McMMAkill-zMn ^/%^cu<:p^^ '^^-t.v ^ ^ ^' ^;^ ^/-- 9^^e^y ^^^ "^ / PRONOUNCING GAELIC DICTIONARY: \ f TO WHICH IS PREFIXED -" A. CONCISE BUT MOST COMPREHENSIVE GAELIC GRAMMAR. By NEIL M'ALPINE, STUDENT IN DIVINITY, ISLAND OF ISLAY, ARGYLESIIIBE. " Vi'iihout a considerable knowledge of Gaelic no person can make any proficiency Trhatever 1 philology. Dr. Murray, late Prafesior of Oriental Languages, Edinburgh. SECOND EDITION, CONTAINING NUMEROUS IMPROVEMENTS AND ADDITIONS. EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. PUBLISHED BY STiRLING & KENNEY, EDINBURGH; REID 8c CO. GLASGOW ; JAMES DUNCAN, LONDON ; JOHN GUMMING, DUBLIN, AND SOLD BY ALL BOOKSELLERS. MDCCCXXXIIL Edinburgh .•—Duncan Stevenson, Printer to the University. —; ; KEY. A has six sounds in the Key. O has four sounds, long and short. a long, like a in fame, came, tame. o, as o in more, mor, tone, ton, pole, pel. a, a, à2, is the short sound of the last, as Ò, o, Ò-, short sound of the above. a in fate, rate, gate, final. Ò sounds like o in lord, lord, cord, kOrd. à is the sound of a in far, far, star, star. 6 is the short of the last ; o shorter. S is the short soft sound of the last ; as, in Ò is the long nasal sound, occurring uni- farm, farm. formly before mh, and sometimes be- a is the short and shut sound of a, as in fore n ; in many instances the nasal can. sound of occurs otherwise placed ; as, à is the nasal sound. The only sounds in mod, a court ofjustice, being aeon, that approach this, in English, is a in traction of momhad ; also mo, contrac- palm, calm, psalm. It occurs uniform. tion of momha, greater; also mo\t,fas- ly before ra, mh, and n—sometimci be- tidiousness ; mothar, a horrifying voice; fore th ; as, in màthair, mother ; ath, a glothar, gag ; mògharr bland. The true ford ; nathair, a serpent ; math, good, orthography is momhar, glomhar, &c. and its derivatives ; athar, sky,Jirvia- 6 is the short nasal sound of o. Even be- ment;—in some words n is introduced fore n, o sounds likeo in pule, sole, &c. for r in order to give it the nasal sovmd sometimes; as, tonn, to-nn, a wave; as in cànran, mànran, mànrach, màrr- n is introduced sometimes to give the an, kàrr-an, màrr-ach ; also mànr, nasal sounds merely; thus ònrachd, màrr, to obstruct;—ai placed before sònraich, òrr-achg, sòrr .èch ; the same mh, &c. has the same sound, or one as ànrath, àrr-a/i in a nasal. nearly allied to ai in sprain, str U has a great number of sounds. brains, as the Scotch pronounce these sounds as u in pure, cure, tune. words : —marked in the key sprèn, Ù, ii, is the short sound of the last. strèn, brèns. Ù sounds as oo in moor, cool, tool. à is the short nasal sound ; è before n, Ù is the short sound of (he last. &c. the short one of ai or àè. Ù is the same as tl\e French u nearly. à in participles thus, tya sounds like Ù is the French short sound. short u or ao shorter a little, chyao. u the same as the u in under, or un- a pre- So has nothing like it in English ; a pretty fix. correct idea may be formed of it by A is a contraction to save room, and repre- pronouncing the u, in the surname sents the primitive sound ao-gh', being Bums, long ; also u in gun, without a kind of a syllable and a half. See -gh'. touching the -rns in the first instance, -Gh', an idea of this original sound. It is and the -n in the latter. Bao—gao a kind of an ineffectual effort to disjoint the French eu is somewhat like it. your jaws without touching the palate or a6 is the short sound of the last. teetli with your tongue, and at the same E has two sounds, long and short. time making a strong respiration. It is è long, like ee in teem, ; feed, hired nearly akin seem to the Greek x- ^^ 'S not è, e, è2, is the short of the above. possible, without oral instruction, to con- è long, as e in there, pronounced long vey an adequ.ite idea of -gh'. v2, this ther—the ri of the Greeks, as the Scotch representing mh, shews that the v and Foreigners pronounce it. is only slightly sounded, the object of mh è is the short sound of the last. being chiefly to give the nasal twang to Before v, representing mh and n, it has the ccdii a nasal sound—see a nasal changed 112, iiy', shews that the 11 is liquified, as in into ai—also representing ca or eu filial, fè.lyal; for 11 and nn initial, see i as Neunih or Nèamh, nèv. Heaven, and 11 ill the Grammar. neamh, nèv, venom. id, de—This is represented by ej. It is said 1 has one sound long and short; as, jf in that it dues not express the true sound. my, thy; mi, thi, short; as i in sight, If f!ot. Walker, and Fulton and Knight, might, sit, mit. must be wrong in pronouncing age, aj ; ] Vi K tetlioiif, tèj-ux, and tè-jus, tè-dyus. ITiis Thus, feum, fa-um, the um being pro- sound, when not final, is often exhibited nounced so quick, that they almost form thus, deug, dyag. one syllable. They form a syllable and a en, èun, is often not marked at all, the half, as is seen in ui and oi in bull, toil, last n being always liquified, ènny'; bù'l, tù'l, ». e. bù.ul, to-ul, being two sometimes marked en', cnj", and nn' and syllables thrown almost into one. tmy'. The orthography of the Gaelic, shews more ty' This sound is found in Christianity, acuteness and ingenuity in its structure, Kris-tyè-, or chè-an-è-tè. The t is thus than any other language the author knows liquified often by putting j before it, any thing of. It is said, that nih and bh thus, sagairt, sagarjt, a priest ; and some- should give way to v ;—no such thing ! ! times by marking it f, lih represents the simple form of v, and èu shews also the short sound of a, as in mh of V, following the nasal sound ; and, beag, bcug ; ea is the short form of eu, besides, bh is only an occasional or actì- which is always long; eu, ea, ei, are dental fonn : thus, bo, a cow, a' bho, styled always diphthongs : With the ex- uv-vftO, the cow . ception of the very peculiar sound ao, I do not think there is such in the lan- guage, eu long, and its short sounds ea and ei, having both the vowels sounded. — ' ABBREVIATIONS IN THIS WORK. A. after v. thus, v. a., verb active. Lm. Lew. Isle of Lewis. a. adj. arijeetivc. Lit. hterally. Adv. adverb. Lid. Lluyd. author of a huge manuscript. Arab. Arabic. Lock. Lochab, for Lochaber. Ar. Arg. peculiar to Argyleshire. il/. for Island of Mull. Armst. Arm. Dr. Armstrong's excellent m. masculine gender. Gaelic Dictionary. Md. Alexander Macdonald the Poet ; also Art. m. article masculine ; art. f. article Macd. Macdon. feminine, or a. m. and a. f. or art. fern. Blacaul. Macaulay's History of St. Kilda. a. as.f. aspirated form or a.f. Mac/. Macfar. The Rev. Mr. Macfarlane's Belg. for Belgic Language. New Testament, Psalms, or Gaelic Vo- B. for Bible, also Bi.—B. B. Bedel's Bible. cabulary. Brit. British. M'D. Macdougall's Poems, also Macd. Bucli. Buchanan's HvTnns. i)//a7i(f. mainland of Argyle; also M«. Campbell or Campb. Campbell's Poems. Mt. Macint Mackintyre's Songs. Comp. comparative degree. Mart. Martin's Description of the High- Cltald. Chaldee. lands. CoU. collective noun. Mas. masculine gender. Cond. St. Columbus's Conundrums. MacC. MacCruiminn, a poet. Contr. contracted or contraction. M'G. MacG. MacGregor's Poems. Corr. corrup. corrupted or corruption of. Ml. M'L. Mr. Maclauchlan's translation of D. Dan. Danish Language. Homer, the best Gaelic translation in ex- D. Buck. D. B. Dugald Buchannan. istence. Deg. degrees of comparison. 3In. Martin's Highlands. Def. def. v. defective verb. MS. MSS. manuscript, manuscripts. Dem. pro. pron. demonstrative pronoun. 3Iur. Dr. Murray, late Professor of Oriental D. M'L. Dr. M'Leod's Glossary and Diet Languages, Edinburgh. Fut. for future tense. N. North, North Highlands; also N. H. F. Fr. French. 71. f. noun feminine. G. MS. Gaelic Manuscript. 74. m. noun masculine. (}en. genitive. 7w?ii. for nominative case. Gill. Gillies's Gaelic Poems. Obs. obsolete. G. P. or Prov. Gaelic Proverbs. Oss. Ossian's Poems. Gr. Greek ; Gt. Grant's Poems. P. page; also past tense; participle, Har. for Harris. P. E. part. expl. particle expletive. Beb. Hebr. Hebrew. pt. part, for participle. H. S, High. Sc. Highland Society's Dic- Past, past tense. tionary. Pers. Persic. /. i. e. id est. that is. Per/, part, perfect participle. ib. the same. Psh. Perthsh. Perthshire ; also P. S. Imp. Impersonal. Per. pro. pron. personal pronoun. Inten. Intensative. PI. plural number. Inter, or Int. interjection. Pref. prefix. Interr. interrogative. Pre. prep. pro. preposition and pronoun, Jr. for pure Irish Irish for Irish Dialect. Pr. Prov. Gaelic Proverbs ; also G. P. Isd. Islands. Ps. Psalms of David. Is. Island of Islay, Argyleshire. Provin. Provincial word. Isl. Icelandic. R. D. Robb Bonn. It. Italian. R. M'D., R. D., Ranald Macdonald.