The Scottish Celtic review

"Gaelic likoijraphy— Common Mldakcs. Tilquite correct wlion tlie idea to bo coaveyed is that of exceeding acertain limit or of going bej-ond a certain point. It is quitecorrect, for example, to say, "Tlia e thar fichead bliadhna" (heis over twenty years), " tha e thar deich bliadhna fichead(he is over thirty years), "tha e ceithir bliadhna thar fichead" (heis four years over twenty), "thae cuig bliadhna thar an fhichead"(he is five years over the twenty). In these expressions, whichare entirely different ftom the regular numeral formulae, " aon arfhichead," "a dha ar fhichead," &c., thnr has clearly its propersignification of over or beyond, and is neither abbreviated norfollowed by aspiration.II. The prep, an (in) erroneously taken to be the art. an (the).One not accurately acquainted with the rules of Gaelic grammaris apt to be misled by the English idiom into supposingthat an, in such expression as (Ps. i. 1, 2) : " ann an comhairlenan aingidh" (in the counsel of the wicked), "anu an slighe nampeacach" (in the way of the sinners), "ann an caithir luchd-fanoid"(in the seat of scorners), and " ann an lagh an Tighearna" (in thelaw of tlie Lord), is the article agreeing with the nouns comhairle,slighe, caithir, lagh, and governed by ann, and that, therefore, insuch expressions as (Gen. xvi. 12) : "am fianuis a bhraithrean" (inthe presence of his brethren), (Gen. xviii. 1): "an dorus a' bhiitha"(in the door of the tent), (Gen. xx. 6): "an trc^ibhdhireas dochridhe " (in the integrity of thy heart), (Gen. xxii. 13) : "an aita mhic " (in the place of his son), an should be written with anapostrophe before it to indicate that ann is understood as thegoverning preposition. But the following reasons show that an,in these phrases, is not the article but the prep, an = Old Gaelicprep, in (in), cognate with Gr. ei/l, Lat. in, Goth., A.S., andEnglish in:—1. When, in modern Gaelic, one noun governs another in thegenitive, and the second is preceded by the article or by apossessive pronoun, the article is not used before the first orgoverning noun (cf Stewart's Gram., pp. 170, 171). Hence " thetop of the house" is ex[)ressed in Gaelic by " muUach an taighe,"and " the sole of the foot " by " bonn na coise," the article notbeing admissible before the nouns nmllach and honn, each ofwhich is followed by the article and another noun in the genitive.2. When the prep, ann, which terminated originally with aconsonant (»;), is followed by the article, * of the stem of the