The aspirated _d_ or _g_ is dropped, as in _blienee_, just as from Jocelyn of Furness (1180) we learn that the pronunciation of _tighearn_ was at that time _tyern_, though in Irish _tigerna_. Another Gaelic Scotticism is the manner of treating _n_ in the preposition _in_. In early Irish the _n_ disappears before _s_ and _p_; here it is retained, as _insaere_, _inpett_. We also find _ibbidbin_ for _im-bidbin_ and _ig-ginn_ for _in-cinn_. Thus the two peculiar features of Celtic grammar known as aspiration and eclipsis, or vocalic infection and nasal infection of tenues, are observed. The great rule for spelling known as “Leathan ri leathan is caol ri caol,” that is, “broad (vowel) to broad, and small (vowel) to small,” forced on Scottish Gaelic from Ireland, is, with very rare exceptions, ignored in the Book of Deer. The orthography of the latter has many contractions, and is more phonetic than that of the Irish MSS. All of which peculiarities and circumstances point to the conclusion arrived at by Celtic scholars in general, that the Scottish Gaelic dialect of the eleventh and the twelfth centuries, and especially the accent, differed much from the language of educated Irishmen. The next two literary monuments of this vernacular, namely, those of the Dean of Lismore and of Duncan Macrae of Inverinate, both of whom wrote phonetically, bring out this difference between the two dialects still more clearly. It is an interesting fact, apparent from the Book of Deer, that the present Aberdeenshire, now so Teutonic, was, when the entries were made, a Gaelic-speaking district. The names of the kings, mormaers, and toisechs mentioned are all Celtic, indeed most of them are common enough names to-day in the Highlands,—Cathal, Domnall, Muridach, Maelcolum, Cainnech, Donnchad, Gartnait, Aedh, Comgall, Maledoun, Matadin; Nectan was Bishop of Aberdeen, Leot Abbot of Brechin, Domangart, a ferlegin or “man of learning,” and Cormac Abbot of Turiff. A few are non-Celtic, such as Andrew, Samson, and David. Unhappily, in these records the names of women do not figure much. Two very euphonious and beautiful ones, however, are given,—Eua, the “wedded wife” of Colban, and Ete, daughter of Gillemichel. It is a wonder that these delightful names, especially Ete or Eite, have gone out of use in the Highlands. The Celts seem to have had a genius for coining melodious appellations, sweet and endearing, as well as strong, rough, and uncouth. Unlike Adamnan’s _Vita Columbæ_ and Bede’s _History_, there is no hint in this MS. of any language other than Latin and Gaelic. The latter was in evidence in the Courts of Banff and Aberdeen, and we would gather from the line of vernacular inserted in the Latin fragment of an Office for the Visitation of the Sick that the monks of Deer were more familiar with their Gaelic than their Latin; for in the Irish Book of Dimna the direction is not the Gaelic “Hisund dubeir sacorfaic dau,” but it is the Latin “Das ei Eucharistan.”