26 IRISH SPELLING 



respect to the sub-committee who are responsible for the 

 pamphlet, the future stem is not t>6. You don't want a 

 lesson in Old and Middle Irish subjunctives and futures 

 to-night, but it can be shown that this is a case where the 

 scholars were at fault. 



There are other " historical " arguments in this pamphlet 

 that one might quarrel with. Perhaps the most flagrant 

 instance is on page 3. "Vowels/' we read, "lengthened 

 by a glide (tt, , t>, tti) . . . should not be marked long .... 

 But vowels historically long should be so marked e.g., 

 t>iti$it> not Dftisi-o." By a curious fatality the authors 

 of the pamphlet have hit upon an example which exposes 

 the weakness of their position. For the first vowel in 

 t>t\i$it> is historically short ! It is Brigit in Old Irish 

 orthography. 1 dare say our friends took it for granted 

 that it came from b|\io, which would, of course, give i. 

 But it is not derived from bnio$ ! The etymology of this 

 name is well known to comparative philologists. This is 

 not a philological lecture, and I cannot stop to show the 

 relation between Brigit and the Welsh braint, or the Sanskrit 

 brhatl. But there is no doubt whatever of the fact. 



o 



The best scholars of the Gaelic League have shown 

 that they do not themselves know the " correct " or 

 historic spelling of a well-known name, the name of the 

 most famous woman in Irish history. Truly this historic 

 spelling of our ancestors is an expensive luxury, which 

 few of us can afford. Let those who are willing to pay 

 the price see that they get the genuine article. 



I do not make these remarks for the pleasure of 

 criticizing the work of men, some of whom are colleagues 

 and friends of my own. Anyone may make mistakes. 

 And indeed from my point of view the difference between 

 t>ttl$it> and t)ni$it> is not worth quarrelling over. But 

 take the case of a little girl who wants to know the right 

 way to spell her own name. What is she to do ? Shall 

 she study Old Irish and comparative philology ? That 

 is perhaps asking too much. Or shall she apply to the 

 Gaelic League ? You have seen the result. Would it 

 not be kinder to let the little girl spell it "bfvro, without 



