The Scottish Celtic review

—Studies in Gaelic Grammar— the Particle Ann. 231STUDIES IN GAELIC GRAMMAR— (1)PARTICLE ANiV.THEThe difficulty* so often experienced in connection with the useof the particle aim in modem Gaelic, arises chiefly from not distinguishingwords, which, although spelt in the same way, are, inreality, diflerent parts of speech, viz., the pronominal adverb ann(there, then), the prep, ann = an (in), and the "prepositionalpronoun " ann (in him, in it).1. Ann (there, then) is the modern form of the old Gael. pron.adv. and (there, then) = * sand, which Ebel regarded (cf Kuhn'sBeitrage, iii. 272) as an old locative case of the art. ind = sind =*sanda. Ann is thus a demonstrative adverb connected etymologicallywith the Skr. dem. pron. ana (this), Lith «ns, fem. ana(that, that one), Slav, onu (that). Except in certain combinationswith prepositions such as " anns an " (in the) = " a7in san "= Old Gael, isin or issin = in sin ; leis an (with the) = le san =Old Gael, lasin or lassin = la sin ; ris an (to the) = n san = OldGael, frisin or frissin=fn sin, s of the stem *sanda is dropped,as in amhail = samhail = *samali, cognate with Skr. savia (like),Lat. similis, Goth, sama, Eng. same.* The following extract from au interesting little work by the Eev. Dr.Maason on Celtic Idioms, recently published by Messrs. Maclaohlan & Stewart,Edinburgh, sets the difficulty here referred to in a clear and striking b'ght:— (pp. 66, 68) " Tlie curious and perplexing idiom now under considerationis entirely difi'erent. It is glanced at by Stewart in his Gaelic Grammar,2nd edition, pp. 136, 137, where he makes some show of explaining it.That no injustice may be done to this, the ablest of all our Scotch grammarians,I shall quote here all that he has written on the subject." Havinggiven several of Stewart's examples of the use of ann, the writer proceeds :" But Dr. Stewart entirely evades the real difficulty of his own quotations.Taken literally, bha e'n a dhuine ionraic = was he iu his man just ; and ghabhthu bean Uriah gu bhi 'na mnaoi dhuit /ejn=taken h;ist thou (the) wife ofUriah to be in her woman to thyself. The real question is, how are we toexplain the use of the preposition and possessive pronoun in this very pecuharidiom ? And it appears to me that the idiom is one which, to the philologist,is fraught with a depth of interest such as can be measui-ed only by its undoubtedobscurity.I must, however, frankly confess my iuability, thus far,to oflfer any explanation which meets all the requirements of this curious philologicalpuzzle. That cm-ions puzzle I have turned over, and turned about,scanning it as narrowly as I could, in every possible light, and from every conceivablepoint of view. I have examined it, and cross-examined it, philologically,and I have tried to scrutinize its history in every conceivable way.But I have not been able satisfactorily to get at the true story of its birth andgrowth."