enues, or the use of the dot, was extended to
the mediae. Thus in Mid. Irish we find _do bochtaib in choimded_ (Mod.
Ir. _dobhochtaibh_), Mid. Ir. _ro-gab_ = Mod. Ir. _do ghabh_. The
nasal mutation of c, p, t was first denoted by writing these sounds
double and finally in the 18th century by writing gc, bp, dt. The
spirants arising out of Prim. Celt. g, d, b came in Old Irish to be
confused with those which developed out of Prim. Celt, p, t, k, in
other than initial positions. In final positions in polysyllables we
commonly find d and b written but medially th and ph, e.g. _didnad_,
"consolation," gen. sing, _dithnatha_. For the ending -ad cp. Lat.
_-atu-_. On the other hand we find g written medially and ch finally.
These rules, however, are not yet applied in the oldest documents.

When we turn to the inflections we find that most of the old
terminations have disappeared, but that their influence on preceding
consonants is still felt and serves to distinguish one form from
another; thus in the declension of _fer_, "man," nom. sing. _fer_,
gen. sing. _fir_, dat. sing, _fiur_, acc. sing, _fer n-_, nom. pl.
_fir_, gen. pl. _fer n-_, corresponding to Prim. Celt. (Gaulish)
_viros, viri, viro, viron, viri, viron_, the influence of the
following sound still differentiates the cases from one another. In
the later language the initial mutations come more and more to be
used for this purpose. In Middle Irish the declensions and
conjugations are much simplified and the neuter gender is given up in
substantives. In the verb the athematic conjugation has disappeared
and the distinction of primary and secondary endings is not observed.
On the other hand Irish has developed a peculiar system of absolute
and conjoint inflection with different sets of endings. The conjoint
endings are always used in the case of compound verbs, and in simple
verbs they are employed after certain proclitics, e.g. the negative
particles. Thus _berid_, "he bears," is an absolute form; _do-beir_,
"he gives," _ni beir_, "he does not bear," are conjoint forms.
Further, the verb system is partly dominated by the various devices
employed to express relatival function. There are three main types of
conjugation in Old Irish corresponding to the Latin first, third and
fourth conjugations, the Latin types _moneo_ and _audio_ being
difficult to distinguish in Irish. In the modern language there is