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 lobad; LUχærʹ, ‘rejoicing’, M.Ir. luthgáir but Lũ꞉hər, ‘vigorous, nimble’, M.Ir. lúthmar; Uχərtʹ, ‘to wallow’, uchairt Claidh&shy;eamh Soluis 10 x ’03 p. 3 col. 5 (cp. § ). One may also hear U for o̤ in mUk, ‘pig’; mULαχ ‘top’; gUgαn, ‘piggin’; ə dUkfʹi꞉, dá dtugfidhe; bUNtæʃtʹə, ‘advantage’; r̥Utʹi꞉, imperf. pass. of tʹrʹouw, ‘to plough’, also r̥o̤tʹi꞉, r̥ïtʹi꞉; gUtʹə past part. of go꞉m, O.Ir. gabimm (but gytʹə from gydʹ, ‘to steal’, M.Ir. gait), pres. pass. gUtʹər &c.; kUmplαsk, ‘build of a man’ < Engl. ‘com&shy;plexion’; Ubwirʹ, ‘work’; fʹlʹUχ, ‘wet’ beside fʹlʹïχ, fʹlʹo̤χ.

There are several varieties of u꞉-sounds in Donegal. The normal u꞉ I regard as a lowered variety with under&shy;rounding. The absence of well-marked lip-rounding explains how uə can pass into ⅄꞉, iə (infra § ) and further how the same vowel can be reduced to ɔ꞉, ɔ in a syllable before the chief stress (§ ). In the neighbour&shy;hood of palatal conso&shy;nants u꞉ is often like the vowel in German ‘gut’ (high-back-narrow-round). u꞉ tends to pass off into a bilabial w which, however, does not appear before conso&shy;nants.

u꞉ commonly corresponds to O.Ir. ú, e.g. bru꞉tʹə, past part. of bruiəm, ‘I mash, press down’, M.Ir. brúim, bru꞉tʹi꞉nʹ, ‘mashed potatoes’, Di. brúightín; dʹrʹu꞉χtə, ‘dew’, M.Ir. drúcht; ku꞉l, ‘back’, O.Ir. cúl; ku꞉rəmαχ, ‘careful’, Di. cúramach; kuw, ‘hound’, O.Ir. cú; kʹlʹuw, ‘fame’ for *kluw, O.Ir. clú; Lu꞉buw, ‘to bend’, M.Ir. lupaim; Lũhər, ‘nimble’, M.Ir. lúthmar; mu꞉n, ‘urine’, M.Ir. mún; plu꞉χəm, ‘I smother’, cp. O.Ir. múchaim ; su꞉lʹ, ‘eye’, O.Ir. súil; tu꞉rtɔg, ‘hillock’, spelt túrtóg Derry People 21 xi ’03 p. 3 col. 3, Di. turtóg; tu꞉rNʹə, ‘spinning-wheel’, Di. túirne s. túrna; u꞉dəlαn, ‘swivel’, Macbain udalan < O.Ir. utmall; u꞉r, ‘fresh’, M.Ir. úr; uw, ‘udder’, O.Ir. uth. ku꞉rʹiαLtə, ‘neat’ has u꞉, cp. Claidh&shy;eamh Soluis 29 viii ’03 p. 2 col. 5 cúraidh&shy;ealta, against Di., O’R. cuiréalta.

u꞉ also occurs in syllables with secondary stress, e.g. gαsu꞉r, ‘little boy’, Di. gasúr seemingly by form-associa&shy;tion with gas from garsún < Fr. garçon; go̤ru꞉n, ‘haunch’, Di. gurrún; jiərəgnuw, ‘annoyance’, Di. iarghnó; kαsu꞉r, ‘hammer’, Meyer casúr; mʹi꞉ʃtʹu꞉r̥ə, ‘unruly’; pα꞉rdu꞉n, ‘pardon’; pa꞉r̥u꞉s, ‘paradise’, O.Ir. pardus by analogy with words in u꞉s < Engl, ‘house’ as Meyer bacús, to̤Nu꞉s, ‘tannery’, perhaps also with pʹïnu꞉s, ‘penance’, Di. píonús; ʃɛ꞉ʃu꞉r, ‘season’, Di. séasúr; tα꞉Lʹu꞉r, ‘tailor’.