atáthar; Nʹi꞉ αhαr < ní fhaghthar as in the proverb Nʹi꞉ αhər sæLʹ gən çαNαχt, ‘lard is not got without buying’; mαhærʹ, ‘mother’, O.Ir. máthir; drαh ə Nαmə ʃɔ, ‘about this time’ = i dtráth an ama seo, cp. Craig, Iasg. s. dratha; Lαhirʹ in sə Nαm ə Lαhirʹ, ‘at the present time’, always occurs with α but double forms seem to have existed in the older language.
§ 8. Shortening before a consonant group takes place in Nα̃vdʹə plural of Nα̃꞉widʹ, ‘enemy’, O.Ir. acc. pl. náimtea.
§ 9. Irish throughout its history has never been very careful to distinguish ă and ŏ (cp. Wi. bass, boss) and Donegal speech forms no exception in this respect. In a number of words α commonly appears instead of ɔ, o̤. These are: αgəs, ‘and’, O.Ir. ocus; αskəL, ‘arm-pit’, M.Ir. ochsal; bαrəb, ‘rough’, M.Ir. borb; bαtæLʹtʹə, ‘wap of hay’, Di. batailte < Engl., ‘bottle’; blαgədʹ, ‘bald patch’ if < Meyer’s bloc .i. cruinn; brαhαn, ‘porridge’, Di. Macbain brochán, Meyer brothchán; brαLαχ, ‘breast’, Meyer brollach; fαLænʹ, ‘healthy’, Di. fóllain (cp. Molloy’s 13th dialect-list); fαχlə, ‘parched’, Di. fochla (with different meaning); fαruw, ‘roost’, M.Ir. forud; fαskuw, ‘shelter’, O.Ir. foscad; kαgnuw, ‘to chew’, M.Ir. cocnam; kαL, ‘hazel’, O.Ir. coll; kαskərtʹ, ‘to strike, thaw’, O.Ir. coscar; mαguw, ‘to mock’ < Engl., cp. Louth mogadh; sαp, ‘wisp’, M.Ir. sopp (note ʃïnʹ ə sαp ə row ə tʹiəsk əN, ‘das also war des Pudels Kern’); skαhuw, ‘to wean’, M.Ir. scothaim; spαrαn but also spɔrαn, ‘purse’, M.Ir. sporán; tαrəmαn, ‘noise’, Wi. Ir. T. iv 1 tormán. In other words sometimes α appears, sometimes ɔ, cp. fɔskluw, ‘to open’, fut. Nʹi꞉ αsklαχi꞉. Cp. further §§ 25, 60.
§ 10. α is also frequent in syllables having secondary stress, where it most commonly represents an O.Ir. long vowel. Thus O.Ir. á in the derivative suffix ‑án gives α, e.g. gʹαrαn, ‘horse’, lit. ‘gelding’, M.Ir. gerrán; skαhαn, ‘mirror’, M.Ir. scathán; glu꞉rəkαn, ‘numbness’, cp. tα꞉ ko̤Luw glu꞉rəkænʹ əN mə χɔʃ, ‘my foot is asleep’. As in O.Ir. there are other substantival terminations which give ‑ən in Donegal, e.g. ‑on, ‑un in mecon, in a number of words we find hesitation between ‑αn and ‑ən. Thus the form just mentioned occurs as mʹαkən and mʹαkαn (the word is used principally of ‘carrots’ but it is also applied to the roots of dock and agrimony, Lo̤s Nə mʹαkαn, ‘fungus, moss’). By the side of the regular form Lαhən, ‘wide’, O.Ir. lethan, one also hears Lʹαhαn. Similarly gʹaləwαn, gʹαləwən, ‘sparrow’, Dinneen gealbhan, M.Ir. gelbund; ruəkən, ‘cockle’ = Di. ruacán. Adjec-
