In the description of Conall Carnach: Giljċir fnecta cećtar á Da ¿rUAD JN DAɲA fećt, in fećt ajle breċ-Dejngiċir sian sleibe, I glawiċċir buġa in dara fuil do, I DUIBjċjr Drujmni duil in tfuil eile, &c.—Blacker than the thick'ning clouds was the other eye. Describing the Drui or Magus, of Conaire Mór: Finnjejn canać fleibe cać finna pasaf čnja na čeno. So, rejmiċir, siċjċir, trujmjċir, lejċjċir, capitin, &c. I shall conclude with a few remarks on our Manuscripts, the obscurity of which is an obstacle to the research of almost every Irish Scholar. But the chief difficulty of reading them, in my opinion, arises from a want of skill in the language; for a MSS, however crowded with contractions, will easily be read by a good Scholar. The oldest MSS have the least of these contractions, containing such only as are common in the first printed books. The Saxon MSS have all the Irish con tractions; tractions; and, indeed, Bede, who from the early age in which he flourished, must be good authority for the assertion, says, that the Saxons took their alphabet from the Irish. Let any one look into Astle, on the Origin and Progress of Alphabetic writing, the Spectacle de le Nature, and the early printed Classics, and he will be convinced that the small alphabet used in early ages all through Europe, was borrowed from the Irish: Nac, is sometimes written for cać. Can, cen, cjn, for Sam. gan. Occus, ocus, accus, occas, for acaf or agus. Dono, dno, Djn, dan, dna, for Don, then. Doejne, for Dajne, men. Aljoće, for ojoće, night. bhuajm, buajt, buajnn, &c. for uajm, uajt, uajun. Occo, for aca, Uoj, uaj, boj, buj, baj, for bj. Oe, for ae, as coel, doel, foer. beos, for fos. In, the, and juo, which is now written an, but pronounced Jn. Che, for έ, as ucedar, gradúćcaġ, for uġƊas, Dos, pos, nos, for Do. 1, in, and h, now, written a. The common contraction (7) in MSS to express the copulative conjunction, et, and, acas, is no other than the Hebrew vau, 1, and the Persian waw, which both signify and. It is probable that the Irish sometimes wrote from right to left; in many MSS I have seën FIT, written cm. This word is used at the end of a treatise for FINis, crsc, desreaƊ. END. D, g, n, in MSS on medicine, signifies " of each article," "ana." Do gać nj. a' , for act, but, it is the sed of Latin MSS. stands for apa, that is a an a, a on a. w, for Tujtim, quasi, a fallen or inverted m, Tuje m. 96, that is, naj and se, for Najse, a proper name. y is written for u); this is the Greek contraction of ui. Tables Tables of these contractions, however, will, in a few years, be no longer necessary; many learned men will soon give to the public the latent treasures of our MSS, and clear the path to the attainment of our language. FINIS. ΤΟ Α PRINCE, BY THADDY MAC BRODY, OR MAC BRODIN, SON OF DARY; BEING THE INAUGURATION ODE OF DONACH O'BRIEN, FOURTH EARL OF THOMOND, WHEN ELECTED PRINCE OF HIS NATION, ACCORDING TO ANCIENT IRISH USAGE; WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION IN VERSE, DEDICATED TO THE RT. HON. THE EARL OF HUNTINGDON AND OF MOIRA. AND A LATIN PROSE ONE, STRICTLY RENDERED WORD FOR WORD FROM THE ORIGINAL IRISH, WITH NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS; THE LATTER INSCRIBED, BY PERMISSION, PRINTED BY JOHN BARLOW, 29, BOLTON-STREET. (PRINTER TO THE SOCIETY.) 1808. |