The Liotan Language

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Last update: 18 September 2006

Syntax

This section covers various topics which don't really fit under "grammar": Word order Subordination Relative pronouns Emphasis Interrogatives Indefinite pronouns

Word order

Liotan was characterised by its word-order, in which the verb always came first in the clause, except when preceded by a conjunction, preposition or preverbal particle; and the subject always preceded the object, except in sentences of identity with eich: mairíor ca taoc rreacho ghalla "I give the apple to the man".

Prepositional pronouns and object pronouns were placed at the ends of their clauses:

V S O Adv >> V S Adv Pron
buinear co taoc feile >> buinear feile or "I eat it quickly"

V S O I >> V S I O(Pron)
mairíor ca taoc rreacho ghalla >> mairíor rreacho ghalla or "I give it to the man"

V S O I >> V S O I(Pron)
mairíor ca taoc rreacho ghalla >> mairíor co taoc rrean "I give him the apple"

V S O I >> V S I(Pron) O(Pron)
mairíor ca taoc rreacho ghalla >> mairíor rrean or "I give it to him, I give him it"

Subordination

All forms of Liotan preferred to avoid subordinate clauses and use participles instead. The simplest form of the resulting sentence can be represented as:

V1 S1, V2 S2 >> V1 S1 V2(act part) S2(gen)
maorar, canhan eil >> maorar eil-chanalt "I know that she sings"

in other words, the combination of dependent verb and subject becomes possessor and active participle, this phrase being treated as the object of the main verb. Note also, with an object:

V1 S1, V2 S2 O >> V1 S1 V2(pres act part) S2(gen) O(part/nom)
maorar, buinean eil taoc >> maorar eil-bhuinealt taoc(a) "I know that she is eating an apple"

Here the use of the nominative would indicate that she has finished eating, and would properly mean "... she has eaten...", whereas the partitive would not. The use of the past active participle would correspond to "... she was eating ..." with the partitive and "... she ate ..." with the nominative.

If the dependent verb was qualified by an adjective, the spoken language had an idiomatic structure with feó:

V1 S1, V2 S2 Adv >> V1 S1 Adv feó-S2(gen) V2(act part)
maorar, canhan eil lla mheasda >> maorar measda feóil-chanalta "I know that she sings sweetly"

If the subject of the dependent verb was the same as that of the main verb, the possessive pronoun was not necessary: maoran eil measda feó-chanalta "she knows that she sings sweetly".

The same syntax was used if the dependant clause effectively contained "to be":

V1, do/eich N1 prep(loc) S1 >> V1 N1 prep(all) S1
inhéar, do/eich ota feón >> inhéar ota fian "I want him to be strong"
maorar, do/eich ota feón >> maorar ota féon "I know that he is strong"

Note how the preposition idiomatically changed from the locative to the allative with inhéar, but not with maorar. inhéar ota féon would mean something different, approximately "he is strong and I want this to be so", and maorar ota fian would mean something like "I know that he is becoming strong".

Speech verbs

Thanking, asking, complimenting and so on were expressed with the same idiom, augmented with a preposition; the precise preposition depended on the main verb:

V1 S1 >> V2 S2 V1(act part) Prep-S1
canhan eil >> troisear canhalt meil "I ask her to sing"
canhan eil >> feoillear chanhalt rreil "I complemented her on her singing"

The possessive pronoun could be omitted if, as in these examples, it referred to the same referent as the prepositional pronoun. Note also, with a simple nominal subject, troisear taoc meil "I asked her for an apple"

"To remember" and "to remind" were both expressed in a similar way with séacach "thinks" and il "back": séacar il chanhalt rreil "I remind her to sing", séacach il chanhalt rreil "she remembered to sing".

Modals and causatives

The Liotan equivalents of modal verbs were expressed with the same syntax; for example, "I allow" was méicear, and so "I allow him to eat" was méicear a-mbuinealt, literally "I allow his eating". Conversely, "I am allowed to eat, I may eat" used the indefinite pronoun as subject: méiceach sa-mbuinealt.

The possessive pronoun was not required with peathach "to be able to", puineach "to be obliged to" and faochach "to intend to": peathar buinealt "I can eat", puinear buinealt "I should eat", faochar buinealt "I intend to eat".

teódhach "to make, cause to" was used to express causatives:

V1 S1 >> teóda V2 S1(gen) V1(act part)
buinean >> teódhar a-mbuinealt "I make him eat"

and, of course, peathach daoinic fhéinhe rrea phein, son lle-dteódach eil-reóthalt "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink".

Subordination with prepositions

Several Liotan prepositions were used for subordination, corresponding more or less to English conjunctions. The transformation was:

V1 S1, V2 S2 >> V1 S1 prep V2(act part, dative) S2(gen)
miosdór, buinear >> miosdór rreas-mbuinealta "I sit down so that I can eat/in order to eat"

The prepositions which were most commonly used in this way were:

Both bí and feó corresponded to "while" when used with participles; A feó B implied that B was of instantaneous or short duration and took place entirely within A, whereas A bí B implied that A took place throughout B.

To stand, become, and make

"To stand, be situated", as in the spatial sense of "to be", was expressed by the intransitive verb baoinhíoch; thus baoinhíor feóich[e] éisd "I am in the house". The transitive equivalent of this verb was daoineach, which corresponded to English "become, make, put, take", depending on the associated nouns:

These idioms were preferred to deriving new verbs with -abhach and -alach.

Relative pronouns

A relative construction indicated that one of the arguments of one verb was the same as an argument of another verb. The place of the argument in the second verb was taken by the resumptive relative pronoun tu, and the two clauses were linked with a-H:

V1 S1, V2 S2 >> V1 S1 a V2 tu (S1 = S2)
canan ce ghuaine, baoinhíon ce ghuaine adach ca fheanad >> canan ce ghuaine a bhaoinhíoth adach ca fheanad "the girl who is under the tree is singing"

V1 S1 O1, V2 S2 >> V1 S1 O1 a V2 tu (O1 = S2)
soicíor ce ghuaine, baoinhíon ce ghuaine adach ca fheanad >> soicíor ce ghuaine a bhaoinhíoth adach ca fheanad "I left behind the girl who is under the tree"

V1 S1, V2 S2 O2 >> V1 S1 a V2 Sx2 tu (O2 = S1)
baoinhíon ce ghuaine adach ca fheanad, soicíor ce ghuaine >> baoinhíon ce ghuaine adach ca fheanad a shoicíor tu "the girl under the tree is the one I left behind"

But note: baoinhíon ce ghuaine adach ca fheanad a shoicíor adath, where the preposition ad appears in both clauses, would mean "the girl is under the tree which I left behind".

Emphasis

The relative construction could also be used to emphasise an individual element of a sentence, in which case the emphasised element was preceded by eich:

V S O >> eich S a V tu O (to emphasise S)
baoinhíon ce ghuaine adach ca fheanad >> eich ce ghuaine a bhaoinhíoth adach ca fheanad "the *girl* is under the tree

V S O >> eich O a V S tu I (to emphasise O)
baoinhíon ce ghuaine adach ca fheanad >> eich ca feanad a bhaoinhíon ce ghuaine adath "the girl is under the *tree*, i.e. "it is the tree which the girl is under".

The present tense of eich was used even if the main verb was in the past tense.

Interrogatives

Interrogatives were formed with the basic interrogative pronoun gaoi-H "which" and the emphatic construction:

V S O >> gaoi-H S a V tu O
baoinhíon ce ghuaine adach ca fheanad >> gaoi ghuaine a bhaoinhíoth adach ca fheanad "which girl is under the tree?"

V S O >> gaoi-H O a V S tu
baoinhíon ce ghuaine adach ca fheanad >> gaoi fheanad a bhaoinhíon co ghuaine adath "which tree is girl the under?"

Further interrogative pronouns were compounds with gaoi-H and another noun, for example graois a bhaoinhíoth adach ca fheanad "who is under the tree?", where graois derived from gaoi raois "which person". Also used in this way were:

and the following, which required the prepositional form of tu:

for example gaodh a bhuinighe bíoth "when are we eating?", literally "which time (rel) eat-we through-(relative)".

Indefinite pronouns

The Liotan equivalents of indefinite pronouns, i.e. pronouns which did not refer to specific nouns, were expressed with compounds of a noun of quantity and one of the nouns which could compound with gaoi-H. The commonest nouns of quantity were péid "all, every", cion "some, any", and lleinh "none, nothing"; thus péid raois "every-person", i.e. "everybody"; cion radha "any-thing" (also "something"); lleinh chot "no-place", i.e. "nowhere". rradha lost its final vowel in the nominative singular in such compounds, thus lleinh radh "nothing".

Later developments

This section outlines the most important changes in late Liotan phonology, in order that later developments in Liotic may be better understood. It should be noted that they operated to different extents, and sometimes not at all, in the various dialects. In North Liotic, in particular, only the first section applies.

Syncope, consonant clusters, and final vowels

As already mentioned, syncope was very common in spoken Liotan, and as a result the number of consonant clusters increased considerably; the developments of the resulting clusters were varied and often specific to individual dialects.

Especially in nominal and adjectival inflection, the syncope was generalised to the normally unsyncopated nominative singular, to which, by analogy with the syncopated forms, a final vowel was added. The quality of this vowel was often infleunced by other members of the inflectional paradigm; for example feanhad "tree" became /fæz~da/ because of the plural feanhdainh, whereas rreóch "thing", plural rreóchóinh, became /r_jo:xo/. This additional final vowel was subsequently generalised to many other unsyncopated words, for example gól "ear" > /go:la/, maill "name" > /maKe/.

Syncope did not take place between a verbal stem and the ending. This was because the only verbs in which this would happen were those with short thematic vowels, and the analogical pressure from other verbs was too strong.

Changes in specific consonants

The first consonants to change were the "heavy" consonants, i.e. the lenited nasals and unlenited liquids, which were perceived as consisting of two other consonants articulated simultaneously. For example, /v~/ (lenited slender /m/) sounded a lot like simultaneous [m] and [v], and eventually came to be pronounced /mv/ when between vowels: deimh "deep" (feminine singular) > /d_jemve/. When the first consonant in a cluster, it became /im/, the /i/ forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel; when the last consonant in a cluster, it remained /m/.

Four environments thus need to be distinguished when considering the development of consonants:

  1. Word-initial
  2. Intervocalic
  3. First in a cluster
  4. Last in a cluster
The consonants which changed in this way, and their commonest outcomes, were:

Consonant1234
B~ - umvumm
v~ - mv imm
z~ - nz n n
J\~- inZinn
K_Gl ul ulo
K T T l T
R\ x rx r r
r r_jrT r r

The changes of /K R\/ to /T x/ were characteristic of West, South, and East Liotic and were often ascribed to Dekavurian influence.

Loss of the broad-slender distinction

The alternations between broad and slender consonants lost grammatical significance, and eventually ceased to operate except in a few isolated circumstances. Put another way, either the broad or slender variant of a consonant was generalised throughout an inflectional paradigm.

Vowel changes

In the spoken language, both the vowels in words like cuiléach "carries", where the first vowel was phonemically short and the second phonemically long, were phonetically the same length; this word was thus pronounced /kulex/, and long vowels were thus restricted to initial (stressed) syllables.

Long vowels in late spoken Liotan were originally perceived as bimoraic, consisting of two identical short vowels in succession. The primary stress was strong enough to cause the second mora of the long vowels to change to /i/ before a slender consonant and /u/ before a broad one, thus tál "tight" and péid "each, every" became /taula/ and /peid_je/. This added a series of diphthongs /ii ei ai oi ui/ and /iu eu au ou uu/ to the language.

In a similar way, /ia ua/ remained before broad consonants and became /ie ue/ before slender consonants; before an /u/ resulting from the vocalisation of a fricative they became /io uo/.

Further developments in the vowel system must be left to discussions of the individual dialects.

Vocalisation of fricatives

The fricatives /p\ B C j\/ vocalised to /u u i i/ in a cluster, the resulting vowels combining with preceding vowels to create further diphthongs: cabhach "hammer" > /kaBxa/ > /kauxa/. In West and South Liotic, when the original fricatives were the last consonant in a cluster which was followed only by final /@/, the /@/ disappeared: caiphich "sculptress" > /kafC@/ > /kafi/.

Other changes

Nasal consonants assimilated in place of articulation to a following consonant: deamhat > /d_jæumta/ > /d_jeunta/, with /mt/ becoming /nt/.

Clusters consisting of obstruents all assimilated in voice to the last consonant: paothad "tower" > /peusda/ > /peuzda/. Related to this was the development of the combinations of nasal + sibilant + voiceless stop to voiced sibilant + voiced stop voiced and the nasal was lost: ceamhasd "sharpness" > /k_jaumsta/ > /k_jauzda/.

In clusters consisting entirely of liquids, nasals, or fricatives, all but the last consonant was lost, and the preceding vowel lengthened. This change must have postdated the development of long vowels to diphthongs, since the resulting long vowel remained: crathabhach "to loosen, set free" > /krasBax/ > /krazBax/ > kra:Bax/, and the related crathasd > /krassta/ > /kra:sta/.

Changes in grammar

Most developments in grammar and syntax were too varied to be considered under one heading, and are more appropriately left to the individual languages.

Demonstratives

In some dialects the demonstratives were combined with the article, giving for example in the nominative singular ceamha-* ceimhe-H ceamha-N, cacha-* caiche-H cacha-N and corra-* coirre-H corra-N.

The genitive case and attributive adjectives

A peculiarity of some spoken varieties of Liotan was the combination of a series of nouns which were dependent on a head noun into a group which behaved as a single syntactic word. The head noun always came first, and appeared in its singular form; the first sound of the dependent noun was lenited if the head noun was singular and eclipsed otherwise; no distinction was made between dual and plural. The partitive and dative case endings were added to the final word in the group:

N1(singular, case) N2(gen) >> N1-H N2(case)
tiúirich séin >> tiúirich shéan "father's sister (partitive singular)

N1(plural, case) N2(gen) >> N1-N N2(case)
tiúircheas séininh >> tiúirch dhséanas "fathers' sisters (partitive plural)

A definite article preceded all of the nouns: ci fhil bhfeanda "the tree's leaves, (the) leaves of the tree".

Some dialects of the spoken language preferred to use abstract nouns in these genitive constructions in place of attributive adjectives:

N A >> N A(Abs, gen)
rruaith fhuair >> rruaith fhuara "cold drink"
rruaithéinh fhóiréinh >> rruaith bhfuara "cold drinks"

Comparisons

The synthetic comparitives survived in the dialects which developed into Machren and Lemyzon, but were generally replaced by analytic phrases with um "more" and coin "less". Both of these preceded the adjective and lenited it: galla um rasd "taller than a man" (lit. "as-a-man more tall"), galla coin rasda "not as tall as a man".

Verbs

Spoken Liotan took to prefixing the simple present with the copula to create emphatic forms of the verb. This structure was then generalised to create a range of new constructions in which a preverbal particle indicated the tense, while person and number continued to be specified by the ending. The resulting forms of buinear were as follows:

 PresentPast
 FullReducedFullReduced
Positive eich bhuinearbuinearaonh bhuineare mbuinear
Negative lle bhuinearlle bhuinearlleanh bhuinearlle mbhuinear
Interrogative fich bhuinearfi bhuinearfinh bhuinearfi mbuinear

As a result, the synthetic past tense and aspectual forms fell out of general use in spoken Liotan, leaving some traces in new present tense meanings, such as sgaoidhíoch, past of sgaodhach "hunts, chases", which came to mean "captures". The past participles changed form accordingly, thus sgaoidhíolt "a capturing".

Later forms of the spoken language used the idioms for "to have" and "to own" with the participles to express finer distinctions of tense and aspect. The basic structure consisted of do or e, the participle, the verbal object, any other modifiers, and the prepositional pronoun; thus:

V S O >> do/e V(act part) O lla-S
buinear ca taoc >> do buinealt ca taoc llas "I am eating the apple"

converted a colourless verb to one which described a continuing action. Similarly, do buidhisin ca taoc llas, with the past active participle, expressed a perfect tense: "I have eaten the apple", which implied a bearing on the present which was absent from e-bhuinear ca taoc. Unlike the written language, the object in all such phrases was always in the nominative case.

If e was used instead of do, the meaning became one of habit, routine, or repetition; thus e buinealt taocáinh llar "I eat apples", e-mbuidhisin taocáinh llas "I used to eat apples". The e, and the lenition, were often dropped in the present tense. Note the reduction of aonh to e-N, which was officially frowned upon but nonetheless common in speech.

The relative particle a combined with eich and aonh to give aich and ánh, which were reduced to a-H a-N, and with the corresponding negatives llea lleanh to form alla allanh, which reduced to all-H all-N.

The passive participles could be used instead of the actives, in which case the syntax required the object to be in the genitive case:

V S O >> do/e V(pass part) O(gen) lla-S
buinear ca taoc >> do buinic can thaoc llas, literally "is being-eaten of-the apple with-me".

With se, the reduced form of the past of do, were formed the past progressive se buinealt ca taoc llas "I was eating an apple" and the past perfect se buidhisin ca taoc llas "I had eaten an apple", "I ate an apple". Again, the passive participles could be used here.

Other prepositions could be used instead of lla to create still finer distinctions, often modal in meaning, which the spoken language preferred to the specialised verbs of the written language:

Some particularly idiosyncratic idioms were formed in this way with the past participles. The most notable was the use of feó and casdar instead of the suffix -(e)ódh: e buinhic feór "it can be eaten, it is edible", lle bhuinic casdar "there is no possibility of it being eaten". Note also lle bhuinic téar "it is in no danger of being eaten".

Causatives

The spoken language used teódhach only if the dependent verb was ordinarily transitive, as with teódhar a-mbuinealt "I make him eat". Otherwise, a peculiar idiom was used:

V S1 >> V S2 S1
e saonún feóiche éisd an >> e saonúr feóiche éisd an "I make him go into the house", literally "I go him into the house"

The written language would prefer teódhar a-dhsaonúlt feóiche éisd here. The reflexive forms e saonúr feóiche éisd buir and e saonúbh feóiche éisd samh would mean "I force myself to go into the house".

Adverbs

The spoken language preferred to express adverbial meanings with the appropriate abstract noun and lla-H "with": e bhuinear lla fheile "I eat quickly" (literally "with speed"), or with the abstract noun modifying participles adjectivally: do buinealt fheile llas "I am eating quickly", e buinealt fheile llas "I am a fast eater".

Babel text

The canonical conlanging bootstrap text is here rendered in reasonably correct written Liotan.

  1. sea bíche rreiche orr meala dhseapha as it shean.
  2. daoi mirrí gallas, bí-dhsaonúlt me fhuire, feamhad feócho mbuara Shiomara, daoi deichíonha orr.
  3. daoi eisíonha rrea sheighe, "a-dheathaighe sgaoiléinh, daoi a-dharraighe i-dhsgairíosg. daoi shea sgaoiléinh baonh chuarra as giur baonh léacha llain".
  4. daoi eisíonha, "a-fhairighe tura as paothad lla feóra feóiche dsaolarra, a-mhairíghe maille rreab, rreig le-fheóisgéisin téiche thaoighe chuatha".
  5. daoi dhsaoiní God seir rrea dtaorralta co dtuara as co paothad, a foireath ce mhócháinh ghalla.
  6. daoi eisí God, "a-aoille! eich meil rreóbh in, as dóich meil seapha llain, a h-eich lléimh siail i-nguaidhealta eimh, as dóich peatha feó gcaoite in-inhéaltas".
  7. "a-shaonúighe seir, a-dhaoinighe sealtóinh fiai-dhseapha, rrein lle-obhalt seigh."
  8. daoi mearra feóisgé God me orra téiche taoighe chuatha in, daoi isdínhe fairealt co paothad.
  9. mearra aonh Babel or-mhaill, me aonh orr a dhaoiní God sealtóinh fia sheapha con reóbh, daoi aonh orr feóisgéan téiche taoighe chuatha in.

Analysis

Each verse is first of all quoted in Liotan, then rendered into English, and finally the English rendition is explained in more detail.

Hyphens are used to group English words which correspond to one Liotan word; equals signs correspond to Liotan hyphens. Cases are enclosed in (parentheses), references to notes in [square brackets]. "God" is rendered "God" in Liotan, and referred to with the generic third-person singular pronoun.

Line 1

sea bíche rreiche orr meala dhseapha as it shean.

[1] Was [2] through-the time(dat) that [3] one language [4] and [5] few words.

  1. "Was", i.e. "existed" or "there was".
  2. bí "through", i.e. "during" in a temporal sense.
  3. meala "one (neuter)", i.e. "only one" as opposed to "a".
  4. as, not daoi, since both words and language existed at the same time.
  5. Note the use of the singular noun after it.

Line 2

daoi mirrí gallas, bí-dhsaonúlta me fhuire, feamhad feócho mbuara Shiomara, daoi deichíonha orr.

[1] And found men, [2] through-their=goings from (the) east(dat), plain(acc) [3] in-the country(dat) [4] Shimar(dat), and settled-they there.

  1. daoi for "and" here, since the successive verses describe obviously sequential events. Note the absence of a personal inflection on the verb, and the partitive plural of "men".
  2. bí-dhsaonúlta "through-their=goings", i.e. "while they went/came", is bín "through-their" with the final -n eclipsing the initial of the following word.
  3. buara "region", used for "country".
  4. "Shimar", rendered in Liotan spelling. Words in apposition formed a unit.

Line 3

daoi eisíonha rrea sheighe, "a-dheathaighe sgaoiléinh, daoi a-dharraighe i-dhsgairíosg". daoi shea sgaoiléinh baonh chuarra as giur baonh léacha llain.

And said-they to each-other(dat), "let-us-make(inc) bricks, and [1] let-us-complete their-burning(past passive)". And was bricks in-place-of stone(gen) and clay in-place-of mortar(gen) [2] with-them.

  1. "Let us complete their state of being burned", i.e. "let us burn them completely".
  2. "was ... with-them", i.e. "they had".

Line 4

daoi eisíonha, "a-fhairighe tura as paothad lla feóra feóiche dsaolarra, a-mhairíghe maille rreab, rreig le-fheóisgéisine téiche thighe chuatha".

And said-they, "let-us-build(inc) city and tower with head(dat) [1] in-the clouds(dat), and let-us-give name [2] to-selves, to-our [3] not=scattering(pass pres) on surface(dat) world(gen)".

  1. saolarra: collective plural of saol "cloud".
  2. "to-selves": means "to ourselves" in this context.
  3. "to our not being scattered", i.e. "so that we are not scattered".

Line 5

daoi dhsaoiní God seir rrea dtaorralta co dtuara as co paothad, a foireath ce mhócháinh ghalla.

And went God down [1] to=His-seeing the city and the tower, which built the children men(gen).

  1. "to His seeing", i.e. "to see" or "so that he could see".

Line 6

daoi eisí God, "a-aoille! eich meil rreóbh in, as dóich meil seapha llain, a h-eich lléimh siail i-nguaidhealta eimh, as dóich peatha feó gcaoite in-inhéaltas".

And said God, "behold! Are(copula) one people they, and [1] is one language with-them, and is [2] only start [3] their-doings(part) this, and is [4] possibility in everything [6] their-wanting(part)".

  1. "is one language with them", i.e. "they have only one language". Note the use of dóich here, rather than eich.
  2. lléimh "only", from lle "not" + umh "more".
  3. "start their doings(part)", i.e. "the start of what they will do".
  4. "is possibility in everything", i.e. "everything is possible".
  5. "is X in everything their-wanting(part)": Liotan idiom for "everything that they want will be X".

Line 7

"a-shaonúighe seir, a-dhaoinighe sealtóinh fiai-dhseapha, rrein lle-obhalt seigh."

"[1] Let-us-go down, and [2] let-us-put confusion(pl) into-their=language(dat) [3] to=their not=understanding each-other."

  1. Inclusive "we" is used here, since God is clearly talking to Himself.
  2. "Put confusion in their language", the standard Liotan idiom for "confuse their language". sealtóinh: plural of sealta "confusion", also "tangle".
  3. "to their not understanding", i.e. "so that they will not understand".

Line 8

daoi méarra feóisgé God me orra téiche taoighe chuatha in, daoi isdínhe fairealt co paothad.

And therefore [1] scattered God from there(dat) on-the surface(dat) world(gen) them, and forsook-they [3] the building(pres pass) the tower(gen).

  1. méarra "therefore": me + orra.
  2. fairealt co paothad: "building the tower", with the active participle of "to build". fairíc co bpaothad, with the passive participle, was equally valid: "the being built of the tower".

Line 9

Méarra aonh Babel or-mhaill, me aonh orr a dhaoiní God sealtóinh fia sheapha con reóbh, daoi aonh orr feóisgéan téiche taoighe chuatha in.

So [1] was(copula) Babel its=name, [2] because was there that put(past) God confusion(pl) into the-language(dat) of-the crowd in [3] rel(dat), and [4] was there scattered-He on surface(dat) world them from rel(dat).

  1. "Was Babel its name": this, of course, means "it was called Babel".
  2. me "from": "because" in this context.
  3. "was there that ... rel" evaluates to "it was there that ...", emphasising "there".
  4. as above.

Vocabulary

Nouns are given in singular and general plural, verbs in present and past indefinite, and adjectives in positive and superior comparitive.

aich aichéinh [nf4] animal
ais aiséinh [nf4] way, manner
anh anháinh [nm3] stem, stalk
aodach aonach [v] holds
baoinhíoch baoidhíoch [v] stands, is situated
boideach boidíoch [v] threatens
boilleach buillíoch [v] spoils, ruins
buara buaróinh [nn5] region, area
búig bóigéinh [nm2] dent, nick, hollow
buineach buidheach [v] eats
caill cailléinh [nf4] dog
cailíoch cailíosach [v] shines
canhach conhach [v] sings
caonh caonháinh [nm3] fish
caphóch cabóch [v] carves, sculpts
ceineach ceidheach [v] reads
ceógh ceógháinh [nm3] bear
ceóirr ceóirréinh [nf4] taste
cion [adj] any
coin [adj] less
cot cotáinh [nm5] place, location
cual cóláinh [nm3] burden
cuatha cuathóinh [nn5] world
cub cubamh [adj] green
culach cuilíoch [v] carries
cunha conháinh [nn3] purity
daobh daobháinh [nm3] brother
daoineach daoiníoch [v] puts, places, makes
darrach dairríoch [v] to finish, complete
deamhat dheamtáinh [nm3] table
deichiúch deichiúsach [v] settles
disgiúch disgiúsach [v] catches sound of
doc docáinh [nm5] crab
easg eisgéinh [nm2] bite
éisd éisdéinh [nf4] house, dwelling
eiseach eisíoch [v] says, tells
faireach foireach [v] builds
faochach faoicheach [v] intends to, wants
feamhad feamhdáinh [nm3] plain
feanhad feanhdáinh [nm3] tree
feal fealamh [adj] fast, quick
féinh féinhéinh [nf4] horse
feór feóráinh [nm3] head, top, summit
feoilleach fiuillíoch [v] compliments
feóisgéach feóisgíoch [v] scatters
fil filéinh [nf4] leaf
fiodh fidhóinh [nn5] time, occasion
fuar fóramh [adj] cold
fuin fuinéinh [nf4] knife
fuir [nf4] east
fusd [adj] many, much, very
gall galláinh [nm3] man
giliúch [v] learns
giur giuiréinh [nm2] clay
gól gólainh [nm1] ear
guaidheach guaineach [v] does, makes, performs
guaine guainéinh [nf4] girl
iomhóch imhíoch [v] frightens
isdeach isdíoch [v] forgets, forsakes
lleachach lleaghach [v] slips, slides
lleidíoch [v] protrudes
mairíoch mairíosach [v] gives
maill mailléinh [nf4] name
máchach máichíoch [v] writes
maorach maoiríoch [v] know (as a fact)
meagh meaghóinh [nn5] reason
measda measdáinh [nn3] sweetness
méiceach móiceach [v] allows, lets, permits
miosdóch misdíoch [v] to sit down
mirreach mirríoch [v] to find
moch mócháinh [nm3] child
nas nasamh [adj] large
neill neilleáinh [nm4] floor, ground
neiteach neideach [v] falls, drops
nigeach ningeach [v] rolls up
paothad paothdáinh [nm3] tower
par paramh [adj] calm
parr parráinh [nm3] boy
peatha [nn5] possibility
peathach peadach [v] is able to, can
pein peininh [nm1] water
péid [adv] each, every
poill [adv] short
puineach puidheach [v] is obliged to, must
rradha rradhóinh [nn5] thing, object, item
rraois rraoiseáinh [nm4] person
rrasd rrasdamh [adj] tall
rreich rreichéinh [nf4] time, period, era
rreóbh rreóbháinh [nm3] people, race
rreóch rreóchóinh [nn5] sort, kind
rreóthach rreóithíoch [v] drinks
rruaith rruaithéinh [nf4] drink
salóch sailíoch [v] washes
soiltiúch soiltiúsach [v] confuses
saol saoláinh [nm3] cloud
saonúch saoiníoch [v] comes, goes, moves
saor saoramh [adj] red
séacach séicíoch [v] thinks
sean seanáinh [nm5] word
seapha seaphóinh [nn5] language, speech
seigh [n] each other
séin séininh [nm3] father
siail siailéinh [nf4] start, beginning
siailéach [v] starts, begins
sgairíoch sgairíosach [v] burns
sgaoil sgaoiléinh [nf4] brick
sgur sguráinh [nm5] fire
soib [adj] next
soicheach soichíoch [v] leaves behind, stays
taoc taocáinh [nm5] apple
taogh taogháinh [nf4] surface
taorach taoiríoch [v] sees
téir téirinh [nm1] eye
teódhach tiúidheach [v] makes, causes to
tiúirich tiúirchéinh [nf4] sister
toiréach toiríoch [v] crawls
troiseach truisíoch [v] asks
tura turóinh [nn5] city
uid uideamh [adj] difficult
uit uiteamh [adj] strong
um [adj] more

Introduction and phonology Grammar Syntax and vocabulary