An gaidheal - National Library of Scotland

)—190 THE GAEL. August. 1873.(. "chum gu'm bi freagradh. . .agaibh dlioibh-san," &c.V. 19. '* Eadhou gu robli Dia annan Criosd," &c.("• Eadhon gu 'a robh Dia ami anCriosd," &c.)V. 20 "mar gu cuiicadliDia impidh leinne," «i:c.mar gu 'a cuireadli Dia( . . . ."impidh leinne," &c.)V. 21 " chum gu bitlieamaidair ar deanamh," etc.". . ( . . clium gu 'm bitheamaidair ar deanamh," &c.In all these examples 'n or 'vi (thedative case of the relative) is understoodafter " gu," and may, as weliaA^e shown, be inserted. In versest, 12, 19, 20, 21, Drs. Maclauchlanand Clerk have inserted it, we thinkwith advantage, in the edition of theGaelic Scriptures which they revised.By the apostrophes inserted before nand VI they show that they regarded" gu 'n" and " gu 'm" as abbreviatedforms, although they may not havehad a distinct idea of what 'n and'm represent.In his edition of Ossian's PoemsDr. Clerk has, as a rule, substituted" gu-n " for " gu 'n " and"gu-m" for "gu'm," thus showingthat he now I'egards n and 7nl)etween gu and the verb in themood which Stewart has calledthe "negative" or "interrogative,"as a mere euphonic letter. But ifthis view be correct '>i and 7n betweentlie propositions do, /o, mu, o, andtlie verb in the same mood must likewisebe i-egarded as euphonic and bewritten with a hyphen instead of anapostrophe. Dr. Clerk himself sawthis, and, accordingly, we meet inhis edition with "do-n" for "do'n"-="do an" (to whom, to which),"fo-n" for "fo'n" = "fo an" (underwhom, under which), "niu-n"*for" mu 'n" = " mu an" (about whom,"o'n" = "oan" (from whom, fromwhich, from that), as in tlie followingexamples taken from a number ofsimilar changes which we have:marked" A reub an caraid do-n robh'ghràdh" (Yol. I. p. 450), for," A reub an caraid do 'n robh'ghràdh."(Who pierced the friend to whomwas his love.)"Fo-n liib geug dharaig nan tòrr(Vol. I. 130), for," Fo 'n liib geug dharaig nan tbrr."(Under ivltich bends the oak-branchof the hills.)" Nighean Chath - mhin, mu - nluaidhnabàird" (Vol II. p. 258), for," Nighean Chath -mhin, mu 'nuaidh na bàird."(Daughter of Cath-min of loJiom[lit. about whom^ the bards will sing.)"Mu leabaidh o-n leum na ruaidh"(Vol. II. p. 440), for," Mu leabaidh o'n leum na ruaidh."(By the bed from lohich start thehinds."We are confident that Dr. Clerkwill find no ditficulty in seeing thatin these examples n after do, fo, mu,0, is not a euphonic letter but thedative case of the relative a, governedby the prepositions do, fo, mu, o,and that, therefore, it should be written,as in the editions of the HighlandSociety and of Mr. EwenM'Lachlan, with an apostrophe beforeit to indicate the elision of a. Weare confident also that, as he was ledby " gu-n" to " do-n," &c., he willalso be led, on seeing that theseforms are erroneous, by " do'n" &c.,to the correct form " gu 'n."(To be continued.)" Of Two Evils choose theLEAST."—Of two physical evils youmay choose the least ; of two moralabout which, before that), " o-n " for evils, choose neither.