Bourke Ulick J. Aryan Origin of the Gaelic Race and Language

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THE

AETAN OBIGIN

GAELIC

KACE AND

LANGUAGE,

THE EOTJND

TOWEES,

THE BEEHON

LAW,

TEUTH

THE

PENTATEUCH.

TEUT

EEV.

ULICK

BOURKE,

M.E.I.

CANON

TUAM

CATHEDRAL,

AND

PRESIDENT

ST.

JARLATH'S

COLLEGE.

SECOND

EDITION.

LOKDOtf:

GKREEN,

CO.,

PATEENOSTEK-EOW.

1876.

TO HIS

GRACE

THE

ARCHBISHOP

TUAM,

METROPOLITAN,

AND PRIMATE OF

THE

PROVINCE,

PIDEI ET

PATKI-E,

DECUS ET TUTA

EN,

THE FIRMEST

CITADEL

OF THE

IRISH-GAELIC

TONGUE,

THIS

WORK

ON THE

ARYAN ORIGIN

OF THE GAELIC

RACE

AND

LANGUAGE,

IS,

MEMORIAL OF THE

CELEBRATION

THE 8th

JUNE, 1875,

OF THE

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY

HIS

CONSECRATION

BY" PERMISSION

AFFECTIONATELY

DEDICATED

;

FOR,

HONORING

"THE

GREAT

ARCHBISHOP OF

THE

WEST,"

MARKED WITH

BLESSING

LENGTH OF

YEARS,

NOT

GRANTED TO THE

PRESENT TIME

ANY

OTHER

BISHOP OF THE

GAEL

IRELAND'S

GLORIOUS

PRIESTHOOD

HONORED,

$*HE

SHIELD

THE

POOR AND

THE

PERSECUTED,

THE

DEFENDER

NEGLECTED

RACE

HONORED,

AND

THE

HAPPY UNION WHICH

SHOULD

REPRESENT

LOYE

OF CREED

AND

COUNTEY.

COMMEMORATED.

September, 8th,

1875.

PREFACE.

A mere accident has

given

the

first

impulse

to' the

composition

the

annexed work.

the

spring

1874

a few

clerical

friends and

the

author

formed,

at the same festive board

the

college,

a social

meeting,

not unusual on solemn

feast

days

and

the

subject

of conversation

turned

on the

language

and

antiquities

of Ireland.

Ever

since

the

publication

Easy

Lessons

Irish,

and

the

College

Irish

Grammar,

the author

has,

time

after

time,

received from

amateur

scientists,

and

occasionally

from scholars

all

differing

position,

or in

country,

letters

in which

questions

the

following

were

put

What

was

the

character of

the

Irish race before the

coming

of St. Patrick

How

far had

knowledge

the Christian

religion

spread

through

Ireland

before

the

Apostle

preached

the faith from Tara

hill?

Had

the

pagan

Irish

any knowledge

of literature

? If

so,

what

kind

alphabet

did

they

use

was

Roman,

Grecian,

Ogham,

some

form of letter now

unknown

The

phonesis

of the

Irish-Gaelic

language

The

law

slender and broad

vowel sounds

what

does

rest

The

correct sounds

the

consonants

their

natural and

aspirated

state

The number of

letters in

Irish

Greek

How

many

did the

supposed

Cadmus

introduce

into

Greece? Did

the

Greeks

really

loose F

(Van)

The lost

preserved

Irish

Gaelic

"The

Round

Towers.

Which

opinion

that of

Dr.

Fetrie

or Thomas

Moore is correct?

Were

the Etrus-

cans Gaels

Were

the

children of the

Gael of

Aryan

origin,

and

not Cuthite

Phenician

From these letters

was

plain,

that

from a

scientific

point

view,

.the field of Irish

Antiquities

and

the

Irish-Gaelic

language lay

fallow;

and it

seemed

right

that

some

one should

aim at

cultivating

it.

The

present

volume is

the

author's

attempt.

U. J.

BOURKE,

PRESIDENT.

St. Jarlath's

College,

Feast

the

Nativity

of the

B.V.M.,

1875;

PEEFACE TO THE

SECOND

EDITION.

PREFACE

is to

a book what

porch

house

;

it is

to the

body

the book what

miniature

photograph

is to

the

full

living

form.

preface

the

second

edition should

superadd

some

new

feature,

and tell

how the first issue of

the work has

been

received

the

literary

public.

The

opinions

the

press

are,

as a rule

particularly

when

coming

from

quarters

opposed

political

and re-

ligious

interests

and views

fair criterion

which

the

value of

new work

may

estimated.

Regarding

the

"Aryan

Origin

the

Gaelic

Race

and

Language,"

there

has

been

from

air

quarters

from

the

press

England,

Scotland,

Ireland,

America,

and in

remarkable

degree

from

the

"Athens of

the

North,"

from

Deny, Omagh;

from

Cork,

Limerick and

Dublin,

pasan

praise

poured

forth

with

ready

and

cheerful

willingness,

not

alone

the

proprietors

and

editors of

Catholic

journals,

but

those

who

have

been,

from

education and

early

training,

opposed

to the

religion

the writer.

One

must,

however,

wise

sea-captain,

pre-

pared

for

adverse

blasts.

Diversity

interests,

knowledge,

and even of

tastes,

begets

diversity

thought;

and

hence

reviewers

will

Till

PEEFACE

TO SECOND

EDITION.

often

find

fault,

where,

the

judgment

of others

equally*

learned,

fault

is to

found.

All

critics,

must

remembered,

are

not

scholars,

nor men of

large

and

enlightened

views.

There are

many

persons

who

prefer

class interests

and

pride

party

to all

the

learning

in the

world.

The first edition

of this

work has

received

far less

hostile

criticism than

the

author had

expected.

Although

the book

was

written

and

printed

in the short

period

eighteen

months,

the views

presented

in its

pages

are

not

the

effect

of haste

;

they

had been

formed

and

matured

over

a decade

years,

from

reading,

observation,

and

thought.

The

friendly

Scot

reviewing

the volume

the

Keltic

Magazine,

Inverness,

sees

with a kindred

per-

ceptive power

the

facts

regarding

the

writer:

"The

work,"

says,

is a Keltic

repository

the

writer's

Keltic

reading

for

many years

being

apparently

thrown

into a

crucible,

and

having

undergone

a certain

process

there,

are

forged

into

the handsome volume before

us."

The

book has

been

written for

the

reading

public

generally,

home

and in

America

;

for students in

colleges;

for

young

ladies

educational establishments

and

convent

schools,

and on this

account

the

style

clear,

lively,

and

attractive.

The writer's

aim

has

been

to trace the

Gaels

the

original

habitat of

their race

and

language.

His

duty,

then,

had

been

not

unlike that

of an

explorer

territory

not much

known

sailing

one of its

great

rivers,

to note on the

right

bank and on

the

left the

foot-

prints

of a

by-gone

race still

traceable

in the

language

they

spoke

;

the names which

they

gave

to the

places

PEEFACE

SECOXD EDITION.

"through

which

they passed

;

the

monumental

remains;

the

style

architecture,

which

still

outlives the

ravages

age

;

in other

abiding signs

of civilised

life,

seen

their

poetry,

love of

rhyme, knowledge

colours

and

of musical sound. Their

laws,

still

extant,

like the

pillar-

towers of

the

land,

bring,

at a

bound,

the

archaeologist

back three thousand

years.

These

jottings along

the stream of

time

to the

highest

and

earliest

source are

varied

;

but

they

all

tend

point

the

Origin

the

Gaelic Race

and

Language.

The varied

lines of

proof, tending

all to one

point,

present

their

collected

force a

most

convincing

argu-

ment that the

Gaels

were the first

who came westward

.from the

ancient

Aryan region

Asia.

.St.

Jarlath's

College,

Tuam,

15th

Sept.,

1876.