3. ɛ꞉.
§ 86. ɛ꞉ is the long vowel corresponding to ɛ which occurs in Engl. ‘air’, ‘care’, ɛ꞉ is principally found side by side with the diphthong ɛə which has developed out of it, and goes back to O.Ir. é by compensatory lengthening, when standing before a non-palatal consonant. Thus ɛ꞉ occurs regularly before r, e.g. bʹɛ꞉rLə, ‘English’, O.Ir. bélre; bʹɛ꞉r̥i꞉, vɛ꞉r̥i꞉, futures to bʹerʹəm, verʹəm; gʹɛ꞉r, ‘sharp’, O.Ir. gér, compar. Nʹi꞉s gʹeirʹə; mʹɛ꞉r; ‘finger’, O.Ir. mér; smʹɛ꞉r, ‘blackberry’, M.Ir. smér. Similarly before r < rʹ preceding ʃ in kʹɛ꞉rsαχ, ‘hen black-bird’, Di. céirseach, Meyer céirsech. Also in ɛ꞉r, ‘air’, O.Ir. áer. In some words ɛ꞉ seems to be preferred to ɛə as in ʃɛ꞉məs, ‘James’; ʃɛ꞉su꞉r, ‘season’ and this is particularly the case in words of more than two syllables, e.g. ɛ꞉dɔχəs, ‘despair’, Di. éadóchas, ɛ꞉dɔχəsαχ, ‘despairing’.
ɛ꞉ also occurs by the side of ei before mʹ. This is J. H.’s pronunciation but the younger people prefer ei, e.g. Lʹɛ꞉mʹnʹi꞉, ‘leaping’, O.Ir. léimm; fʹɛ꞉mʹ, ‘use’, fʹɛ꞉mʹu꞉lʹ, ‘useful’, M.Ir. feidm. Parallel forms also exist in the present of the verb ‘to go’, tʹɛ꞉m, ‘I go’, hɛ꞉ mwidʹ or hei mwidʹ, ‘we go’ (also hɛəN, tʹɛəN mwidʹ). The imperative is tʹɛ꞉ or tʹei. These forms are all based on O.Ir. téit which appears as heidʹ. rɛ꞉wɔg, ‘hen-lark, laverock’, is peculiar, as it is doubtless connected with riabhach. Di. has riabhóg, also réabhóg. One might expect rɛ꞉wɔg from the younger people (§ 73) but J. H. should have ö̤꞉.
4. e.
§ 87. By this symbol we denote a close e similar to French é in été. The sound varies between mid-front-wide and mid-front-narrow and occurs before the following palatal consonants—Lʹ, lʹ, Nʹ, nʹ, rʹ, tʹ, dʹ, ç, ʃ.
§ 88. e is the regular representative of O.Ir. accented e before a consonant with palatal temper, e.g. dʹerʹ, ‘says’, O.Ir. atbeir (but dʹɛr sə, ‘he says’); dʹerʹuw, ‘end’, O.Ir. dered; dʹeʃαlαn, ‘crown of the head’, M.Ir. dessel; etʹαg, ‘wing’, O.Ir. ette; etʹirʹə, ‘furrow’, M.Ir. etre; gʹerʹ, ‘tallow’, M.Ir. geir; kʹerʹi꞉nʹ, ‘plaster’, Meyer céirín; ʃelʹəv, ‘possession’, M.Ir. selb; ʃelʹigʹ, ‘hunt, chase’, O.Ir. selg; ʃeʃər, ‘six persons’, O.Ir. seser. Before fʹ, v both ɛ and e may stand, e.g. dʹefʹrʹə, ‘haste’, M.Ir. dethbire; dʹẽvəs, ‘shears’, M.Ir. demess; gʹevrʹuw, ‘winter’, M.Ir. gemred. dʹeç, ‘ten’, O.Ir. deich, when followed by a substantive becomes dʹɛ. e occurs before h in Lʹehədʹ, ‘like’, M.Ir. lethet.
