rDdiichtha welsh
M. my heer W. fy nhir of "motherland")
(ii) "thy": Irish, Gaelic, Manx aspirate; Welsh, Cornish, Breton "soften"; e.g. "thy house":
(iii) "his": as for "thy": e.g. "his dog":
(iv) "her": Goidelic leaves consonants unchanged; Brythonic aspirates; e.g. "her dog":
Obs.
Before a vowel, however, a ("her") requires the insertion of H, except in Cornish. In Breton it is added to the pronoun: e.g. "her soul".
(v) "our" "your" "their": In Irish all eclipse; in Gaelic, "our" and "your",though the same words as the Irish (ar, bhur) and "their" (an, which becomes, as always, am before b, p, f, m) do not mutate; in Manx the word nyn used for all three eclipses, but the phonetic spelling changes the initial letter according to the sound; in Welsh and Cornish "our" and "your" do not mutate, but Welsh "their" does, while Cornish "their" aspirates C, K, P, T, thus agreeing with Breton as far as K, P, T are concerned. Breton, however, conforms in not mutating after "our" (hon) though it changes the pronoun itself to hor before consonants other than N, D, T, L, H, and to hoi before L, but goes its own way in mutating by "reinforcement" (i.e. changing sonants to surds after "your" (ho).
Before a vowel Eclipsing means the insertion of n in Irish and Gaelic, except after the lat-ter's an {am) "their", which, ending itself in a nasal, does not require another. So too Manx nyn requires no further N (e.g. G. an athair, m. nyn ayr, but i. a n-athair) . in Brythonic the inserted sound is H; but Welsh and Cornish agree again in not inserting it after "your" but in inserting it after "their", though it is with Breton that Cornish agrees in not inserting it after "our" e.g.:-
|
our |
your |
their |
COW | |
|
J. |
ar |
bhur |
a |
mb6 |
|
0. |
ar |
bhur |
am |
bo |
|
M. |
nyn |
nyn |
nyn |
mooa |
|
W. |
ein |
eich |
eu |
bo |
|
C. |
agan |
agas |
aga |
bugh |
|
B. |
hor buoc'h |
ho puoc'h |
o |
buoc'h |
|
"our soul": | ||||
|
I. |
ar |
bhur |
a |
n-anam |
|
G. |
ar |
bhur n-anam |
an |
an am |
|
'M. |
nyn |
nyn |
nyn |
annym |
|
W. |
ein henaid |
eich enaid |
eu |
henaid |
|
C. |
agan enef |
agas enef |
aga |
h-enef |
|
B. |
on ene |
hoc'h ene |
o |
ene |
Obs. (i) Only Irish justifies the term "Eclipse"
by actually writing down both initial consonants. Manx reproduces the sound, which is not always that of the first of the two consonants of the Irish, so that the appearance of the same word is often completely changed; e.g. beside nyn mooa above, nyn badjer {ar bpaidir) "our prayer" nyn gharey {ar ngardha) "our garden" nyn volt (dr bhfolt) "our hair", and nyn dhalloo {dr dtalamh) "our ground", we have nyn ghooinney {ar nduine) "our man" (from dooinney), ftz/w Jeer {ar dtir) "our land" (from cheer (tir) with T palatalized by following I in contrast to thalloo above), and nyn Yee (dr riDia) "our God" (from Jee CDia) similarly palatalized? cf. dooinney above).
(ii) Brythonic has special forms for the Possessive Adjective after certain words, with varying mutation; e.g.
W.:after and, with, to, from: e.g. "and my" is a'm, which does not nasalise, but aspirates a vowel,whereas the others (<a'th "and thy" etc.) mutate as before: a'm tir "and my country". C.:after and, to, of: e.g. "and my" is h'ami but only xth ("thy") mutates, and now by "mixed mutation" (softening or surdizing or aspirating according to the consonant): (torn "hand" (but dha dhorn) •ha'th "and thy") jhallos "power"( " " alios) dhe'th "to thy" j (clogh "bell" ( " " glogh) a'th "of thy" ) jwely "bed" (as be fore) (from gwely)
(wolok "sight" ( " ")(fromgolok) (Note: "of our (your, their)" are written: a'gan> a'gas, a'ga)
B.:after to, in', e.g. "to my is d'am, which continues to aspirate K and T but not P: d'am o'hi "to my dog", but d'am pabell "to my tent" (against va fabelV'my tent"). But d'az "to thy", ez "in thy" surdize
("reinforce") sonants instead of conversely; e.g. d'az preur "to thy brother" (breur) , ez kodell "in thy pocket" (godell) (against da vreury da c'hodell)
B. After the Definite Article
All agree in mutating the initial consonant of feminine Nouns in the singular Norn, and Acc., but the mutation varies: unlike the others, which "soften",
Irish aspirates C and P and does not change D and
T; Breton (which adapts the final consonant of the
Article to the following initial; v. below § 7) also does not change D, and changesG to C'H (but drops G
before W); and Cornish changes GO to W. E.g.
|
the |
chair |
OOW |
goat ghabhar"^ |
goose .17 ge |
leaf | |
|
I. |
an |
chathaoir |
bho |
duilleog | ||
|
G. |
a' |
chathair |
bho |
ghabhar |
ghead |
duilleag |
|
M. |
yn |
chaair |
vooa |
ghoayr |
ghuiy |
duillag |
|
W. |
y |
gadair |
f uwch |
afr |
wydd |
ddeilen |
|
C. |
an |
gadar |
vugh |
avar |
woth |
dhelen |
|
B. |
ar |
gador |
vuoc'h |
c'havr |
waz |
delienn |
Obs. (i) Manx has also some idiosyncrasies of its own:-B before W is dropped in a few words: bwoailey "striking", but yn woailley "the blow". B before 00 may become W (corresponding to Irish BH before a "broad" vowel): yn wooa instead of yn vooa "the cow". QU becomes WH: Quaiyl "court", but yn whaiyl.
(ii) Breton also mutates masc. sg. Nouns beginning with K (but to C'H, not to G): or c'haier "the exercise book".
(iii) Both Cornish and Breton mutate masc. plur. Nouns denoting persons: "the boys" - an vebyon, ar baotred.
(iv) Breton also mutates fern. plur. Nouns denoting persons and masc. plur. of nouns denoting animals and things when they begin with K (which becomes C'H as in ii): ar o 'heginerezed "the cooks", ar o'hezeg "the horses", ar c'kirri "the carts".
(v) Cornish mutates a few miscellaneous masculine Nouns after the Def. Art. (e.g. deth "day", but an jeth), and even has its one and only nasal change in an nor (masc.) "the earth", in the sense of "world", thus distinguishing from an dor "the earth" in the sense of "ground". Similarly in Breton dor "door", but an nor.
(vi) The Goidelic Article also mutates in the Gen. sg. masc. and the "Dative" (Prepositional) case of both genders, and before a vowel requires the insertion of H in the Gen. sg. fem. and in all cases of the Plural, both genders, except the Genitive, which prefixes N and eclipses a consonant:-
fear "man": an fhir "of the man" (G. a' fhir; M. yn fir)
bdd (m) "boat": ins an bhad "in the boat" (G. anns a' bhata; M. sy bhaatey)
guala (f) "shoulder": ar an ghualainn "on the shoulder" (G. air a' ghuaillinn; M. er y gheaylin)
obair (f) "work": na h-oibre "of the work" (G. ditto; M. ny h-obbyr)
Albanach "Scotsman": na h-Albanaigh "the Scotsmen" (G. na h-Albannaich; M. ny Albanee)
ubh (f) "egg": leis na h-uibheacha "with the eggs" (G. leis na h-uighean; M. lesh ny oohyn)
oailin "girl": scoil na gcailini "the girls' school" (G. sgoil nan caileag; M. schoill ny 'neen)
Obs . The table reveals some disagreement within the Goidelic family: Gaelic Gen. plur. Def. Art. is always nan (nam before the letters b, i', m, p: mCos nam pog "the month of kisses" (honeymoon)); the Gen. plur. of many masc. Nouns (and ugh is masc.'.) is the same as the Nom. sg. (as is also that of some feminines); nan {nam) does not mutate; Manx ny does not take H and is also Gen. plur. without taking N. but otherwise "eclipsing".
(vii) Goidelic also prefixes T (a relic of an old Def. Art.) to masc. Nouns beginning with a vowel in Nom. and Acc. sg. (e.g. an t-Ultaoh "the Ulsterman"), and to all nouns beginning with S followed by a vowel or by n, I, r on the following occasions; e.g. (confining ourselves to Irishj:
masc. Gen. sg. teach an tsagairt "the priest'i house"
fem. Nom. and Acc. sg. an tsuil "the eye"
m. and f. Dat. sg. ar an tsraid "on the street"
Obs. In Manx the presence of the T is indicated by orthographic changes; e.g. "the eye" y tooili "the street" y traid} "the bee" (shellan18) yn qhellani "the rod" (slat) yn olat (through tlat)
7. The lack of ¿in Indefinite Article:
Here of course they agree with Latin and Slavonic; but Breton, perhaps under French influence, has developed one, which,like the Def. Art., mutates and adapts its last letter to the following initial; e.g. eia* gador "a chair", eun daol "a table", eul loo'h "a lake".
8. An interrogative Particle introducing a question (followed by Mutation and, where it exists, the dependent form of the Verb). Here again there is one exception: Manx omits the Particle. (Cornish omits it only before vowels of bos "to be" and mos "to go"):
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