EASY LESSONS IN IRISH.
(The First Part is now issued in book form: see advertisements.)
EXERCISE LXVII.
DIFFICULT WORDS.
§ 410. The pronunciation of some words is difficult to the beginner, owing to the number of aspirated consonants in them. But if each syllable is taken separately. and pronounced according to the ordinary rules, there will be little difficulty. We shall merely give a few examples here, as we shall continue to give after each new word its pronunciation.
aġaiḋ (ei′-ee), face.
áḋḃar (au′-Wăr), cause.
ċoiḋċe (CHee′-hĕ), ever=go bráṫ.
oiḋċe (ee′-hĕ), night.
foġṁar (fō′-wăr), autumn, harvest time.
saiḋḃir (sei′-vĕr), rich. Often (sev-vĕr).
geiṁreaḋ (gev′-roo, Munster, gei′-ră, gee′-ră), winter.
These words look still more difficult when, instead of the usual dot, the letter h is used (§ 227) to mark the aspiration, with either ordinary Irish type or the Roman letter, thus:—
choidhche, or choidhche, ever.
oidhche, or oidhche, night.
oidhche Shamhna ee′-hĕ hou′-nă), Hallow Eve.
§ 411. ceó (k-yō), a fog.
Boċt agus saiḋḃir. Ḃí Doṁnall saiḋḃir aċt atá sé boċt anois, ní ḟuil airgead aige. Foġṁar agus geiṁreaḋ. Ní’l an foġṁar te; atá an geiṁreaḋ fuar. Geiṁreaḋ fuar fliuċ. Atá ceó mór ar an loċ. Geiṁreaḋ garḃ, foġṁar fliuċ.
§ 412. I was in the house (on) Hallow Eve. The night is dark, the moon is not in the sky. Dermot is rich yet; he has money in his pocket. The drink is wholesome. Put the key in your pocket. The night is wet; my coat is heavy. I came from Armagh to-day, and I am going over to Scotland now. Did you see the poor man. No, I did not see the ship; there was a heavy fog on the water.
EXERCISE LXVIII
§ 413. Only one chapter remains to be added to the foregoing treatise on the pronunciation of modern Irish. In every language there are words which are not pronounced according to the ordinary rule, and in Irish, a language which has been spoken without much change for so many centuries, there are of course exceptional words. Considering that Irish has been, for some two centuries at least, spoken by a people untrained to read and write the language, the wonder is that so few words are irregular.
Instead of giving here all the irregular words of the language, we will indicate an arrangement of irregular words to which we can easily refer in subsequent lessons, and the irregular words can thus be learned by degrees, and with comparatively little trouble. We will divide the words irregularly pronounced into classes, and we can afterwards refer to these as Irreg. A, B, C, and D, &c.
§ 414. IRREGULAR WORDS, A.
Some words are irregular in pronunciation because they are unduly shortened in rapid pronunciation. We have already given examples (§ 341) of one class of words, in which, for the purpose of avoiding hiatus, contraction takes place.
(1) Thus = bliaḋain, a year, is pron. not blee′-ă-ĕn but blee′-ăn.
§ 415. (2.) There are a few classes of ordinary words, with a long termination, in which the termination is shortened. The ordinary terminations thus shortened are:—
§ 416.
| Termination | full pron. | shortened to |
| -aṁail | ou′-ăl | ool |
| -aṁain | ou′-ăn | oon |
| -uġaḋ | oo′-ă | oo |
| -ṁaḋ | wă, woo | oo |
| -iġiḋ | ee′-ee | ee |
§ 417. So in words like—
| marḃuiġ | mor′-ee |
| sealḃuiġ | shal′-ee |
| ollṁuiġ | ŭL′-ee |
| fágḃáil | faug′-aul |
| fáġḃáil | [fau′-aul] faul |
| Maolṁuire | (mweel′-rĕ) Miles |
§ 418.
canaṁain (kon′-oon), a dialect
fearaṁail (far′-ool), manly
flaiṫeaṁail (floh′-ool), princely, hence generous.
In Munster these words are accented on the last syllable.
§ 419. Go mbeannuiġiḋ Dia ḋuit! go mbeannuiġiḋ Dia agus Muire ḋuit (gŭ
