))' ':: I -l I ••:•( if. Í. I;-); 11,1 ! I [, \ í^iou^ ai^. í&. THE COLLEGE IRISH GRAMMAR. Irish ChirocraphyorHandwritinc. ' : COLLEGE IRISH GHAMMAU, COMPILED CHIEFLY WITH A VIEW TO AID THE STUDENTS OF ST. PATRICK'S COLLEGE, MAYNOOTH, AND OF THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, IN THE STUDY OF THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE. THE REV. ULICK J. BOURKE, Professor of Logic, Natural Philosophy, and Languages, St. Jarlath's College, Tuam. Ah ! the pleasant Tongue, whose accents were music to the ear ! Ah ! the magic Tongue, that round us wove its spell so soft and dear ! Ah ! the glorious Tongue, whose murmur could each Celtic heart enthral ! !" Ah ! the rushing Tongue, that sounded lilie the swollen torrent's fall Heo. M. il. — Ballads of Ireland, Edited by Edward Hayes. "éine! O éiTte ! cíx le rAojAlcAib x^.\o\ rsí^c, 'WUA]|1 éAlÓCAf A 5-Cl]Ci-r<MJ bejó bo CAlCfleltT) iTAO] bU\c." Irish Melodies, p. 19. f^irii ^irition— S^^irb C^ousanb. DUBLIN JOHN MULLANY, 1 PARLIAMENT-STREET. T. JONES, PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. 1865. (Entcrcb at «laíioiurs' fall. THE IRISH STUDENTS, AT HOME AND ABKOAD, WHO LOVE THE PRESERVATION OF THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE, THE COLLEGE lEISH GRAMMAR— WRITTEN CHIEELY WITH A VIEW TO TEACH THE YOUTHS OF IRELAND SOMETHING AEOUT THEIR MOTHER TONGUE- |s most risjjcilfaltjT ^íbitaííb, EY THEIR HUMBLE AND HOST OBEDIENT SERVANT, THE AUTHOR. • Sweet Tongue of our druids and bards of past ages : Swee' Tongue of our monarch?, our saints, and our sages : Sweet Tongue of our heroes and free-born sires I When we cease to preserve thee, our glory expires." .4non. PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. Since this edition has been put to press, one of the greatest Irish Scholars of the present or any former century has passed away— the leai-ned and the lamented John O'Donovan, LL.D. A cycle of years will not repay to the cause of Celtic litera- ture the loss it has sustained in his death. May his memory be ever dear to every lover of ancient lore and real learning. His was the master-hand which first moulded into philo- logical and philosophical form and fullness the chaotic mass into which persecution for ages past, and consequent inability of Irishmen at home to attend to its preservation, much less to its literary cultivation, had reduced their mother-tongue ; a tongue which has been pronounced by a linguistic lover to be as clear as Latin, flexible and harmonious as Greek, stately as Spanish, soft as Italian, fluent as French, and ex- pressive as German. Dr. O'Donovan's work infused into the written speech of the Gael spirit and life, which length of time alone can extinguish. Although he did much, yet—no wonder—he left much undone ; and though he laboured for the cause of the peo- ple's language, the many had not been enabled to profit by his labours. The College Irish Grammar was written and published for the sake of the many, and to improve, as best one could, the literary character of the vernacular speech. On its first appearance the work was favourably noticed by the learned. Being now entirely re-cast, the present edition—embracing the results of observations made during the last six years througli- out the provinces on the spoken dialects, and in works pub- lished and unpublished on the written speech—cannot fail to be of much additional service to the student and the savant. To lament, like hireling mourners, the loss of the lan- guage of the past, and at the same time, to neglect or decry the living, spoken language of the present, bespeaks insin- cerity at heart, and proves such flippant eulogists of the Gaelic to be actuated for its preservation or advancement only by that kind of regard for which step-mothers are pro- verbial. Good wishes without practice are like flowers without fruit. St. Jariath's CoUere, Taam, Feast o/ SS. Philip and Ja^ts, 18G2. —— . .. ..... ...... ........ CONTENTS. PART I. Page Preface . 1 Introduction .. .. .. .. ..3 Penal process exercised even lately on children speaking Irish . 4 Letter of the Most Kev. Dr. O'Connor, Bishop of Saldes, on the way to teach Irish to the rising generation . 5 What the Irish societies have done and are doing for the language 5 What the National Schools are not doing . 6 The Catholic University—note thereon . 6 What the language of a nation symbolizes . 7 This is a grammar of the Irish language as it is at present spoken and written . 8 Dr. O'Donovan's grammar—its merits . 9 Why the present work had been commenped by the writer while a student of Maynooth . 10 Grammar in its general and special acceptation . 11 Grammar an art and a science .. .. .. ..11 Irish grammar .. .. .. .. ..11 Orthography.—A word .. .. .. ..12 CHAPTER I. „ . the letters—THEIR CLASSIFICATION AND SOUNDS. Section. 1, The Elements of Words—Letters .. .. .. 12 h, a mere aspirate—authorities on this . .• . 12 The Irish alphabet —names, sound, pronunciation of the letters . 13 The original character of the Irish letters—not borrowed—proofs 13 PecuUar sound of s (i.e., sh) before or after the vowels e, f . 14 Sound of ]r same as if Af—reason thereof by Henry Leo . 14 Vowels defined—consonants . 14 2. —The vowels—how sounded—how classified . 15 How the Irish sounds given to the vowels accord ^A'ith the view of philosophers on phonetics .. .. .. 15 O'Donovan shows how natives of Munster and Connaught differ in the way they sound some vowels. This is the source of the difference in pronunciation where it exists . 15 The length of a vowel regulated by its position with respect to the accent—this shown on philosophical principles .. 16 Classification of the vowels into broad (a, o, ii),and slender (c, t) 16 Rule cAol le caoI, ^5111- leAcAtj le leAcAtj .. ..16 3. Authorities FOR AND AGAINST THE RULE .. .. 16-17 The opinion that appears most reasonable .. .. 18 4. Philosophic reasons in support of the rule .. 18-19 5.—Each consonant has a two-fold sound . 20 — . ...... IV , CONTENTS. Sect. Page 6. —Broad and slender sounds of the consonants .. ..20 C Gaelic always sounds k . 20 The two consonants 05 represent onlj' a single sound . 21 7.—Mutes, Liquids . 22 8. —Gemination, or doubling the same letter . 22 9.— Immutables, Mutal.les .. .. .. ..23 10.—A Syllable .. .. .. .. ..23 11. Diphthongs.—True or perfect, imperfect ; long, short, number of 23 2. ] —The long diphthongs—sound of the six long diphthongs . 24 13. — Oliservations on the long diphthongs . 24 Long diphthongs ought not to be marked with the accent . 24 Each vowel in a diphthong should be distinctly enunciated . 24 Correct sound of " ia"—difference between the sound of ]a and ao 24 " Remarkaiile sound of eo"—is like yeo, or coffh in Keogh . 25 14.—Sounds of the variable diphthongs—when a variable diphthong is long, the accent is placed over the lengthened vowel—when short, it is omitted . 25 The sound of ou in house, though not found as a diphthong, is in use, in the form Ab, aív, a vowel and consonant combined . 26 Uniform spelling of " eu" adopted in this work for the long diph- thongal sound of é.v . 26 Speaking the language jyid hearing it spoken, is the only way, after all, to learn correctness of pronunciation . 26 Pronunciation appertains to phonetics, and therefore, like a tune in music, or the air of a song, is best learned by ear . 26 15.—Triphthongs— live in number—remember, each vowel is sounded 26 Difference between the sounds of the triphthongs and the diph- thongs from which they are formed . 26 ]^] (pr. ee-yee in one) ; ^a (pr. ee-a in one) . 26 CHAPTER IL OF THE CONSONANTS. 16. — The natural sound of the consonants changed by aspiration .. 27 17.—Aspiration—what is it ? .. .. .. ..27 Consonants divided into four classes, named after the organs of speech which chiefly contribute to their articulation . 27 Table of . 27 By aspiration, the organic class-division of the consonant is not changed ; the sound alone becomes modified . 28 18. Synopsis OR TABLE OF ASPIRATES AND THEIR SOUNDS .. 28 19.— Sounds of the aspirated consonants fully explained. 28-29 20. — Aspiration is founded on a principle of phonetics, or on the laws of sound, and is not the result, as Davies and Pinkerton would make it appear, of barbarity .. .. .. 31 The tiniversal law ofphonetics is, that voivels and consonants blend better in united sound with letters of their own genus, than with any others. Hence after vowels, the aspirated, i.e., the softer or affected sound of the consonant, is heard . 27-33 Men regard this or that sound as polished or barbarous, according as it agrees with or differs from the sounds to which they have been accustomed from infancy . 31 .. .. .. ... .. ........ — CONTEXTS. V Sect. Pase 21.—Sounds of aó baó, and of uJaó at the end of a word . 31 in . 52.— Similarity between aspiration Greek and aspiration in Irish . 32 23. —The custom of aspirating by the letter h ought not to be followed the aspirate mark (•) preferable . 33 The aspirate form is secondary, and not primary—no aspirated consonant commences a word in its natural state—the word must follow or depend upon another in some way . 33 0']\Iahony's views on the use of A . 34 24.—Rules for aspiration .. .. .. ..34-39 .' 25.—Eclipsis—what is it . 39 Table of the cognate consonants . 39 26.—Table of eclipses . 39 27.—Rules for eclipsing . 40-42 28.—Advantages of eclipsing compared with the changeable svstem of ' the Welsh .