§ 51. u꞉ arises in stressed syllables by contraction of w arising from O.Ir. b, m with the surrounding vowels꞉ kʹũ꞉s, ‘edge, border’, M.Ir. cimas; kũ꞉glαχ, ‘strait of the sea’, Di. cumhanglach, cp. kũ꞉N, ‘narrow’, O.Ir. cumung; ku꞉gʹə mũ꞉n, ‘Munster’, M.Ir. Muman; ũ꞉(w)l, ‘supple, lithe’, O.Ir. umal, ũ꞉(w)luw, ‘obedience’, Di. umhlughadh; u꞉(w)L, ‘apple’, Wi. uball, ubull.
§ 52. gʹu꞉s, ‘fir’, ku꞉gʹ, ‘five’ and ku꞉ʃ, ‘case’, O.Ir. cóic, cóis are exceptional. The first shews shifting of the stress íu > jú, cp. M.Ir. gius, which also occurs in dʹu꞉l gy꞉hə, ‘draught’, dʹu꞉l, ‘sucking’, M.Ir. diul dat. of del, ‘teat’, and in the obscure dʹu꞉Ltuw, ‘to refuse’, O.Ir. díltud. Finck ascribes the u꞉ in ku꞉gʹ, ku꞉ʃ to the influence of the following palatal sounds (i 32) but this will not hold good for Donegal. One might compare kũ꞉- < O.Ir. com- and kũ꞉nuw < O.Ir. congnam.
§ 53. The pronunciation of ao as u꞉ which occurs in the Rosses and other parts of the north I have never heard round Glenties except in fα ·du꞉widə, ‘concerning’, = fa dtaobh de (for fα see § 314). A rounding of ⅄꞉ would give u꞉ and this is probably what has taken place. For fα ·du꞉widə cp. G. J. 1892 p. 145 col. 2 where it is spelt fadu d’é (again 1893 p. 208 col. 1). For ao = u꞉ in Scotch Gaelic see Henderson, ZCP. iv 100. It may be noted that in Anglo-Irish ‘a hornless cow’ (maoilín) is locally called a mu꞉Lʹi꞉nʹ, which seems to shew that this pronunciation of ao has been wide-spread.
9. o̤.
§ 54. We use this symbol to denote the characteristically Irish vowel-sound in the pronunciation of English words like ‘sir’. Sweet analyses it as low-in-mixed-narrow. It is a very troublesome sound to acquire and must be attempted by lowering the tongue from the mid-mixed position. o̤ frequently interchanges with ə and ï (cp. § 103).
§ 55. o̤ represents an O.Ir. o before certain consonants. These are—
- L, e.g. po̤L, ‘hole’, M.Ir. poll; No̤Likʹ, ‘Christmas’, Wi. notlaic, nodlaig; bo̤Lsirʹə, ‘crier in court’, Di. bollsaire; ko̤Luw, ‘sleep’, O.Ir. cotlud; to̤L, ‘bulging out after being pressed in’ of wool, feathers &c., M.Ir. toll; sto̤Lirʹə, ‘rough, heavy girl’, Di. stollaire.
