Books and other items printed in Gaelic from 1631 to 1800 > Comh-chruinneachidh orannaigh Gaidhealach

I N S T R U C T r O N S
F O R R E A D^I N G T H E
GAELIC LANGUAGE.
FOR the more eafy perufal of this work to thofc
who are not expert in reading the langiiage,
thongh perhaps their mother-tongue, the follow-
ing general rules are laid down, called by our
grammarians the pronounciation of the fecondary
mutes, bh is always founded as a t; confonant ;
as, from Bru (a beily), Do bhru (thy belly), muft
be read as if written Do vru, ch as the Greek %,
or as the Scots pronounce the ch in the words
charaSìer and chaos : as, Mo chlann (my children),
muft be read as if written Mo ^lann, db before a
vowel, whether in the beginning or middle of a
word, has the fame pronounciation with y. So,
Dhofan (unto him), and Cradhach (tormenting),
muft be read as if written Tofan, Craya%. fh ìs
iiever at all pronounced. So, fhir ! (O man \),
fhutlfeìn (his own blood), muft be read ^ir !
^uìl fein. gh is commonly pronounced as dh ; fo
that thefe two letters are often ufed indifFerentìy.
mh is pronounced as a v confonant. So, Mo
mhallachd dhofan (my curfe unto him), muft be
read, Mij valla%d yofan. ^/^isalways pronounced
as in the Enghlh, fh is pronounced as h alone,
though / be commonly equal to the Enghlh fi.
So Sean (old), is to be read, Shean : but when the
fenfe is changed, as if one was faying, a fhean
duine ! (O old man!), the/is not to be pronoun-
ced, but read as if written'C? a heanduine ! But be-
jng (as we call it) the polTeffive letter, it muft al-
b ways