1881.] 071 tic Language of the Scoittsh Highlands. 649 



Now tlio tlircc first of these numerals require no observation. 

 In the fourth we see- au illustration of a law very common in Gaelic, 

 as compared with Latin, and as one would expect also in French — 

 viz. dropping a consonant in the middle of a word, when preceded 

 and followed by a vowel. Thus the French from ^9a/er make perCy 

 and from mater, mere ; and so the Latin quatiior is smoothed down to 

 ccithir (pronounced CCi-ur), by the omission of the aspirated t. In 

 coig another law is exemplified, which leads to the omission of tho 

 nasal n before a consonant, exactly as in Ionic Greek we have ttvOolvto 

 vocalised into TrvOotaTo. So in Gaelic we have mios, a month, for 

 mcnsis. The number sex is softened down by the common practice 

 of sliaving off a final consonant. So in sejjtem, novem, and decern, tho 

 final m falls, as we know neither was it pronounced by the Romans, 

 and as the modern Greeks treat the final v of the second declension 

 of nouns, saying Ka\6 for kuXuv. In seachd and ochd we further see 

 the preference given by the Celts to the aspirated guttural ch, while 

 as an initial of roots c remains as in cridhe KupSia and creadh 

 crefa; and in deach compared with decern we have further to note 

 that the hard c or k in Latin at the end of a word is softened into ch, 

 as in each for equus ; naoidh vocalises the medial v of the Latin. Ficheat 

 exemplifies the change of v into /, as in vinum, and in fios for the 

 German icissen ; and again, the throwing out of the ii before the final 

 /, as when the Greeks changed the original Doric kiyovri into Xiyovcn, 

 Centum becomes ceud on the same principle. 



And now, summing up all these special differences between tho 

 Gaelic language and its nearest relative,* we may say at once that the 

 Gaelic language bears on its face the impress of a curtailed, smoothed 

 over, and somewhat emasculated Latin — a language which has dealt 

 consistently with the original stock of Latin which it brought with 

 it from the East, exactly in the same fashion that French has 

 dealt with its imported Latin. This curtailment in both languages, 

 French and Gaelic, has gone to such an extreme that it is not seldom 

 difficult for an inexperienced eye to recognise the identity. Thus 

 between gour, a goat (I write here as pronounced), and caper, gaiol, 

 and capjere, aar and pater, on a superficial view there seems no 

 connection ; but spell these words as they appear in the books, gabhar, 

 gahhail, athair, and a philological eye discerns at a glance the original 

 identity of the divergent terms. For the spelling of these words 

 clearly indicates that the medial consonant before being dropped was 

 aspirated, that is, softened down by a breathing which renders it more 

 easy of pronunciation, and prepares the way for its final disappear- 

 ance. Restore this medial consonant, with all the sharpness of its 

 natural features, and there is not the slightest difficulty, even to an 



* Ebel says that the Gaelic roots which can be proved to be modified forms 

 of the same roots in the Aryan family belong in pretty nearly equal groups to 

 the Latin and Teutonic stock. I deal only with the Latin here, as being the 

 more familiar to the general audience. 



