Page:Zeitschrift für celtische Philologie Vol. 5.djvu/109

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
THE GAELIC DIALECTS.
101

such a place name as 'Rhives', spelt of old 'Ruiffis' and 'Ruves'. This is not from an old plural of roof; the buildings, it is suggested, having been so named because they were timber- roofed at a time when the neighbouring houses were mere turf cabins. In the parish of Kilmiuiur there is a Kin-rive, Ga. Ceann-ruighe; Rhives is in Ga. na Ruigheanan and is an Englished form of Ga. ruighe 'the outstretched part or base of a mountain, shealing ground'; E. Ir. rige, 'a reach, a stretch'; the added s in 'Rhives' is an English attempt to render the Gaelic plural form.

Obs. Ga. (ˑɔ-ah) ogha 'grand-child', is in O. Ir, ua, aue, haue, gen. haui where the h represents Ind-Germanic p, cognate with Gr, παίς for παϝίς 'boy', Lat, puer for pov-er.

(6) An English loan such as 'well' expressing surprise, expectation > in N. Inv. (ˑvuijl‘).

(7) In the -ibh of dative plurals in Argyll in some stereo- typed forms where it is heard not merely in the dative but in the nominative and vocative plural—fhearaibh (ɛriv), mar fhiachaibh (mar ijaxiv), an caraibh a chéile (an ˑkɑriv a çeela); also in some phrases confined to elevated diction or poetry e, g. ann sna h-àrdaibh (ɑṇ sna ˑhɑɑrḍiv) 'on the heights i. e, on high'. In the north these are vocalized into u, but in the Fernaig Ms, the two forms alternate, while in the Dean of Lismore it is represented by ow or ew and is given occasionally for the nom. as well as for the dative plural; er feanow = air Fiannaibh 'on Fingalians'; eg mathew = aig maithibh 'in the possession of nobles'. In both Mss. the prepositional pronoun preserves v, e. g. zeive = dhoibh 'to them'; duive = duibh 'to you'. In Ireland also the dat. pl. is frequently formed by adding a or u to the nom. sg. (v. O'Donovan's Gram. p. 84) e. g. fris na righu (friſ na ŕijᵹu) 'to the kings'.

(8) (v) after (x), (g) drops off: (ɑxasɑn) achmhasan 'rebuke, reproof'; (fɑɑkɑl) fàgail for fàgbhail.

(9) Medially where it is elided after a high-back-narrow vowel, its place is readily taken by (ᵹ): (fʌʌ-ar) faobhur 'edge' (fʌʌᵹar).

(10) (v) is got in Sutherland sometimes from -dh final: (a hɑpav) a thapadh 'his bravery'.