Re: "Usefull languages"

Stephen Mulraney wrote:

> (BTW "Erse" is some old name for "Irish")

Actually, it's an old name for Scottish Gaelic, although
it should be noted that anglophones didn't clearly
distinguish the two until fairly recent years.  In the
life of Dr. Johnson, Boswell asks "whether the Irish
and the Erse [speakers] understand one another."

The answer he gets, if you are curious, is that
"in general subjects, such as fishing and bawdy,
they do."  Showing the state of the two languages
in the late 18th century!


> (The clue you might need is that "Dun Laoghaire"
> is to be pronounced /du:n lEr'E/, though people
> commonly "anglicise" it to /dUn lIrI:/ or something
> like that)
When the English form "Dunleary" was first written

down, it was a normal representation of /dUnlE:ri/.
English sound-change has moved written "ea" to /i/,
with a few holdovers like "bread" and "head".


--
John Cowan <jcowan@...>     http://www.reutershealth.com
I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen,    http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
han mathon ne chae, a han noston ne 'wilith.  --Galadriel, _LOTR:FOTR_