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From these two cases a fondness arose for rʹ in proclitics, which Pedersen mentions as existing to some extent on Aran (pp. 25, 26). Cp. also tar, tair in Molloy’s 27th dialect-list. Examples—ərʹ iər sə, ‘did he ask?’; erʹ fɔ꞉ʃ ʃi꞉, ‘did she marry?’; ərʹ eirʹi ʃə, ‘did he get up?’; ərʹ α̃uwirʹkʹ ʃə, ‘did he look?’; ərʹ hït tuw, ‘did you fall?’ Similarly with the negative forms Nærʹ, Nʹi꞉rʹ, e.g. Nər Nærʹ iər sə, ‘when he did not ask’; Nə Nærʹ ïmʹi꞉ tuw, ‘did you not go away?’; Nærʹ αN tuw sə welʹə, ‘did you not stop at home?’; Nʹi꞉rʹ çαləg ʃi꞉ Nʹ Lʹαnuw, ‘she did not put the child to sleep’; Nʹi꞉rʹ çrʹidʹ Nα di꞉nʹi ə, ‘people did not believe him’. But Nʹi꞉r nʹi꞉ mʹə, ‘I did not wash’; Nʹi꞉r lo꞉rʹ mʹə, ‘I did not speak’ (§ 459). gər < go ro forms the only exception. In this ease r is never palatal, e.g. gər i mʹə, ‘that I ate’; gər eilʹi꞉ mʹə, ‘that I begged’. In like manner O.Ir. ar, ‘our’, appears as erʹ in erʹ mʹαn, ‘our lady’; erʹ mʹiə, ‘our food’. M.Ir. ar, ‘quoth’, is generally heard as ərsə but Dottin gives a form with palatal r as occurring in N. Connaught (RC. xiv 114). We expect erʹ ⅄꞉n, ‘together’, M.Ir. ar oen, but the connection with the preposition does not seem to be felt. The O.Ir. preposition tar follows erʹ and becomes hærʹ, e.g. hærʹə Nα ꬶα꞉ ꬶlu꞉n, ‘beyond his two knees’; tα꞉ ʃïnʹ hærʹ ə jα꞉nuw, ‘that is beyond doing, cannot be done’. From this has been differentiated the dar of oath formulas which in Donegal appears as dirʹ. O.Ir. eter, etir, itar appear as ɛdirʹ, whilst in composition we find the regular αdər‑, e.g. in αdərꬶyə, ‘intercession’, Di. eadarghuidhe. The O.Ir. adjectives fír, ‘true, genuine’, sír, ‘everlasting’, when forming the first member of a compound assume the forms fʹi꞉rʹ, ʃi꞉rʹ, e.g. ʃi꞉rʹαhəs, ‘everlasting delight’, cp. the proverb α꞉wər gɔlə gə fʹi꞉r fʹαr̥iNʹ əgəs ʃi꞉rʹ ꬶ⅄꞉, ‘rain and constant wind are verily a cause for lamentation’; fʹi꞉rʹiʃkʹə, ‘spring water’; fʹi꞉rʹwα̃iç, ‘exceptionally good’; fʹi꞉rʹvïg, ‘very small’; but fʹi꞉rLo̤g, ‘very weak’, fʹierʹ, ‘crooked, athwart’, M.Ir. fiar, is peculiar.
§ 286. It is interesting to find isolated traces of initial rʹ as the aspirated form of Rʹ. It is quite possible that other instances occur but I have only heard the following from J. H.—rï̃və rʹe꞉, ‘already’, by the side of re꞉, ‘time’, O.Ir. ree; α rʹi꞉ Nə pα꞉rtʹə, ‘gracious God’, or α rʹi꞉ χũαχti꞉, ‘Almighty God’, used as asseverations; hi꞉nʹ ə rʹαhə, ‘with difficulty’, cp. dʹïmʹi꞉ mʹə erʹ ə tαruw hi꞉nʹ ə rʹαhə αgəs ə wαr̥αχə bα꞉ʃ, ‘I escaped from the bull with great difficulty’, ro̤g ə kuw ərʹ jαriə hi꞉nʹə rʹαhə, ‘it was with enough to do that the hound caught a hare’. In the Gaelic Journal for 1891 p. 94 this is spelt h‑aonaireatha and Dinneen says s.
