ni 's

id quod, the usual classical Gaelic with the verb substantive to denote comparative state: tha i ni's fheàrr, she is better, Ir nios, Middle Irish ní is: "thing that is", from ni and is. The usual and true Gaelic form na 's is not a degraded form of Irish ni 's. The Gaelic na of na 's is simply na = id quod (see na); the Irish is some mediæval development with ní, for old ana, id quod, was lost, the simple a (art.) being used now in its stead, as in Old Irish As it was impossible to use a in the comparative construction with clearness, recourse was had to ní is. Thus Irish: An tan do thógradh ní ba mó do dheunamh = Gaelic An tan a thogradh e na bu mhò a dhèanamh. Hence ni 's should never have been used in Scottish Gaelic.