Page:Quiggin Dialect of Donegal 0071.png

 dialect. For tα꞉juw, ‘to weld, solder’, M.Ir. táthad see §. Further grõuw, ‘to gain’, Di. gnóth&shy;ughadh.

In unstressed syllables ghth is always silent, e.g. kɔhiər pres. pass. of kɔhuw, ‘to feed, fatten’, Meyer cothaigim; bʹαNỹ꞉, ‘blessed’, Di. beann&shy;uighte (note tʹiNʹəs bʹαNỹ꞉, ‘epilepsy’).

rth, lth in inflected forms of substantives and verbs in un&shy;stressed syllables appear as r, l instead of r̥, l̥, with which compare the loss of h in un&shy;accented syllables in Welsh. Examples—αm αdərə, ‘milking-time’, cp. Di. eadar&shy;shudh, dõ꞉nαχ Nə Nʹαdərαχə, Di. Domhnach na n‑eadar&shy;shuidhe q.v.; gʹrʹi꞉wəri꞉, ‘deeds’, Keating gníomh&shy;artha; ko̤Nərə, gen. sing. of ko̤nṟuw, ‘bargain’, Atk. cundrad, gen. sing. cundartha; Lα꞉ kαskərə, ‘a thawing day’, blɔk kαskərə, ‘a block for splitting wood upon’ = coscartha, gen. sing. of Di. coscairt, Meyer coscrad; vi꞉ mwidʹ ə bw⅄꞉luw n wæʃtʹərə, ‘we were churning’, cp. Di. mais&shy;treadh, gen. sing. mais&shy;teartha; tʹɛəgərαχ, ‘snug’, Di. téagar&shy;thach. Also in the future of verbs with dis&shy;syllabic stem, e.g. gʹrʹisαli ʃə, ‘he will drub’; rõ꞉wərə mʹə, ‘I shall dig’, Di. rómhar; sα꞉wαlə mʹə, ‘I shall save’, Di. sábháil; tʹeʃαnə mʹə, ‘I shall shew’, infin. tʹiʃiNʹtʹ, Di. tais&shy;beáint. Similarly gʹlʹɛəs ïmʹərə, ‘articles for amusement, dice, cards &c.’, Di. imeartha, gen. sing. of imirt.

In a number of words the voiceless sound has given way to the voiced without any apparent reason. Examples—blα꞉nəd, ‘the female of the weasel’, Meyer bláthnait; dʹαlαN dα꞉rə, ‘an ember from the fire made on St John’s eve which is thrown at a cow to make her bear’, = dealán dártha, here the genitive seems to have followed the nomi&shy;native; du꞉rαi, ‘founda&shy;tion’, Di. dúthrach, in Donegal the word is feminine; ïmʹαχt, ‘to depart’, O.Ir. immthecht; kʹerʹə, ‘four’, M.Ir. cethri but always kʹαr̥ər, O.Ir. cethrar (kʹerʹə has probably arisen through being used before the chief stress in such combi&shy;nations as kʹer̥ʹə kʹiNʹ ·dʹɛəg); ræNʹαχ, ‘fern’, more commonly ræn̥ʹαχ, M.Ir. raithnech. The prefix ath‑, ‘re‑’, seems not to unvoice a following lʹ, e.g. ælʹαs, ‘second manure’, = ath-leas; ælʹïguw, ‘a relapse of sickness’, = ath-leagadh. But aw̥ilʹ, ‘change of appear&shy;ance’, = ath-bhuil.

Rarely does it happen that Donegal has a voiceless sound where the other dialects have the voiced. This is the case in bʹal̥uw, ‘grease’, Di. bealadh, Meyer belad; dʹïn̥əsαχ, ‘diligent’, O’R. díonasach, Di. déanasach; el̥ʹidʹ, ‘fawn’, M.Ir. eilit; kʹer̥ʹi꞉nʹ, ‘plaster’, Di. ceirín, Meyer céirín; plα꞉n̥ædʹ, plα꞉n̥ʹædʹ, ‘state of