Graiméar na Gaedhilge/Part I Chapter III
CHAPTER III.
Eclipsis.
22. Eclipsis is the term used to denote the suppression of the sounds of certain Irish consonants by prefixing others produced by the same organ of speech.
There is usually a great similarity between the eclipsing letter and the letter eclipsed: thus, p is eclipsed by b; t is eclipsed by d, &c. If the student pronounce the letters p and b, t and d, he will immediately notice the similarity above referred to. Thus b and d are like p and t, except that they are pronounced with greater stress of the breath, or, more correctly, with greater vibration of the vocal chords.
23. Seven[1] of the consonants can be eclipsed, viz. b, c, d, f, g, p, t; the others cannot. Each consonant has its own eclipsing letter, and it can be eclipsed by no other. The eclipsing letter is written immediately before the eclipsed letter, and is sometimes, though not usually in recent times, separated from it by a hyphen, as m‑bárd or mbárd (pronounced maurdh).
Formerly eclipsis was sometimes shown by doubling the eclipsed letter: thus, a ttarḃ, their bull. Whenever a letter is eclipsed both should be retained in writing, although only one of them (the eclipsing one) is sounded.
24. It is much better not to consider the letter s as an eclipsable letter at all. t replaces it in certain positions, but in none of those positions (dative singular excepted) in which the other letters are eclipsed. In fact, s is often replaced by t when the previous word ends in n, as an tsúil, the eye; aon tsál, one heel; sean t‑Síle, old Sheelah; buiḋean tsluaġ, a crowd, &c. Some, however, maintain that s is really eclipsed in these cases, because its sound is suppressed, and that of another consonant substituted; but as the substitution of t follows the rules for aspiration rather than those for eclipsis, we prefer to class s with the non-eclipsable letters, l, m, n, r, s.
| 25. | b | is eclipsed by | m. |
| c | " | g. | |
| d | " | n. | |
| f | " | ḃ. | |
| g | " | n. | |
| p | " | b. | |
| t | " | d. |
| a mbárd (their poet) | is pronounced | a maurd. |
| a gcapall (their horse) | " | a gŏpàl. |
| ár ndán (our poem) | " | aur naun. |
| i ḃfuil (in blood) | " | ă vwil. |
| a ngiolla (their servant) | " | ang illŭ. |
| i bpéin (in pain) | " | a baen. |
| a dtalaṁ (their land) | " | a dhŏl-ŭv. |
Although n is used as the eclipsing letter of g, the sound of n is not heard, but the simple consonant sound ng; therefore it would be more correct to say that g is eclipsed by ng.
Rules for Eclipsis.
26. (a) The possessive adjectives plural—ár, our; ḃur, your; and a, their—eclipse the initial consonant of the next word, as ár dtiġearna, our Lord; ḃur gcapall, your horse; a mbád, their boat.
(b) The article eclipses the initial consonant of the noun in the genitive plural (both genders): láṁa na ḃ‑fear, (the) hands of the men.
(c) A simple preposition followed by the article and a noun in the singular causes eclipsis[2]: tá sé ar an gcapall, he is on the horse; ṫáinig sé leis an ḃfear, he came with the man.
(d) The numeral adjectives seaċt, oċt, naoi, and deiċ (7, 8, 9, and 10), and their compounds, as 27, 28, 29, &c., cause eclipsis: seaċt mba, seven cows; oċt gcaoiriġ, eight sheep; seaċt ḃ‑fir fiċead, twenty-seven men.
(e) The initial consonant of a verb is eclipsed after the particles ċa, not; an, whether; cá, where; naċ, whether … not or that … not; go, that; muna, unless; dá, if; and after the relative particle a when it is preceded by a preposition, or when it means “all that” or “what.” The relative preceded by a preposition does not eclipse if the verb be past tense, except in the case of a very few verbs, which will be given later on: an dtuigeann tú, do you understand? naċ ḃfuil sé tinn, isn’t he sick? cá ḃfuil sé, where is it? duḃairt sé go dtiocfaḋ sé, he said that he would come; an fear ag a ḃfuil an leaḃar,[3] the man who has the book.
The Insertion of n.
27. (a) When a word begins with a vowel, the letter n is usually prefixed in all those cases in which a consonant would be eclipsed: e.g., ár n‑arán laeṫeaṁail, our daily bread; ċuaiḋ Oisín go tír na n‑óg, Oisin went to "the land of the young."
The n is sometimes omitted when the previous word ends in n: as ar an aonaċ, or ar an n‑aonaċ, at the fair.
(b) Prepositions (except do and de) ending in a vowel prefix n to the possessive adjectives a, his, her, or their; and ár, our; le n‑a ṁáṫair, with his mother; ó n‑ár dtír, from our country.
The Insertion of t.
28. (a) The article prefixes t to a masculine noun beginning with a vowel in the nominative and accusative singular: as an t‑aṫair, the father.
(b) If a noun begins with s followed by a vowel, or by l, n, or r, the s is replaced by t after the article in the nom. and acc. feminine sing. and the genitive masculine, and sometimes in the dative singular of both genders, as an tsúil, the eye; teaċ an tsagairt, (the) house of the priest, i.e.; the priest’s house; tá siad ag teaċt ó’n tseilg, they are coming from the hunt.
(c) This replacing of s by t occurs after the words aon, one; sean, old; and other words ending in n, as aon tsealg aṁáin, one hunt.
The Insertion of h.
29. The following is a pretty general rule for the insertion of h before vowels:—
"Particles which neither aspirate nor eclipse, and which end in a vowel, prefix h to words beginning with a vowel. Such is the case with the following:—le, with; a, her; go, to; dara, second; sé, six; trí, three; na, the (in the nom., acc., and dative plural, also in the gen. singular feminine); go before adverbs; the ordinal adjectives ending in ṁaḋ, &c."—Gaelic Journal.
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