8. ɛi.
§ 153. The greatest uncertainty prevails when e forms the first and i the second clement of a diphthong. When ei stands before any other palatal consonant than those mentioned in § 74, J. H. usually has ɛi whilst the younger people prefer ei, e.g. kʹlʹɛiv, gen. sing. of kʹlʹiuw, ‘basket’; Lʹɛijəm, ‘I read, melt’, but past part. Lʹeitʹə, imperf. pass. lʹeitʹi꞉; dʹi꞉lʹɛiəm, ‘I digest’, M.Ir. dílegim, ji꞉lʹɛi mʹə, ‘I digested’; kʹlʹɛ̃iəv, ‘sword’, plur. kʹlʹɛ̃ifʹαχə. Before mʹ, ɛi, ei and even ɛə are heard, thus Lʹɛimʹ, ‘spring, jump’, M.Ir. léimm; kʹɛimʹ, ‘dignity’, M.Ir. céimm. Hence ɛi usually arises from O.Ir. é followed by a palatal consonant and sometimes from O.Ir. accented e followed by palatal g (Mod.Ir. gh).
9. ɛu(w).
§ 154. This diphthong occurs in a few infinitives, where an intervocalic gh, dh have become silent before the termination ‑uw, as in Lʹɛuw, ‘to read, melt’, Di. léigheadh, O.Ir. legad (‘to melt’); tʹɛuw, ‘to heat’, Di. téidheadh but tʹeiji꞉ ʃə, ‘he warms’; spʹrʹɛuw, ‘to scatter’, Di. spréidheadh, also in spʹrʹɛuw ɔrt, ‘bad cess to you’ written spréadh, spréamh Cl. S. 18 vii ’03 p. 3 col. 2. The infinitive of dʹi꞉lʹɛiəm, ‘I digest’, is dʹi꞉lʹɛαuw.
10. ɛə.
§ 155. This diphthong may be regarded as the regular Donegal representative of O.Ir. accented é by compensatory lengthening, when standing before a non-palatal consonant. Before r and occasionally before other sounds more especially as the initial of trisyllables, we find ɛ꞉ for ɛə, cp. § 86. Examples—dʹɛəd, ‘row of teeth’, O.Ir. dét; ɛəd, ‘jealousy’, O.Ir. ét; ɛən, ‘bird’, O.Ir. én; ɛədo꞉nʹ, ‘shallow’, Di. éadoimhin; ɛədrəm, ‘light’, M.Ir. étromm; fʹɛədəm, ‘I may’, M.Ir. fétaim (this verb is also used idiomatically in the sense of Eng. ‘need’, locally ‘might’, Nʹi꞉ ɛədəN tuw kɔruw, ‘you need not stir’); fʹɛəsɔg, ‘beard’, M.Ir. fésóc; Nʹɛəl, ‘cloud’, O.Ir. nél (gen. sing. Nʹeilʹ); tʹrʹɛən, ‘strong’, O.Ir. trén. Also in the late loan-words fʹɛəstə, ‘feast’, Di. féasta; rɛəsu꞉n, ‘reason’, Di. réasún.
§ 156. ɛə also arises in a few instances through contraction owing to the quiescence of intervocalic d, g. Examples—bʹrʹɛə, ‘fine’, Meyer bregda; dʹɛənαχ, ‘last’, O.Ir. dédenach; ɛən, ‘ivy’, M.Ir. edenn; əmʹɛəwəs əgəm = da mbéidheadh fhios agam; LʹɛəN,
