Of MUTABLE INITIALS.
107. The force of the pronunciation of secondary or auxiliary mutes (as they are called) is so different from that of the primary or radical, that they are expressed by different figures or letters in the Manks; from whence arises often the difficulty of finding the etymology of those words that branch or are derived from a radical. The Irish, to prevent this in their language, have a dot, point, or dash, &c. placed over or below the letter; that is, as if b or m required to be sounded v. The primary or radical are always retained, but known by the dash or dot, so that the etymology of words is easily found in that language.
108. Of the causes of the changing of the mutable initials, (d, j, and t, excepted.) Words of the feminine gender change their following words; as, clagh vane (a white stone); which would, if clagh were masculine, be clagh bane; laue yesh (right hand); if laue were masculine, would be laue jesh; awin veg: now if awin were of the masculine gender, it would be awin beg; awin vooar, or wooar (a big or great river) if masculine it would be mooar; so that the adjectives bane, jesh, beg, mooar, are the primary or radical adjectives, which are changed by feminine substantives being placed before them to vane, yesh, veg, vooar. From these examples the learner will see that it is of the utmost importance, in order to write and speak the language correctly, that he should know and be well acquainted not only with the names and words, but also with their genders.
109. Words initialled by vowels are subject to changes, as explained in Remarks 60 and 61. Mutable consonants being initials are also changable, to show the preterit, without any word before them; as, baih (drown); but to show the pass time of action I must change baih to vaih; vaih eh eh ys cheayn (he drowned or did drown him in the sea); and gow (take); ghow eh ooilley ny v'aym voym (he took all I had from me, or he did take all I had from me); and jerk (hope, trust, or expect); I must change jerk to yerk; yerk mee rish, as va mee mollit (I trusted or expected him, and he deceived me); and mol (deceive); agh vol eh mee (but he deceived me). Baih, gow, jerk, mol, are thus changed to their aspirations, vaih, ghow, yerk, vol, &c.
110. Another cause of change is the vocative case, O Yee! Jee, (God) is here changed to Yee. Tar marym, vraar (come with me, brother); braar is here changed to vraar. O hie Yacob! (O house of Jacob); the t in thie and the j in Jacob are here changed, jean, is changed to yean, and juan to yuan,&c. &c.
111. Changes made by the articles y and yn being placed before radical words, most of those initialled by vowels, borrow, as it were, the n from yn, in the pronunciation. The translators of the Scriptures have given another n to ah, or aa (second); as, yn nah (the second); and according to this rule, yn aall (the flesh fork) should be yn naall; yn ollagh (the cattle), yn nollagh; yn ushtey (the water), yn nushtey; &c.; but they have not been uniform in this rule, having given it to some words and withheld it from others. Y and yn when placed before b change it to v; c to ch; f to the second letter whether vowel or consonant; but the want of change in some of these is so faint that perhaps it would be better to retain the f in some than to omit it. G changes to gh; k to ch; m to v, which last, often in conversation, slides into w. P changes to ph; qu to wh; s to t; sh to ch; sl to cl; y and yn do not change ch, d, j, and t.
112. The pronoun e (his), changes the following mutable initials, viz.: b to v and w, when oo, u, or w, immediately follow; c to ch; ch to h; d to gh; and f similar to what is said on that letter in the preceding Remark. G to gh; j to y; k to ch; m to v; and which last, as shown in the preceding Remark, often slides into w, in conversation. P to ph; qu to wh; s and sh to h; sl to l; t to h. All the mutables change by the above pronoun.
113. The pronoun e (her), on the contrary, changes none of the mutables; but changes words initialled by vowels, by requiring h to be placed before them.
114. The words dy (to), dty (thy), and my, change the mutables exactly in the same manner as e (his) does, as shown in Remark 112.
115. The changes caused by placing the adverb ro (too), before adjectives and participles are as follows: b to v or to w, when second letter; c to ch; ch to h; d to gh; g to gh, with a few exceptions to y; j to y; k to ch; m to v; p to ph; qu to wh; s and sh to h; t to h.
116. The changes caused by the auxiliary verb er (hath, has, have, or having, &c.) placed before verbs, require n to be placed before all the verbs beginning with vowels radically or derivatively. A, e, i, o, u, w, y, change to n; and the gh, when an aspiration of g, which, when initialled by n, has the sound of y, and which shows that it ought or ought not have that letter; but the translators of the Scriptures have written the word goll (going), when aspirated to gh; as, er n'gholl, &c.; and the word gialdyn (promise); as, er n'ghialdyn,—Heb. xi. 11; and er n'yialdyn,—Josh. ix. 21. The same may be said of giarey, &c. Er changes b to v; ch to j; d to gh; f to v, or the next letter in the syllable; g to gh; j to y; k to g; m to v; p to ph; qu to wh; s and sh to h; sl to l; and t to d.
117. The changes of the mutable consonants, by placing the adverb feer (very), before adjectives, are as follow: b to v; c to ch; g to gh; k to ch; m to v; p to ph; and qu to cw.
118. The changes the pronoun nyn causes, when placed before verbs and substantives, are as follow: Before words initialled by vowels,
