44
- O.Ir. u—diLʹαg, ‘leaf’, Di. duilleog, M.Ir. duille; dinʹə, ‘man’, O.Ir. duine; girʹi꞉nʹ, ‘pimple’, M.Ir. gur, ‘pus’; kʹαrk ꬶyrʹ, ‘a sitting hen’, Di. gor; iLʹə, ‘elbow’, M.Ir. ule; iʃαg, ‘lark’, Macbain uiseag, Manx ushag, Di. fuiseog; kliçə, ‘game’, M.Ir. cluche; krihαχə, plur. of krUw̥, ‘horseshoe’, Wi. crú; kritʹ, ‘hump’, kritʹi꞉nʹαχ, ‘humpback’, M.Ir. crot, cruit; mwirʹ, ‘sea’, O.Ir. muir.
§ 111. In the same way O.Ir. e before palatal consonants has frequently become i, e.g. dʹin̥ʹu꞉r, ‘party of ten’, O.Ir. deichenbor; fʹirʹigʹə, gen. sing. of fʹαrəg, ‘anger’, O.Ir. ferc, ferg; gʹrʹimʹ, ‘morsel, grip’, O.Ir. greimm; kʹiɲkʹi꞉ʃ, ‘Whitsuntide’, M.Ir. cengciges; kʹiʃαn, ‘basket’, Meyer cess; Lʹigʹən, ‘to let, allow’, Wi. lécun; mʹinʹikʹ, ‘frequent’, O.Ir. menicc; mʹirʹigʹ, ‘rust’, O.Ir. meirg; mʹiʃkʹə, ‘intoxication’, M.Ir. mesce; ʃiNʹəmʹ, ‘playing an instrument’, M.Ir. senim; smʹigʹ, ‘chin’, M.Ir. smech; tʹinʹi, ‘fire’, O.Ir. tene.
§ 112. In § 105 we saw that ï occurs in a few verbs ending in dh, gh before tʹ. Similarly i꞉ is shortened to i in verb forms before tʹ and h < fh or th. Henebry mentions this shortening for Waterford (p. 13) but it must be remembered that there is a tendency to shorten all long vowels before h < th in Donegal. Examples—vlʹi(꞉) mʹə, ‘I milked’, infin. bʹlʹiə but past part. bʹlʹitʹə, fut. act. bʹlʹihə mʹə, pres. pass. bʹlʹitʹər, cond. pass. vlʹihi꞉, O.Ir. mligim; gi꞉ (gy꞉), ‘to beseech’, past part. gitʹə, O.Ir. gude; fʹiə, ‘to weave’, pres. pass. fʹitʹər, imperf. dʹitʹi꞉, past part. fʹitʹə; tʹi꞉ ʃə, ‘he sees’, pres. pass. tʹihər dŨw̥, ‘it seems to me’. This shortening is also found in other words, as in g⅄꞉, ‘wind’, gen. sing. gihə; sihər (s⅄hər), ‘labour’, O.Ir. sáithar; tihə, ‘houses’, Di. tighthe; dʹlʹiw̥əl, ‘lawful’, Di. dlightheamhail; riw̥əlʹ, ‘royal’, < *rioghthamhail. In syllables with secondary stress i is common for i꞉ in the participial ending ‑i꞉ʃtʹə (see § 356) as in bʹαhiʃtʹə, bʹiʃiʃtʹə, srïn̥iʃtʹə; also in dʹïmwitʹə, ‘besides’ (§ 105). In the preterite of the verbs si꞉, ‘to sit’, O.Ir. suide; Li꞉ (Ly꞉), ‘to lie’, O.Ir. lige and similar verbs a short or half-long i appears instead of i꞉, y꞉ before the personal pronouns, e.g. lʹi tuw, lʹi ʃə, himʹə.
§ 113. i is frequent in unstressed syllables in place of ə before palatal consonants independent of the quality of the preceding consonant, e.g. α꞉rinʹ, Aran, ïlαn α꞉rənə, Aran Island; bɔχtinʹαχt, ‘poverty’, Di. bochtaineacht; dʹiəLidʹ, ‘saddle’, M.Ir. diallait; əgiNʹ, ‘with us’, O.Ir. ocaind; bʹαχ χαpwiLʹ, ‘wasp’, beach chapaill; kyr̥ʹimʹ, gen. sing. of kɔr̥əm, M.Ir. comthrom; ɔtʹirʹ, ‘turf-bank’, Di. Macbain oitir.