A few nouns are of either gender; Salm a Psalm, creidimh belief, are used as masculine nouns in some places, and feminine in others. Cruinne the globe, talamb the earth, land, are masculine in the nominative; as, an cruinne-cé the globe of the earth. Psal. lxxxix. 11., xc. 2.—D. Buchan. 1767. p. 12. 15; an talamh tioram the dry land. Psal. xcv.
5. The same nouns are generally feminine in the genitive; as, gu crìch na cruinne to the extremity of the world. Psal. xix. 4.; aghaidh na talmhainn the face of the earth. Gen. i. 29. Acts xvii. 24.
Of Declension.
Nouns undergo certain changes significant of Number and of Relation.
The forms significant of Number are two: the Singular, which denotes one; and the Plural, which denotes any number greater than one.
The changes expressive of Relation are made on nouns in two ways: 1. On the beginning of the noun; 2. On its termination. The relations denoted by changes on the termination are different from those denoted by changes on the beginning; they have no necessary connection together; the one may take place in absence of the other. It seems proper, therefore, to class the changes on the termination by themselves in one division, and give it a name, and to class the changes on the beginning also by themselves in another division, and give it a different name. As the changes on the termination denote, in general, the same relations which are denoted by the Greek and Latin cases, that seems a sufficient reason for adopting the term case into the Gaelic Grammar, and applying it, as in the Greek and Latin, to signify "the changes made on the termination of nouns or adjectives to mark relation".[[32]] According to this description of them, there are four cases in Gaelic. These may be
named, like the corresponding cases in Latin, the Nominative, the Genitive, the Dative, and the Vocative.[[33]] The Nominative is used when any person or thing is mentioned as the subject of a proposition or question, or as the object of an action or affection. The Genitive corresponds to an English noun preceded by of. The Dative is used only after a preposition. The Vocative is employed when a person or thing is addressed.
The changes on the beginning of nouns are made by aspirating an initial consonant; that is, writing h after it. This may be called the Aspirated form of the noun. The aspirated form extends to all the cases and numbers. A noun, whereof the initial form is not changed by aspiration, is in the Primary form.
The accidents of nouns may be briefly stated thus. A noun is declined by Number, Case, and Initial form. The Numbers are two: Singular and Plural. The Cases are four: Nominative, Genitive, Dative, and Vocative. The Initial form is twofold: the Primary form, and the Aspirated form peculiar to nouns beginning with a consonant.
In declining nouns, the formation of the cases is observed to depend more on the last vowel of the nominative than on