An Irish-English dictionary - National Library of Scotland

SANAS-GAOIDHILGE-SAGSBHEARLA.
EEMAEKS ON THE LETTER A.
BY THE RIGHT REV. DOCTOR O'BRIEN, R. C. BISHOP OF CLOYXE.
THE letter A is the fir-t in the alphabets of almost all lingjiiges, though ancient hi^tonans inform h«, as O'Flihertr,
upontlieauthoilty ot the book of Le.in oliMisL thit tliL ull In h liUth Ttlii 1 1 in ..i \U mi, s b snn their
-
I I ,
I
alphabet with the letter 5, and thei
in imitation of other learned Unguis
tl Ti ', ,1, 1 a T
, , m
it t n li IM I I \ IT r
first missionaries of the Cbubtiin r li li i ' I )
i t'l
i
i |
i
i 1
[
i
I
.
i i i i
i
is one of the five voneli (cilkd (»/ / ;
by the appellative of ^i//rt, ivhicli *>( in 1
'i
iiii\ in il\ m
1
i
' '^
deserves precedency ; althoiiííh All (lllili it\ n twil'i t tii 'in
the^iV-íí-ee, Lat. a6ies It I'inot imlil lit llliw !///< mlil it
is ranked among the feí!í/ían yiiMuit/Zii i la 1 1 \ m 1 in I in ii II M"- ml n n In' "' ^ " ha^e imitated them,
saying domo, from the Greek damo, to time, or subdue, as also Fovius for Vabias, according to Festus, iniforieus for
Jarreus.
A was sometimes written foi the ea of the modems, as dagh for deagli, good, etc It begins all those ili| li li 'i "i
'
'
i
Irish are called na ceíMreAa»iAn;tAoi?;, or the four aphthongs, viz, ao, aot, in, ae Note that ao (»
i"
aphthong, as is the modern triphthong aoi, and is sub-stituted insteid of ae and oe, used bv oui old ím n I
broad Uke é' I
I i i i
i i
'
long, or the Latin if, in the words saojArt/, an age. Lit •.cecuhim indi/os i_
is pronounced like ce in the English words been, keen, etc, but moie lie iiU hi í;i m tl
stitutedby the moderns It is an inflection of ao, and ioimed duecth ti m ii
Lit alas
In
/
"I
i!
maoiVe, bald and baldness, saor, rfaor, pioduce also saoir, rfa;i/, etc «othitth li 'i
v
'
i
I
i i i i
I
1
adding an i to the diphthong, and thus selves to express the genitiM ri iil ''i 'i
ao; eoi from eo; tai fiom la , twifiomtu, and !iai fiomaa. Anil
of inflecting the diphthongs into triphthongs, it la observ able m 1 1
r i' i
' ^
i
i
i 1
'
I
i i I
i
i i
I
i i i i 1
1 1
for ou in the genitive case, and nothing more common in the (n
two, added in the beginning, middle, oi end of woi ds, that tliM 1
more pompous and musical Thus ioi ont example amongst in ii ''i
Latin edition of Herodotus, are written 'rephA i iioi in bis (jieck i li
languages together, we should tmd a mucli ^reatci numbti ot su h n li
i I
i
1 i
And they are the less puzzling lu the lattei, as the thiee \oiM Is lu iil jn mouuLi. 1 «itliono nic vih md lu uul \llibli.,
and as no vowel hut the i is added to the diphthong to foim the tiiphthong
But this singularity seems peculiai to the lush Unguige, tint no two oi tliiee vowels joined to each othei in the same word,
can form two different s\ 11 ables Foi wlinhi. i mom h ii K m MisihcUois, who fiequent'y wanted to sti etch out words
by multiplying their syllables accoidin
two vowels an adventitious conson ml
into two different sylUhlcs And i li
t il 'i ii ihjraes, de\ised the iiiethud of throwing in bctweL,n the
iti d liy h), in oidei to stitti h and di\idt- the two vowels
in ign to the natuial tiame ol the woid, su it entnUy coi
mu t I» c ml 1 tin m tlinl his tin iii ti u of i
i rupted and disguised its radical f nm
respectable antiquity, and is count i
but even in the Greek, -n hen. m tli 1
m
i
i i i li i 1 1 n li I "u
I i ' 't
'
i
i
1
'
i i i 1 1
i I
1
i i 1
i
i i 1
'
1 i i i
I
i i
is still by the Germans, hke F) n i
I 1
Javones, or rather Jafones, and / / /
adventitious d is inserted between two miwi 1 niniuu 1 itm w nl 1 th t mu 'i ili
particularly in compounds whose first part consists of the itciativeparticlt ic wlnl th 1 ill
as in the words redar^uo, rerfco, rerfijio, rerfwio, rcrfiHíc^raíío, etc. But cut an it i n t n
precedents, that this rule, togethei with another deMsed m like maniiei li\ m Im 1 in i li\ n
1
it i hi itu ,
ha vowel,
amph oi
n t'l it which is
called caol le caol, agus lea*han le leathan, have been woefuUv destiuctne to the oiigmil ni 1 r i lu d puut\ of the In li
language. This latter rule (much of a more modem invention than the former, for oiu old US'? show no regud to it)
imports and prescribes that tne two vowels thus foiming, or contubiitingfo form m two difieient svll ibles bv the interposition
of a consonant, whether such a consonant be adventitious to, oi ongmalh m ipii ibh fi. in the i ulu il f ninitun of the
word, should both be of the same denommition 01 diss of eithti bioad 01 in I'
iil u 1 t tinprimitive
elementary structuie of the word. So that if the vowel piecedin nt i he
of the class of broad vowels, a, 0, «, while the vowel following the same CI 11
or vice versa; in that case the vowel preo ding the consonant being of i dill itcli U m ihit, \iicli l U
« 1 c i,
it, niusi;
either be struck out entirely to make loom for a vowel of the same cUss with the luUuwing (,loi it is tlic \uhc1 following
i