side of ro̤bəL, ko̤ky꞉ʃ. Similarly ə Nïri꞉, ‘last year’, O.Ir. innuraid; glïdi꞉, ‘effeminate, soft person’ (?); rïd, ‘thing’, § 59; lʹo̤m beside lʹïm, ‘with me’; hïsə, ‘you’, O.Ir. tussu, tusso. This uncertainty seems to have existed long ago in the case of the prefix which we find variously spelt aur‑, ur‑, ar‑, er‑, ir‑, cp. ursa, aursa, irsa Wi. p. 868.
§ 104. ï may interchange with e in some words, e.g. dïbər sə, ‘he worked’ but past part. ebʹrʹi꞉ʃtʹə; ʃïlʹəv, ʃelʹəv, ‘possession’; gïrʹidʹ, gerʹidʹ, ‘short’; fʹlʹïn̥uw, ‘sleet’, Di. flichne, flichshneachta. Cp. further § 90.
§ 105. ï occurs sporadically as the reduction of a long vowel. dʹïwælʹ (dʹəwælʹ), ‘want, need of, O.Ir. dígbail; dʹïmwitʹə, ‘apart from, besides’, cp. Derry People 9 ix ’05 p. 2 col. 7, nach maith is cuimhneach linn Domhnall is Diarmuid, Páidin agus Seamuisin; Eibhlin is Anna; Grainne agus Síghle; agus go leór diomaoite diobhtha seo. This form seems to contain the privative prefix dí- followed by mwi꞉tʹə, ‘belonging to, dependent on’, cp. sonas agus seun dhuit fhéin agus do gach duine a bhfuil maoidhte ort (from letter written by J. J. Ward of Tory Island), see also Cl. S. 25 vi ’04 p. 6 col. 1. The shortening in both dʹiwælʹ and dʹïmwitʹə) is probably due to the fact that they commonly stand before the chief stress. O.Ir. cét, ‘first’, seems to have become çiəd < kʹɛəd, which has given çïd. The reason for the shortening is not clear in this case as the word always has the stress. The same applies to ʃkʹïn, ‘knife’, gen. sing. ʃkʹinʹə, dat. sing. ʃkʹinʹ, M.Ir. scían, Craig writes sgean; ʃkʹïrduw, ‘to move quickly, slip off, slip up’, Di. scíordaim; dʹïn̥əs, ‘diligence’, dʹïnəsαχ, ‘diligent’, O’R. díonasach, Di. déanasach. iəri꞉, M.Ir. iarraid, when preceded by ag frequently becomes ïri꞉, ïRi꞉ as in Nʹi꞉Lʹ ʃə αχ ə gʹïri꞉ ə və bʹjɔ꞉, a frequent answer to an enquiry after a person’s health, ‘he’s only just getting along’. Nïnu꞉r, ‘set of nine’, O.Ir. nónbur has perhaps been influenced by dʹin̥ʹu꞉r (Lloyd gives a similar pronunciation for Monaghan and Meath G. J. 1896 p. 147 col. 2). In verb stems the stressed vowel is lengthened by a following gh, but when this gh comes to stand before tʹ the vowel remains short and appears generally as ï, e.g. tö̤uw, ‘to choose’, pret. hö̤꞉ mʹə, pres. pass. tïtʹər, imperf. pass. hïtʹi꞉, past part. tïtʹə (also used as adj. = ‘choice, select, capital’), cp. O.Ir. togu; Nʹiə, ‘to wash’, M.Ir. nige, pres. pass. Nʹïtʹər, imperf. pass. nʹïtʹi꞉, past part. Nʹïtʹə but fut. act. Nʹi꞉hə mʹə. tʹrʹouw, ‘to plough’, M.Ir. trebaim, is treated in the same way, past part. tʹrʹïtʹə.
