Blair Collection > Elements of Gaelic grammar

45 OF THE PARTS [Part II.
part, agents ; as * cealgair,' a deceiver, ' fealgair,' a huiilfmati,
' dorfair,' a door-keeper^ ' marcach/ a rider, ' maraiche, a
Jailor, * coiflche,' afoot-traveller^ &c.
Names of fuch kinds of trees as are natives of Scotland \
as ' darach,' oak, * giuthas/yfr, * uimhfeann/ aJJj.
Moft polyfyllables whereof the lali vowel is broad, are
mafculine.
FeminineS. Nouns fignifying females are feminine ; as
' bean,' a ivomati^ ' mathair,' a mother, ' bo,* a cow, &c.
Except ' bainionnach,' or ' boirionnach,' a female, ' mart,'
a cow, -Lcapull, a horfe or mare, but commonly a mare^
which are mafculine ; and * caileann,' or ' cailinn,' a damfely
mafculine or feminine (e), Mark, vi. 28.
Some nouns denoting a fpecies are feminine, even when
the individual fpoken of is charadlerifed as a male ; as
' gabhar fhirionn, a he-goat. Pfal. I. 9.
Names of countries j as * Albainn,' Scotland, ' Eirin,*
Ireland,
Names of mullcal inflruments ; as ' clarfach,' a harp,
* piob, a pipe.
Names of the heavenly bodies ; as * Grian,' j-//;;, * Gealach/
moon.
Names of difeafes ; as * teafach,' a fever, * a' ghriuthach,*
the
(e) It must appear singularly strange that any nouns which
signify females exclusively should be of the masculine gender.
The noun ' bainionnach,' is derived from the adjective ' bain-
• ionn,' female^ which is formed from * bean,' the appropriate
term for a woman. Yet this noun ' bainionnach,' or ' boir-
ionnach, a female, is masculine to all grammatical intents and
purposes. We say ' boirionnach coir,' a civil woman, ' am boir-
' ionnach maiseach,' the handsome woman.
The p-ender of this Noun seems to have been fixed, not by its
signification, but by its termination \ for most Derivatives in ach
are masculines j as ' oganach,' a young man, ' marcach,' a horse-
man, ' Albanach,' a Scotsman, &.c. So in Latin, ' mancipium,
' scortum,' though applied to persons, follow the gender of their
termination.