There is a curious phrase containing ⅄꞉, hui ʃə erʹ ə d⅄꞉ri꞉, ‘he went raving mad’, cp. Craig, Clann Uisnigh s. daoraidh. It suggests Meyer’s andíaraid. fα·r⅄꞉r, ‘alas’ always seems to have r in spite of Di. fáiríor, Keating fóiríor, Wi. forír. The word is probably a disguised oath formula and may contain dʹiə, ‘God’, which is countenanced by the accentuation. For the initial syllable cp. M.Ir. fae < Norse vei. Other such disguised formulas are çiəkæʃ with the initial syllable recalling α hiərNə, ‘O Lord’; gə mαrəməs tuw, ‘I warrant you’, also gə mαrəm, which may contain mαnəm, ‘my soul’, cp. çiərNə mαnəmwidʹ. The name of the deity is commonly avoided in ordinary speech, cp. tα꞉s egʹ fʹiə, ‘God knows’, v. Di. fiadha; fα꞉gəm lʹɛ dʹrʹu꞉χtə, ‘I swear’; fwi꞉ n ṟi꞉, ‘in the name of Goodness’ is very frequent and for this again fwi꞉ Nɛ꞉r, faoi an aer is commonly heard.
§ 64. In ⅄꞉ꬶirʹə, ‘shepherd, keeper’, ⅄꞉ goes back to O.Ir. au, O.Ir. augaire.
§ 65. When ao interchanges with aoi in inflexional forms the latter appears either as i꞉ (y꞉) or ⅄꞉. According to Lloyd, G. J. 1896 p. 146 col. 2 the same two pronunciations are current in Orrery. There seems to be no fixed rule but i꞉ is much more frequent. In words which are in common use i꞉ is perhaps the rule, whilst others which only occur but seldom have ⅄꞉ in order to preserve the connexion with the nominative forms, e.g. mw⅄꞉r, ‘keeper’, mw⅄꞉r ·kyLʹuw, Book of Deer máir, gen. sing. mw⅄꞉rʹ; mwi꞉lʹi꞉nʹ, ‘hornless cow’, Di. maoilín < mw⅄꞉l but mw⅄꞉Lʹtʹαŋy꞉, ‘speaking thickly’; ⅄꞉ʃ ‘age’, O.Ir. áis appears also as y꞉ʃ, i꞉ʃ. kïky꞉ʃ, ‘fortnight’ is heard by the side of kïk⅄꞉ʃ. For further examples see § 124.
§ 66. The O.Ir. diphthong ua when preceded by a labial sound appears in many words as ⅄꞉ due to unrounding of the first element. The younger generation as usual substitute a high-front vowel iə (yə). Molloy quotes an instance of this change for Sligo in his 15th dialect-list (braoch for bruach). ⅄꞉ for uə is regular in the following words—br⅄꞉χ, ‘bank’, O.Ir. bruach, gen. sing. bri꞉; bw⅄꞉luw, ‘to beat’, M.Ir. búalad; bw⅄꞉n, ‘everlasting’, bw⅄꞉nfəs, ‘duration’, Di. buanmhas, buanfas, M.Ir. búan (abstract bwi꞉nʹə, Meyer búane); bw⅄꞉rαχ, ‘rope to put round the neck of cattle, bórach’, Meyer búarach; bw⅄꞉r̥ə, ‘troubled’, M.Ir. búadartha; bw⅄꞉rʹuəNỹ꞉ (bw⅄꞉rʹiαχə), plur. of buirʹuw, bwi꞉rʹuw, ‘trouble’, M.Ir. búadred; bw⅄꞉χiLʹ, ‘servant-man, lad’, M.Ir. búachaill; fw⅄꞉χəm, (fwi꞉χəm), ‘hole in potato’,
