Page:Alexander Macbain - An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language.djvu/39

Rh :b. G. ia, O. Ir. ia. This is due to the influence of a succeed&shy;ing broad vowel. See cia, ciall, cliathach, criathar, fiadh, fianuis, giall, iarunn, liagh, riadh, riar, sgiath, sliabh. Consider these—feuch, lèan, glé, and, possibly, gèadh.

I. E. oi (ōj?). This consistently appears in G. as ao long, O. Ir. ái, ói, later oe, ae, (óe, áe), W., Br. u. See caomh, claon, fraoch, gaoth, gaol, laogh, maoin, maoth, taobh.

I. E. ai can with difficulty be differentiated from oi; certainly not on Celtic ground, nor, indeed, outside Greek and Latin. The following are real cases: G. aois, caoch, saothair, taois.

I. E. eu and ou are also confused together in the modern Celtic languages. They both appear as either G. ua or ò.


 * a. G. ua, O. Ir. úa, W., Br. u.


 * G. buaidh, victory, O. Ir. buaid, W. bud, Gallo-British Boudicca, “Victoria.” See also buachaill, cluas, luath, ruadh, ruathar, truagh, tuath, uasal.


 * b. G. ò; as bòidheach from buaidh, tròcair from truagh, lòchran, còs for cuas.

I. E. au appears in G. as ò or ua, much as do eu, ou. Thus—G. gò, a lie, O. Ir. gó, gáu, W. gau, Br. gaou. Also òigh, virgin, from augi‑, fuachd, uaigneach.

The semi-vowels are denoted by Brugmann as i̯ and u̯, by Henry as y and w; and these forms are used by them not merely for inter&shy;vocalic semi-vowels but also for the diph&shy;thongs which we have printed as ei, oi, ai, eu, ou, au, which Henry, for instance, prints as ey, ew, etc. In this work Fick is followed in the forms of the diph&shy;thongs, and also, where necessary, in his signs for the semi-vowels, viz., y and v, with j and v as signs for the spirants.

I. E. y and j disappear in Gadelic, but are preserved in the Brittonic as i. Thus ìoc, heal, O. Ir. íccaim, W. jach, I. E. yakos, Gr. ἄκος, Skr. yáças; see deigh and òg. For I. E. j, compare G. eòrna, for eò‑rna, *jevo‑, Gr. ζειά, spelt, Skr. yáva; also eud, jealousy, *jantu‑, Gr. ζῆλος, zeal, Skr. yatná.

I. E. v is thus dealt with:—