Blair Collection > Treatise on the language, poetry, and music of the Highland clans

22
THE LANGUAGE
sake of euphony ; as, an t-uan, (u-an) the Iamb ; an t-iasg, (i-ask) the fish ; an
t-ubh, (uv) the egg ; an t-olc, the evil. Many nouns beginning with s, which
is silent before h, insert t after the article ; as, an saoghal, (sao'-al) the world,
is written in the genitive case, an t-shaoghail, (tao'-ayl) of the world ; an
t-shlait, (tlayt) of the rod ; an t-shneachd, (tnechd) of the snow, &c.
The above rules have, however, many exceptions, the article a being
prefixed to names masculine ; as, a monadh, (mona') the hill ; a meal, (mell) the
knoll ; and an to nouns feminme ; as, an amhuin, (avuyn) the river ; an reul,
(reyll) the planet, &c.
There is in Gaelic no accusative case different from the nominative ; nor
is the ablative different from the dative case.
Baed, a poet, Masc.
With the Article.
The following rules are quoted, substantially, from Currie : —
" Gaelic nouns generally form the plural eitheir by changing the broad
vowels a, o, u, into the small e, i, or simply by the insertion of i into the
last syllable," in accordance with the principle which makes the small vowels
the superiors of the broad : — as