312 
REPORT— 1847. 
ditcmod) and mbli-adkna, nde (cuig n de): and preceded by the Irish article 
genitive plural na, after which the same genitive preposition n is understood, 
the Irish words treas, cailleach, jyearsa, fear become respectively draw,^ 
leach, bcarsan, bear {i%a bear virornm, instead of na-n bfear). 
'J’hft tissiimitig (»f the guttural aspiration on the jiart of the comoihii', 
under the influence of the preceding vowel is the kind of change reguUrlr 
adopted in Irish, wlicreas in Welsh the vticalizntion of the mute is nowih' 
general rule. It is unquestionable, however, from the gradual and tVLtiBw 
only |>artiul adoption of this ruh? in Welsh, that the Irish usage is the nie^ 
ancient of the two, us is still further proved by its striking analogy with thstu 
the Dagesh lene in llcljrew, which may serve to corroborate the view, fotwdf' 
in the physiology of sounds, that all mutes were priiaitivcly allied with gu- 
tural aspiraiuins, and consequently, M'hen thev return to that alliance, odj 
recover their full original power. With regard to the two kinds of chsMe 
admissible after «, tliat resulting from the nasal power of the seiui-vovd lu> 
been adopted in all cases by the WeWli; by tlm Irish only when the initia! -• 
a vocal mute ; whereas, when it is a surd in Irish, it becomes afiected by ti; 
vocal power of n. The following table will exhibit a comparative viiirfi 
the dirt'erent changes of the initial both in Welsh and Irish: — 
Radical souDdf . 
t 
r. 
p 
d 
g 
b 
m 
I.f 
I. 5 
W.gr 
W-t 
iv„- 
4 
ARcr« 
»owcl. 
n^aaplretion.. 
th 
rh 
pli 
t. dh 
W. dd 
I. bh 
W. » 
I. mh 
W.« 
fh 
ib.U 
w 
I 
I 
3 
6 
Bf Tocaliantlnn 
W. .1 
g 
b 
1 
An« 
By vocalisation 
). (I 
(at) 
® * 
1 
I.b 
(bp) 
1. b 
(bf) 
< 
N. 
By takiiiK tlie 
nasal couud .. 
1 
W. iihjW. ngl) 
W. mil 
W.n 
1. lid 
ng 
W. a 
I. mb 
1 
x.ie ^w^olc ot tne Changes of initials etfccted by n, is in the lrisng«“.- 
mars known by tiie name ol evHpsU, which refers more particularly to 
in M jch the* transmutation is written in that language, namely, byj'hf^^ 
the sign of the altered articulation before that of the radical one, wbicii dll' 
seems cc fpsed by the fornmr; for instance, iia gcailleach, bpearsaii, bfe»t| 
Ihe echpsis IS especially interesting, on account of the hading fjw' 
jiliich It takM in the system of Irish declension, its primitive cause ihe» 
bting the old Celtic preposition n, denoting the genitive, aud in Irhi®''- 
Tine!!,? t'>geiber with the 
flSSf g«uder, marked by the influfiiice of tim (sap}’«f: ’' 
e I n< mg a or i, is made, fiy mi incenious method of coutbv 
Iw rt'”" at once of gendfr. number, and case, to 
mine the entire system (vide examples mentioned above). The supp^f 
tlL 1 genitive « ill the Irish declension, as 
the**-' 
^ I . ' f;fnii.ive « 111 tnc irisn uecieuswu, ■ 
' *!iPlf‘^"’*J“''>both in ^^'elsh and Irish, of the iwels and . 
rZZZ the transmutation of 
system ^ «« *ar from being a detect in the».t 
8 stem, rather one of Its particular lieaoties, inasmuch ms by distinctly 
Ivhih.^ . ‘o hmhmui ihe resources of die 
the nr5,.!!l:*i* ° *ts energy, and to carry the whole system of tran^no ^ 
I'tvninlr, "Inch consists in u hannonious accordance of ph'J" . 
> a nn, * degree of perfection. Thr »• 
grammar, knoM n to me, to which thissystcio,«* , 
compared, is the similar one uf 
ciple of win ^ 8'>.ca led coajngation in the Teutonic languages, thejg 
P «luch IS to be found likewise in the suppression of a terminatiou ffh 
Apocope of a vocal A, into which g had been tranafonaed. 
