de

prep. Of, off. According to MacBain, the peculiar custom of confusing this word with do, to, in speaking Gaelic, extends back to Old Irish in pre-accentual de compounds, but the erroneous practice has no doubt largely been increased by the publishers of the Gaelic Scriptures, the instances of the use of do, instead of de making the meaning of the text in Gaelic just the opposite of what the original conveys. It is strange how tenacious some Gaelic writers are of the pernicious custom of using do for both de and do, while it is quite plain that the meaning of one is just the opposite of the other. It is no excuse to say that it is often spoken so (in some places de is practically obsolete) for it is the duty of scholars and those who write or speak Gaelic, to do so correctly and so help to correct popular errors instead of perpetuating them. This is only one case among many, where any unprejudiced person can see the absolute necessity of Gaelic being taught in every school, at least in Gaelic speaking districts, to prevent its becoming a mixture of exceptions like English. An gabh thu roinn dheth sin? will you take a part of that? bheir mi a' ghlas den doras, I will take the lock off the door; thug mi an ceann de m' òrdaig, I took the tip off my thumb. If do be substituted for de in each of above examples, the result is mere nonsense. Dé mar a bha mo dhalta den chòmhraig? how did my foster-son come off in the battle? [De becomes dh' before a vowel and a dh' if also following a consonant, it aspirates everything following it and governs the Dative case ] Armailt mhór de dhaoinibh agus a dh'eachaibh, a great army of men and horses; làn de reubainn agus a dh' aingidheachd, full of ravening and wickedness. De is thus declined in conjunction with the personal pronouns: Sing Dhìom, of me, Plur. dhinn, of us, Dhìot, of thee, Dibh, of you, dheth, of him, diubh, of them, dhith, of her. m. & f. The Initial d is generally aspirated (dhìom, dhìot, &c). in composition.

Seall an duilleag thùsail / View Original Page