The Scottish Celtic review

;300 StiuUes in Gaelic Grammar— the Particle Ann.predicate by which it is expressed is a concrete, not an abstractterm;as " ata e 'na dhuine " (he is a man, lit., he is in his man,i.e.,he is in his state denoted by the term man),"a,ta, e 'na athairdo 'n teaghlach " (he is a father to the family, lit., he is in hisfather, i.e., ia his relation of father to the family), "ata e 'nasheirbhiseach do Sheumas (he is a servant to James, lit., he is inhis servant, i.e., in his relation of servant to James), "ata e 'nashagart " (he is a prie.st, lit., he is in his priest, i.e., in his office ofpriest).(.5) The clo.se relation, or rather identification of the subject andthe state, relation, position, or office denoted by the predicatewhich the poss. pronoun effects m the above expressions, arisesfrom the very nature of those states, relations, &c. To be, forexample, in the relation denoted by the terra son, is to be ason ; and, similarly, to be in the position denoted by the termmader, is to he a master.(6) From this identification of the subject of an affirmation withthe states, relations, &c. expressed bj' the predicate, arises theambiguity which gives its apparently anomalous character to theidiom under consideration. The term son, for example, expressesa relation, but it, likewise, denotes the -person who exi-sts in orsustains that relation. The expression, " ata e 'na mhac," may,therefore, be regarded as having two distinct significations: viz.,(1) that the person spoken of is or exists in Ins relation denotedby the term son, or in his son-relation, and (2) that he is orexists in the per.son whom he calls" his son."It is only the firstsignification that a Gaelic speaker ever attaches to the wordsand, therefore, he is altogether unconscious, when using them, otuttering the absurditj' which the second signification would imply.III. ^4 ?!.u "marking emphasis" is the pron. adv. ann (there,then) ; and, therefore, the following expressions should have beenplaced by Stewart under his second head or division.1. " Is ann air eigin a thair e as " (it was with difficulty he gotoff"), more correctly, " b' ann air eigin a thair e as " = ha (was) + ann(there) + air (for, by) + e'igin (necessity, force, difficulty) + a (that)+ thair (came) + e (he) + as (out of it), i.e., " there was " or " itoccuiTcd that by difficulty he came out of it " or " escaped."Ba and ann were noticed above.Air = Old Gael. prep, ar (for, by, on account of) is cognate withGr. irapa, Lat. per. Here «('/• (a different prep, from air = Old