Part 1 (1/2)

Elements of Gaelic Grammar

by Alexander Stewart

PREFACE

For several years the Grae by the Rev Dr Stewart of Moulin has been out of print This has been a source of regret to scholars and students of that tongue Not but that there are other Granore or to depreciate, and which have served, and are serving, an excellent purpose in connection with Celtic Literature But the Graive it a peruished by its simplicity, conciseness, and philosophical accuracy No Graes the oes, more than does the Grammar of Dr Stewart One cannot read a sentence of it without seeing how carefully he had collected his acity he has compared them and drawn his conclusions His discussions upon the Article, the Noun, the Verb, and the Preposition, are ample evidence of this It is no doubt true that a much fuller discussion is, with the more abundant resources of modern scholarshi+p, {iv} cooes, Dr Stewart's treatment of the subject is of a masterly character

That there are defects to be found in the work is very true On the subject of Syntax his disquisitions are deficient in fulness, and there is a want of graht desirable by the publishers and their advisers to re fuller notices on the subject of Syntax, and a considerable nurammatical exercises from other sources open to theive Stewart's work just as he had left it, and that is done here with the exception of a list of subscribers'

names in the introduction Messrs Maclachlan and Stewart are doing the literary co this volume, and thanks are specially due to the Royal Celtic Society of Edinburgh, a society which has done hlands, and which has given substantial aid towards the acco

THOS MCLAUCHLAN

EDINBURGH, _1st August 1876_

INTRODUCTION

The utility of a Grammar of the Scottish Gaelic will be variously appreciated Some will be disposed to deride the vain endeavour to restore vigour to a decaying superannuated language Those who reckon the extirpation of the Gaelic a necessary step toward that general extension of the English which they deehlands, will condemn every project which seems likely to retard its extinction Those who consider that there are hlands, where the inhabitants can, at present, receive no useful knowledge whatever except through the channel of their native tongue, will probably be of opinion that the Gaelic ought at least to be tolerated Yet these too may condemn as useless, if not ultimately detri its existence Others will entertain a different opinion They will judge from experience, as well as from the nature of the case, that no measure ress of the English language over the Highlands; while general convenience and emolument, not to mention private emulation and vanity, conspire to facilitate its introduction, and prompt the natives to its acquisition They {viii} will perceive at the same time, that while the Gaelic continues to be the coe of many iion, and of the laws of the land, can be conveyed to thee,--it must be of material service to preserve it in such a state of cultivation and purity, as that it may be fully adequate to these valuable ends; in a word, that while it is a living language, it e

To those ish for an unifordoest one rehtened, the e The only channel through which the rudihlander is the Gaelic language By learning to read and to understand what he reads, in his native tongue, an appetite is generated for those stores of science which are accessible to hie Hence an acquaintance with the English is found to be necessary for enabling hiratify his desire after further attainments The study of it becomes, of course, an object of i diligence These preht at first appear paradoxical, that, by cultivating the Gaelic, you effectually, though indirectly, prolish

To public teachers it is of the highest h which their instructions are communicated be properly adapted to that use, and that they be enabled to avail thee destitute of graularity can possess neither {ix} perspicuity nor precision, andone's thoughts The Gaelic is ininto this discreditable condition, from the disuse of old idioms and distinctions, and the admission of enerating It is obvious that a speaker cannot express hiranorance in this respect, he uously or erroneously, alith diffidence and hesitation, whereas one who has an accurate knowledge of the structure and phraseology of the language he speaks, will seldoy, and effect

A coe is requisite to the hearer also, to enable him to apprehend the full i the readers of Gaelic, who are every day becorammatically are qualified to understand accurately what they read, and to explain it distinctly to others Yet it cannot be denied that comparatively few ever arrive at a correct, or even a tolerable knowledge of grammar, without the help of a treatise composed for the purpose Whoever, therefore, allows that the Gaelic e body of people the knowledge of revealed Truth and the way of eternal Life, will readily adrammatical principles Impressed with this conviction, I have been induced to offer to the public the following atterammar of the Scottish Gaelic

While I have endeavoured to render this treatise useful to those ish to ie of Gaelic which {x} they already possess, I have also kept in view the gratification of others, who do not understand the Gaelic, but yet may be desirous to exae To serve both these purposes, I have occasionally introduced such observations on the analogy between the Gaelic idioues, particularly the Hebrew, as a e of these enabled me to collect The Irish dialect of the Gaelic is the nearest cognate of the Scottish Gaelic An intimate acquaintance with its vocables and structure, both ancient and modern, would have been of considerable use This I cannot pretend to have acquired I have not failed, however, to consult, and to derive soists as were accessible to me, particularly O'Molloy, O'Brien, Vallancey, and Lhuyd To these very respectable names I have to add that of the Rev Dr Neilson, author of ”An Introduction to the Irish Language,”

Dublin, 1808, and E O'C, author of ”A Grae,”

Dublin, 1808; to the latter of whoood-hu compliments, which, however une I know but one publication professedly on the subject of Gaelic grammar written by a Scotsman[1] I have consulted it also, but in this quarter I have no obligations to acknowledge

With respect to my literary countrymen who are proficients in the Gaelic, and who may cast an eye on this volume, less with a view to learn than to criticise, while I profess a due deference to their judgment, and declare e, I must take the liberty to entreat their attention to the following considerations

{xi}

The subject of Universal Grammar has been examined in modern times with a truly philosophical spirit, and has been settled on rational and stable principles; yet, in applying these principles to explain the graeood measure, mechanical and arbitrary One set of rules ra into view the various parts, inflections, or, as they e, and class theether in a certain order If these _pheno as they actually appear in the language, the rules may be said to be both just and cos in a different order, and yet may all be equally just The superiority see to that system which follows most nearly the order of nature, or the process of thethe several inflections; or rather, perhaps, to that system which, froe and retaining the parts of speech with their several inflections