Elements of Gaelic Grammar

by Alexander Stewart

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

The Preposition do, like the verbal particle, and the Possessive Pronoun of the same sound, loses the o before a vowel, and the consonant is aspirated; thus, dh' Albainn, to

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 pronouns 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 mhòr 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 thìr 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 làr, 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 pronouns 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 Pronoun by incorporating both into one word, commonly with some change on the Preposition, or on the Pronoun, or on both.

The following are the Prepositions which admit of this kind of combination, incorporated with the several Personal Pronouns:

Prep.	Singular.				Plural.
	1st Pers.	2d Pers.		3d Pers.	1st Pers.	2d Pers.	3d Pers.
Aig, Ag;	agam,	agad,		m. aige, at him;	againn,	agaibh,	aca,
at.	at me,	at thee.		f. aice, at her.	at us.	at you.	at them
Air;	orm,	ort,		m. air.	oirnn,	oirbh,	orra.
				f. oirre. uirre. orra.
Ann;	annam,	annad,		m. ann.	annainn,	annaibh,	annta.
				f. innte.
As;	asam,	asad,		m. as.	asainn,	asaibh,	asda.
				f. aisde.
De;	dhiom,	dhiot,		m. dheth.	dhinn,	dhibh,	dhiu.
				f. dh'i.
Do;	dhomh, dhom,	dhuit,		m. dha.	dhuinn,	dhuibh,	dhoibh.
				f. dh'i.
Eadar;	...	...		...	eadarainn,	eadaraibh,	eatorra.
Fo, Fuidh;	fodham,	fodhad,		m. fodha.	fodhainn,	fodhaibh,	fodhpa.
				f. fuidhpe.
Gu;	h-ugam,	h-ugad,		m. h-uige.	h-ugainn,	h-ugaibh,	h-uca.
				f. h-uice.
Le;	leam,	leat,		m. leis.	leinn,	leibh,	leo.
				f. leatha.
Mu;	umam,	umad,		m. uime.	umainn,	umaibh,	umpa.
				f. uimpe.
O, Ua;	uam,	uait,		m. uaith.	uainn,	uaibh,	uapa.
				f. uaipe.
Re, Ri;	rium,	riut,		m. ris.	ruinn,	ribh,	riu.
				f. rithe.
Roimh;	romham,	romhad,		m. roimhe.	romhainn,	romhaibh,	rompa.
				f. roimpe.
Thar;	tharam,	tharad,		f. thairte.	tharuinn,	tharuibh,	tharta.
Troimh;	tromham,	tromhad,		m. troimhe.	tromhainn,	tromhaibh,	trompa.
				f. troimpe.