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ué)lojA , n ^ EASY LESSONS: SELF-INSTRUCTION IN IRISH. REV. ULICK J. BOURKE, Professor of Logic, Natural Philosophy, and Languages, St. Jarlath's College, Tuam. imxtl) (^Vúm. A KEY IS ANNEXED TO THE END OF EACH PART. DUBLIN: JOHN MULLANY, PRINTER AND PUBLISHER OF CATHOLIC WORKS, 1 PARLIAMENT-STREET. 1865. V1358 ^ /c^, /'/j2Jt PEEFA.CE The following Easy Lessons were written to satisfy the repeated demands made on The Nation by the Irish public to supply them with rudimental knowledge in the lan- guage of fatherland. They are now reproduced in a book form, revised and improved by the writer. His only object, first in compos- ing and now in republishing them, has been, to afford those who are mere nurslings in Gaelic, the milk of Irish elementary knowledge at once light and nutritive ; and to circulate more widely than ever the language of Old Eire Of the six groups which compose the Indo-European fimily of languages, the Keltic has been proved by J. C. Zeuss, a native of Bavaria, and is now generally admitted to be, the most important as it is the most ancient. From the analogies introduced in the Lessons between the languages of Europe and Gaelic, the lovers of philology will, it is hoped, derive an additional zest to cultivate a knowledge of Irish, the largest and most extended divi- BÍon of the Keltic group ; while the mere learner, being amply supplied besides with easy instructive matter, can, without attending to this foreign element, obtain from them sufficient rudimental knowledge of the language of the Gael. It may be objected that in Easy Lessons, philosophic deductions from the general and special principles of language are umiecessarilj introduced. Those who would so object should bear mind that nothing, no matter how simple, can to a learner appear easy unless he knoAvs the principles on which its objective truth is founded. In order therefore to knoio whatever we learn, it is necessary to be acquainted with the philosophic truths fi-om which such knowledge is derived. With a few admirable excep- tions, the works ah'eady published mere or less elementary in Irish, have been written with little or no attention to the philosophy or peculiar genius of the language, and are found, therefore, to be hj no means calculated to make the study of om- venerable tongue agreeable to students. Works still more simple, or at least more concise than the present Volume, may yet be produced. Indeed, should these Easy Lessons meet encouragement, smaller and cheaper introductory works intended for the use of Schools, shall, with God's blessing, be published. To make these Lessons as fully available as possible, the learner should not only repeat the sentences formed in each exercise, but from the aid furnished him in the several Vocabularies, he should strive to form new sentences of his own, according to the grammatical instructions imparted in each Lesson. This process he should repeat again and again, saying several times o^-er the same word or words imder new combinations. This practice, continued with perseverance, will make the yomig learner become, in a very short time, a master of the language. FuAST OF All Saints, 1Só9, PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. TiiK fact that the first edition of the First Part of " Easy Lessons IN Irish" has been sold oif while the Second Part was printing proves there are many lovers of the Gaelic tongue ready to patro- nise our eiforts. A second edition is therefore issued, improved as far as im- provement was required. Feast of the Aacemion of our Lnd, I860. PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. In five years this little work has gone through three editions. The demand has been steadily increasing. On this account the fourth thousand is now issued. Some ten years ago written Irish had been nigh reckoned a thing of the past. Not so to-day ; it is written, as well as read and spoken, by thousands of the growing youth—young men and maidens—in many parishes thoughout Connaught. In several districts through Ireland, persons who ought to encourage the cultivation of their mother tongue— if for no higher motive, for the sake, at least, of learning and scholarship — actually neglect or despise it : still there are found many young men, after the manner of the learned and lamented Thomas Davis, endeavouring by private study to acquire a knowledge of that tongue which it was their misfortune, in earlier days, not to have beard—or if they heard, not to have appreciated. Of our own knowledge, we are aware that there exists a patriotic rivalry in this respect amongst the students of several colleges in Ireland, France, Rome, Spain, in the Canadas, New Brunswick, the United States. The " Easy Lessons" have found their way to " the ends of the earth." This little work, and the " College Irish Grammar," of which it is the complement, are prized in an especial m.mner by the savants in English and German universities. Scholars and men of mind in countries beyond the Irish shore, are more alive to the value of Gaelic, than Irishmen in Ireland seem to be. Witness Pritchard, Latham, Blackie professor of Greek in the University of Edinburgh ; Newman (London), Donbavand, Sir G. C. Lewis, Englishmen all; Pictet, of Geneva; Zeiiss, Herr Gliick, Bopp, Leo, Korner, Sparschuh, Hermann Ebel, Gorres, and Holtzman, Germans ; with Edwards and others, Frenchmen. The causes of this apathy, like the causes of Irish poverty, are manifold ; but for all that, Irishmen have it in their power to do more than they actually eiiect, to render, if they please, their names conspicuous for scholarly attainments or worldly wealth. Away with that horrible materialism which measures greatness by the standard of money, or that of private advantage, and which asks: "What good is Gaelic to me ? What shall I gain by it ? Where will it carry me to if I leave the Irish shore ?" Surely, to a mind capable of correct thought and calm judgment, the oldest language in Europe—nay, the parent of the oldest, ought to appear worth retaining in life ; and this is all we claim, or by our efforts seek to attain. One may add, that for what it was, and is, and is calculated to effect, and from its relationship with those European dialects whose history and speech we praise, it deserves not only to be retained, but to be fostered. Look to Welshmen, our Celtic brethren. See what they do for their lan- guage. Cannot we Celts do as much for ours ? But, to Irish- men is it not reason enough, along with those given, that Gaelic is our ow'n — is the language of our fathers, of our race, of St. Patrick, of the saints and sages who, for fourteen hundred years, have ffourished in this island ! People ! patriots ! ! priests of Ireland, are these reasons sufficient? If you think so, encourage the study of our mother tongue. In any case should it, after the lapse of another century, or half century, perish, the " Lessons" now edited, and the " College Irish Grammar," with the new dictionary published in the pages of the Nation, will save much of the wreck of that stately ship in which our race for more than three thousand years sailed on the waves of time in safety and security. 5/. Jarlath's College, Tuam. Feast of St. Catherine of Sienna, 1865. ^" The key to Part 1., and synopsis of tlie verb bo beic, to he, are found at p. 59; the key to Part II., at p. 139; that of Part III., at p. 216. %* The dialogues in Parts I.. III., IV., are hest suited to beginners; those of Parts II. and V., for more advanced students. Some beginners have, they say, found Part 11. somewhat difficult. This is owing to the in. troduction, necessarily, of the important subjects of eclipsis, gender, and how nouns in Irish form the plural. Nothing, however, can be easier than Parts I., III., and IV, SELF-IlSrSTEUCTION IN lEISH, We commence our Easy Lessons in the Irish Language. We have, as Avill be manifest to those intimately acquainted with it, made it our special endeavour to be as simple and concise as possible, consistent -with a proper elucidation of the subject-matter. FIRST LESSON. THE IRISH LETTERS—THEIR SOUNDS : THE VOWELS. There are seventeen letters in the Irish Alphabet. Of these seventeen five are vowels, the remaining twelve are consonants. THE IRISH ALPHABET. Cap. Small. pronunciation. % A a French or aw English b b C c c hard, or h; never at all pronounced like s or ch soft. O b dh 6- e g (as é in there). r F / 35^ hard, as g in get; never sounded soft, like g in gin. ) } i French, ee English. L I ^ generally as the first I in William. "m rt) m "^4 ,' \ ' Coo o t y> p 7 r C z t Italian, or th Eng. U II M Italian, 00 English, or u in hull; never sounded as u (you). 2 SELF-INSTRUCTION O IRISH. We omit denominating the letters by their Irish names, Ailm, Beith, &c., so called just as the letters in Greek are called Alpha, Beta, or in Hebrew, Aleph, Beth, &c., to dis- tinguish them one from the other, and from those of any other language—partly because they are, at present, seldom or never called by their names, and partly because some persons mistake the name for the sound of the letter. With regard to the pronunciation of the letters in Irish, and ot the language generally, the fullest, the most open enunciation is required.

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