Page:The Celtic Review volume 3.djvu/242

 tharad, etc., agam, agad, againn, agaibh (but not aca), and the island name Arainn.

Arran a, Kintyre e:—

Àmhghair, smàl, amhaich, amhairc, amharus, damh, damhsa (dance), amadan, annamh (rare), Samhradh, Samhuinn.

Arran and Kintyre a:—

Àbhaist, àlainn, Sàbaid, abaich, abhainn, athais, labhair (speak), latha (day), rabhadh, falamh, talamh, etc.; words in which a becomes au in the north, and those with long l which do not show au in the north, Alba, balbh, etc.

The capriciousness of the change is shown by its occurrence in so many words in one district and not in another, and also by such details as that àlainn has è at the north end of Arran, the lists above being from the south end, and that aca (at them) has a, while agam (at me), etc., and faca (saw) have e.

The presence, or introduction through inflection or otherwise, of the vowel i in the same syllable prevents the change to e, or causes the sound to revert to a again. For example, à is changed to è in the nominatives càl, nàmhaid, but not in càil (gen.), nàimhdean (plu.). It is è in slàn, nàraich, càramh, but à in slàinte, nàire, càirich. It is e (open) in agam, asad, againn, agaibh, in asam, asad, as, asainn, etc., but not in aige, aice, aiste, and in thar, tharam, tharad, etc., but not in thairis. The influence of i may be exerted even from the following syllable. In blàth (warm) and blàthas (warmth) à sounds è, but is à again in blàthaich (to warm). So in the nominatives athair, màthair, bràthair, nathair the vowel of the first syllable is a (à), but in the genitives athar, màthar, bràthar, nathrach it is e (è). In amhach (neck) the first vowel is sounded e in Kintyre, but in Arran, where the word is amhaich, it is sounded a. In a number of cases in which a is not changed to e in Arran, it may be observed that i is the sounded vowel of the following syllable. So incompatible with i is the