Page:The Celtic Review volume 4.djvu/182

 firmamentum, susbailteach (in West Ross) for susbainteach, from susbainn—substantia.

Eanchainn is ‘eanchaill’ in North Argyll and West Ross, sgùlan, ‘sgùlar’ at Blair Atholl, and mugharn ‘mughairl’ in Arran. Muilichinn for muinichill is muilchir in Perth, and we may note Muireall, from Marion, and mairseal in Arran from merchant.

R

‘Cha leig e leas’ is common in Argyll for ‘cha ruig e leas.’ Airean, ploughman, is ailean at Shiskine in Arran. In West Ross Griogarach, MacGregor, is Griogalach; seamrag trefoil, in one pronunciation, silmeag, and ciùrach, small rain, ciùlach. In Kintyre rùdhrach, searching, is rùdhlach.

An earar, day after to-morrow, is an eanar in Kintyre, and MacArtair is MacArtain in Skye.

Àbhairst for àbhaist has been noticed already. Crobhsag, gooseberry, in West Ross, is crobhrsag in East Ross. Tort for tota or tobhta, a piece of turf, is heard at Shiskine in Arran, and tuarnalaich for tuanalaich, dizziness, in Gairloch. Uaigneach, lonesome, is uairgneach in Perth, Strathspey, West Ross, Skye, and Lewis. Eireannach, ivy, apparently for eidheannach, occurs in Arran.

M

M being liquid, nasal, and labial, shares characteristics belonging to all three classes of consonants, When unaspirated and long it follows the other liquids, l, n, and r, in diphthongising or lengthening preceding short accented vowels. It nasalises a neighbouring vowel, but on the whole perhaps not so generally as n does. Marbh, mór, muir, mèag, beum, ceum, feum, geum, leum, teum, com, lom, tom, for example, generally, and less generally fuaim, gruaim, gruamach, uam are exceptions to the rule of nasalisation.

A loss of initial M in patronymics is characteristic of the speech of South Argyll and of Arran. In Kintyre and Arran