dh before a broad vowel is like the ‘g’ in gap
dh before a slender vowel is like the ‘y’ in year
fh is totally silent
gh before a slender vowel can sound like ‘y’
as in yet
mh is pronounced like the ‘w’ in wall
ph is like the ‘f’ in fall
th is like the ‘h’ in ham
sh is also like the ‘h’ in ham
Consonants can also change their sound by being eclipsed, or silenced, by another consonant placed before it. For example na mBan (of women) is pronounced nah m’on; i bpaipéar (in the paper) i b‘ap’er and i gcathair (in the city) i g’a’har.
t can be eclipsed by d
c can be eclipsed by g
f can be eclipsed by bh
b can be eclipsed by m
d and g can be eclipsed by n
For those interested in learning more about the language, it is worth remembering that, after centuries of suppression during the colonial period, Irish became the first official language of the Irish state on independence in 1922. The last published census of 1991 showed one third of the population returning themselves as Irish-speaking. In Northern Ireland, where the language continued to be openly discouraged after Partition in 1922, only 10.5 per cent of the population were able to speak the language in 1991, the first time an enumeration of speakers was allowed since Partition.
Language courses are now available on video and audio-cassette from a range of producers from Linguaphone to RTE and BBC. There are some sixty summer schools and special intensive courses available. Teilifis na Gaeilge is a television station broadcasting entirely in Irish and there are several Irish language radio stations and newspapers. Information can be obtained from Comhdháil Náisiúnta na Gaeilge, 46 Sráid Chill Dara, Baile Atha Cliath 2, Eire.
Readers might also like to know that Valley of the Shadow, in the Fidelma series, was produced on audio-cassette, read by Marie McCarthy, from Magna Story Sound (SS391 - ISBN 1-85903-313-X).
MASTER OF SOULS. Copyright © 2005 by Peter Tremayne. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
First published in Great Britain by Headline Book Publishing, a division of Hodder Headline
eISBN 9781466803886
First eBook Edition : October 2011
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Tremayne, Peter.
Master of souls : a mystery of Ancient Ireland / Peter Tramayne.—1st St. Martin’s Minotaur ed.
p. cm.
ISBN-13: 978-0-312-34832-8
ISBN-10: 0-312-34832-0
PR6070.R366M37 2006
823’.914—dc22
2006047448
First St. Martin’s Minotaur Edition: November 2006