Elements of Gaelic Grammar Part 25

Os barr; _on top_, besides.

Os iosal; secretly, covertly.

Ro; very.

Roimh a cheile; prematurely, too hastily.

Seadh[81]; it is so.

Thar a cheile, } Troimh a cheile; } in disorder, in confusion, stirred about.

Theagamh; perhaps.

Uidh air 'n uidh; _stage by stage_, gradually.

{116}

CHAPTER VII.

OF PREPOSITIONS.

The Prepositions, strictly so called, are single words, most of them monosyllables, employed to mark relation. Relation is also expressed by combinations of words which often correspond to simple prepositions in other languages. These combinations are, not improperly, ranked among the prepositions. The following lists contain first the Prepositions properly so called, which are all simple; secondly, improper Prepositions, which, with one or two exceptions, seem all to be made up of a simple Preposition and a Noun.

Proper Prepositions.

Aig, Ag, _at_.

Air, _on_.

Ann, _in_.

As, A, _out of_.

De, _of_.

Do, _to_ Eadar, _between_.

Fa, _upon_.

Fuidh, Fo, _under_.

Gu, Gus, _to_.

Gun, _without_.

Iar, _after_.

Le, Leis, _with, by_.

Mar, _like to_.

Mu, _about_.

O, Ua, _from_.

Os, _above_.

Re, Ri, Ris, _to_.

Roimh, _before_.

Tar, Thar, _over, across_.

Tre, } Troimh, } _through_.

Throimh, } Seach, _past, in comparison with_.

The Preposition ann is often written double, ann an eolas, _in knowledge_; ann an gliocas, _in wisdom_. The final _n_ or _nn_ is changed into _m_ before a l.a.b.i.al; as, am measg, _among_; ann am meadhon, _in midst_. Before the Article or the Relative, this Preposition is written anns; as, anns an toiseach, _in the beginning_, an cor anns am bheil e, _the condition in which he is_; and in this situation the letters _ann_ are often dropped, and the _s_ alone retained, 's an toiseach, _in the beginning_.

De, so far as I know, is found in no Scottish publications. The reasons which have induced me to a.s.sign it a place among the prepositions will be mentioned in treating of the combinations of the Proper Prepositions with the Personal p.r.o.nouns.

The Preposition _do_, like the verbal particle, and the Possessive p.r.o.noun of the same sound, loses the _o_ before a vowel, and the consonant is aspirated; thus, dh' Albainn, _to {117} Scotland_. It is also preceded sometimes by the vowel _a_ when it follows a final consonant; as, dol a dh'

Eirin, _going to Ireland_. This _a_ seems to be nothing else than the vowel of _do_ transposed; just as the letters of the p.r.o.nouns mo, do, are in certain situations transposed, and become am, ad. In this situation, perhaps it would be advisible to join the _a_, in writing, to the _dh_ thus, dol adh Eirin. This would rid us of one superfluous _a_ appearing as a separate inexplicable word. The same remarks apply to the prep. _de_; _e.g._, armailt mhr de dhaoinibh agus _a dh'_ eachaibh, _a great army of men and of horses_, lan do [de] reubainn agus a dh' aingidheachd, _full of ravining and wickedness_, Luke xi. 39. Do, as has been already observed, often loses the _d_ altogether, and is written _a_; as, dol a Dhuneidin, _going to Edinburgh_. When the preposition is thus robbed of its articulation, and only a feeble obscure vowel sound is left, another corruption very naturally follows, and this vowel, as well as the consonant, is discarded, not only in speaking, but even in writing; as, chaidh e Dhuneidin, _he went to Edinburgh_; chaidh e thr eile, _he went to another land_; where the nouns appear in their aspirated form, without any word to govern them.

Fa has been improperly confounded with fuidh or fo. That fa signifies _upon_, is manifest from such phrases as fa 'n bhord, _upon the board_, said of a dead body stretched upon a board; leigeader fa lar, _dropped on the ground_, Carswell: fa 'n adhbhar ud, _on that account_, equivalent to air an adhbhar ud, see Psal. cvi. 42, and xlv. 2, metr. version.

The reason for admitting iar _after_, has been already given in treating of the Compound Tenses of Verbs in Chap. V.

The manner of combining these prepositions with nouns will be shown in treating of Syntax. The manner of combining them with the personal p.r.o.nouns must be explained in this place, because in that connection they appear in a form somewhat different from their radical form. A Proper Preposition is joined to a Personal p.r.o.noun by incorporating both into one word, commonly with some change on the Preposition, or on the p.r.o.noun, or on both.

The following are the Prepositions which admit of this kind of combination, incorporated with the several Personal p.r.o.nouns: {118}

Prep. Singular.

_1st Pers._ _2d Pers._ _3d Pers._

{ m. aige, Aig, } agam, agad, { _at him;_ Ag; } _at_. _at me_, _at thee_. { f. aice, { _at her_.

{ m. air.

{ f. oirre.

Air; orm, ort, { uirre.

{ orra.

{ m. ann.

Ann; annam, annad, { f. innte.

{ m. as.

As; asam, asad, { f. aisde.

{ m. dheth.

De; dhiom, dhiot, { f. dh'i.

{ dhomh, } { m. dha.

Do; { dhom, } dhuit, { f. dh'i.

Eadar; ... ... ...

{ m. fodha.

Fo, Fuidh; fodham, fodhad, { f. fuidhpe.

{ m. h-uige.

Gu; h-ugam, h-ugad, { f. h-uice.

{ m. leis.

Le; leam, leat, { f. leatha.

{ m. uime.

Mu; umam, umad, { f. uimpe.

{ m. uaith.

O, Ua; uam, uait, { f. uaipe.

{ m. ris.

Re, Ri; rium, riut, { f. rithe.