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 Foreign words which retain the foreign stress may come to be regarded as compounds, e.g. d′i·ɔ:ʃi:, ‘diocese’; ʃk′i·æɲk′iʃ, ‘quinsy’, < Engl. squinansy. Several obscure words with stress on the second syllable were probably once compounds, e.g. gæ·ʃα:, ‘panting’ (note however the interjection pα·pα = ‘don’t, don’t touch’); mo·ru:χiL′, ‘scald-crow’, O’R. moruadh, moruach, Di. murthuidhe; p′l′ei·ʃαm, ‘bother, nuisance’ (?); rə·fɔ:r′i:n′, ‘a small shower after a squall’.

The second member seems to receive the stress in verb-forms with o̤n&#8209;, e.g. o̤n·χo̤r̥ə, ‘a match for’, = ionchorrtha Cl. S. 25 vi ’04 p. 6 col. 1. ku:g′ə ·mũ:n, ‘Munster’, ku:g′i(:) ·χo̤Nαχtə, ‘Connaught’ and ku:g′i(:) ·ləiən, ‘Leinster’, are regular but one generally hears ·ku:g′ o̤luw, ‘Ulster’. Adjectives containing N′α̃u&#8209;, O.Ir. neph&#8209;, neb&#8209;, have the stress on the second element, e.g. N′α̃u·αswiαχ, ‘independent’.

Even stress occurs but not exclusively with the prefixes αn&#8209;, ‘very’, drɔχ&#8209;, ‘bad’, d′i:&#8209;, ‘un&#8209;, in&#8209;’, m′i:&#8209;, ‘un&#8209;’, rɔ:&#8209;, ‘too’, e.g. ·an·i:ʃəl, ‘very low’; ·αn·ɔkrəs, ‘great hunger’; ·αN·Lũ:χər, ‘very active’; ·drɔχ·wu:nuw, ‘bad manners’; ·drɔχ·i:v, ‘bad appearance’; ·drɔχ·iəri:, ‘attempt to violate’; ·d′i:·ji:l′ɛαuw, ‘indigestion’; ·m′i:·αNtrα:χ, ‘untimely’; ·m′i:·α:, ‘misfortune’; ·mi:·eid′αχ, ‘impatient’; ·m′i:·hαstə, ‘dissatisfied’ (but also ·m′ihαstə); ·m′i:r′əN has uneven stress because the etymology (mí-ghreann) is obscured; ·rɔ:·wαL, ‘too late’. Further in ə ·jɛəN·tɔʃk′, ‘on purpose’; ·kũ:·jαs, ‘ambidexter’, Di. coimhdheas.

In this particular the Gaelic dialects do not seem to differ very widely, cp. Henderson, ZCP. iv 264 ff. and Finck i 127 ff. The chief cases have been well summarised by Finck and we adopt his arrangement. · before a syllable is employed to denote strong stress, : medium stress and - weak stress. Where necessary special emphasis may be denoted by ;.

A noun as subject is stressed more strongly than the verb, e.g. :henik′ ·mα:r′ə, ‘Mary came’; :ro̤g ə ·wɔ:, ‘the cow calved’; :tα: ·LUχær′ ɔrəm, ‘I rejoice’; ·tɔkrəs ɔrəm, ‘I am hungry’; :N′ï:l′ ·ɔkrəs ɔrəm, ‘I am not hungry’. But ·tα:s əgəm, ‘I know’, ·N′ïl′ əs əgəm, ‘I do not know’, N′i: ·ro:s əgəm, ‘I did not know’, ə ·m′əwəs əgəm, ‘if I had known’, cp. further (ə) ·g′əN′ïstə, ‘unawares’.