The Genius of the Classical Irish Grammarian: The Case of the Unique Finite Verbal Form Beith 'May Be' and the History of the Conjunction Cía 'Though, If, That' From Old to Early Modern Irish

This paper shows that the finite verbal form beith is unique for a variety of different reasons in Early and Early Modern Irish. It also argues that the history of the conjunction cía ‘although’ from Old to Modern Irish has been misunderstood, and that a correct understanding of it is at the core of statements in the grammatical and syntactical tracts.