>Happened to stumble on this the other night: > http://www.28thmass.com/Article_Pronounciation.htm >Looks like "Faugh a Ballaugh" and the other variants are only phonetic >spellings (using English rules, no less <G>) of "Fág an Bealach". >I thought it might be an archaic spelling, but this settles it. Judging >from page 5 in the link above, this was being discussed 20 years before >the ACW. Reference: Teach Yourself Irish by Miles Dillon and Donncha O'Cronin: There is an aspiration, if that is the right word, which is symbolized by the gh at the ending of a word (gh in old Gaelic is an Irish 'g' with a dot over it) Which according to the book gives the sound of 'y' in yet if the vowel is slender e, i, y etc. or like 'g' in "northern German" in magen, bogen if the vowel is broad a, o, u. The 'y' in yet is a tiny rush of air in the forward part of the mouth. What the German sound is I cannot say but only imagine from the German I have heard. But the rush of air in the mouth in the "Lough" in "Lough Gill" tends to create a voiceless escape of air for the end of the word and might give a dozen sounds depending on the speaker and certainly dozens of small variants if the hearer was a native English speaker. When we pronounce 'hollow' vs 'hallo' there is an imperceptible air rush on 'hollow' which is not there (now this is perhaps my own way of pronouncing not a normal one...) in hallo. What is the point you might rightfully ask. The language is a living thing pronounced differently in different locales and the some total of what was rhymed on the Website given by Dennis leads us closer to some pronunciation which moves toward to various Gaelic variants as we make the adjustments. The spelling problem is what we run into in our search of old manuscripts etc. especially if you are dealing with a people who in general are unlettered as (at least mine were) our forefathers were. James Stephens the Fenian leader called himself the hawk (seabhac) which turned into "Mr. Shook" in English newspapers. Now there is one to ponder. Mike