s, t, and afterwards s was dropped (97), and t was weakened to d (99). In the stems which have no conjugational vowel there was not so great an absorption of the vowel of the person ending, though still it infected the preceding syllable. It retained power in the first person to vocalise the m, so that the person ending became u, and was afterwards taken up by infection into the preceding syllable. But in the second and third persons the vowel of the person ending was taken up into the preceding syllable, and the persons suffered the same changes as in the first series. In the third person, however, the i of the person ending, instead of passing into the root, was inserted between the root and the person, as if it so entered into the consonant of the person to give life to that element being naturally objective, that this required i before it to give it the proper utterance (93), and then the other i was dropped. In the fourth series ar is subjoined to the person, becoming ur in the first person, and ir in the second. It is doubtless the same element as that which terminates the Latin deponent and passive verb. The person endings of the plural, which probably were originally mas, tis, anti, became by infecting the preceding syllable and consequently losing their own vowels, am, id, at; but some verbs of the first series were subjective enough to animate their first plural with i, and take mi instead of am.1 The third plural is formed in it also, and in -et.1 The past, which is in truth a perfect, being formed with ro-, has the same elements of person as the present, except that there is no element of the third singular in the first three series. Moreover, the third series, which ends in a consonant, has so little subjective movement that its stem corresponds to the Sanskrit past passive participle in -ta (35), and in the plural the persons also have a passive formation, being thought with less activity than in the singular, because with reduced individuality. In the fourth series, the s of the tense seems to be attracted by the t of the third singular, but the third plural being originally nt, could not thus take up the s. In roxar-, k is aspirated between vowels (99). The second and third persons singular of the future vary from those of the present by being more open, as with an infusion of a, which probably has a significance of probability like that of a in the Zend future (52). 121. The secondary person endings in Irish have less expression of subjective engagement with the verb, and are therefore suitable for the past, and for the moods of less subjective realisation. These are, in the singular in, -a, -ad; in the plural, -mis, -Oe, -tis.2 The first singular has n instead of m, which is probably a weaker expression of self, and corresponds to in Greek. The second and third singular and plural have a strong analogy to the person endings of the reduplicated perfect in Sanskrit (24), the a of second and third singular probably expressing what is removed from present realisation either as past, or as dependent on another fact, or on a supposition. This is less distinctly thought in the second plural, because the thought of the plural is less distinct than that of the singular. The first plural, as well as the third, has the more objective plural element s (21, 24) on account of the reduced subjective realisation. These person endings form what are called the secondary tenses, present, past, and future. With no- prefixed to the verb, they form a secondary present, which expresses an imperfect, and also a subjunctive and hypothetical; with ro- prefixed, but without the s of the past, they form a secondary past, which expresses a perfect subjunctive or hypothetical; 2 with the element of the future they form a secondary future, which expresses either a past future, or a future subjunctive or hypothetical.3 A future perfect is expressed in Irish by prefixing ro- to the simple future indicative.3 Besides the subjunctive use of the secondary tenses, there is also in Irish a subjunctive or hypothetical present formed with the following person endings: singular -am, -a, -a, plural -am, -ad, -at; the a seems to have a significance similar to a of the Sanskrit potential (18), and of the Zend subjunctive (52). And also in the present and future, the verb of a relative clause, or after a relative particle, may form the third singular in -as or -es, the third plural in -ate, -ite, -te, the s of the former, and the e of the latter, referring pronominally to the subject or the object.5 The persons of the imperative are: second singular in -e external, or -¿internal before final consonants; third singular -ad, -ed; first plural -am, -em; second plural -id; third plural -at, -et. The first and third persons are subjunctive, except that the third singular has d. The Celtic infinitive is quite a substantive, being declined as such. It is in Irish either the stem of the verb, or a verbal substantive formed with the terminations -ad, -ed, -id, -ud, or less frequently -t, -āl, -am, -em, -um, -ent, -end, -siu, -tiu, -ixe, -ext.7 In the Celtic passive, owing to the prevalence of the impersonal construction, there are only some scattered remains of any person except the third singular, and still less in Welsh than in Old Irish.8 In the latter the inflection is similar to the fourth or deponent series of the active. In the past tense it is the participle that is most frequently used, but sometimes the third singular present with roprefixed.9 The third singular of the secondary tenses passive in Irish ends in -Oe, de, that of the primary tenses being -Oar, -Oer. The sense is either past or subjunctive or hypothetical, and the prefixes no- and roare used as in the active.10 There is also in Irish a subjunctive third singular passive in -aðar, -ar, with which also the imperative is expressed. And there is a passive infinitive -a0ar, -Oar, formed apparently from the active ad by subjoining the passive termination." There are two passive participles in Irish, a past participle in -ife, 1 Zeuss, p. 450. 4 Ibid. p. 455. 7 Ibid. p. 459. 10 Ibid. p. 470. 2 Ibid. p. 453. 5 Ibid. pp. 456, 457. 8 Ibid. p. 463. 11 Ibid. p. 472. 3 Ibid. p. 454. 9 Ibid. p. 464-469. -Oe, -a, -da, te, -ta, corresponding to Sanskrit -ta (35); and a future in -iới, -Đi, -tz, like Sanskrit -taya 1 (37). 122. In the old remains of both branches of the Celtic language, there are the beginnings of an impersonal inflection of the verb which prevailed more and more in the later dialects. This inflection, when fully developed, admits only the third singular of each tense, signifying the other persons by adding to this the pronouns of these persons. This is done in the old language by infixed pronominal elements, and only in the passive, except that in old Irish it appears also in certain forms of the verb substantive. And in consequence of this construction the personal inflection of the passive is in Old Irish almost confined to the third singular and plural, in Old Welsh to the third singular. The later Celtic adding the absolute forms of the pronouns to the third person, not only in the passive, but also in the active, forgets more or less all personal inflection.2 123. The verb substantive in Irish is expressed by four different roots. Of these, a, tā, fil, are used only in the present, bi in all the tenses. They are irregular in their inflection, as well as the verbs fit know, klo hear, eit go, ik reach, and ol says, which occurs in no other form. Some verbs also are reduplicated.3 124. The old Welsh verb was thus inflected, the future being supposed by Zeuss, not found. The secondary person endings were singular, -un, -ut, -es, plural -em, -eux, -int. Zeuss thinks that -am first singular present indicates a mixture of the present with the future, as a has a future significance. The element of the first plural is n, u being probably only a connective vowel. In-am, -aux, and -ant, a is perhaps significant of the extension of plurality. The element of the second singular was probably stronger than that of the third, and held its i outside the root. In the past the i of the person was taken up before the s of tense in the first and second singular. The secondary persons were more objective and their radical elements somewhat stronger; the vowels before them were probably merely connective. The n of first singular corresponds to the Irish. The other British dialects varied slightly from the above, but corresponded in the main. 125. There are some traces in British of the subjunctive present formed with a.5 In the imperative second singular the Welsh language uses the stem of the verb if simple, but adds to it a, e, or i, if it be denomina3 Ibid. p. 476-495. 5 Ibid. p. 515. 1 Zeuss, p. 473. 2 Ibid. pp. 412, 413. 4 Ibid. p. 497. tive or derivative. Sometimes a strengthening pronoun follows. The imperative third singular is -et, first plural -wn, second plural -u%, third plural -ent.1 The infinitive has many forms, and is a noun as in Irish.2 126. There is no trace of personal inflection in the passive, the third person with infixed pronouns being used instead. pres. past fut. Welsh is kerir, karat, karer. This in present The third person of the secondary tenses passive in Welsh is kerit, past future karisit, karaur.3 The Old Welsh passive participles are past -etik, future -atoi, -itoi. The former adds to the termination -et a derivative element -ik.1 In Cornish and Armoric there spread along with the impersonal inflection a use of composite tenses consisting of the past participle and the various tenses of the verb substantive to express the tenses, primary and secondary, of the passive verb, whose simple forms were preserved only in Welsh.5 And this passed to the active, past passive participles being used in a neuter sense with the verb substantive to express the past. Armoric formed a past active with the verb to have and the past participle.' And the modern British uses composite tenses consisting of the infinitive with the auxiliary verb to do.7 6 The irregular verbs in British are akin to those in Irish. of them the verb substantive coalesces with the root.8 In some 127. There is a full supply in Celtic of conjunctions and prepositions used properly as transitional elements of relation, connecting and governing, the former the verbs, and the latter the nouns in cases distinguished in the ancient language according to the nature of the relation.9 128. The Celtic uses a multitude of derivative elements like the other Indo-European languages; 10 it shows a tendency to composition like the Greek (78), and far more than the Latin.11 The ancient Gallic, in forming compounds, generally used o as a connective element between the two components, sometimes even after i or u when this was the final vowel of a nominal stem standing as the first component (78). The use, however, of these vowels of composition declined in the ancient language; and in the oldest Irish and British, the only traces of them which remain are their infections of the initial consonant of the component which followed them.12 In the true compounds the defining or limiting component goes first; and where the contrary order is followed, it is rather a construction that has coalesced from frequent use than a true compound. 13 129. In Irish the verb takes the lead in the sentence preceded only by the negative or interrogative or conjunctional particles. The verb 1 Zeuss, p. 515-517. • Ibid. p. 528. 7 Ibid. p. 532. 10 Ibid. p. 723. 13 Ibid. p. 859. 2 Ibid. p. 518. 3 Ibid. p. 523. 6 Ibid. p. 531. 9 Ibid. pp. 576, 663. 12 Ibid. p. 819. substantive takes the lead when it is expressed, and is followed by the predicate. The predicate goes first when there is no verb substantive. If any member of the sentence gets the lead owing to a special emphasis it is preceded by the verb substantive; and the rest of the sentence either qualifies it or is itself also preceded by the verb substantive as a second assertion. Sometimes the emphasised word precedes without the verb substantive as a nominative absolute.2 The subject generally follows the verb, and then the objects and conditions, but sometimes the object goes before the subject.3 The genitive in Irish follows its governor; and the former may have the article before it, but not the latter. The article sometimes precedes even a proper noun.3 If an adjective agrees with a substantive which is preceded by a possessive pronoun, it takes the article before it to represent the substantive. In Irish the genitive is sometimes expressed with the preposition di; and the preposition do, meaning to, generally precedes the dative.5 The adjective generally follows its substantive in Irish; and when it precedes, it is to be regarded as compounded with the substantive, which is more usual in Celtic than in the kindred languages. When thus constructed the adjective has no inflection; and the closeness of the combination appears from the infection of the initial consonant of the substantive." The pronominal adjectives, and the numerals, both cardinal and ordinal, precede their substantive.6 If a personal pronoun as subject of the verb is at the end of the sentence in Irish, it takes the preposition do, showing a weakness in the sense of subject. The same takes place with a possessive when it follows the substantive.7 130. In Welsh the verb or predicate takes the lead in the sentence, preceded by the affirmative, negative, interrogative, or conjunctional particles. The predicate is followed by the verb substantive if this is expressed, or by the verbs nominari, eligi, &c., the latter taking before them the particle y (119), which is not taken by the verb substantive. Only after negative and interrogative, and some other particles, and after adverbs, the verb substantive precedes the predicate.8 Very often, however, the subject or the object takes the lead, but then the verb is constructed with the relative particle a before it (119), showing that the preceding noun is in an absolute position. This particle, however, is often omitted if the verb be the verb substantive or one of its compounds.9 A relative clause is often preceded in Welsh, not by the relative particle a, but by the affirmative yd, y; when the relative is weak the clause being almost a separate sentence, or when the relative is neither subject or object but in an oblique case, 10 1 Zeuss, p. 884. • Ibid. p. 888. 7 Ibid. p. 892. 2 Ibid. p. 886. 10 Ibid. pp. 901, 902. 3 Ibid. p. 887. 9 Ibid. pp. 899, 900. |