STAPLETON'S CATECHISM 35 



decessors. But I must not leave you under the impression 

 that our views are altogether original. 



The truth is that Irish orthography is several centuries 

 behind the spoken language. It is easy to prove that 

 three hundred years ago it no longer represented the 

 popular pronunciation. 



In the year 1639, Father Theobald Stapleton (" Teaboid 

 Gallduf, Sagart erennach," as he calls himself) published 

 at Brussels a catechism in Latin and Irish. He deliberately 

 used the roman and italic type, and, as he tells us in his 

 preface, simplified the spelling to bring it nearer to the 

 pronunciation. 



" & ut melius ab iisdem Hibernis aliisque facilius legi 

 ac intelligi posset, charactere Romano exaravi ac imprimi 

 curavi. . . . ortographia quidem non mere Hibernica, sed 

 duntaxat, ut verba vulgo pronunciari solent, quod ex 

 industria factum esse, ut facilior cunctis patefiat modus 

 legendi linguam Hibernicam animadverteres Lector, qui 

 modus post indicem reperies." 



" & chum go mo feairde do thuicidis e, 6- fos each ele : 

 do shaorthuidheas d chur a leitrecha Coitcheanna Romhanacha 

 . . . gidheagh, ni do reir churtha sio* & ortographi na Gaoilaga 

 gu ro chinnte ach amhain mar chantar 6- labharthar na 

 briartha go coitchiann, cy as do aontoisc do rinnas so, innas 

 go mo follas do gach aoin modh leite na teangan Ghaoilaige 

 fa mar do gheabhair foillsethe tar eis an chldir." 



Stapleton tells us that the artificial style of many Irish 

 writers in prose and poetry has injured the language. Their 

 love of cruos focal has made them obscure and almost 

 unintelligible. For himself, he aims at simplicity and 

 clearness. 



This rare and valuable book is of extreme importance 

 for the history of the language. Of course the author's 

 main object was not to reform Irish orthography. He 

 is inconsistent in his alterations. The same word appears 

 sometimes in the old form, sometimes in the simplified. 

 And, as might be expected in a book printed on the 

 Continent, misprints are frequent in the Irish part. Still 

 it is evident that in bringing the orthography into closer 



