It cannot, then, be necessary to employ vowels, either prefixed or postfixed, to indicate the sound of these. Thus, abuich ripe, gabhaidh will take, chromainn I would bow, ciomaich captives, have been written with a broad vowel in the second syllable, corresponding to the broad vowel in the first syllable; yet the letters abich, gabhidh, chrominn, ciomich, fully exhibit the sound. The prepositive syllable im, when followed by a small vowel, is written im, as in imlich to lick, imcheist perplexity. But when the first vowel of the following syllable is broad, it has been the practice to insert an o before the m, as in iomlan complete, iomghaoth a whirlwind, iomluasg agitation. Yet the inserted o serves no purpose, either in respect of derivation, of inflection, or of pronunciation. The unnecessary application of the rule in question appears most unequivocally in words derived from other languages. From the Latin words imago, templum, liber, are formed in Gaelic iomhaigh, teampull, leabhar. Nothing but a servile regard to the rule under consideration could have suggested the insertion of a broad vowel in the first syllable of these words, where it serves neither to guide the pronunciation, nor to point out the derivation.
Another case, in which the observation of this rule seems to be wholly unnecessary, is when two syllables of a word are separated by a quiescent consonant. Thus in gleidheadh keeping, itheadh eating, buidheann a company, dligheach lawful, the aspirated consonants in the middle are altogether quiescent. The vocal sound of the second syllable is sufficiently expressed by the last vowel. No good reason, then, appears for writing a small vowel in the second syllable.
Thus far it is evident that the rule respecting the correspondence of vowels is wholly impertinent in the case of syllables divided by Labials, or by quiescent consonants. If we examine further into the application of this rule, we shall find more cases in which it may be safely set aside.
Many of the inflections of nouns and verbs are formed by adding one or more syllables to the root. The final
consonant of the root must always be considered as belonging to the radical part, not to the adjected termination. The sound of that consonant, whether broad or small, falls to be determined by the quality of the vowel which precedes it in the same syllable, not by the quality of that which follows it in the next syllable. It seems, therefore, unnecessary to employ any more vowels in the adjected syllable than what are sufficient to represent its own vocal sound. The rule under consideration has, notwithstanding, been extended to the orthography of the oblique cases and tenses, and a supernumerary vowel has been thrown into the termination, whenever that was requisite to preserve the supposed necessary correspondence with the foregoing syllable. Thus, in forming the nominative and dative plural of many nouns, the syllables an and ibh are added to the singular, which letters fully express the true sound of these terminations. If the last vowel of the nominative singular is broad, an alone is added for the nominative plural; as, lamh-an hands, cluas-an ears. But if the last vowel be small, an e is thrown into the termination; as, sùil-ean eyes, sròin-ean noses. Now if it be observed that, in the two last examples, the small sound of the l and n in the root is determined by the preceding small vowel i, with which they are necessarily connected in one syllable, and that the letters an fully represent the sound of the termination, it must be evident that the e in the final syllable is altogether superfluous. So in forming the dative plural: if the last vowel of the root be small, ibh is added; as, sùil-ibh, sroin-ibh. But if the last vowel of the root is broad, the termination is written aibh; as, lamh-aibh, cluas-aibh, where the a, for the reason already assigned, is totally useless.
These observations apply with equal justness to the tenses of verbs, as will be seen by comparing the following examples: creid-idh will believe, stad-aidh will stop; chreid-inn I would believe, stad-ainn I would stop; creid-eam let me believe, stad-am let me stop; creid-ibh believe ye, stad-aibh stop ye.
The same observations may be further applied to derivative words, formed by adding to their primitives the syllables
ach, achd, ag, an, ail, as; in all which e has been unnecessarily introduced, when the last vowel of the preceding syllable was small; as, sannt-ach covetous, toil-each willing; naomh-achd holiness, doimhn-eachd depth; sruth-an a rivulet, cuil-ean a whelp; cauch-ag a little cup, cail-eag a girl; fear-ail manly, caird-eil friendly[[25]]; ceart-as justice, caird-eas friendship.
The foregoing observations appear sufficient to establish this general conclusion, that in all cases in which a vowel serves neither to exhibit the vocal sound, nor to modify the articulations of the syllable to which it belongs, it may be reckoned nothing better than an useless incumbrance. There seems, therefore, much room for simplifying the present system of Gaelic Orthography, by the rejection of a considerable number of quiescent vowels[[26]].