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 now pronounced m′ɛəwə, sα:wə. Similarly after l and r in αləbə, ‘Scotland’, M.Ir. Alba; kαrəbəd, ‘chariot’, O.Ir. carpat, Gaulish carbantia.

In earlier loan-words a medial p was received into Irish as a lenis which gave the same result as bb, e.g. kα:bə, ‘cape’, Meyer cápa, < O.Fr. cape; o̤bwir′, ‘work’, Lat. opera, O.Ir. only oipred; po̤bəl, ‘congregation’, Lat. populus; p′iəb, ‘throat, pipe’, Lat. pipa, from which are formed p′ïbərNỹ:, ‘wheezing’, p′ïbruw, ‘rousing to fight’; skrɔ:bαn, ‘crop of birds’, formed on Engl. ‘crop’ and ‘scrape’ (?); skuəb, ‘besom’, M.Ir. scuap < Lat. scopa; ʃk′ïbɔl, ‘barn’, O.Welsh scipaur, Cornish scibor, < Lat. *scoparium.

Late loan-words from English have b = Engl. b, e.g. bαbɔg, ‘doll’, < Engl. ‘babe’; bɔbwir′αχt, ‘trickery’, < Engl. ‘bob’; to̤bαn, ‘tub’. In a few instances we find Engl. w, v appearing as b on the analogy of bα:d, ‘boat’, α wα:d, ‘his boat’, e.g. bαLə, ‘wall’; bo̤Ntæʃt′ə, ‘advantage’. Similarly b for m occurs in bo̤mwit′ə, ‘minute’, < Lat. momentum.

t′r′ïblɔd′, ‘trouble’, M.Ir. tréblait, seems to have been borrowed during the M.Ir. period from Lat. tribulatio.

In several cases Donegal b corresponds to bh in the other dialects, e.g. kru:b, ‘paw, hand’, Di. crúb, crobh, Macbain crubh, Meyer crob, crúb; ʃk′r′i:b, ‘scratch, furrow’, M.Ir. scríb, scrípad, Lat. scribo but ʃk′r′iuw, ‘to write’; ʃo̤bərNỹ: (ʃïbərNỹ:), ‘neglect’, gɔl əN′ ʃ., ʃïbərNαχ Cl. S. 30 v ’03 p. 1 col. 1 (used of cattle getting mixed up and going astray), this seems to be the same word as Di. siabrán, &#8209;acht, cp. further Di. seabhais, seabhóideacht, seabhóidim; ʃiəbuw, ‘to blow’, Di. siabhadh, Macbain siab, siabh, Manx sheebey.

mər bwiL′ ʃə, ‘unless he is’, scarcely belongs here. The b doubtless represents the copula inserted from αχ mər b′ə:, ‘if it had not been for him’, in the same way as a meaningless əs (agus) is introduced in gəd′e: mər əs tα: tuw, ‘how are you?’ from phrases like Ni:L′ ʃə kɔ mαiç əs vi: ʃə, ‘he is not as good as he was’.

b′ is formed in the same way as p′ but is voiced.

b′ corresponds to O.Ir. initial b before e and i or preceding l and r followed by these vowels, e.g. b′αn, ‘woman’, O.Ir. ben; b′αNαχt, ‘blessing’, O.Ir. bendacht; b′in′id′, ‘rennet’, O.Ir. binid; b′i:wi:, ‘slyly mischievous’, Meyer bibdaide; b′l′iïn′,