"Without a considerable knowledge of Gaelic no person can make any proficiency whatever SECOND EDITION, CONTAINING NUMEROUS IMPROVEMENTS AND ADDITIONS. EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR. MACLACHLAN, STEWART, & CO., EDINBURGH; MDCCCXLV. DEDICATED To the Very Reverend GEORGE HUSBAND BAIRD, D.D. Principal of the University, and one of the Ministers of Edinburgh, as a small but sincere tribute of respect and gratitude for his zealous and efficient efforts in promoting the welfare of the Highlanders, by THE AUTHOR. TESTIMONIAL in favour of this Work by Mr. ALEXANDER M'FARLANE, Corrector of the Press for the Gaelic Bible. SIR, GRANDTULLY, 7th August 1832. Your Gaelic Pronouncing Dictionary being the first work of the kind that appeared, will no doubt meet with a variety of opinions; but if its merits be fully appreciated, its circulation will soon be extensive wherever that language is even a little understood. Your attention to one mode of orthography must greatly enhance its value, while its cheapness and superiority of Typography, entitle you to the esteem of every brother Celt, by placing within his reach what is fully competent to give him a thorough knowledge of his native Language. I am, Sir, Yours, with every wish of merited success, ALEX. MFARLANE. To MR. N. M'ALPINE. A KEY. A has six sounds in the Key. a long, like a in fame, came, tame. å, ä, åo, is the short sound of the last, as a in fate, rate, gate, final. â is the sound of a in far, får, star, står. ǎ is the short soft sound of the last; as, in farm, fărm. a is the short and shut sound of a, as in can. à is the nasal sound. The only sounds that approach this, in English, is a in palm, calm, psalm. It occurs uniformly before m, mh, and n-sometimes before th; as, in màthair, mother; àth, a ford; nathair, a serpent; math, good, and its derivatives; athar, sky, firma. ment;-in some words n is introduced for r in order to give it the nasal sound; as in cànran, mànran, mànrach, màrr. an, kàrr-an, màrr-ach; also mànr, màrr, to obstruct;-ai placed before mh, &c. has the same sound, or one nearly allied to ai in sprain, strain, brains, as the Scotch pronounce these words-marked in the key sprèn, strèn, brèns. á is the short nasal sound; é before n, &c. the short one of ai or áé. å in participles thus, tyà sounds like short u or ao shorter a little, chyao. ão has nothing like it in English; a pretty correct idea may be formed of it by pronouncing the u, in the surname Burns, long; also u in gun, without touching the rns in the first instance, and the -n in the latter. Bảogao the French eu is somewhat like it. ao is the short sound of the last. E has two sounds, long and short. é long, like ee in teem, seem; feed, hired ė, ë, è, is the short of the above. è long, as e in there, pronounced long ther-the of the Greeks, as the Scotch and Foreigners pronounce it. n é is the short sound of the last. Before v, representing mh and n, it has a nasal sound-see a nasal changed into ai-also representing ea or eu; as Neumh or Nèamh, nèv, Heaven, neamh, név, venom. I has one sound long and short; as, y in my, thy; mi, thi, short; as i in sight, might, sit, mït. O has four sounds, long and short. û sounds as u in pure, cure, tune. u the same as the u in under, or un- a pre- X is a contraction to save room, and repre sents the primitive sound aŏ-gh', being a kind of a syllable and a half. See -gh'. -Gh', an idea of this original sound. It is a kind of an ineffectual effort to disjoint your jaws without touching the palate or teeth with your tongue, and at the same time making a strong respiration. It is nearly akin to the Greek x. It is not possible, without oral instruction, to convey an adequate idea of -gh'. v2, this representing mh, shews that the v is only slightly sounded, the object of mh being chiefly to give the nasal twang to the preceding vowel. 112, lly', shews that the ll is liquified, as in filial, fè-lyal; for ll and nn initial, see and n in the Grammar. id, de. This is represented by ėj. It is said that it does not express the true sound. If not, Walker, and Fulton and Knight, must be wrong in pronouncing age, aj; |