§ 106. In Donegal O.Ir. accented e appears as i (i.e. ï) before g whether arising from O.Ir. c or d, g (i.e. Mod.Ir. dh, gh). Examples—bʹïg, ‘small’, O.Ir. becc; bʹlʹïgən, ‘to milk’, M.Ir. blegon (Finck gives blān as the Aran pronunciation); fʹïg, ‘a fathom’, M.Ir. ed (also fʹα꞉, fʹə⅄), erʹ fʹïg, ‘throughout’; fʹïg, ‘rush’, Di. feog, feag; fʹïgαn, ‘the rim of a spinning wheel’, O.Ir. fedán (?); fʹlʹïg, ‘chickweed’, Hogan fliodh, fligh, Di. flich; fʹrʹïgrə, ‘answer’, O.Ir. frecre; ïg, ‘notch’, Di. eag s. feag and neagaim, Macbain eag, Wi. fec (?), from this word two names of diseases seem to come, viz. ïgə ꬶUw̥, ‘black hives’, ïgə jαrəg, ‘red hives’; ïglə, ‘fear’, O.Ir. ecla; ïgliʃ, ‘church, clergy’, O.Ir. eclais, ïgləsαχ, ‘clergyman’, Di. eaglaiseach; ïgnə, ‘shrewd’, O.Ir. écne; kʹrʹïg, ‘crag’, Meyer crec; Lʹïgən, ‘overthrow’, Keating leagadh; ʃLʹïg, ‘spear’, M.Ir. sleg (cp. § 170). Further in one pronunciation of the word for ‘arrears’, rïgræʃtʹə, the formation of which is obscure (cp. § 170). ꬶ has not passed into g in tʹïꬶəlαχ, ‘family’, O.Ir. teglach. In this connection we might mention ïꬶəri꞉m, ‘I adore’, O.Ir. adraim (but see also § 170); fʹïꬶəriαχt, ‘likeness, picture’, M.Ir. figuir.
This change of O.Ir. e to i has doubtless been wide-spread, witness the frequency with which it appears for ea in writers of the seventeenth century, cp. O’Donovan, Grammar p. 18 and compare the pronunciation of the word for ‘bed’ in Antrim and Farney written liubaidh, G. J. 1895 p. 109, ib. p. 141, Sg. Fearn. pp. 23, 97. In S. Ulster ea before d, g, s, dh and gh is pronounced e (G. J. 1896 p. 146 col. 2), which corresponds very closely to the state of affairs in Donegal.
§ 107. ï < O.Ir. e occurs before n in hïnəfʹænʹ, ‘already’ < cheana-féin but this is only one of several pronunciations of the word (Craig writes henifín); kʹïn, ‘affection’, M.Ir. cen. kʹïN, ‘head’ is probably due to the oblique cases (O.Ir. dat. ciunn), as gʹlʹαN, mʹαNαn &c. have retained the α. In an isolated form we get the form kʹαN, viz. in the name of a flower (a kind of orchid?), kʹαNəmαN dUχɔsαχ, the first part of which is evidently Hogan’s ceannbhán. ïlərə, ‘loathing’ is obscure. Dinneen has ealaraim, ‘I salt, pickle’, which may be connected. A word which has had a peculiar history is fo̤ruw tiə, ‘household furniture’. This is evidently M.Ir. errad, eirred, Di. earradh, which first became ïruw and then o̤ruw. All consciousness that the word originally had a palatal initial was lost and f was prefixed. It might be noted that Di. fionnán, ‘a kind of rough grass’ is in Donegal called fʹαNαn.
