The Gaelic dialects.
(Continuation.)
V.
The Pronoun.
Personal Pronouns.
| Simple | Emphatic | ||
| 1. mi | (mii, mi) | mise | (mįfə) |
| 2. tu, thu | (ṭuu, uu, u) | tusa, thusa | (ṭhusa, usa) |
| 3. e, i he, she | (ee, &, ii, i) | esan, ise | (ɛfan, ifə, ·ɛ-san) |
| Simple | Emphatic | ||
| 1. sinn | (ſijññ) | sinne | (ſiñ-ñə) |
| 2. sibh | (ſii, ſi, ſiv) | sibhse | (ſii-sə, ſii-ſə, ſiv-sə) |
| 3. iad | (iiɑt, ɛṭ, ɛɛtſ) | iadsan | (iiɑt-san, ɛɛt-san) |
(1) thu = uu (thou) and sibh = ſii (you) are used like the German du and Sie: thu is applied to the Divine Being, to equals, and also by parents to children; sibh is used by children in addressing parents, always in addressing superiors and elders and generally as a mark of courtesy. It is nowhere now-a-days applied to the Divine Being. But in the Fernaig Ms. chiefly in the poems by MacCulloch of Park, near Dingwall, it is applied to God (e.g. bho’s fiosrach sibh mar a ta), v. Leabhar nan Gleann 208, 8; 206,8 where the latter instance might be due to exigencies of metre but I can see none such in the former:
Righ na paise! feuch do ghrāsan
Orm-san is mi’n cās gach tīm
Bho na naimhdean ta ga m’leanmhuin
Bho taim anfhuinn sibh mo dhīon.
In some parts of Uist sibh is applied in addressing little children and infants. Mac Alpine (Dict. XXVII n) remarks that
