The Scottish Celtic review

•"294' Gaelic Orthoijraiilnj— Common Mistahes.fore words beginning with s. But to these rules, which are observedwith considerable regularity in Irish, there are many exceptionsin Scottish Gaelic. In the ease of hheil for bhfeil, the formula"gii bheil" is used regularly in the Gaelic Scriptures, but "gu 'm,bheil " occurs repeatedl3' in all the editions of the poems of Ossian,the additional mistake of writing m as a euphonic letter havingbeen introduced into Dr. Clerk's edition (cf Croma, 1. 154^).In other combinations, however, consisting of a preposition,tlie relative, and bheil, the nasal of the relative is frequently',although erroneously, preserved in the Gaelic Scriptures. Thefollowing are examples :—John i. 30: " Aig am bheil barrachd orni," for, "Aig a bhfeilbarrachd orm."John i. 38 " : C'ait am bheil thu gabhail comhnuidh ? " for," C ait a bhfeil thu gabhail comhnuidh ?John V. 45 :" Maois, anns am bheil sibh a' cur bhur dochais,"for " Maois, ann sa bhfeil sibh a' cur bhur dochais."—Acts xxvii. 23 :" Agus d' am bheil mi a' deanamh seirbhis," foi-," Agus d' a bhfeil mi a' deanamh seirbhis."The usage of some districts in the Highlands may, no doubt,be pleaded infavour of retaining the nasal of the relative beforebheil ; but there are other districts in which the correct usage stillprevails, and, therefore, it should be adhered to in a work occupjingthe unique place which belongs to the translation of theScriptures in the scant standard literature of modern Gaelic.IX. The article «', contracted form of an (the), erroneouslysubstituted for the possessive pronoun a (his, her, its).This error has been introduced, in the last edition of theGaelic Scriptures (Ref. Ed., 1880), into many ])laces in which allprevious editions have correctly the posssessive pronoun. Thefollowing are some examples :1 Sam. xxi. 2 (Ref Ed.): "dol a dh'iounsuidh a'leithid so agusa' leithid sud a dh' aite," for, " dol a dh' ionnsuidh a leithid soagus a leithid sud a dh' ait " (Ed. 1820).1 Sam. xxi. 9 (Ref Ed.) : " Cha-n' eil a' leithid eile ann," for," Cha'n'eil a leithid eile ann " (Ed. 1826).2 Chr. xxxv. 18 (Ref Ed.): " Agus cha do chumadii a' leithidsin de chai.sg," for, " Agus cha do chumadh a leithid sin dochaisg " (Ed. 1826); " ni mo a chum uile righrean Israeil a' leithidde chaisg," for, " ni mo a chum uile righrean Israeil a leithiddo chaisg " (Ed. 1826).