Note 46 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
There is reason to think that ge b'e is corruptly used for cia b' e. Of the former I find no satisfactory analysis. The latter cia b' e is literally which it be, or which it were; which is just the French qui que ce soit, qui que ce fût expressed in English by one word whosoever, whichsoever. We find cia used in this sense and connection, Psal. cxxxv. 11. Glasg. 1753. Gach uile rioghachd mar an ceadn' cia h-iomdha bhi siad ann, All kingdoms likewise, however numerous they be. See also Gen. xliv. 9, Rom. ii. 1.