h

Uath, the hawthorn-tree. The eighth letter of the Gaelic alphabet now in use. It is used in Scottish Gaelic not properly as a letter, for no word commences with it, but simply as a sign of aspiration, in the same way as the dot is used over consonants in Irish Gaelic. When it is prefixed to a word beginning with a vowel, it has the same degree of aspiration as h in hall, hurt — na h-òighean, the maids; na h-oidhche, of the night. It is also required between the negative ni and the following word, if it begin with a vowel — ni h-e, not he; ni h-eadh, no; ni h-iad, not they; ni h-fheudar, must not. Before an initial vowel, h is sometimes inserted and sometimes not, after certain words. In Skye, the tendency is to insert that letter as shown by Mary MacPherson in her book of poems — after prepositions, le h-aiteas, pp.35, 110; ré h-ùine, p.44; after gur, mur & ge, gura h-e and gur h-e, that it is, both p.289; gur h-ise bhios sona, that it is she that will be happy, 91; 's gur h-onair dha ar dùthaich thu, 38; gur h-uallach mo nighean dubh, 307; mur a h-e, 270; ge h-iomadh, though so many, notwithstanding how many, 37, 49.

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