Re: A few more Breathanach notes

[John Cowan <cowan@locke.ccil.org>]

Blunderingly I wrote:

> > Well, the B. gerund ends in "-nte" and the true participle in "-nn",

which is totally wrong: the B. gerund ends in "-nn" and the participle
in "-nte".  The *foil* is confusing: it lists them in the order
given, but then calls the latter the "first pres. part." and the
former the "second pres. part."  Confusing.

Padrig yscrifef:

> It looks like the Iberian Shuffle fails here.  I'd wager -nn derives
> ultimately from -nd- while -nte comes from -nt-.  Rather than confuse the
> two, Breathanach speakers seem to retain the true participle form (-nt-)
> as an adjective; while the gerund form (-nd-) remains a noun.

And then again maybe it succeeds.  If the functions were swapped, and then
nd lenited to nn, it would explain the Breathanach forms.

> -nte is the gerund??  ' la phaoll dhoirmhinte "the sleeping girl" ', used
> as an adjective in la Fhoil.

Right.
 
> There's not enough information on Brithenig to form an opinion, as the
> participle (sneakily) ends in -n (can't tell if it's from -nd- or -nt-,
> though) and there's no mention of a gerund.  I could have sworn that last
> week they ended in -nn (as evidenced by the Horse story, with participles
> in -nn), which would indicate -nd- --> -nn, assuming that n follows the
> same pattern as ng.

It did, but it's only a spelling change (which could have happened *there*,
since nn and n are the same in Brithenig.

-- 
John Cowan	http://www.ccil.org/~cowan		cowan@ccil.org
	You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
	You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
		Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)