spoken by those who are not ashamed to speak it. I believe the proper spelling to be déaġ (good), and that dia has nothin whatever to do with it. The following are heard in Béara, and all over Munster for that matter: N’a rai’ (=ná raiḃ) déaġ do ġnó, Ill may be your work! That your work may be not good! ná rai’ déaġ do ṡaoġal = Bad luck to you! That your life may be not good! Ná rai’ déaġ do ṡláinte; ná rai[ḃ] déaġ do ṡaoṫar; A! ná rai(ḃ) déaġ beaṫa na muintire do ṁairḃ mo ġé!; ná rai’ déaġ do leiġeas; ná rai’ déaġ do ḃís (bís, cutting teeth); ná rai’ déaġ do ṁeios (vyiss or veis) (ṁeios I take to be another form of bís, and certainly the older, as deiṁios, a shears=dí-ṁios shows), ⁊c., ⁊c. I think these examples prove that déaġ and not dia is the proper spelling. Suppose that it is not, let anyone put dia instead of deaġ in the above examples and see what can he make of them–nonsense. But, perhaps, some may say that deaġ is the proper form; yes, certainly, but even in compounds it is deáġ, as deáġ-oibreaċa, and dy, as in deaġ-ḟear, as well as dea(ġ), so that it has assumed three forms, or, rather, it is pronouncedin three different ways. Why not a fourth?
Lítis I believe to be the vegetable Lettuce.
Pádruig O’Laoġaire.
GAELIC NOTES.
In future we purpose publishing brief accounts of the proceedings of branches of the Gaelic League and other Irish Language Societies, and of meetings connected with the Irish Language Movement, from reports furnished by officials of the various bodies, &c. The report of the proceedings of the Gaelic League, Dublin, for the month December-January, which appears in this number, may serve as a model. Reports may be sent in Irish or English, and ought to be in our hands not later than the 18th of the month, in order to be published in the ensuing issue of the Journal.
Since his arrival in San Francisco, Father O'Growney has made the most of his opportunities on behalf of the Irish Language Movement. He has been interviewed by Pressmen, and has given a hopeful account of affairs connected with the language, and he has himself been busy in the press on the same subject. He has also addressed meetings, and aided in the establishment of Irish classes. It will please many, who are anxious about the matter, to learn that Father O'Growney's classes in Maynooth College are by no means in abeyance, but that his work is being worthily continued by a thorough and competent Irish scholar, Rev. Father O'Connell, of the Dunboyne Institution.
Mr. Tomás O'Flannaoile delivered, on January 9, a lecture on the Irish Language, under the auspices of the Irish Literary Society, at the Medical Hall, Thames Embankment, London. He characterized the use of the name “Celtic” instead of “Irish” or “Gaelic” in the programmes, &c., of the Royal University and of the Intermediate Education Board in Ireland as a ridiculous and unscientific blunder. Among those who took part in the discussion on the lecture was Mr. Alfred Perceval Graves, who regretted the practical exclusion of Irish from the National Schools.
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
The “Story of Gaelic Literature,” by Douglas Hyde, LL.D. (An Craoiḃín Aoiḃinn), will very shortly be published. It will give a general sketch of our national literature from the earliest times, with many specimens translated into English. It will be one of the shilling volumes of the New Irish Library.
The January number of the new Ulster Archæological Journal (quarterly, 1/6, Marcus Ward & Co., Belfast), besides being throughout of the deepest national interest, contains a number of papers of peculiar interest to lovers of the Gaelic tongue. Mr. P. J. O'Shea gives a list and description of the Irish MSS. in the Belfast Museum, devoting special attention to the Co. Down version of the De Imitatione Christi. Might it be hoped that Mr. O'Shea, who is a master of modern Irish, oral and written, will undertake an edition of this valuable work. Mr. Robert Young, J.P., C E., contributes a paper on the Congress of Irish Harpers in Belfast, in 1792, an event to which it is hard to estimate our indebtedness for the preservation of much of our National Music. Dr. Douglas Hyde prints a Gaelic ballad from a Meath MS. This is, in many ways, a remarkable production, made on the French Revolution, and giving an insight into the feelings which that event inspired in the mind of the Gaelic people of Ireland. The “Miscellanea” and “Notes and Queries” of the journal also contain much matter bearing on the Irish language, and throughout the number it is evident that the Northern students of Irish history and archæology fully recognise how indispensable is a knowledge of Irish to the elucidation even of the later history of the country. Among the illustrations, which are numerous and good, are portraits of the late Bishop Reeves, Hempson, the harper, and Edward Bunting.
THE IRISH LANGUAGE MOVEMENT.
Gaelic League, Dublin.—On Friday evening, Dec. 21, a musical entertainment was given by Mr. Thomas Haves (Tomás Ua h-Aoḋa) and a chorus selected from his pupils in St. Patrick's Schools, Cathedral Parish, and specially trained for the occasion. The programme, consisting of solos, part-song, and choruses, the words and music being Irish throughout, was rendered admirably, and delighted a large audience.
Friday, Dec. 28.—After the usual classes, conducted by Messrs. Lloyd and Gordon, a reading from the Gaelic Journal was given by Mr. James M. Cogan.
Friday, Jan. 4.—A discussion was held in Irish on the subject “Cionnus ṫiocfaḋ linn na Gaeḋilgeoiriḋe do ḃeir neaṁṡuim i n-a dteangaiḋ féin do cur dá laḃairt!”
Friday, Jan. 11.—The story of Máire Ní Ruairc, given in the appendix to Neilson's Irish grammar, was read by Mr. John MacNeill. Some discussion in Irish followed, and was taken part in by Messrs. J. H. Lloyd. sessional chairman, R. J. O'Mulrenin, M. A., P. O'Brien, and others.
Friday, Jan. 18.—Mr. Patrick O'Leary read a humorous tale, “Páidín O Dálaiġ”, from a MS. collection, which he intends publishing.
