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 compares N. Inverness ʃ with Danish sj ZCP. iv 516. I am not familiar with the latter sound but from Jespersen’s description (Fonetik p. 244) it appears to be formed in somewhat similar manner to Donegal ʃ.

ʃ represents O.Ir. initial s before palatal vowels and before O.Ir. c, l, n, t followed by the same vowels, e.g. ʃαχtin′, ‘week’, O.Ir. sechtman; ʃan, ‘old’, O.Ir. sen; ʃiN′im′, ‘to play a musical instrument’, M.Ir. senim; ʃo:k, ‘hawk’, M.Ir. sebac; ʃu:l, ‘to walk’, M.Ir. siubal; ʃk′αχ, ‘hawthorn-bush’, M.Ir. scé; ʃt′iəL, ‘strip, stripe’, M.Ir. stíall. For examples of ʃL′, ʃN′ see §§ 226, 255.

Medially and finally ʃ arises from O.Ir. ss, s followed by e or i. This ss, s generally arose from the assimilation of two consonants. Examples – αm′ʃir′, ‘weather’, O.Ir. amser; b′r′iʃuw, ‘to break’, M.Ir. brissiud; iN′iʃ imper. ‘tell’, M.Ir. innissim; klæʃ ‘furrow’, M.Ir. claiss (dat.). ʃ also stands medially before L′, N′, r′, m′, t′, k′, e.g. p′iʃr′ɔg, ‘charm’, Di. pisreóg; ʃeʃr′αχ ‘plough’, M.Ir. sesrech; kæʃm′ərt′, ‘squabble’, Meyer caismert; k′l′iʃm′ərNy:, ‘starting up in sleep’, Di. clisim; tæʃm′ə, ‘accident’, Di. taisme; gæʃt′ə, ‘trap’, O.Ir. goiste; iʃk′ə, ‘water’, O.Ir. usce; kæʃk′ïm′, ‘step’, Meyer coss-céimm. Examples of ʃ before p′ do not occur to my knowledge.

As the aspirated form of both s and ʃ is h, confusion is apt to arise. Hence we get ʃ for s in ʃɔ:rt, ‘kind, sort’, spelt seórt Cl. S. 10 x ’03 p. 3 col. 5, Craig Iasg. < Engl. ‘sort’; ʃïl′əstrαχ, ‘yellow iris’, Di. soileastar, M.Ir. soileastar; ʃïlαg, ‘spit’, Di. seil, O.Ir. saile; cp. further Macbain seileach with Di. saileóg; ʃi:l′əm, ‘I think’, M.Ir. sáilim. Conversely su:Ntə, ‘seam in quarry’, stands for ʃu:Ntə = Di. siúnta < Engl. ‘joint’. ʃer′, ‘eastwards’, has been influenced by ʃiər, ‘westwards’, cp. Rhys p. 53.

In loan-words from English ʃ represents Engl. s before e and i sounds and also Engl. j, e.g. ʃɛ:ʃu:r, ‘season’; ʃɛ:məs, ‘James’; ʃα:n, ‘John’; ʃu:krə, ‘sugar’.

The past participle of verbs of the second declension ends in &#8209;i: < uighthe or &#8209;i(:)ʃt′ə. The latter probably arose in some word like iN′iʃ. The two conjugations have been hopelessly confused and we may safely assume that iN′iʃt′ə and iN′ʃi: existed side by side, whence the modern iN′ʃi(:)ʃt′ə.