ai Ly the vowel i, and then by another vowel, as in the words
Titius, Mauritius, usurpatio, etc. So that, if Lnciau hud to deal only with the Irish alphabet, we would have had no room
for the humorous quarrel and lawsuit he raised between the consonants of iiis alphabet for encroaching on one another, as
those of most other alphabets frequently do, by usurping one another's function of sound and pronunciation. And this
circumstance regarding the Irish language is the more remarkable, as its whole and primitive stock of letters is but
sixteen in number, the same as that of the first Roman or Latin alphaljet, brought by Evander the Arcadian, which was the
original Cadmean or Phoenician set of letters communicated to the Greeks. And yet, our sixteen letters of the primitive Irish
alphabet were sufficient for all the essential purposes of language, every one preserving its ow^n sound or power.without usurping
that of any other letter. As to the h, it is only an aspirate in the Irish language, and never entered as a natural element
into the frame of any word; though, indeed, of late ages, it seems to have put on the appearance and function of a letter,
when used as a prefix to a word that begins with a vowel, which happens only in words referred to females or the feminine
gender; for in Irish we say aghaidh, his face; but as to tjie face of a woman, we must say, ah-adghaidh, in which the h
is a strong aspirate, and carries such a force as it does in the Latin, heri, hodie; tlie Greek, hagios, Heracleos, the French,
' hero, the English host, etc. And as to the P, we shall, in our remarks on that letter, allege some reasons which m.ay seem
to evince that it did not originally belong to the Irish alphabet.
One remark more remains to be made on the letter C, which relates to the aspirate or guttural sound (the same as in the
Greek chi) it is susceptible of at the beginning of a word; a remark wliicli is equally applicable to the letter B, and partly
to other consonants of the Irish alphabet. In all the nominal words or nouns substantive, of whatever gender, beginning
with C, and bearing a possessive reference to persons or things of the masculine gender, the letter C is aspirated; Ijut not
BO when they are referred to the feminine. Ex. a cheann (masc.) his head; a chos, liis foot; a ceann (fem.), her head;
a cos, her foot. So likewise in B, a bhuachail (m.asc), his servant man; a bhean-sclábha (fem.), his servant maid;
a buackail, her man servant ; a bean scldbha, her woman servant. But when those words or any other nominals are taken
absolutely, without reference to anything, those of the feminine gender alone are aspirated in their initial letter, whether
C or B. Ex. a« c/ios, tlie foot ; an hhean-sclabha, the woman servant ; an buachail, the man servant. So that this prefixing
of the particle an before nouns substantive is one method of discovering their gender. But it does not hold good
with regard to nouns beginning with D or T.
CAb CAB CAbll CABH
C, c, stands for ceAt), the first, or for coat), a
hundred.
Ca, ca, is an interrogative particle, and has
varions significations ; as, how, what, where,
when, whence; cÁ hÁi|TOe? cÁ xiume? cÁ
^tACAlt) cú ? cÁ huAip? CÁ h*]'?
CliA, c/m, is a negative particle, the same as ni,
cliA'n'eil, for ni ^m1; used in Ulster and
Scotland for the negative ni.
CAbAt), cabadli, s. breaking of land, Sh.; indentation,
indenting.
CAbA •oeói'Ain, eaha deasain, s. field or corn
scabious, scabiosa arvensis.
CAbAj, cahag, s. a cheese, Sc.
CAbAgA, cahaga, s. f a quean, strumpet.
CAbAile, cahaile, s. a fleet, navy; prop.
CAblAC.
Ca, ca, 1 1
_ ' ' . s. a house.
J-
Cai, cai, \
CAbAiji, cahhair, s. f support, help, succour.
CAbAijie, eahaire, s. m. a babbler, a prater.
CAlbAipe, cahhaire, s. m. a supporter, assistant.
CAAb, eaab, s. concord in singing, Sh.
CAbAipeACD, cabaireachd, ) s. m. andf prating,"'
CAb, cah, s. m. a mouth; a head, a gap; the CAbAipeAct), cabaiseachd, ) babbling.
bit of a bridle.
CAbAipitn, cabhairi?n, v. I help, aid.
CÁbA, caha, s. a cap or hood ; covering for the CAbAii", cabais, s. f. babble, prate.
head ; a cloak or robe.
CAbAii-iTti, cabaisim, v. I babble, prate.
CAbAc, cabach, adj. babbling, talkative; tooth- CAbAii'ce, cubaiste, s. f. cabbage.
less, full of gaps, indented; s. m. a hostage; CAbAb, cablial, s. m. the body of a shirt; the
" 'o'plleAt)A]\ CA)\ AlUVlf 5AII CÁ111 JAn unfinished walls of a house ; a caldron, a large
CAbAc".
pan ; /. e. coine, o. g.