Page:Alexander Macbain - An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language.djvu/51

Rh Initial q simple. See caraid, W. câr, ceud, first, W. cynt, coille, W. celli, cas, W. coes, coileach, W. ceiliog, etc.

Initial q labialised, that is, qv: casd, W. pâs, ciall, W. pwyll, ceithir, W. pedwar, ceann, W. pen, coire, W. pair, co, W. pa, cruimh, W. pryf.

It seems clear that G. g at times represents I. E. k, q, as W. has the latter. Compare G. geug with W. cainc, Skr. çañku; but W. ysgainc shows the reason for the anomaly—an s initial has been dropped, and in dropping it the G. reduced c to g. Further compare garmainn, giomach. Cf. dias.

(2) Intervocalic k, q. The G. is ch, W. g, b. Compare cruach, W. crûg, fichead, deich, loch; also each, W. ebol, seach, W. heb, etc.

(3) Pre-consonantal k, q. Before r, l, n, the c disappears with compen&shy;satory lengthen&shy;ing as in deur, Lat. dacrima, meur, dual, muineal, tòn; and compare Prof. Strachan’s deriva&shy;tions for mèanan, breun, càin, lèana. With s, the result in G. is s, O. Ir. ss, W. ch, as in uasal, W. uchel. Before explo&shy;sives, cb, cd, cg do not appear; ct becomes chd, for which see under t (4); for c‑c, see paragraph (5) here.

(4) Post-consonantal k, q. After r and l, the guttural appears as c, as in cearc, uircean, malc, olc, falc, etc. After n (m), it sinks to g, with a preceding long vowel, as in eug, breug, already discussed. After s, the c is preserved, but in G. it is written as g, as in measg, nasg, teasg, etc. After explo&shy;sives, the t and d of the prefix or root preserves the c following, for which see under t and d pre-consonantal. For c or g before c, see next paragraph.

(5) Intervocalic Gaelic c. It may arise from ‑tk, ‑dk, ‑kk, ‑gk. From ‑tk in freic&shy;eadan (*frith-com-et-án); ‑dk in faic, acarach, ruicean, acuinn; ‑kk in muc, *mukkus, cac, craicionn, ìoc, leacainn; from ‑gk in bac, boc, breac, cnoc, gleac. The word mac, son, postu&shy;lates a Gadelic makko‑s as against the Ogmic maqvi (gen.) and W. mab; it is difficult to account for the G. form.

These consonants all, save in one case, appear in G. as g, aspirated to gh, and W. shows g and nil in similar circum&shy;stances. The exception is in the case of ꬶ, which when labial&shy;ised, becomes G. and W. b. But ꬶh, whether labial&shy;ised or not, becomes g in G.

(1) Initial I. E. g: in guth, gin, gnàth, geimheal, gò. I. E. gh is in geamhradh, gabh, gag, geal, white, I. E. ꬶ simple appears in geal, leech, goir, goile, gearan, guala, gràdh; I. E. ꬶh in