Blair Collection > Gaelic dictionary, in two parts

A GRAMMAR
GAELIC LANGUAGE.
Grammau, or the art of speaking and writing a language according to certain established rules, is divided into four parts,
viz. Orthography, Etymology, Syntax, and Prosody.
OuTHOGiiAPii V, or right spelling, teaches the true arrangement of letters in words; the correct utterance of which
is called Orthoepy.
Ety.mology teaches how to derive a word from its root or primitive, — the parts of speech, — the inflection of nounii
and verbs, — and the modifications by which the sense of a word is diversified.
Syntax teaches how to arrange words into sentences.
Prosody teaches the accent and quantity of syllables, and the measure of verse.
OF ORTHOGRAPHY, or RIGHT SPELLING.
The old Gaelic, commonly called the Irish, alphabet, consists of eighteen letters, which are divided into vowels and
consonants.
OF VOWELS, AND VOWEL SOUNDS.
Of these, a, c, i, o, «, are vowels, which Irish grammarians have divided into broad and small : a, o, u, are broad ;
e, !, small.
A.
A represents three different sounds ; in the first two of which it is both long and short. A long, sounds like the
English a in ear, or the Italian a in amo ; as, àl, broad; sàr, excellent: and short, like o in cat, as, cas, a foot ; /alt, hair.
b