After nach and mur initial f followed by vowels is aspirated, e.g., nach or mur fhàg thu e, nach or mar fhàgadh tu e. So with faigh, feuch, feith, etc. Nach and mur originally ended with a vowel, but that does not explain the non-aspiration of the other consonants after them. Cf. Chan 'eil fhios agam; de an fhios agad; ma 's fhior (forsooth). Initial f in composition with an prefix of excess is also aspirated with us anfhann: it is curious that on the West Coast it becomes bh as anbhann (Ir. anbhfann, M. Ir. anbfann, anband), ainbhiach (debt), etc.

The tendency that prevails in some dialects to aspirate the prepos tions does not extend with us to do, de, fo, and gu, but affects all the prepositional pronouns, except those formed from fo and, of course, troimh. A preceding n, as is known, prevents the aspiration of d (and t) in Gaelic, but not always with us in a collocation of words that is constantly in use, e.g., na bean dha, dhomh, etc., don't touch him, etc., comes more readily to us than na bean da. So with s; but fagus duit is never fagus dhuit. Co, as, is always cho, except sometimes for emphasis tha e co dubh ri fitheach. Féin is always aspirated. The phrases mur i (were it not, unless, mur i gu 'n d'rinn thu e, had you not done it), and cha 'n fhaod a bi! (it cannot be, surely not!) are noteworthy.

ECLIPSIS.

Eclipsis is confined to the tenues and f. At Blair it is constant and regular after n (m with p and ƒ), e.g., an tarbh and nan tarbh are an darbh, nan darbh; an cabar, nan cabar, are an gabar, nan gabar, am pàisd, nam pàisd, are am and nam bàisd, am fear, nam fear, are am and nam bhear. So an tog, an cluich, am pronn, am fàg, are an dog, am bhàg, etc.. air am fàgail is air am bhàgail, and so on. Cf. the Dean of Lismore's gan degow (gun teagamh). In Strathtay, except in an tig, an téid, na'n tigeadh, na 'n téideadh, it is variable, i.e., the tenues and ƒ sometimes are and sometimes are not eclipsed. It is oftener heard with t and ƒ than with the others, e.g., am faigh is sometimes am bhaigh and sometimes am faigh. As in some other dialects, b, d, and g after n (m before b) are sounded not as in other positions in Gaelic, but like English b, d, and g.

In Strathtay, in quick utterance, the other way in dealing with those groups is sometimes followed, e.g., co' fear tha an sin, na' pilleadh e (he would return). This takes place more readily with the mediae, e.g., co' duine tha an sin, and occurs with the genitive plural of the article and with the conjunction na'n, na'm. It is found more decidedly both at Blair and in Strathtay in

certain combinations of words. Anns am bith, in sense of 'any,' is 's a' bith, as fear 's a' bith, 'any man.' Anns an and anns a', 'in the,' are of course quite commonly 's an or 's 'n, and 's a', as cuir 's 'n fhang e, bha e an so 's a' gheamhradh; tha e 's a' bhaile. Before dentals all is gone except s; tha e 's dùthaich, he is in the country'; cuir 's teine e, 'put it in the fire.' Of course t for old d of the article appears before s; tha e 's t-sabhal, 'it is in the barn'; thig es t-samhradh, etc. Even with foghar and earrach t appears-bha e 's t-fhoghar, bha e 's t-earrach, which, though differing from modern are in agreement with the old Gaelic isind fhogomur, isind erroch. Stigh and steach are of course classical instances. The full forms anns an, anns am, may be heard in more formal speech.

ASSIMILATION AND DISSIMILATION.

Some other phenomena may be dealt with under this heading, though even eclipsis is properly a form of assimilation, only that it is external and not internal. In contrast with the preceding is the insertion of t in the adverbs an t-so, an t-sin, an t-sud, and mu'n t-seach (here, there, yonder, across). Similar is the tin Chaidh e an t-seilbh (at other times na 'sheilbh) is rinn e e (he set about it and did it); chaidh e an t-seilbh a' ghnothaich (he set about the business); and in Strathtay the t in bonn t-sè (halfpenny), and De an t-sòrt th'ann and De an sort th' aun, both used indifferently. The combination nt is got rid of wherever possible, note baindiorna for baintighearna; but even that has evidently been more tolerable than ns, which is avoided by one expedient or another in most dialects it not in all, e.g., an so appears elsewhere as an t-so or an d-so, an a so, and a so. Cf. nd supra.

Broad n somehow takes t or d after it very readily, e.g., tabhunntaich (barking), deargannt (cf. however E. Ir. dergnat), and the borrowed words lùrdannt (cunning), stannd (a vat), and in Strathtay pandair (beans).

There is a suffixing of terminal dentals with other consonants, mostly in loan words, e.g., cumaint (common), bruthaist, bagaist (baggage), sùbailt, tubhailt, speisealt (comely, creditable, M. Ir. sbesailte, special), but not in biteal (elsewhere biotailt). There are at least of native instances, faighneachd (ask), so throughout, and amailt for amail (hindrance). It is a question if our daonalt (always) and daonnan or daondan can be regarded as the same word.

So na'n

Strub, spont, from Scot. stroup, is in Strathtay strump. At Loch Tay and in Strathtay there is also strump, meaning a stump, applied at Blair (in plural) to a stubbly growth of beard. This in turn evidently owes its r to the foregoing word. In eisiom plair we have assimilated p to m, in aindeoin d to n, and t to nn in má shanntaicheas (tu, e, etc.), which is very common in the sense if you choose or care (to do anything).' sannaichinn, but in the sense of 'covet' t is always kept. MacAlpine's stuidearra is with us stuidearna, uaigneach is uairgneach as in Skye, and guilbneach is guilbearnach. Stroc, applied to a piece of wood, an old horse, etc, is evidently the word stoc, a stump, etc. The word for thistle is faighrean and foighrean, which may be compared with aigheannach and oighionnach. Macleod and Dewar make the latter (o form) feminine, and the former (a form) masculine, with the additional meaning place where thistles grow.' Lunnain, muinichill, and capall-coille are with us Lumainn, muilichir, and capar-coille. Sgùlan, in Strathtay sgùilean, is at Blair sgùlar. Leumnaich or leumraich we have made leumartaich. Mnathan (wives) is bnathan, pronounced brathan, and the genitive singular also when used is bra. Mnathan, pronounced mrathan, E. Ir. mná, is itself for a pre-historic bnâs; but in view of the E. Ir. form our b must be regarded as a recent development from m, and not as a preservation of the original. Taillse (a as ao short) for taibhse is notable, as the tendency elsewhere is to assimilate ll to s in such words as soillse, foillsich. Dhal-stigh, and in Strathtay and Lochtayside also al-stigh (within time), al-stigh do dha là (within two days), in other dialects a stigh do dha là, can hardly be referred simpliciter to a stigh (inside). Ma rua, alas, woe, both compassionate and threatening; ma rua dhuit! woe to you! in Sutherland and Ross ma ruar seems to be the mo nuar of Laoidh Dheirdre. (See also, Vol. XV., p. 208, of the Transactions.)

At Blair urlar is ullar, while in Stathtay currachd, or rather currac, may sometimes be heard as curlac, and the cuilidhsiùchaireachd of Blair as cuirlidh siùcaireachd. The sglàmhraig (for sglamhruinn) of East Perthshire is in Rannoch sglàmhrsa, at Loch Tay sglàmhrsaig. The Rannoch aimhreas shows confusion between aimhleas and aimhreit.

PROTHESIS.

There are a few instances of prothesis. Eag, oir (edge), aithnich, are feag, foir, faithnich. Os (above) is bhos, sometimes

On the other hand

fos, perhaps influenced by bho (from). freumh and faileas are reumh and aileas, probably derived from ail (mark, impression). The imperative of faic in familiar speech is aic, which is never used independently, but is always followed by the pronouns aic thu, aic sibh. The interjection oit oit (so Strathtay), expressive of heat, is foit foit at Blair.

Sgiolc, compared by Mr Macbain with Eng. skulk, is giolc with us. MacAlpine's toraidh, a word to excite bulls (whence Tory), is with us stór. Gunna-sgaile (pop-gun) is gunna-gailc. Compare also smàigean (frog) with màgan,

The bat is an dialltag-anmoch, influenced by our diaghaltach (fond of).

A few other remarks may be grouped together. Such addenda as are found in Strathtay in an dràstaich, rithisdich, fhathastaich, are found, especially with the demonstratives in other districts, e.g., Sutherland, Kintyre.

A predilection for slender sounds appears in coirc (oats), ainneamh (rare), air adhairt (forward), fadhairseach, at Blair fadharsach, cumaint (common), siobhailt from civil, the Irish Farsuinn, síothamhuil, E. Ir. sídamail being our sítheil. fàrsanachd, tarsuinn, ursainn, have r broad, s slender farsinn, fàrseanachd, etc.

Balair for barail, Dean of Lismore ballir, occurs also in Achlais, arm-pit, Badenoch, and coilinn for coinneal is common. in some dialects asgall, Ir. ascall, M. Ir. ochsal, is with us aslaic. Provection alone is not sufficient to explain toman-ealaidh, spider, for damhan-allaidh.

THE ARTICLE.

The s of the article which is preserved after an, a, gu, le, and ri was found in the old language with other prepositions of consonantal terminal sound, and of these one instance remains in Perthshire (East and West). On the fire' is airs teine, as cuir airs teine e, tha e airs teine, which was in the old language forsin tenid, the an, old in, of the article being lost as described above. That's is preserved before gach also, but not invariably thàinig fear a gach àite or as gach àite; and there is the like uncertainty both in other dialects and in the old language.

DECLENSION.

The tendency is to reduce the inflections of the noun to two forms, the singular and the plural, e.g. tigh an fhear, plu. na fearan, but as a rule the plural is properly formed ceann, plu.

cinn; fiadh, plu. féidh; coileach, pl. coilich. The following may be noted--abhainn, g. abhna, p. abhnaichean; amhaich, g. amhcha; teangaidh, p. teangaidhean; monadh, g. monaidh, p. monaidhean and monachan; dorus, p. doirsinn; dùthaich, p. dùithchean; teine, p. teineachan; obair, p. obraichean and obairchean; ceard, . ciûird; gniomh, p. gniomhan; latha, p. lathan and lathaichean; easg (an eel), p. easgan. Creag has n.s. craig, n.p. cragan and creagan. Beann, the old nominative of beinn, is not obsolete, though it is not a word that is often used as a common noun. In many instances the oblique case has displaced the true nominative, e.g., n.s. cluais, n.p. cluaisean, so ceairn for cearn; especially is that the case with nn stems, e.g., n.s. gobhainn, n.p. goibhnichean; Gobha is, however, retained as a family name. The dental plural luchaidh (mice) is still kept in Strathtay, although the singular has become luchag, from which another plural, luchagan, has been formed. Distinctive genitives such as leapach and leapa, E. Ir. leptha, from leabaidh, coille for coinnle from coinneal, are generally in use.

Infinitives in -adh are not inflected, but that is due not to adherence to what is philologically correct, but to the modern disregard of inflection, as is shown by the retention of the inflected form in stereotyped expressions like muileann-bualaidh, muileannsàbhaidh, muileann-galcaidh. The tendency of stereotyped words and phrases to preserve inflections is also exhibited in 'caol mo, do, etc., dhuirn,'' caol nan dorn,'' solus geal nan trath,' etc., the noticeable feature of which is that the nominatives never supplant the genitives as they do in extemporised syntax. The word 'tigh' keeps its genitive well, the distinction being made between the two cases that i is sounded short aoi in the nominative and ai in the genitive. Stereotyped plural datives are found like beulaobh, culaobh, and perhaps chianaibh (written chianamh by Macleod and Dewar), and the vocative fheara sounded fhearu, but in Rannoch fheara. More interesting is the preservation of coin, the old dative of cu, in Cho lonach ris a' choin, as greedy as the dog. Bó, gen. bó, is never used in the plural, crodh being substituted for it. The genitive boin is heard, I believe, at Loch Tay. Talamh, masculine, has one genitive talaimh, masculine, and another na talmhainn, feminine. Summer, winter, are with us usually samhar, geamhar, 'genitives samhair, geamhair, but sometimes the correct forms with their genitives assert themselves as toiseach an t-samhraidh, deireadh a' gheamhraidh, and even, as in other dialects, through the force of analogy, meadhon an fhogharaidh. Reodh, frost, pronounced reu, has two genitives, pronounced respectively rewi and reo'i.