Page:Beside the Fire - Douglas Hyde.djvu/259



Page 2, line 5, = able to do it, a word borrowed from English. There is a great diversity of words used in the various provinces for "able to," as (Mid Connacht);  (Waterford);  or, with infinitive (West Galway);  with infinitive (Donegal).

Page 4, line 18, = they don't allow me. is pronounced in Mid Connacht dumm, but is pronounced doo-sa. Dr. Atkinson has clearly shown, in his fine edition of Keating's "Three Shafts of Death," that the "enclitic" form of the present tense, ending in, should only be used in the singular. This was stringently observed a couple of hundred years ago, but now the rule seems to be no longer in force. One reason why the form of the present tense, which ends in, has been substituted for the old present tense, in other words, why people say , "he strikes," instead of the correct , is, I think, though Dr. Atkinson has not mentioned it, obvious to an Irish speaker. The change probably began at the same time that the in the future of regular verbs became quiescent, as it is now, I may say, all over Ireland. Anyone who uses the form would now be understood to say, "he will strike," not "he strikes," for, "he will strike," is now pronounced, in Connacht, at least, and I think elsewhere,. Some plain differentiation between the forms of the tenses was wanted, and this is probably the reason why the enclitic form in has usurped the place of the old independent present, and is now used as an independent present itself. Line 30, or  = a wolf. = salute him—a word common in Connacht and the Scotch Highlands, but not understood in the South. Line 34. = he would be, is pronounced in Connacht as a monosyllable, like (veh or vugh).

Page 6, line 8,, is pronounced rubbal not arball, in Connacht. and are both used before  at the present day.

Page 8, line 18. = that he would kill; another and commoner form is,, from , the being quiescent in conversation. Line 31, = broth, pronounced  (anhree), the  having the sound of an h only.

Page 12, line 27. is more used, and is better. = "That's the way he was." It will be observed that this before the past tense of a verb is only, as Dr. Atkinson remarks, a corruption of, which is the sign of the past tense. The is hardly ever used now, except as contracted into  before a vowel, and this is a misfortune, because there is nothing more feeble or more tending to disintegrate the language than the constant use of this colourless vowel. In these folk stories, however, I have kept the language as I found it. This has already made much havoc in Scotch Gaelic, inserting itself into places where it means nothing. Thus, they say tha ’s again air a sin: Dinner a b fhearr na