Gaulish Paganism

In this lesson, we will learn the imperative mood of verbs, the pronoun forms, and the three degrees of comparison for adjectives.

IMPERATIVE MOOD

The imperative mood is used to express a request or command. It is usually found in the present tense and in the 2nd person singular and plural. Examples in English would be “Go!” and “Leave!” In both of these instances, the subject “you” is implied. The imperative mood can also be used for what are referred to as polite commands. An example would be “Come to my house!”

The endings listed below for each Verb Class are added directly onto the verbal root. The imperative forms for each verb class are as follows:

VERB CLASS	2nd sing	2nd pl
AI	-ā	-āte
AII	-īe	-īete
BI	-e	-eto
BII	-ie	-iete
BIII	-e	-ete
BIV	-ā	-ate
BV	-u	-ute

As an example, the imperative form of the Gaulish verb sesît (AII) ‘to sit’ would be: sesîe “(you) sit!” and sesîete “(you all) sit!” When translating to English, the subject “you” or “you (all)” is left out.

PRONOUNS

Gaulish pronouns (like nouns) have different forms for each case.

First Person

	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nom	mī	nīs
Acc	me	nos
Gen	mou	anson
Dat	moi	amē
Inst	me	anse
Loc	me	anse
Possessive Adjective	mouos, -ā, -on	ansonos, -ā, -on

Second Person

	SINGULAR	PLURAL
Nom	tū	suīs
Acc	te	suos
Gen	tou	sueson
Dat	tei	umē
Inst	te	ume
Loc	te	ume
Possessive Adjective	touos, -ā, -on	suesonos, -ā, -on

Third Person

		SING			PLUR
	Masc	Fem	Neut	Masc	Fem	Neut
Nom	īs	si	id	eis	eiās	eiā
Acc	eion	sian	id	eiūs	eiās	eiā
Gen	eio	eiās	eio	eionon	eiānon	eionon
Dat	eiū	eiī	eiū	eiobo(s)	eiābo(s)	eiobo(s)
Inst	eiū	eiī	eiū	eiobi(s)	eiābi(s)	eiobi(s)
Loc	eiū	eiī	eiū	eiobi(s)	eiābi(s)	eiobi(s)

COMPARISON OF ADJECTIVES

In Gaulish, there are three degrees of comparison for the positive form (or the regular form) of an adjective. They are equative, comparative, and superlative.

Equative Adjectives are rendered by the English phrase “as…as.” An example in English would be “The bread is as hard as a rock.” In Gaulish, this equative degree is formed by adding the ending -isetos -ā -on to the adjective root. The thing that X is being compared to (“rock” in the English example) is placed in the instrumental case. The English example translated into Gaulish would be:

bargon essi caletiseton acaunū.

In this example, the adjective caletos, -ā, -on (‘hard’) has the equative suffix –iseton added to the adjective root calet– and agrees in gender with bargon (‘bread’), which is neuter, and the first element of the comparison. The second element of the comparison, acaunon (‘rock’) is placed in the instrumental case.

Another way to express the equative degree is to add the prefix con- to the regular adjective form. For example:

bargon essi concaleton acaunū.

Notice the equative form concaleton only differs from the regular adjective form caleton in that the equative prefix con- has been added on. Nothing else about the adjective changes.

Comparative Adjectives are rendered by the English ‘-er’ as in “taller” and “shorter”. Again, the thing that X is being compared to is placed in the instrumental case. The comparative degree is formed by adding the suffix -iūs (masc. and fem.), -ios (neut.) to the adjective root. For example, if we translated the English sentence “My horse is faster than your horse” into Gaulish, it would be:

epos mou āciūs epū tou.

In this example, the comparative consists of -ius added to the root of ācos, -ā, -on and the horse that the first one is being compared with is placed in the instrumental case, epū.

The -ius comparative forms decline as follows:

SINGULAR			PLURAL
	Masc and Fem	Neuter	Masc and Fem	Neuter
Nom	-ius	-ios	-ies	-iā
Acc	-ian	-ios	-iās	-iā
Gen	-ios	-ios	-ion	-ion
Dat	-ies	-ies	-iobi(s)	-iobi(s)
Inst	-ies	-ies	-iobi(s)	-iobi(s)
Loc	-ies	-ies	-iobi(s)	-iobi(s)

Superlative Adjectives are rendered by the English ‘-est’ as in “tallest” and “shortest.” The superlative degree is formed by adding the ending -isamos, -ā, -on directly to the adjective root. Superlative adjectives also decline like regular 2nd and 1st declension adjectives. If we translated the English sentence “He is the nicest boy” into Gaulish, it would be:

essi mapos suadisamos.

In this example, the superlative consists of -isamos added to the root of suadus, -u.

NOTE: There are additional ways to translate the degrees of comparison, especially when they don’t have an object of comparison. Look at the following examples:

Equative

rēdetsī epon āciseton.

She is riding such a fast horse.

Comparative

rēdetsī epon ācian.

She is riding quite a fast horse.

Superlative

rēdetsī epon acisamon.

She is riding a very fast horse.

These meanings should be kept in mind when composing Gaulish.

Irregular Gradation

Some adjectives in Gaulish have irregular forms of gradation similar to the English “good, better, best” where the root form can change. These irregular forms are listed under the appropriate adjective in the Ueposlougos Nouiogalaticos dictionary and the Iextis Galation grammar For reference, the adjectives are:

adgossus -u “close, near”
biccos -ā -on “little, small”
cintus, -u “first”
dagos -ā -on “good”
drucos -ā -on “bad”
elus -u “many”
isselos -ā -on “low”
iouincos -ā -on “young”
letanos -ā -on “broad, wide”
māros, -ā, on “big, great”
sīros, -ā -on “long”
tresnos -ā -on “powerful”
uxelos -ā -on “high”