[67] Tig rather than d'thig. See note 65.
[68] A Pres. Aff. of this Verb, borrowed from the Irish, is often used in the G. SS. Deiream _I say_, deir e _he saith_, deir iad _they say_.
[69] Dubhairt, dubhradh, are contracted for do thubhairt, &c. Abairinn, abaiream, abairear, are often contracted into abrainn, abram, abrar.
[70] It may appear an odd peculiarity in the Gaelic, that in many of the most common phrases, a proposition or question should thus be expressed without the least trace of a Verb. It can hardly be said that the Substantive Verb is _understood_, for then there would be no impropriety in expressing it. But the fact is, that it would be completely contrary to the idiom and usage of the language, to introduce a Substantive Verb in these phrases. It will diminish our surprise at this peculiarity to observe that in the ancient languages numerous examples occur of sentences, or clauses of sentences, in which the Substantive Verb is omitted, without occasioning any obscurity or ambiguity; and this in Prose as well as in Verse. Thus in Hebrew; Gen. xlii. 11, 13, 14. We [are] all one man's sons--we [are] true men--thy servants [are] twelve brethren--the youngest [is] with his father--ye [are] spies--&c.
[Greek: Ouk agathon polukoiraniê.]--_Iliad_, B. 204. [Greek: kaka kerdea is' atêsi.]--_Hes._ [Greek: E. kai Ê. a]. [Greek: egô de tisou tachupeithês.]--_Theoc. Idyl._ 7. Et mî genus ab Jove summo.--_Virg. Æn._ VI. 123. Varium et mutabile semper Femina.--_Æn._ IV. 569.
Omnia semper suspecta atque sollicita; nullus locus amicitiæ. _Cic. de Amic._ 15.
mira feritas, foeda paupertas; non arma, non equi, non penates; victui herba, vestitui pelles, cubile humus; sola in sagittis spes, &c.--_Tacit. de. mor. Germ. Cap. ult._ In these and the like examples, the Substantive Verb might have been expressed, if with less elegance, yet without grammatical impropriety. What has been frequently done in other languages, seems, in Gaelic, to have been adopted, in certain phrases, as an invariable mode of speech.
The omission of the Substantive Verb is not unknown in English; as,
"In winter awful thou."--_Thomson._ "A ministering angel thou."--_Scott._ "A cruel sister she."--_Mallet._