Page:Alexander Macbain - An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language.djvu/44

xx. leading I. E. series of vowel grada&shy;tions are six in number, as follows:—

Corresponding to the e, o, nil series are the two “strong” vowel grades ē, o, as in sed, sit, sod, sēd, sōd, si‑zd, found in Latin sedeo (sed), G. suidhe (sod), G. sìth [properly sìdh], peace (sēd), Eng. soot (sōd), Lat. sīdo (si‑zd).

The e-series in full is as follows:—

To all these correspond "reduced" long forms—to ei belongs to ī, to eu belongs ū, and to the consonant-vowels corres&shy;pond the long ṝ, ḹ, ṇ̄, ṃ̄. We may also here add the triple ve, vo, u (vet, vot, ut, as in G. feitheamh, ùine, uiridh; vel, vol, ul as in falt, O. Ir., Mod. Ir. folt, olann).

Some Gaelic examples will now be given.