Blair Collection > Elements of Gaelic grammar

Part I.] AND ORTHOGRAPHY. 33
mogeneous vowels, when ufed in their qulefcent capacity,
are often exchanged for each other, or written indifcrimi-
nately (^t). From the former of thefe circumftances, mofl
of the words in the language appear loaded with fuperfluous
vowels ; from the latter, the orthography of many words
appears, in fome refpedls, arbitrary and unfettled. Even a
partial corredion of thefe blemiihes muft be deflrable. It
may therefore be worth while to examine this long efta-
bliflied canon of Gaelic orthography, with a view to difco-
ver whether it has not been extended farther than is ne-
eeflary, and whether it ought not in many cafes to be fet
afide.
We have feen that the Labials b, m, f, /, whether afpl-
rated or not, have no diftindlion of broad and fmall found.
It cannot then be neceffary to employ vowels, either pre-
fixed or poftfixed, to indicate the found of thefe. Thus
* abuich' ripe, ' gabhaidh' luill take, * chromainn 1 ivoidd
bow, ' ciomaich* captives, have been written with a broad
Vowel in the fecond fyllable, correfponding to the broad
vowel in the firll fyllable ; yet the letters ' abich, gabhidh,
' chrominn, ciomich,* fully exhibit the found.— The prc-
pofitive fyllable * im,' when followed by a fmall vowel, is
written ' im,' as in ' imlich' ta lick, ' imcheift' perplexity.
But when the firft vowel of the following fyllable is broad,
it has been the practice to infert an o before the m, as in
* iomlan complete, * iomghaoth' a ivhirhvind, * iomluafg'
agitation. Yet the inferted o ferves no purpofe either in
refpe£t of derivation, of inflection, or of pronunciation. —
The unncceflary application of the rule in queftion appears
moft unequivocally in words derived from other languages.
From the Latin words imago, templum, liber, are formed in
Gaelic ' iomhaigh, teampull, leabhar.' Nothing but a fer-
vile regard to the rule under confideration could have fug-
gefled
(x) As * deanuibh' or ' deanaibh' do ye, ' beannuich'
beannaich' bless.