An gaidheal - National Library of Scotland

September, 1873. THE GAEL. 221the letter c was put instead of e, and it isnecessary to point out that Mr. Edmundsin his attempted reply alters the word hehad wi-itten in his book at page 18 from" balloeh "to " balloch "!In conclusion, there is no use to continuea correspondence with Mr. Edmunds,who, from what he has stated,shows he did not know whether he wrote(Jaelic or not.James A. Robertson.GAELIC GRAMMAR ANDPHILOLOGY.Sir,—As one possessed with astrong regard for his mother tongue,permit me, with the view of attaining-to what is right and true, tosubmit a few remarks on the " Noteson Gaelic Grammar, &c.," whichappear in this month's Gael, p.118, b.1, I am not at all satisfied that" an uair a" is an adverbial phrase.•'A thèid mi," "a bhuaileas mi,"are attributi\'e phrases qualifying"an uair." What "uair".^ "Anuair a theid nii" " a bhuaileas mi,"Of course " a" isthe simple relativehere as well as after " mar," " bho,""ged," and "ma" (if iK.t included init) ; so that it is the relative thatgoverns the future subjunctive orrather the relative form of the futureindicative. It does not appear tome that "an uair a theid mi" is literallyand fully " the hour or time thatI shall go," luiless we make " rach"a transitive verb having " an uair"for its object—as it is indeed in certaincases. Is it not rather, " thehour or time on or during which Ishall go ? " like " ua h-uaislean risam beil farmad aige," or, " a thafarmad aige rintha." For this constructionsee Munro's Gaelic Grammar,2nd ed. p. 180, note. PerhapsDr. Clerk in the instance quoted,considered the relative form (-as) sufficientlyclear without encumberingthe text with an apostrophe. Inmy opinion we are all lavishly fondof apostrophes. There does not seemto me to be any necessity for thecommon practice of supplying theplace of a part of speech with anapostrophe, especially where thereis no danger of the sense being inthe slightest degree impaired by itsomission. It is not done in English,for instance.2. " Gu 'u." I am inclined toquestion the statement of your correspondentthat " gu" is a prepositionhere ; if, by that term we are to understanda certain class of words,disused as nouns, but employed tocoimect notions. Is it not rather aprepositive verbal particle used knemphaticall}^ affirming a direct assertionÌ If " an " is the dative of thesinq)le relative, where and what isits antecedent? If not a euphonicletter, may it not be the interrogativeparticle "an" (" am," " a"), seeingthat all assertions pi'esuppose a(piestion Ì But Avhy not dispensewith the apostrophe in this andsimilar instances, as is done in thecase of -'gur" ?" Do-n," " fo-n,"" nui-n," " bho-n," for " do 'n,"" fo 'n," &c., are not to be imitated.As no one is perfect, it is a comparatively'easy task to criticise andpoint out each other's short-comings.The Piohaire Dall was well awareof this when he said, in Coire-naneas," Ma tha thusa iia d' fhear ealaidhcluinneamaid annas do laimhe."In the Gael, Vol II., No. 13, p. 13,b, Salm na Beatha, stanza 4, thetranslator, A. C, has fallen into theerror which Mr. Cameron in a previousarticle so severely condemns.I refer to the words, " a' bualadhcaismeachd thlamhaidh, thruaigh aneig."At page 183 of this month's GaEL,I find "Beinn-Nibheis" spelt "Beiiin-Neabhais." This is certainly some-