Worst case scenario
In light of everything previously said, and bearing in mind what appears to have led to the
creation of the terms based on the element 'chanas', a worst case scenario can be
constructed to explain the possibly false origin of the three terms based on the word 'fuáil'
which are given by Bunting. For the purposes of straightforwardness, older Irish spellings
will be used for the remainder of this page.
Assumptions: Irish antiquarians such as William Beauford are looking for Irish terms for
musical notes. Educated in Latin with a little Greek, they are most likely aware of the
corresponding Greek and Latin words for a musical note, 'φθόγγος' (sound) and 'sonus'
(sound). They presume that the ancient Gael would have followed suit in using the Gaelic
word for 'sound' as the word for a musical note. They are not adept at the grammatical
use of lenition in Irish (eg when to add an H to a word).
They having learned that the Gaelic word for sound is 'fúaimm'. It probably developed in
connection with the word 'úaim' which also means sound. They discover this latter word.
They do not know the meaning of the word 'fuaighel'.
Step: A manuscript of O' Clery's glossary, which contains no English, is consulted. The
entry shows 'uaim .i. fuaighel'. 'Uaim' is misinterpreted as meaning 'sound' and
consequently, 'fuaighel' is misinterpreted as meaning 'sound'. In fact, the word 'fuaighel'
here explains that the headword 'uaim' means 'a seam'; the word 'seam' would more
properly be spelled 'úaimm'.
Step: The entry 'uaim.i. fuaighel' is copied down at some stage without the sign '.i.' which
denotes equivalence in meaning between the two words.
Step: The entry 'uaim .i. fuaighel' is copied down at some stage so that 'uaim' is spelled
'uan'.
Step: The entry is understood second hand as meaning 'a sound'. 'Uan' is interpreted as
representing a badly written number one instead of a badly written 'úaimm' (seam). The
term 'uan fuaighel' (one sound) is conceptualised.
Step: The adjectives 'beg' (small) and 'mór' (big) are applied to 'fuaighel'. The terms
'fuaighel beg' (little sound) and 'fuaighel mór' (big sound) are conceptualised.
Step: 'Beag' is mis-spelled with a BH through being notated by a scribe with no basic
knowledge of Irish grammar who has seen the Irish word for 'little' spelled elsewhere as
'bheag'.
Step: 'Harmony' is posited as an alternative meaning to 'sound'.
Step: William Beauford presents his three terms to Joseph Walker, complete with lenition
difficulties in relation to morphology, gender and meaning.
Step: Edward Bunting posits the three terms as three tunings of the Gaelic harp.