described by Lloyd (G. J. 1896 p. 146), who states that “adh, agh appear to have three sounds, viz. that of eu in French, ö in German, or that commonly given to ae”. Lloyd evidently did not know the French and German sounds he mentions but one of his three sounds is doubtless my ö̤. The last mentioned pronunciation is that of the younger people in Donegal, for a description of which see § 95. O’Donovan in his Grammar p. 9 makes ö̤꞉ and ⅄꞉ identical in North Ulster, whilst for South Ulster and Meath he gives the pronunciation of ö̤꞉ as ɛə. It may be noted that both ⅄꞉ and ö̤꞉ have the same sound in some dialects of Scotch Gaelic though in this case it is a low-front and not a high-back sound (ZCP. iv 99).
§ 70. ö̤꞉ arises chiefly from O.Ir. accented a preceding d, g (Mod.Ir. dh, gh), except when w follows (§ 17). A following vowel is absorbed. This only occurs in stressed syllables. Elsewhere final ‑ad might be expected to give ö̤꞉ but it was rounded to ‑uw. Examples—gö̤꞉r, ‘hound’, M.Ir. gadar; klö̤irʹə (kləirʹə, kleirʹə) has not a bad meaning in Donegal but is used like Engl. ‘my fine fellow’, Meyer cladaire; Lö̤꞉duw, ‘to lessen’, Di. laghdughadh, cp. Atk. lagatus; Lö̤꞉χ, ‘handsome’, Di. lághach, the younger generation has Lɛəχ, compar. Lö̤iə; Lö̤꞉r; ‘toe’, M.Ir. ladar, gen. sing. Lö̤꞉rʹə; mö̤꞉r, ‘sprat’, Di. maghar, Macbain maghar, Cormac magar[A 1]; ö̤꞉rk, ‘horn’, O.Ir. adarc (younger generation eərk), gen. sing. eirʹkʹə, dat. sing. eirʹkʹ; slö̤꞉dαn, ‘a cold’, O’R. slaighdeán, Di. slaodán (also sLαidαn, sLe꞉dαn); sö̤꞉, ‘tang of a pitch-fork &c.’, O’R. sadh, ‘a long knife or dagger’, Macbain saidh, ‘a handle or the part of a blade in the handle’, Di. has only sámhthach, ‘helve’; sö̤꞉d, ‘a flint’, i.e. *saghad < Di. saighead, Wi. saiget (note the interesting change of meaning, mʹɛ꞉rαg is the term now applied to the flints shot by the fairies at cattle); tö̤꞉g, ‘Thady’, M.Ir. Tadg; rö̤꞉rk, ‘sight’, Wi. radarc, rodarc.
ö̤꞉ also occurs in sö̤꞉rkαn, ‘primrose’, Wi. sobarche (Craig writes samharcan but wrongly as the vowel is not nasalised); ö̤꞉Ntəs, ‘wonder’, ö̤꞉Ntαχ, ‘wonderful’, M.Ir. ingnáthach, see § 303.
- ↑ Cp. the verse—
tʹrʹi꞉ wö̤꞉r sα(꞉)iç ə skαdænʹ,
tʹrʹi꞉ skαdænʹ sα(꞉)iç ə wrαdænʹ,
tʹrʹi꞉ brαdænʹ sα(꞉)iç ə ro꞉nʹ,
tʹrʹi꞉ ro꞉Nti꞉ sα(꞉)iç Nə mwikʹə mαrə,
tʹrʹi꞉ mo̤kə mαrə sα(꞉)iç ə vi꞉lʹ wo꞉rʹ,
tʹrʹi꞉ mʹiəLtə mo꞉rə sα(꞉)iç ə χrαgαdænʹ χro꞉nʹ (the great Krakenn).
