Page:Alexander Macbain - An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language.djvu/49

Rh (2) Intervocalic I. E. bh, G. bh (= v), O. Ir. b, W. f. See abhainn, cràbhach, dubh, gobhal.

(3). Pre-consonantal bh or b.
 * a. Before r it remains—abhra, gabhar, dobhar, Gaul. dubrum.
 * b. Before l it disappears with compensatory lengthening—neul for neblo‑s.
 * c. Before n it becomes mh now—sleamhuinn is for *slibno‑s, Eng. slippery; so domhain. These are I. E. b.
 * d. Before t, I. E. b becomes ch as in drùchd.

(4) Post-consonantal b, bh. It is preserved after the liquids r and l—carbad, cearb, earb, gilb, sgolb. After m it preserves the m, as in im‑, iom- from ṃbi, ambi. After s it is preserved in eabar; after d in abair, leòb, faob, aobrann; perhaps after g in leabaidh, *leg-buti- (?).

(5) Gaelic intervocalic b. In reub and gob we seem to have a suffix ‑bo‑, *reib-bo‑, gob‑bo; also cliob from clib-bo‑, root qḷg, Gr. κολοβός, stumpy (?). Oftenest b is produced from a previous d, especial&shy;ly of the prefixes—as abair, abadh, faob, etc. (see the paragraph above).

Initially this is Celtic t; intervocalic, it is aspirated, and otherwise it is variously modified.

(1) Initial t, G., O. Ir., W. t. See, among many, tiugh, tar, teth, teich, tais, tora, tlàth, tnùth, tri, treabh.

(2) Intervocalic t, G. th (= h), O. Ir. th (d), W. d. See athair, màthair, ith, roth, ceithir, leth, etc. Sometimes in non-accented syllables it appears as dh, as in biadh from *bîvoto‑s, and this is always the case with the infin&shy;itives in ‑atu- (glan-adh). Irregular&shy;ly fàidh for fàith.

(3) Pre-consonantal t not initial. Before r it is preserved, as in criathar, briathar, etc. Before l it dis&shy;appears with compen&shy;satory lengthen&shy;ing—sgeul, W. chwedl, òl, beul, etc.; so before n, as in eun. Before s the t dis&shy;appears and the s is preserved, as in miosa, ris, sàs. Words like fios are from vid-s-tu‑, formerly explained as from vid-tu‑. Before another t, t is preserved in the resultant t of G., as in ite, etc.; ‑td- seems to become ‑dd‑; ‑tc- becomes O. Ir. cc, G. c, as in freic&shy;eadan; ‑tg- becomes gg, that is g, as in freagair.

(4) Post-consonantal t. After r and l it is preserved, as in beart, ceart, ceirtle, alt, falt; after n and m it sinks to d, as in ceud, etc. As seen, ‑bt becomes ‑chd, as in druchd, while ‑pt is in seachd. After c or g, the t sinks in G. to d, preserv&shy;ing the