[30] Uan beag bainionn, 2 Sam. xii. 3. Numb. vi. 14. So leomhann boirionn, Ezek. xix. 1.
[31] It must appear singularly strange that any nouns which signify females exclusively should be of the masculine gender. The noun bainionnach, is derived from the adjective bainionn, _female_, which is formed from bean, the appropriate term for a _woman_. Yet this noun bainionnach, or boirionnach, _a female_, is masculine, to all grammatical intents and purposes. We say boirionnach còir, _a civil woman_, am boirionnach maiseach, _the handsome woman_.
The gender of this Noun seems to have been fixed, not by its signification, but by its determination, for most Derivatives in _ach_ are masculines; as, oganach _a young man_, marcach _a horseman_, Albanach _a Scotsman_, &c. So in Latin, mancipium, scortum, though applied to persons, follow the gender of their termination.
[32] It was necessary to be thus explicit in stating the changes at the beginning and those on the termination as unconnected independent _accidents_, which ought to be viewed separately; because many who have happened to turn their thoughts toward the declension of the Gaelic noun have got a habit of conjoining these, and supposing that both contribute their united aid toward the forming the _cases_ of nouns. This is blending together things which are unconnected, and ought to be kept distinct. It has therefore appeared necessary to take a separate view of these two _accidents_ of nouns, and to limit the term _case_ to those changes which are made on the termination, excluding entirely those which take place at the beginning.
[33] It is to be observed that these names of the cases are adopted merely because they are already familiar, not because they all denominate correctly the relations expressed by the cases to which they are respectively applied. There is no Accusative or Objective case in Gaelic different from the Nominative; neither is there any Ablative different from the Dative. For this reason, it is not only unnecessary, but erroneous, to reckon up six Cases in Gaelic, distinguished not by the form of the Noun, but by the Prepositions prefixed. This is to depart altogether from the common and proper use of the term _Case_. And if the new use of that term is to be adopted, then the enumeration is still incomplete, for we ought to have as many Cases as there are Prepositions in the language. Thus, besides a Dative do Bhard, and an Ablative o Bhard, we should have an Impositive Case air Bhard, a Concomitative le Bard, an Insertive ann am Bard, a Precursive roimh Bhard, &c. &c. Grammarians have very correctly reckoned only five Cases in Greek, two in English, one in French [See _Moore_, _Murray_, _Buffier_, &c.] because the variations in the form of the Noun extend no further. Surely nothing but an early and inveterate prepossession in favour of the arrangements of Latin Grammar could ever have suggested the idea of Six Cases in Gaelic or in English.