Blair Collection > Argyleshire pronouncing Gaelic dictionary

RUDIMENTS OF GAELIC GRAMMAR.
XIU
5d Rule. Nouns mat. beginning with a
vowel have their roc. and gen. alike ; as,
nom. ord, a hammer, gm. iiird, roc. iiird ;
nom, amaid, a female foo/, geiu and voc.
amaid ; nom.oganach, young man, gen. and
voc. oganaich. od. Feminine nouns form
their vocative by aspirating their nomina-
tive; as, nom. gealach, moon, voc. gheal-
ach, moon ! nom. grian, the sun, voc
ghrian, fun '.
Plural Number. The nominative plu.
rat is formed from the nominative singxi-
lar by adding an (sometimes by way of sur-
prising people by a) ; as, srad, a spark of
fire, sradan, sparks ; rioghachd, a king-
dom ; riogfiachdan, kingdoms.
Special Riles Nom. Pl. Isf, A few dis-
syllables in ach, form the nom. plural from
the gen. sing, in aich by adding ean; as,
Ifom. Sing. Geru Sing. Kom. Plur.
Clarsacjh, Clarsaich, Clariaichean.
Mullach, Mullaich, MvUaichean.
2d, For the most part nouns in aich, in the
genitive sing, may have their nom. plural
alike ; as, ogtach, a young man ; gen. sing.
and nominative plural oglaich, of a young
man or of young men.
3d, Nouns in ar form their plural by
throwing away the ar and adding raichean ;
as, lobar, a well ; piulhar, a sister ; leobhar,
a book; tobraichean, wells; peathraichean,
listers •■, leobhraichean, books; latha, a day,
has laithean ; leaba, a bed, has leapaicliean.
ith Rile. Nouns that change ea into
i, in the genitive sing., have the nom. pl.
like the gen. sing. ; as, fear, fir, men or of
a man ; meall, mill, lumps ; geall, gill,
pledges; ceann, cmn, heads; meann, minn,
kids ; peann, p'lnn, pens, except beann, a
hill, beanntan, hills ; gleann, a valley, has
glinn, and gleanntan, valleys ; sliabh, has
slèibhtean, hill^ sides; sabhaW, has saibh-
lean, barns; bo, a cow, has ba, cows, in Ar-
gyle — in Perth, crodh; some has tan, but
very few ; reul, a star, has reultan, stars;
lion, a net, a snare, has liontan, nets ;
gniomh, a deed, act, has gnwmharan and
gn'wmhan; as the plural of overseer,
gniomhtan or grimh.
5th Rule. Words of one syUab'e has for
the most part the nom. plur. like the geni-
tive singular \ as, clag, a hell, e\u\g, bells ;
ball, bull, spots, articles; balls; bolg,
builg, bellows, begs, wallets; cat, cuit or
cait, cats; ceard, ceàird and ceardan, tink-
ers ; sloe, a pit, sluic, pits ; soc, suic,
shares ; toll, tuill, holes ;— some have two
plurals; mall, rent, màill and maltan ;
baile, lai'tean, towns; canna, a can, cann-
aichean, cans.
Genitive Plural is like the nominative
sing, in monosyllables ; as, bard, a poet,
gen. pl. nam bard, of the poets ; except
bean, a woman ; nam ban, of the women ;
cu, a dog, nan con, of the dogs: bo, a
cow, nam bo, (pro. baw, and nom. sing,
ba), of the cows ; coara, a sheep, nan coar-
ach, of the sheep ; sluagh, a multitude, ruin
sluagh, nf the multitudes, (nan slogh is
nonsense) ; ?d, also dissyllables that have
ean in the nom. pl. have the same in the
gen. pl. ; as, nom. and gen. plural, leap,
aichean, leobhraichean, tabhraichean, beds,
or of beds ; books, or of books ; wells, or of
wells.
Dative PLiTiALof words of one syllable,
ends in aibh or ibh, excepting words ending
in bh or mh, in which cast, the dative is
like the nominative plural; hence the ab-
surdity of writing na marbhaibh in place of
mairbh, tarbhaibh for tairbh. Note.— By
way of being superfine in Gaelic scholar-
ship, the best Celtic scholars write the tail
aibh, supposing it were as long as your
arm ! 2rf, dative plural is derived from the
nom. plural, when formed by lean or tan ;
as, beanntan, hills, beanntaibh, to the hills I
sleibhtean, hill sides, sUibhtibh, dative.
In like manner, Cuantan, Cuantaibh, O-
ceans ; fiadh, a deer, has feidh in nom. and
dat. plural ; some prefer sloigh to slauigh,
but we never used it ; baibh, a fury, damh,
an ox, a bullock; ràmh, an oar, tamh,
rest, have their nominatives and datives plU'
ral alike, daimh, &c. Math, a personage,
has Maithibh in nom. and dative plural ;
thàinig maithibh Bhaile-cliath mach 'nar
coinneamh, the principal people of Dublin
came out to meet us, — Legend.
Vocative Plural is the nom. plu. aspi-
rated ; as, beanntan, hills, bheanntan,
hills .' It is proper enough to write bheann-
ta in the vocative, though very question,
able as a nom. plural, compounds alone ex-
cepted ; caora-madaidh, dog-berries, caora-
feulain, ivy-berries; but always caoran,
elder-berries, or berries generally.
There are some irregular nouns, such as,
bean, a woman ; cu, dog; bo, cow, which
shall be declined at large.
Second Declexsiox. Thoughwehave
followed the arrangement of Armstrong
and Stewart, for the most part, yet it is ob-
vious to any person, that the classification
of nouns given here, divides into six fami-
lies or different modes of forming the geni-
tive. See Declension.
Under the Second Declension, is classed
aU nouns having their last vowel i, and
sometimes e final, and whose genitive is
like the nominative, or is irregularly form-
ed.