One of the Google on-line reprints (thanks, Mike!) is An Introduction to the Irish Language by Wm. Neilson, 1808. It has quite a few pages of "Familiar Phrases" and "Dialogues", which I skimmed looking for examples relevant to our recent discussions. I came up with the following:

Thank you (but no "you're welcome"):

- Cionas ta Sèan aniu?
- Ta moran nios fearr, a dheagh ghradh, taim buid[h]each dhuitse.

-Fa thuairim do shlàinte. Go raibh maith agad.
(trans. "To your health. Thank you.")

Work and operate:

- Nar oibrigh na hiceadh go mait[h]? [íoca = medicaments]

Bon appétit:

Bigidh go subhach. Go ndeana se mòr mhaith dhuit.
(trans. "Sit ye merry. Much good may it do you.)

There is also a section within "Familiar Phrases" entitled "Promiscuous Phrases". The second phrase listed there is "Ca fhada rachas tu?" (How far will you go?)

Other phrases in the "promiscuous" section include:

Bhfuil tu ar ti mo mharbhadh? (Are you about to kill me?)

Ta fìon agam dhuit. (I have wine for you.)

I laughed at the promisquous phrases, ta siad an greannmhar. :)

Beir bua agus beannacht

Go raibh maith agad, a Dennis. The negative evidence keeps pouring in. . It seems that time and time again, we don't see an answer to "thank you" in any form. Is this because a response to "thank you" was not common or is not common?

I particularly like the Bon appétit phrases. I notice that the fadas in your examples go backwards. Not to be a wise guy (at least this time) but did they use backward facing fadas during this period?

quote:

I notice that the fadas in your examples go backwards. Not to be a wise guy (at least this time) but did they use backward facing fadas during this period?

The story I've heard is that printers often used grave and acute accent marks indiscriminately in that period (17th-early 19th cent.), depending on what they happened to have available. I'm guessing English actually used the grave more often then, to show an uncertain stress ("blessèd" vs. "blessed"). The fact that Scottish Gaelic today still uses the grave rather than the acute ("bàn" vs. "bán") is said to go back to the fact that early printers of ScG texts had happened to have more graves on hand! Sin agat é an scéal, pé scéal é!

An suimiúil a Dennis, GRMA. For a French speaker, this subject could be a grave issue. That is, from what little I learned from studying French, the direction of the accent (grave or aigú,) is all the difference in the world in regard to pronunciation. But once you cross the English channel, or the Irish Sea, an accent is an accent is an accent, I suppose.

From "An Béal Beo" and other sources, I would say the reason that there is no clear cut correspondence for "Thank you/you're welcome" is that such phrases varied according to the subject of the thanks - Ar bPaidreacha Dúchais lists a long list of ways of thanking for snuff, milk etc.