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 t′ is prefixed to a feminine substantive beginning with ʃ followed by a vowel or L′, N′, when the article an precedes, and also to masculine and feminine substantives under similar conditions when preceded by a preposition and the definite article, e.g. ə t′αnvαn, ‘the old woman’; ə t′l′iʃ, ‘the chip’; er′ ə t′r′αχtə, ‘on the snow’. Masculine substantives which in O.Ir. began with e, i take t′ after the article in the nominative singular, e.g. ə t′αLαχ, ‘the cattle’, but l′eʃ ə N′αLαχ, ‘with the cattle’. However the younger generation is beginning to introduce t′ in the latter case also.

Medially and finally t′ arises from an earlier tt which originally stood before e or i. In O. and M.Ir. tt, t is written. Examples – α:t′, ‘place’, M.Ir. áit; æt′ənαχ, ‘furze’, M.Ir. aittenn; et′ɔg, ‘wing’, O.Ir. ette. Similarly in the loan-word L′it′ir′, ‘letter’, O.Ir. liter, Welsh llythyr. t′ (< t) also occurs after L′, N′, r, ʃ in native and borrowed words, e.g. ku:rt′, ‘visit’, O.Ir. cúairt: k′eʃt′, ‘question’, M.Ir. ceist, < Lat. quaestio; kyN′t′iN′, ‘dispute’, < Lat. contentio; d′α mα:rt′, ‘Tuesday’, Lat. Martis; sLα:N′t′ə, ‘health’, M.Ir. sláinte.

t and t′ frequently interchange initially, see § 383. t′ regularly appears in t′ït′əm′, ‘to fall’, M.Ir. tuitim; t′iL′uw, ‘to deserve, additional amount’, M.Ir. tuilled. The Donegal form of Di. aistear is αster (χlïN′ə), ‘labour’.

t′ results from i. d′ + h (< fh, th) in gyt′ə m′ə, ‘I shall steal’, pres. pass. gyt′ər, past part. gyt′ə; trït′ə m′ə, ‘I shall fight’, imperf. pass. r̥ït′i:; brït′ə m′ə, ‘I shall nudge’, Di. broidighim; ʃeit′i ʃə, ‘it will blow’, Di. séidim. ii. th + sh in L′et′eçə, ‘a half-hide’, = leath-sheithche (also called L′α`ʃeçə), but ·L′α·hα:stə, ‘half-satisfied’. iii. d + ch in t′i:m, ‘I see’, M.Ir. atchímm. iv. the third singular termination &#8209;adh becomes &#8209;ït(′), ət(′), &#8209;it′ when followed by one of the pronouns e:ʃe: [sic] ʃi: ʃiəd, e.g. gə wi:t′ ʃə, ‘that he would get’. Pedersen maintains that the syllable is &#8209;əd and not &#8209;it′ (p. 161). What I believe I hear is t(′) or a lenis t(′) (see infra § 393).

In αχmwirt′, ‘heat in horses’, t′ has taken the place of k′, cp. Di. eachmairc.

A parasitic t′ is frequently added to words ending in l′, n′, ʃ, e.g. sα͠uwiL′t′ in N′i: αkə m′ə ə sα͠uwiL′t′ də wrĩ:, ‘I never saw such a woman’, Di. samhail; kyN′æL′t′, ‘to keep’, Di. congbháil; fα:gæL′t′, ‘to leave’, M.Ir. fácbáil and so with other infinitives in &#8209;æl′, k′r′ed′væL′t′, æd′væL′t′; bwiN′t′, ‘to pull,