Colin Mark. The Gaelic-English Dictionary/Гэльско-английский словарь

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compd compound

compd prep(s) compound preposition(s)

conj(s) conjunction(s)

dat dative

def deﬁnite

def art deﬁnite article

emph emphatic

exclam exclamation

fem feminine

fut future

gen genitive

imp imperative

impers impersonal

indep independent

inﬁn inﬁnitive

interj interjection

interr interrogative

interr part interrogative particle

interr prons interrogative pronouns

intrans intransitive

len lenition

len(s) lenite(s)

masc masculine

neg negative

nf noun feminine

nm noun masculine

nm/f a noun which may be masculine or feminine acc. to dialect

nom nominative

part particle

pers pron personal pronoun

pl plural

poss pron(s) possessive pronoun

pref preﬁx

prep poss adj(s) prepositional possessive adjective(s)

prep(s) preposition(s)

reg. regular

rel fut relative future

rel pron(s) relative pronoun(s)

sing singular

subj subject

trans transitive

v verb

vn(s) verbal noun(s)

var variation

voc vocative

General abbreviations

acc. according

App Appendix

cf. compare

e.g. for example

i.e. that is

dicts. dictionaries

ﬁg. ﬁgure, ﬁguratively

q.v. which see

Symbols and abbreviations x

2. Using the Dictionary

General

Alphabetical order is used throughout except within ‘boxes’ (see Layout) where the

alphabetical order may be suspended because of the particular grouping of the material

within the ‘box’. Abbreviations and acronyms are shown in the correct alphabetical position.

Nouns which are always in the plural are shown under that form.

Variant spellings are shown as headwords, but are cross-referenced to a main form.

Lenition

Lenition (where the letter h is inserted after certain ﬁrst letters – see Appendix 8) is

a common feature of Gaelic. In most cases, the h should be removed before searching the

dictionary. Thus:

thilg will be found under tilg,

dhearg under dearg,

chuileag under cuileag etc.

However, a few words are always found in the lenited form, and are shown thus in the

dictionary. This fact should be borne in mind should a search for an unlenited form prove

fruitless, e.g. chunnaic, fhathast, chun etc.

Single letter preﬁxes

Many adverbs may be preﬁxed by a-, and are shown in that form under the letter a.

However, students may well come across examples in their reading where the a- has been

omitted.

Words preﬁxed by t-, h- or n-, however, are shown under the main element. Thus:

an t-eilean under eilean,

a h-urnaigh under urnaigh,

ar n-athair under athair etc.

Dh’

Dh’ frequently precedes some Gaelic verbs, adverbs or nouns. This should be ignored.

Thus:

a dh’aithghearr under aithghearr

Apostrophes

The apostrophe is also a common feature of Gaelic, but many have now been dropped

due to spelling reform. Generally, the abbreviated form is shown in the dictionary with

a cross-reference to the full form. Watch out particularly for these examples from older

texts:

de’n, do’n, mu’n, fo’n, sa’, ’san

Now written as:

den, don, mun, fon, sa, san

eu and ia

Generally, the dialectal variants eu and ia are shown, but if a search for a word containing

these letters fails, the alternative form should be tried. Thus:

feur/ﬁar

Spelling reform

By and large, the recommendations made by the management group of Faclair na

Pàrlamaid (publ. the Scottish Parliament 2001) – which reinstate/enlarge upon those

made by Gaelic Orthographic Conventions (GOC), publ. 1981 – have been followed. These

are summarised below:

● The grave accent alone is used to denote a lengthened vowel sound, and is also used

to denote the ‘open’ sound of à/às.

● Accents are used on capital vowels.

● The use of na h-Alba in preference to na h-Albann.

● Hyphenation should strictly follow GOC recommendations, and should be retained in

compounds beginning with fear-, neach- etc., but not in an-sin, an seo, and an siud.

● Carson and airson should be kept as single words.

● The use of the apostrophe and spacing is as GOC recommended, though the use of

the apostrophe to reﬂect dialect (in this dictionary) occurs, for the most part, only

incidentally in the examples.

● st or sd, sc or sd, sp or sb?

In line with recommendations made by GOC.

st: should be used in initial, internal and ﬁnal positions

sg: should be used in initial, internal and ﬁnal positions

sp: should be used in initial and ﬁnal positions, with sp/sb as alternatives in

internal positions

– except with regard to personal names where the spelling is a matter of individual choice.

In addition, students may encounter, in older texts, the terminations –uinn and -us. These

are now spelt –ainn and -as. Similarly, the preﬁxes comh- and coimh- are now to be found

under co-.

Forms

The various forms of any particular word i.e. tenses, plurals, cases, comparatives etc. are

not shown as separate headwords unless there is a special reason for doing so, which is

usually when the form is too irregular to be easily matched with its basic form. The forms

of regular verbs and nouns may be deduced according to the outlines laid down in the

appropriate appendices.

Using the dictionary xii

Capital letters

Capitals are used at the beginning of an example only when direct speech is

employed, when the word would invariably have a capital letter or (occasionally) to avoid

confusion.

a bheil a’ bhùth fosgailte? chan eil an-diugh is the shop open? not today

but:

A! Sin e! Ah! There it is!

“Tha eagal ort,” thuirt e

Square brackets

Square brackets are used to show that the word in brackets may / may not be required in

the English version

1. talla a’ bhaile the town hall (lit. [the] hall of the town)

– where the word in square brackets has no counterpart in the Gaelic version.

2. … is e na shuidhe air mullach a’ bhalla [and he] sitting on the top of the wall / as he

sat etc.

– where the words in square brackets would not normally appear in the English

version, but provide a more literal translation.

Round brackets

Round brackets are used:

to qualify a meaning; in further explanation; to add information or avoid ambiguity e.g.

asaideachadh, -aidh nm & vn of asaidich delivering (child)

asal, -aile, -ailean nf (nm in some places) ass, donkey

what could be easier than to have a word with (lit. say a word to)

2. to indicate that the Gaelic word is frequently omitted, particularly in speech

a’ frithealadh do àireamh (a) tha (a’) fàs de luchd ceannaich attending to a growing

number of customers

cha robh cothrom agam (a) ath-leughadh I had no opportunity to reread it masc

3. to show alternative forms where there is only one letter of a difference

bris(t)eadh

indoor(s)

4. used round single letters where these separate sections e.g. (a), (b) etc.

5. to show that the word in question may translate differently according to context:

spasmodic(ally)

6. to extend an example:

a bheil e fhèin a-staigh (an-dràsta)? is he home (at the moment)?

Grammar

Adjectives

Adjectives are given with the basic form and the comparative-superlative form, the

latter being shown, for the most part, as a change in, and augment to, the termination

xiii Using the dictionary

(see Appendix 3 – Adjectives):

gabhaltach, -aiche a

where the full comparative-superlative form is gabhaltaiche

Where there is simply an augment, this alone is shown along with the basic form:

gàbhaidh, -e a

meanbh, -a a

where the full comparative-superlative forms are gàbhaidhe and meanbha

respectively.

Where no change takes place, or where a comparative form is unlikely, the basic form alone

is shown:

ceàrr a

Adverbs

Adverbs, where simple, are given as follows:

caran adv

còmhla adv

Where it consists of a phrase, the adverb is shown under the main element:

air a cheann-dìreach adv is given under compounds beginning with ceann-

an còmhnaidh is given under còmhnaidh thus: còmhnaidh, an còmhnaidh adv

Compound words

Compound words with a hyphen are shown under the ﬁrst element, the ﬁrst example being

shown in full, and subsequent examples being abbreviated as follows:

eàrr-bhruich v seethe, simmer, stew e.-dhubh nf wane (of the moon)

□

tha a’

ghealach san eàrr-dhubh the moon is on the wane e.-dhubh a waning etc.

Such entries are generally given without the genitive, plural, comparative, verbal

noun or tenses (whichever may apply) unless this is felt to be necessary.

Conjunctions

Conjunctions, if simple, are given as follows:

ma conj

nam / nan conj

Where a conjunction consists of a phrase, it is shown under the main element:

air neo is shown under neo thus: neo, air neo conj

Emphatic particles

Words with emphatic particles attached are generally not shown separately. It is appreci-

ated that beginner learners will ﬁnd these puzzling, and it is recommended that the

student familiarise himself / herself with their appearance by studying Appendix 6

Section 1.0 and Appendix 3 Section 4.2.

Using the dictionary xiv

Nouns

Nouns are normally shown in the nominative singular, the genitive singular and the

nominative plural only:

A. Forms in the gen sing will normally be indicated only as:

1. the insertion in the ﬁnal / only syllable of an extra letter:

cadal, -ail nm

– where the gen sing would be cadail

2. a vowel change in the ﬁnal / only syllable when minor:

grinneal, -eil nm

But, when major, the whole word is given:

falt, fuilt nm

– where the gen sings are, respectively, grinneil and fuilt

3. the addition of a letter to the nom sing form:

Either -a

ciont, -a nm

or -e

cailc, -e nf

– with the –e being added after a minor vowel change in the ﬁnal / only syllable

as described in 2. above:

fòd, fòide nf

Where the addition / change is more complicated, uncommon or irregular, the

form is shown in full:

feòil, feòla nf

peasair, peasrach nf

dìle, dìleann nf

4. In many cases more than one gen sing may be shown:

luath, -aithe/-a nf

– where the gen sing could be luaithe or luatha according to dialect

Note that these variations are always separated by /

It should be noted that most polysyllabic feminine nouns with an –e increase

drop the increase in practice, e.g. air bonn na h-uinneig(e) on the window-sill

B. Forms in the nominative plural will normally be indicated only as:

1. a change in the ﬁnal vowel identical to the change in the gen sing:

amadan, -ain, -ain nm

botal, -ail, -ail nm

– where the full forms would be:

amadan, amadain, amadain nm

botal, botail, botail nm

xv Using the dictionary

But in short words, this will be written in full:

bàrd, bàird, bàird nm

ball, buill, buill nm member

2. Where an ending is added to form the plural, these will normally be shown with

the hyphen only, according to the Spelling Rule.

So:

annas, -ais, -an nm

copan, -ain, -an cup

leòn, -òin, -tan nm

ugan, -ain, -nan nm/f

beathach, -aich, -aichean, nm

– but

taigh, -e, -ean nm

lòn, -òin, -tean nm

soitheach, -ich, -ichean, nm/f

claban, -ain, -ainean, mill-clapper

– where the plurals are annasan, copanan, leòntan, ugannan, beathaichean,

taighean, lòintean, soithichean and clabainean respectively

Where a nominative singular ends in a vowel, the vowel is repeated in the abbre-

viated plural form:

cala, -achan nm paca, -annan nm

– where the plurals are calachan and pacannan respectively

Alternative forms of the plural are separated by /:

stac, -aic/-a, -an/-annan nm

bàbhan, -ain, -ain/-ainean, rampart

Where these are unusual, or might otherwise be confusing, they are shown in full:

leathad, -aid/leòthaid, leòidean nm

aiseal, -eil, aislean

In some cases all forms are shown in full:

ceàrd, ceàird, ceàrdan/ceàrdaichean nm

giall, gialla/gèille, giallan/gèillean, nf

talamh, talmhainn, talamhan/talmhainnean, nm (but nf in gen sing)

uamh, uaimhe/uamha, uaimhean/uamhan nf

Past participles

Past participles are given simply, thus:

rùisgte pp

biadhta pp

By their very nature, these are always situated fairly close to the verb from which they are

derived, but the verb root may be found by removing the sufﬁx –te / -ta.

Using the dictionary xvi

Prepositions

Prepositions are shown as follows, indicating the case of a following noun:

aig prep⫹ dat

air prep⫹ dat

ri taobh prep ⫹ gen

Prepositional possessive adjectives

Prepositional possessive adjectives are shown under their own headings, but with a

reference to the appropriate preposition:

bhon 1. prep poss adj formed from bho (q.v.)

Pronouns

Pronouns always indicate the type of pronoun.

cuideigin indef pron

dam prep pron

ud dem pron

Verbs

Verbs are shown with their root / basic form and their verbal noun, the two parts being sep-

arated by a comma.

Where –adh or –eadh is added to the root according to the Spelling Rule, the verb is

shown thus:

mag, -adh

guin, -eadh v

– where the verbal noun would be magadh and guineadh respectively.

In the case of verbs ending in –aich or –ich, the verbs are shown thus:

ionnsaich, -achadh v

tòisich, -eachadh v

– where the verbal noun would be ionnsachadh and tòiseachadh respectively.

Where a vowel change takes place before –adh is added, the verb is shown in full

buail, bualadh v

All other verbs are shown in full.

caidil, cadal v

tuig, tuigsinn v

tilg, tilgeil v

seas, seasamh v

laigh, laighe v

rach, dol irreg v

Alternative forms of the verbal noun are shown separated by /:

gèill, -eadh / gèilltinn / gèilleachdainn v

xvii Using the dictionary

Verbal noun

When a verbal noun is also used as a noun, one

meaning as a verb is given ﬁrst, then the

meanings which translate as nouns.

aslachadh, -aidh, -aidhean nm & vn of aslaich petitioning etc., petition, solicitation,

supplication

– where aslachadh may translate as the present participle ‘petitioning’ (or any other

meaning the root verb may have) or as the nouns (in this case) ‘petition’, ‘solicitation’,

‘supplication’.

Layout

The main aims in the layout of this dictionary have been clarity and ease of use. The

employment of different font styles for the different sections of each entry, the separation

of explanatory text from meanings, and examples from translation, all serve to achieve this

end. In addition, the separation of lengthy sections from the rest of the text by means of

‘boxes’, and the further division of these ‘compartments’ into areas of usage, makes

scannning for a particular word or phrase quicker and easier. It should be noted, however,

that the layout within ‘boxes’ varies in accordance with the nature and compexity of the

material.

On the facing page is a typical, single column sample, showing the key features of the

layout.

Using the dictionary xviii

xix Using the dictionary