Colin Mark. The Gaelic-English Dictionary/Гэльско-английский словарь
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6.5 Feadhainn, gen feadhna, a noun meaning ‘people’, is used indefinitely with the
meaning ‘some’
Tha feadhainn aca aig an taigh agus tha feadhinn eile anns an sgoil.
Some of them are at home and some others are at school.
7.0 Prepositional pronouns
A particular feature of Gaelic is the prepositional pronoun which, as the name suggests, is
formed from a combination of a simple preposition and the personal pronouns.
For example aig ‘at’ combines with mi ‘me’ to give agam ‘at me’. These prepositional
pronouns are used in a great many idiomatic expressions and examples of usage will be
found under the simple preposition in the main body of the dictionary. A complete Table
of Prepositional Pronouns is given in Fig. 6.
It should be noted that it is the prepositional pronoun which is used with demonstrative
pronouns, not the simple preposition e.g.
thuige seo up to now, hitherto bhuaithe sin from that uime sin consequently, then, therefore
It should also be noted that the prepositional pronoun is frquently made emphatic by the
addition of suffixes as shown at the bottom of the table. These are identical to those used
for personal pronouns (see above) except for the 1st person sing.
8.0 Prepositional possessive adjectives – see Appendix 3 Section 5.0
Appendix 6: pronouns 682
Appendix 7: Prepositions
1.0 Gaelic prepositions may be divided into two main groups,
simple prepositions and compound prepositions
1.1 Simple prepositions
A table of Simple Prepositions is shown in Fig. 7. The table is divided into three main areas,
those which cause the noun to be in the dative case, those which cause the noun to be in
the genitive case and those which take the noun in the accusative case.
1.1.1 Prepositions which take a noun in the dative case are by far the most common, as
can be seen in the table. These, however, may be further divided into sub-groups
a) Air ‘on’ and aig ‘at’ do not generally* cause lenition.
air bòrd on a table air a’ bhòrd on the table air an doras on the door
aig balach at a boy aig a’ bhalach at the boy aig an doras at the door
*Air may cause lenition in certain adverbial expressions. See air in the dictionary and
Appendix 4: Adverbs, Section 5.0
b) The second group consists of prepositions which have two forms, one used before
indefinite nouns and the other before definite nouns.
ann am bogsa in a box anns a’ bhogsa in the box
ann an toll in a hole anns an toll in the hole
ann an càr in a car anns a’ char in the car
It should be noted that ann an becomes ann am before b, f, m and p. It should also
be noted that the an of ann an is really just a reduplication of ann, while the an which
sometimes follows anns is the definite article which does not cause lenition in nouns
beginning with d or t and does not itself change in form.
Similar in behaviour are:
à baile from a town às a’ bhaile from the town
ri duine to a man ris an duine to the man
le bata with a stick leis a’ bhata with the stick
But note that gu is followed by the dative case while gus takes the accusative case.
gu crìch to an end gus a’ chrìoch to the end
gu mullach na beinne to the top of the hill gus a’ mhullach to the top
c) All the remaining prepositions which take the dative case, leaving aside gun and mar
for the moment, cause the following noun to lenite where possible. Incidentally, it
should be noted that these all end with a vowel sound.
de fhiodh
of wood den fhiodh of the wood
do bhaile to a town don bhaile to the town
fo bhòrd under a table fon bhòrd under the table
mu chuspair about a subject mun chuspair about the subject
ro chogadh before a war ron chogadh before the war
tro dhoras through a door tron doras through the door
bho thaigh from house to house bhon taigh from the house
gu taigh
Note that these prepositions combine with the definite article, even before nouns
which are lenited.
De and do are often shortened to a dh’, dh’ or even a. See under de or do in the
dictionary.
Roimh, roimhn and troimh, troimhn are usually now in the form ro, ron and
tro, tron.
Bho is often found in the form o.
1.2 mar, like gu / gus, takes an indefinite noun in the dative case,
but a definite noun in the accusative case
mar chloich like a stone mar a’ chlach like the stone*
*i.e. like stone (the material)
1.3 gun is rather unusual in that some use it with the dative case
while others use the accusative (see entry in dictionary).
It lenites, but not d, t, n, l, r or s
gun bhròig without a shoe gun mhnaoi without a wife
gun dragh without trouble gun saothair without labour
Appendix 7: prepositions 684
Dative Accusative
ann an/anns
à/às seach
le/leis
ri/ris
eadar
de
do
fo
air mu
ro* tro* thar
Genitive
(bh)o chun
trìdrè
maraig
gun
gu/gus
Figure 7 Table of simple prepositions.
*formerly written roimh and troimh respectively.
Note that, instead of using a conjunction, as in English, the preposition gun is
repeated:
gun nàire gun athadh without modesty or shame
1.4 The only two prepositions which regularly take
the accusative are seach and eadar
Seach may mean ‘past’ as in seach a’ chlach past the stone, but now more often means
‘compared to, rather than’ etc. It does not lenite its noun. The meaning ‘past’ is now more
often expressed by seachad air which takes the dative case.
seach iomadh eun eile compared / in contrast to many other birds
do dhuine seach duine to one man rather than another
1.4.1 eadar has two separate meanings. With one meaning it
causes no lenition, while in another meaning it does
a) eadar between. There is no lenition after it.
eadar a’chlach agus a’ chraobh between the stone and the tree
eadar mi fhìn is tu fhèin between you and me (lit. between myself and yourself)
eadar na ballachan between the walls
b) eadar … agus … both … and … In this meaning it causes lenition.
eadar mhath is olc both good and evil
1.5 The four remaining prepositions are all followed by the genitive case, and are,
incidentally, with the possible exception of chun, the least commonly used of the
simple prepositions
Rè often appears to cause lenition, but this is simply the normal indefinite genitive plural.
rè thrì bliadhna the duration of three years
rè shia mhìosan for / during six months
Compare:
Cha do ghabh e àite rè bliadhnachan a’ chogaidh. It didn’t take place during the years
of the war / the war years.
rèmìogan an t-samhraidh during the summer months
Thar over, beyond
fada thar crìochan an eilein far beyond the confines of the island
thar tomhais beyond measure
thar an aiseig over the ferry
Thar has largely been supplanted by thairis air which is followed by the dative case.
Trid through, on account of
trìd na tàmailt a fhuair e on account of the insult he received
trìd Iosa Crìost ar Tighearna through Jesus Christ our Lord
Chun is used only with a definite noun and implies going as far as a place, but not into it.
chun na mara to the sea
suas chun an Taigh Mhòir up to the Big House (the Laird’s house, the manor etc.)
chun nan glùinean up to the knees
Many of the prepositions above, particularly aig and air, are used in numerous idiomatic
constructions, and reference should be made to the main body of the dictionary for a full
description of these.
2.0 Prepositional pronouns
Most of the above prepositions also form what are known as prepositional pronouns.
An account of these will be found in Appendix 6 Pronouns.
685 Appendix 7: prepositions
3.0 Prepositional possessive adjectives (See Appendix 3 Adjectives; Section 5.0)
4.0 Compound prepositions
a chum for the purpose of an coinneamh to meet
a dh’ionnsaigh towards an dèidh after
a rèir according to an làthair in the presence of
a thaobh regarding às aonais without
air cùlaibh behind às eugmhais without
air feadh amongst às leth on behalf of
air muin on top of còmhla ri(s) along with
air sgàth for the sake of cuide ri(s) along with
air son* for fa / mu chomhair opposite
air tòir in pursuit of mu choinneamh opposite
am fianais in the presence of mu dheidhinn concerning
am measg among mu thimcheall regarding
an aghaidh against mun cuairt around
an àite in place of os cionn above
an ceann within gu ruige as far as, upto
*When accompanied by a noun, this is nearly always written as one word, but when
accompanied by a possessive adjective (see below) it is written as two separate words.
4.1 Compound prepositions are nearly always followed by a noun in the genitive
case. The only exceptions in the list above are còmhla ri(s) and cuide ri(s), both
meaning ‘along with’, which are followed by the dative case. Mun cuairt is
often accompanied by air and takes the dative case. Gu ruige takes the
accusative case
With regard to those prepositions which take the genitive case, if a personal pronoun is
used in English a possessive adjective (see App. 3 Adjectives) is used in Gaelic. The con-
struction used depends on the composition of the compound preposition. Fuller examples
will be found under the main element of the preposition, e.g. for air cùlaibh, see cùlaibh.
Examples:
air mo chùlaibh behind me
os ar cionn overhead i.e. over our heads / above us
air ar son for our sake
nar measg in our midst, among us
mu do dheidhinn about / concerning you sing
dha taobh concerning / regarding her / it fem
nam àite in my place / in place of me / instead of me
nan aghaidh
against them / in opposition to them
The rules of lenition for possessives apply in these cases.
air muin an eich on the horse’s back
air a mhuin on his back
Appendix 7: prepositions 686
Appendix 8: Lenition
1.0 Lenition is, in simple terms, a softening of the sound of a consonant. This
change is normally shown by the insertion of the letter h after the affected
consonant
1.1 With regard to lenition, all the letters of the Gaelic alphabet, excluding h itself,
may be divided into four groups
These are:
a) The vowels a, e, i, o and u and the consonant pairs sg, sm, sp and st which never lenite.
b) The consonants b, c, f, g, m, p and s which lenite after a word causing lenition or as
a result of case. The letter s is exempt in some situations, notably in the words seo
this, sin that, siud that yonder (which, in most areas, are not lenited, and usually are
not in writing), sinn we, sibh you and the emphatic particles -sa, -se and -san which
are never lenited. Likewise, gach ‘each’ is never lenited. Nor are bu, the imperf /cond
tense of the assertive verb, and the poss adjs mo and do. Other exemptions are pointed
out in the dictionary where appropriate. The combination fh is usually silent, except
in the words fhathast ‘still’, ‘yet’, fhèin ‘self’ and fhuair ‘got’where fh has the sound
h as in English.
c) The consonants d and t are not lenited after cha or bu and traditionally do not lenite
each other, though this old rule is now not always strictly obeyed. Final n tradition-
ally prevents lenition of a following d, t, l, n or s e.g. nighean donn bhòidheach
a pretty brown-haired girl, though, again, this is not always strictly obeyed. For
example, mòran daoine and is urrainn domh are now more commonly mòran
dhaoine and is urrainn dhomh.
d) The consonants l, n, and r do not show lenition in writing, but do alter in sound. e.g.
lean
follow lean mi I followed nigh wash
nigh mi I washed ruith run ruith mi I ran
For the situations in which words lenite, see adjectives, adverbs, nouns, numerals,
prepositions, pronouns and verbs in the appropriate Appendix.
Appendix 9: The Points of the Compass
1.0 In Fig. 8 you will see a compass rose showing the cardinal points
1.1 Basically, the terms for the cardinal points are constructed upon the word àird
meaning quarter (of the heavens) or direction (by the compass). It is from this word
that the Scots word ‘airt’, as in Burns’ ‘O a’ the airts the wind can blaw’, derives. It
may be seen with these meanings in the following:
Thàinig iad às gach àird.
They came from every direction /quarter.
Chan eil e gu diofar cia an àird om bi a’ ghaoth a’ sèideadh.
It doesn’t matter from which direction the wind is blowing.
1.2 Thus, ‘the north’ should, strictly speaking, be an àird tuath and ‘the south’ an àird
deas i.e. ‘the north airt’ and ‘the south airt’ respectively, and will be found in this form
in dictionaries. In speech, however, a ‘bridging vowel’is inserted between the two main
elements, and this is now represented in writing as an àirde tuath and an àirde deas.
1.3 ‘East’ and ‘west’ are an àirde an ear and an àirde an iar, being ‘the direction from
the east’ and ‘the direction from the west’ respectively.
1.4 All the above constructions are frequently shortened to tuath, deas, an ear and an iar.
1.5 When referring to a continent etc., the expressions an taobh tuath, an taobh deas,
an taobh an ear and an taobh an iar, meaning ‘the north side /country / coast’ etc.
are commonly used.
1.6 Alternatives for ‘north’ and ‘south’ of a country, an island, a loch etc. are an ceann-a-
tuath and an ceann-a-deas meaning ‘the north end’ and ‘the south end’respectively.
The -a- represents the ‘bridging vowel’ to which reference has already been made.
1.7 Some confusion may arise from the fact that an in these expressions may have dif-
ferent meanings in different situations. In the expression an àirde an iar, the first
an is the definite article ‘the’, while the second an is really on (o⫹ an) ‘from the’.
In such constructions an ear and an iar may be thought of as indeclinable adjec-
tives i.e. adjectives which do not change in form.
However, in this sentence –
Bha iad a’ fuireach an taobh an iar na dùthcha.
They were living in the west of the country.
– the first an is now a shortened form of ann an ‘in’.
1.8 Adverbs of rest and motion also show considerable variation. Mu thuath may mean
‘northwards’ or ‘in the north’ while mu dheas may mean ‘southwards’ or ‘in the
south’. However ‘eastwards’ is chun na h-àirde an ear while ‘in the east’ is san
(àirde an) ear. Similarly, ‘westwards’ is chun na h-àirde an iar and ‘in the west’
is san (àirde an) iar.
1.9 When indicating ‘motion towards’gu may be used instead of chun in the following way:
gu tuath, gu deas for ‘northwards /to the north’ etc., but an ear and
an iar is more
common.
Note also that ‘northwards’ and ‘southwards’ are frequently rendered as sìos gu
tuath and suas gu deas respectively. Yes, ‘down north’ and ‘up south’!
1.10 To a greater or lesser degree, all prepositions implying movement to or from are used
with expressions of direction. The prepositions à /às ‘from out of’ and (bh)o ‘from,
away from’ are very common, while ri ‘to, towards’ and a dh’ionnsaigh ‘towards’
are rather less common. The use of the preposition do appears to be rare in these cir-
cumstances. Some examples are:
Bha an abhainn a’ ruith bho dheas gu tuath.
The river ran from south to north.
Bha gaoth làidir a’ sèideadh on àirde an ear.
A strong wind was blowing from the east.
Thàinig sgaoth mòr às an àirde an iar.
A great swarm came out of the west.
Theich iad ri tuath.
They fled northwards.
– though ri may not necessarily imply movement:
Bha na treubhan a bha a’ fuireach ri tuath car nàimhdeil.
The tribes which were living to the north were somewhat hostile.
689 Appendix 9: the points of the compass
An Iar ’s a bhith tuath
An Iar
An Iar ’s a bhith Deas
An Iar ’s an Iar-dheas
An Iar-dh
eas ’s a bhith ’n Iar
An Iar-dheas
An Iar-dh
eas ’s a bhith Deas
Deas ’s an Ia
r
-dheas
De
as ’s a bhith’n Iar
An Iar ’s an Iar-thuath
An Iar-thuath ’s a bhith ’n Iar
An Iar-thuath
An Iar-thuath ’s a bhith tuath
Tuath ’s an Iar
-thuath
Tuath ’s a bhith ’n Iar
An Ear
An Ear ’s a bhith Deas
An Ear ’s an earra-dheas
An Earra-dhe
as
’s a bhith ’n ear
An Earra-dheas
An
Earra-dheas ’
s a bhith De
as
De
as ’
s an Earra-dheas
Deas ’s a bhith ’
n Ear
Deas
Tuath
T
uath ’
s a bhith ’n Ear
Tuath ’s an Ear-thuath
An Ear-thuath ’
s a bhith tuath
An Ear-thuath
An Ear-thuath ’s a bhith ’n
Ear
An Ear ’s an Ear-thuath
An Ear ’s a bhith tuath
A’ Chombaist
Figure 8 The compass
Do should be treated with caution, as this preposition implies not only movement
‘towards’, but also ‘into’ a place:
B’fheàrr dhaibh dol air ais don taobh tuath.
It would be better for them to go back (in)to the north country.
1.11 Ann an /anns (often abbreviated to an and san) may, as we have seen, be used with
adverbial expressions of ‘rest’.
San taobh an iar.
In the west.
Ann an ceann-a-deas an eilein.
In the south (end) of the island.
1.12 Air is used only with taobh:
Air taobh tuath agus an iar an eilein.
On the north and west coasts of the island.
1.13 In certain circumstances these words may, as they may also in English, be used
without a preposition:
Bha mi deas is tuath, an iar ’s an ear.
I was south and north, west and east.
An iar tha beanntan àrda agus an ear tha còmhnardan mòra.
West there are high mountains and east there are great plains.
1.14 A position ‘north of’, ‘south of’ etc. is expressed as follows:
Tha seann eaglais dà mhìle deas air a’ bhaile.
There is an old church two miles south of the town.
Trì mìle an iar air an taigh-òsta tha loch farsaing domhainn.
Three miles west of the hotel there is a wide, deep loch.
2.0 Adjectives and nouns derived from adverbs of direction
2.1 The words tuathach, deasach, searach and siarach may be used as nouns or adjec-
tives meaning ‘northern(er), southern(er), eastern(er) and western(er)’ respectively.
2.2 Siar and sear are adjectives used in certain place names e.g. an Taobh Siar the West
Coast, na h-Eileanan Siar the Western Isles, an Taobh Sear the East Coast, an
Cuan Siar the Western Ocean i.e. the Atlantic.
3.0 Generally, place names containing the element ‘North’, ‘South’, ‘East’ or
‘West’ show the following pattern
Ameireaga-a-Deas South America Afraca-an-Ear East Africa
Afraca-a-Deas South Africa Afraca-an-Iar West Africa
Uibhist-a-Tuath North Uist Eirinn-a-Tuath Northern Ireland.
But note:
na h-Innseachan The West Indies na h-Innseachan the East Indies
an Iar an Ear
na h-Innseachan alone, incidentally, means ‘India’.
3.1 The adverbs mu thuath and mu dheas are quite frequently used as alternatives to
-a-tuath and -a-deas e.g. Afraca mu Dheas South Africa and Ameireaga mu
Thuath North America.
4.0 The other cardinal points
4.1 The four main intervening cardinal points are:
an ear-thuath
the north-east an earra-dheas the south-east
an iar-dheas the south-west an iar-thuath the north-west
These may also be used in their fuller form i.e. an àirde an ear-thuath etc.
Appendix 9: the points of the compass 690
4.2 The next eight intervening minor cardinal points are:
tuath ’s an ear-thuath NNE an ear ’s an ear-thuath ENE
an ear ’s an earra-dheas ESE deas ’s an earra-dheas SSE
deas ’s an iar-dheas SSW an iar ’s an iar-dheas WSW
an iar ’s an iar-thuath WNW tuath ’s an iar-thuath NNW
4.3 The remaining sixteen intervening minor cardinal points are:
tuath ’s a bhith ’n ear N by E an ear-thuath ’s a NE by N
bhith tuath
an ear-thuath ’s a NE by E an ear ’s a bhith tuath E by N
bhith ’n ear
an ear ’s a bhith deas E by S an earra-dheas ’s a SE by E
bhith ’n ear
an earra-dheas ’s a SE by S deas ’s a bhith ’n ear S by E
bhith deas
deas ’s a bhith ’n iar S by W an iar-dheas ’s a SW by S
bhith deas
an iar-dheas ’s a SW by W an iar ’sa bhith deas W by S
bhith ’n iar
an iar ’s a bhith tuath W by N an iar-thuath ’s a NW by W
bhith ’n iar
an iar-thuath ’s a NW by N tuath ’s a bhith ’n iar N by W
bhith tuath
All these intervening points are used in the same way as the major points e.g.
san ear-thuath in the north-east gun ear-thuath to the north-east etc.
5.0 Etymological notes
It may appear odd to the student that, in English, the intervening cardinal points give
prominence to North and South, while, in Gaelic, prominence is given to East and West.
(cf. an ear-thuath and ‘north-east’). The reason is that the cardinal points in Gaelic are
derived from sun-worship, where the worshipper would face the rising sun. Ear really
means ‘before’, ‘in front of’, indicating the sun in the east, while iar means ‘behind’ indi-
cating the position behind you as you face the east. The latter is, incidentally, the origin of
the modern Gaelic air when it has the meaning ‘after’ as in:
Air do Shìne an doras a ghlasadh, thug i a leabaidh oirre.
After Jean had locked the door, she went to bed.
Tuath means ‘left’ and deas means ‘right’ (while facing the rising sun). The latter word,
of course, still has this meaning:
an làmh dheas the right hand
le meuran na làimhe deise with the fingers of the right hand.
It is interesting to note that the adjective tuathal (from tuath) means ‘unlucky, unfortu-
nate’. We may compare this with the English word ‘sinister’, which is Latin for ‘left’.
Note also that deiseal may mean ‘sunwise’, ‘clockwise’, while tuathal may mean ‘anti-
clockwise’. The idea of good and bad luck relating to left and right is exemplified in two
old customs:
a) young boys, observing the traditions of a’ Challainn, the old New Year, moving
sunwise or clockwise when encircling the houses visited.
b) fishing boats leaving harbour going astern on occasion in order to avoid turning
to port before heading out to sea.
An extended meaning of tuathal is ‘confused’, ‘agitated’, e.g.
Chuir e tuathal mi.
It confused me, knocked me ‘all wrong’
691 Appendix 9: the points of the compass