kʹlʹi꞉hαn, ‘the front of the chest’, kʹlʹi꞉hαnαχ, ‘narrow-chested’, Di. cliathán; kʹrʹi꞉hər, ‘sieve’, O.Ir. críathar; ʃi꞉msə, ‘pastime’, Di. siamsa.
§ 120. With many speakers the close e꞉ and ei tend to become i꞉, as in mʹi꞉ hi꞉nʹ = mé fhéin; grĩ꞉hαχ, ‘busy’ (§ 94); i꞉rʹi꞉ = eirigh. Regularly in grĩ꞉, ‘good looks’, grĩwəlʹ, ‘handsome’, O.Ir. gné; ʃkʹi ·æɲkʹiʃ, ‘quinsy’, Di. scéith aingcis; bʹlʹiɔg, ‘effeminate fellow’, cp. Di. bleitheachán; analogically in the inflected forms of dʹiən, O.Ir. dían, gen. sing. fem. dʹi꞉nʹə.
§ 121. A palatal O.Ir. d, g (Mod.Ir. dh, gh) gave j which combined with a preceding vowel to form i꞉ both in stressed and unstressed syllables. (a) in stressed syllables—bwi꞉, ‘yellow’, O.Ir. bude, bwi꞉gαn, ‘yolk of an egg’; bri꞉n, ‘contest, brawl’, Meyer bruden (Craig wrongly writes braoghan); bʹi꞉wi꞉, ‘mischievous’, < *bidbaide, Meyer bibdaide; ꬶi꞉, pret. of giə, gyə, ‘to beseech’, O.Ir. gude; ĩ꞉çə, ‘night’, O.Ir. aidche, oidche; ri꞉nʹ, ‘tough’, M.Ir. rigin; ti꞉dɔrʹ, ‘thatcher’, Di. tuigheadóir, mər wα꞉r dri꞉Lʹə, ‘to cap all’, Di. dramhfhuigheall, drabhfhuigheal, dramhghail, drabhghail. (b) in unstressed syllables—αkli꞉, ‘pliable, soft’, Di. aclaidhe; kïki꞉s (kïky꞉ʃ), ‘fortnight’, M.Ir. cóicdigis; kʹiɲkʹi꞉ʃ, ‘Whitsuntide’, M.Ir. cengciges; mαNti꞉lʹ, ‘to mumble, talk indistinctly’, mantuighil; mwinʹi꞉nʹ, ‘confidence’, M.Ir. muinigin; mwirʹi꞉nʹ, ‘a large family’, Di. muirighean, Macbain muirichinn. The genitive of words ending in ‑uw < ‑adh, ‑amh is usually ‑i꞉, so bɔluw, ‘smell’, O.Ir. bolad, gen. sing. bɔli꞉; bʹrʹehuw, ‘judge’, O.Ir. brithem, gen. sing. bʹrʹehi꞉. Between r (= rʹ) and j a svarabhakti vowel was developed, hence M.Ir. suirge became *sirʹijə and finally sirʹi (generally with short vowel); similarly O.Ir. eirge gave eirʹi꞉.
A number of substantives (mainly feminine) which ended in ‑ad in the older language have formed a new nominative ‑i꞉ < ‑aid from the oblique cases, as indeed there is a general tendency in Donegal to make feminine substantives end in a palatal sound, e.g. genʹə̃v, ‘sand’, O.Ir. ganem. Examples:—α꞉ri꞉, ‘main cross-beam in roof’, Di. áraidhe, M.Ir. árad; kũ꞉i꞉, ‘grief’, Meyer cuma, dat. cumaid; Lʹαbwi꞉, ‘bed’, has already in M.Ir. two forms lepad, lepuid; mʹαni꞉, ‘awl’, M.Ir. menad; mɔli꞉, ‘brow, steep incline’, Wi. malaig (dat.); sα̃uwi꞉, ‘sorrel’, Di. samhadh, Macbain samh. Cp. further tʹinʹi, ‘fire’, < tenid (dat.); tʹαŋy꞉, ‘tongue’, O.Ir. tenge. Other words seem to have been influenced by these examples, as kʹïNti꞉, ‘cause’, Di. cionnta formed from
