eud, eug, eudann, éiginn, geug. The negative ṇ appears before vowels as an, before c, t, and s, as eu, éi: eutrom, éislean, &c. The most curious result arises from ‑ṇgm‑, which ends in G. as eum‑; see ceum, W. cam, leum, W. lam, and add teum, W. tam, from *tṇd-men.
Before the medials b, d, g, both ṇ and ṃ become in (ion), im (iom), and original in retains its i (cf . fionn). Thus we have im‑, iom- from ṃbi, Lat. ambi, also ìm, ionga, imleag, ciomach.
I. E. “r” and “l” Liquids.
Gaelic r and l represent the I. E. liquids r and l. Initially we may select ràmh, reachd, ruadh, rùn, loch, laigh, labhair, leth; after p lost—ro, ràth, làmh, làn, làr. Medially r and l are “aspirated,” but the sounds have no separate signs—dorus, tulach, geal, meil, eile, seileach, etc. Post-consonantal r and l appear in sruth, srath, etc., cluinn, fliuch, slug, etc. In ‑br, ‑tr, ‑dr, the combinations become ‑bhar, ‑thar, ‑dhar, while in ‑cr, ‑gr, ‑bl, ‑tl, ‑dl, ‑cl, ‑gl the respective explosives disappear with lengthening of the preceding vowel. For ‑sl, see below (‑ll).
Ante-consonantal r and l preserve the explosives after them—ard, bard, ceart, neart, dearg, dearc, allt, calltuinn, gilb, balg, cealg, olc, etc.
Gaelic ‑rr arises from ‑rs; see bàrr, èarr, carraig; from the meeting of r with r, as in atharrach; from rth, as in orra from ortha, Lat. orationem. Again ‑ll comes from ‑sl, as in uaill, coll, ciall, etc.; especially from ‑ln‑, as in follas, ball, feall, etc.; from ‑ld‑, as in call, coille, and many others.
Gaelic ‑rr arises from ‑rp; corran, searrach (St.); Ir. carr, spear, cirrim, I cut, forrach, pole. KZ. 35.
I. E. “n” and “m” Nasals.
I. E. n and m appear normally in G. as n and m, save that I. E. terminal m in neuter nouns, accusative cases, and genitives plural, became in Celtic n. (1) Initial n appears in nead, Eng. nest, neart, neul, nochd, naked, night, nathair, nuadh, nasg, na, not, etc. (2) After an initial mute, n appears in cnàimh, cneadh, cnò, gnàth, etc. After s, in snàth, snìomh, snuadh, snigh, sneachd. After b it changes the b into m (mnatha for *bnâs). (3) Intervocalic n is preserved—bean, làn, maoin, dàn, rùn, dùn, sean, etc. (4). Preconsonantal n is dealt with variously:
- a. Before the liquids, n is assimilated to m and l, and disappears before r.
