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 either x + αiç or x + αh but the former has been general&shy;ised and αi has been intro&shy;duced into the present system, e.g. skαhuw, ‘to wean’, M.Ir. scothaim, pres. skαihəm, pret. skαiç. Similarly krαihəm, ‘I shake’, M.Ir. crothaim; brαihəm, ‘I betray’, Meyer brath&shy;aigim. Before rʹ, tʹ αi becomes æ (§ ).

αi represents O.Ir. o before a palatal consonant in kαigʹiLʹtʹ, ‘raking the fire’, M.Ir. coiclim. Also in the parts of mohuw, ‘to feel, hear’, fut. mαihaχə mʹə, pret. wα̃ihi꞉ mʹə.

In syllables with secondary stress αi represents an older á before O.Ir. palatal g as in i꞉wα̃iç, ‘image’, Wi. imaig, Atk. imágin; o̤mərwαi`, ‘conten&shy;tion’, M.Ir. immarbáig (dat.). du꞉rαi`, ‘founda&shy;tion’, is evidently O’R.’s dúrtheach, Wi. durthech, daurthech but the formation is by no means plain. Di. has duthrach.

In dα͠ıən, ‘firm’, O.Ir. daingen, we have a triphthong but the whole only counts as one syllable, compar. Nʹi꞉s dαinʹə. In mαiʃtʹirʹ, ‘master’, αi is due to contrac&shy;tion of αji to αi.

αu arises from O.Ir. accented a, e, (o) followed by b (Mod.Ir. bh) + another non-palatal consonant. Before r, l, n αu ends in the bilabial spirant w, which we often denote in writing. Examples—αuwri꞉, ‘Jew’, M.Ir. ebraide, αuwriʃ, ‘Hebrew (language)’, also tαŋ αuwrə; αuwiLʹ, ‘orchard’, Meyer aball; αuwLɔrʹ, ‘cluster of nuts’ (?); αuwLə, ‘wafer’, O.Ir. obla; αuwLɔrʹ, ‘a foolish prater’, M.Ir. oblóir; mʹi꞉ αuwrə, ‘February’, Di. feabhra; fαuwri꞉, ‘eye-lashes’, M.Ir. abra, fabra; fʹiαuwrəs (fʹiəuwrəs), ‘fever’, Keating fiabhras; grαuwər, ‘loose dry turf-mould’, Di. grabhar; kαuwlαχ, ‘fleet’, M.Ir. coblach; kαusə, ‘pathway through boggy land’ < Engl. ‘causeway’; ʃLαuwruw, ‘chain’, M.Ir. slabrad. An obscure word is fαuwrə, ‘eclipse’, henʹi mʹə fαuwr erʹ ə jαli꞉ rɛirʹ, ‘I saw an eclipse of the moon last night’. This is evidently the same as Dinneen’s ur&shy;dhubhadh and Finck’s orə (ii p. 207) the existence of which Pedersen un&shy;necessari&shy;ly doubts (ib. p. 288). In Donegal the word is masc., nom. plur. fαuwri꞉, fαuwriαχə). It may well be that it has been influ&shy;enced by the word for ‘eye-lashes’.

The normal pronunciation of O.Ir. eba, aba may be regarded as o꞉, see §, but in a few cases we find the older stage αuwə preserved, e.g. in αuwək, ‘dwarf, M.Ir. abacc; dαuwi꞉, ‘vat’, gen. sing. dαuχə, nom. plur. dαuwαχi꞉, M.Ir. dabach; dʹαuwi꞉,