process must be gradual and, as it were, imperceptible. The diphthong éa has been used throughout instead of eu. I have followed Peter O'Connell in writing -iḋeaċt or -aiḋeaċt as the termination of abstract nouns, thus tromaiḋeaċt, not tromuiġeaċt, though the verb is written tromuiġim.
The diphthong eo and not eó is written throughout except in a few cases, and triphthongs are not in general accented. The diphthong ea is used in preference to io in unaccented syllables, thus Éireann not Éirionn. It has been found convenient for lexicographical order to observe the caol le caol law even in compounds, though there are some instances of departure from it, But it should be noted that the observance of this law is not intended to prejudice the pronunciation. Words like leiṫ-scéal, leiṫ-ċeann are largely but not universally pronounced as if written leaṫ-scéal and leaṫ-ċeann; thus we say deis-ḃéalaċ and not deas-ḃéalaċ, etc. Though many hints regarding the pronunciation of words are scattered through the book, it was found impossible to treat the pronunciation of each word in a systematic manner, without unduly enlarging the work.
The more important verbals are given a separate heading; sometimes they have uses distinct from those of the corresponding verbs. The verbs are given under their first singular indicative, as this arrangement is generally adopted in modern vocabularies. The unsettled state of orthography of the language often necessitated the repetition of the same word under different forms, and recourse was had to phonetic spelling when the origin or etymology of the word was uncertain.
An effort has been made, as far as the limits of the
