òirleach, inch; Tearlach, Charles. It is found in part of West Ross and in Lewis in Beurla; dòrlach, handful; and the surname MacPharlain, MacFarlane; in West Ross in addition in atharla and garlach, peevish creature, and in Lewis in fairtlich, baffle, ‘faillich,' and in North Sutherland in Beurla. Urlar, floor, which is so pronounced in East Perthshire, is in MacAlpine's opinion properly unnlar, and is ùllar in Arran, Glenlyon, Strathspey, and, with u nasal, in West Ross, and iùllar in North Sutherland.
Atharnach, ‘red land,’ that is land cleared of a crop of potatoes or turnips, is athainneach in Badenoch. The word is popularly thought to be from eòrna, barley—ath-eorna-ach—which is usually sown in ‘red land,’ and is written also aithearnach and aitheornach.
Assimilation Externally
A final n or m in proclitics also is assimilated to or disappears before certain initial consonants, especially in the northern dialect. The proclitics in question include the article an, nan, the relative an, the plural possessive pronoun an, the preposition an, the interrogative an, and the conjunctions an and na’n if; gun’n, that; mu’n, before. For example, an la, the day, is a' la, and nan laogh, of the calves is na’ laogh. So na tighean aig a’ robh e, for na tighean aig an robh e, the houses at which he was; na h-eòin agus a’ nid the birds and their nests, for na h-eòin agus an nid; chaidh a’ losgadh, they were burnt, for chaidh an losgadh; chaill iad a’ saothair, they lost their labour, for an saothair, and so on. This loss or absence of n is seen before words beginning with l, n, r, or s, and sometimes also before initial d or t. Before b, f, and m, also this n, which appears as m where it has not been lost, is often wanting in the north, as a’ baile for am baile, the town; chaidh a’ bristeadh for chaidh am bristeadh, they were broken; a’ fraoch for am fraoch, the heather; ann a’ fàsach for ann am fàsach, in a wilderness, a’ mac for am mac, the son; tha iad le a’ maighstir (for am maighstir), they are with their master.
