Page:Alexander Macbain - An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language.djvu/20

 xii. Scottish dialect of Gadelic; the talk of the impossibility of "redding the marches" between Irish and Gaelic may be Celtic patriotism, but it is not science. As against this criticism, I was especially congratulated by Prof. Windisch for attempting to redd these same marches. A funny criticism was passed on the style of printing adopted for the leading words; no capitals are used at the beginning of each article. The critic had not seen a dictionary before without such capitals, and it offended his eye to see my work so "headless" as it is! Here again acquaintance with like philological work would have removed the "offence" and shown the utility of the style. In fact in Gaelic, with its accented vowels, capital initials are troublesome and unsightly, and the philological method is at once more scientific and more easy to work.

The following vocabulary contains (1) etymologies for words not etymologised in my dictionary; (2) new or corrected etymologies for words already otherwise traced; and (3) words omitted. These new words have come from the public and private criticisms and suggestions already referred to, and from another overhauling of such dictionaries as M'Alpine and M'Eachan.