Blair Collection > Elements of Gaelic grammar

54 OF THE PARTS [Part 11.
f. 'flaite' (1. f. 'flait'j *grian' f. the >«, g. f. 'greine' d. f.
'grein.'
2. If the nominative fuffered a fyncope in forming the
genitive, or if the laft vowel of the genitive is broad, the
dative is like the nominative ; as 'buidheann' f, a company^
g. f. 'buidhne' d. f. *buidheann'j 'piuthar' f. ^/i/ier, g. f,
*peathar' d. f. 'piuthar.'
The Vocative of mafc. nouns is Uke the genitive ; of femi-
nine nouns is like the nominative; as 'bàs' m. deaths g. f.
'bàis' V. f, 'bhàis'; 'cu' m. a dog, g. f. *coin' v. f. 'choin';
*grian* f. the fun, v. f. 'ghrian'; 'gaoth' f. the luifid, v. f.
*ghaoth.'
Plural Number.
Nominative. Mafculine nouns which infert i in the gen.
fing. have their nom, plur like the gen. fing. ; as *oglach*
m. afervnnt, g. f. 'oglaich' n. p. 'oglaich*; *fear' m. a man^
g. f. and n. p. 'fir.' Many of thefe form their nom. plur.
alfo by adding a Ihort a to the nominative fingular. Other
mafculine nouns, and all feminine nouns, have their nom.
plural in «, to which n, is added, euphoniae caufa, before an
initial vowel (I)-
Particular Rules for forming the Nom, Plur. in a or an.
1 . By adding a to the nom. fingular ; as 'dubbar' m. a
Jhadciv, n. p. Mubhara'j *rioghachd* f. a kingdom, n. p.
'rioghachdan.' Under this Rule, fome nouns fuffer a fyn-
cope ; as 'dorus' m. a door, n. p. dorfa' for Morufa.'
2. Nouns ending in / or ««, often infert t before a ; as
'reul' m. a Jìar^ n. p. 'reulta*; 'beann' f. a pinnaele, n. p.
'beannta.' So *lòn' m. a marjij, n. p. *lòintean.'
2' Some
(I) In many instances, the Plural termination a is oftener
written with this final « than without it. When the vowel pre-
ceding the termination is small, the termination a or an is very
needlessly written e or ean, to preserve the correspondence of
vowels.