| There are no early treatises on the structure
and composition of the Gaelic language, such as the ancient MS writings which still exist
on Irish Grammar. Still, so early as the middle of last century, the subject had excited
notice, and demands began to exist for a grammatical treatise on the Gaelic language. The
first attempt to meet this demand was made by the Rev. William Shaw, at one time minister
of Ardclach, in Nairnshire, and afterwards a resident in England; the author of a Gaelic
dictionary, and an associate of Johnson’s in opposing M’Pherson and his Ossian,
as it was called by adversaries. Shaw’s Grammar is made of no account by Dr Stewart,
in the reference which he makes to it in his excellent grammar; but the work is
interesting as the first attempt made to reduce Gaelic grammar to shape at all, and as
showing several indications of a fair, if not a profound scholarship. That the volume,
however, is to be held in any way as a correct analysis of the Gaelic language, is out of
the question. Mr. Shaw presents his readers, at the end of his volume, with specimens of
Gaelic writing, which he intends to settle the orthography of the language. Anything mire
imperfect than the orthography of these specimens can hardly be conceived - at least it is
of a kind that makes the language in many of the words unintelligible to any ordinary
reader. Mr Shaw’s Grammar reached a second edition, showing the interest that was
taken in the subject at the time. An abler scholar,
in the person of the Rev. Dr Stewart, of Moulin, Dingwall, and the Canongate, Edinburgh,
successively, took up the subject of Gaelic grammar after Mr. Shaw. Mr Stewart was an
eminent minister of the Scottish Church. Few ministers stood higher than he did as a
preacher, and few laboured more assiduously in their pastoral work; still he found time
for literary studies, and to none did he direct more of his care than to that of his
native Gaelic. A native of Perthshire himself, he made himself acquainted with all the
dialects of the tongue, and gives an admirable analysis of the language as it appears in
the Gaelic Bible. Few works of the kind are more truly philosophical. The modesty which is
ever characteristic of genius distinguishes every portion of it, while the work is of a
kind that does not admit of much emendation. If it be defective in any part, it is in the
part that treats of syntax. There the rules laid down comprehend but few of those
principles which govern the structure of the language, and it is necessary to have
recourse to other sources for information regarding many of the most important of these.
A third grammar was published about thirty years ago by Mr
James Munro, at the time parish schoolmaster of Kilmonivaig. This volume is highly
creditable to Mr Munro’s scholarship, and in many respects supplied a want that was
felt by learners of the language. The numerous exercises with which the work abounds are
of very great value, and must aid the student much in its acquisition.
A double grammar, in both Gaelic and English, by the Rev.
Mr Forbes, latterly minister of Sleat, presents a very fair view of the structure of the
Gaelic language, while grammars appear attached to several of the existing dictionaries.
There is a grammar prefixed to the dictionary of the Highland Society, another to that of
Mr Armstrong, and a third to that of Mr M’Alpine. All these are creditable
performances, and worthy of perusal. In fact, if the grammar of the Gaelic language be not
understood, it is not for want of grammatical treatises. There are seven or eight of them
in existence.
Mr Shaw, in the introduction to his grammar, says :-
"It was not the mercenary consideration of interest, nor, perhaps, the expectation of
fame among my countrymen, in whose esteem its beauties are too much faded, but a taste for
the beauties of the original speech of a now learned nation, that induced me either to
begin, or encouraged me to persevere in reducing to grammatical principles a language
spoken only by imitation; while, perhaps, I might be more profitably employed in tasting
the various productions of men, ornaments of human nature, afforded in a language now
teeming with books. I beheld with astonishment the learned in Scotland, since the revival
of letters, neglect the Gaelic as if it was not worthy of any pen to give a rational
account of a speech used upwards of 2000 years by the inhabitants or more than one
kingdom. I saw with regret, a language once famous in the world, ready to perish, without
any memorial; a language by the use of which Galgacus having assembled his chiefs,
rendered the Grampian hills impassable to legions that had conquered the world, and by
means of which Fingal inspired his warriors with the desire of immortal fame."
That the Gaelic language is worthy of being studied, the
researches of modern philologers have amply proved. For comparative philology it is of the
highest value, being manifestly one of the great links in the chain of the Aryan
languages. Its close relation to the classical languages gives it a place almost peculiar
to itself. In like manner its study throws light on national history. Old words appear in
charters and similar documents which a knowledge of Gaelic can alone interpret, while for
the study of Scottish topography the knowledge of it is essential. From the Tweed to the
Pentland Firth words appear in every part of the country which can only be analysed by the
Gaelic scholar. In this view the study of the language is important, and good grammars are
of essential value for its prosecution. |
