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 Di. duibhéan (‘cormorant’), bʹαrαd, ‘cap’, Di. bairéad has doubtless been in&shy;fluenced by some word like bʹαruw, M.Ir. berrad, ‘to shave, dress the hair’. In any case the Donegal form has kept the α which we should expect from the Munster form. bearad which Dinneen gives as the Donegal form should have the length-mark. Dinneen’s sources of informa&shy;tion for Donegal forms, J. P. Craig and J. C. Ward, un&shy;fortunate&shy;ly make a practice of omitting the length-mark in ‑án, ‑áil, ‑óir &c., which is most repre&shy;hensible, as their manner of spelling gives no clue to the pronun&shy;ciation.

Donegal Irish shews a distinct preference for α before χ in the termina&shy;tion ‑ach (O.Ir. ‑ach, ‑ech), e.g. αLαχ, ‘cattle’, O.Ir. ellach; əmα꞉rαχ, ‘to-morrow’, M.Ir. i mbárach; gʹαrαχ, gen. sing. of gʹerʹ, ‘tallow’; ïmʹαχt, ‘to depart’, M.Ir. imthecht; rαplαχαn, ‘rough and ready going fellow’, cp. rαpləhu꞉tə, ‘hubbub’, Di. rapla húta; ʃeʃrʹαχ, ‘plough’, M.Ir. sessrech; tʹαLαχ, ‘hearth&shy;stone’, M.Ir. tenlach; ũ꞉hαχə, ũ꞉kαχə, ‘caves’, plur. of ũi.

This same fondness for α before χ is further seen in accented syllables in the case of diph&shy;thongs, which contain ə as their second element, e.g. fʹiαχ, ‘crow’, O.Ir. fíach; fʹiαχə, ‘debts’, also plur. of fʹiə, ‘deer’, M.Ir. fíad; fʹiαχælʹ, ‘to try’, Wi. féchaim; kʹɛαχt, ‘plough’ (not common), O.Ir. cécht; pʹrʹɛαχtə, ‘perished with cold’, Di. préachta; uαχə. plur. of uw, ‘udder’, M.Ir. uth; uαχt(ə), ‘pledge’, Di. udhacht.

In proclitics α represents a variety of vowels: fα, ‘about’, Di. fá (for the form v. § ); α heinʹ, ‘himself, é fhéin; α Nʹα꞉n̥iNʹ, dia dheán&shy;fhainn; dʹα ·hi꞉nʹə, ‘Friday’, dia haoine ; α, ‘descend&shy;ant’ (in proper names) α bwi꞉Lʹ, ‘O’Boyle’, the full form is ɔ꞉; mα (mə), ‘my’, O.Ir. mo.

α꞉ represents in this book the vowel-sound in French ‘rage’ (= a꞉ ) which is the same sound as the short α but leng&shy;thened. It remains in&shy;dependent of the quality of the following consonant, as in dʹα꞉n, ‘ferry’, gen. sing. dʹα꞉nʹ; grα꞉Nə, ‘ugly’, comp. grα꞉kʹəgrα꞉Nʹə [sic]; krα꞉nʹ, ‘sow’.

Most frequently α꞉ arises from O.Ir. á in an accented syllable: fα꞉gælʹ, ‘to leave’, Wi. fácbaim; fα꞉s, ‘to grow’, Wi. ás; grα꞉nʹ, ‘disgust, dislike’, M.Ir. gráin; krα꞉fʹαχ, ‘religious’, M.Ir. cráibdech; Lα꞉n, ‘full’, O.Ir. lán.

O.Ir. a in accented syllables followed by d, g (Mod.Ir. dh, gh) preceding w < O.Ir. m, b gives α꞉, e.g. α꞉məd, ‘timber’,