may arise from various sources and interchanges with e. Individual speakers differ very considerably in the employment of the e-sounds and hard and fast rules cannot be established. Indeed it is characteristic of Donegal Irish that most of the short vowels can vary within considerable limits, the on- and off-glides of the neighbouring consonants being so to speak of greater importance for the listener than exactness of vowel timbre. Finck makes no attempt to distinguish between the various e-sounds but it seems to me advisable to attempt to differentiate the Donegal varieties.
§ 82. ɛ often represents O.Ir. accented e before a consonant with palatal temper, e.g. fʹɛkʹαl, ‘to see’, Wi. féccim; jɛv ʃə, ‘he gets’, Wi. ni fogeib s. fo-gabim; Lʹɛfʹtʹαn, ‘flat-foot’, Di. leiftean; Lʹɛkʹə, gen. sing. of Lʹαk, ‘flag’, M.Ir. lec; mʹɛLʹɔg, ‘curb, wattle of a cock’, according to Macbain < O.Ir. bél; mʹɛhəl, ‘party of labourers’, M.Ir. methel (but gen. sing. mʹel̥ʹə); ʃɛvtʹuw, ‘to shift’ < Engl. kʹɛrdʹ, ‘trade, profession’, O.Ir. ceird (acc.) shews retention of ɛ before r < rʹ (note dʹαnuw kʹɛrdʹə, ‘futuere’).
Not infrequently an older é (now written éi) is shortened to ɛ, thus before h < th in Lʹɛhαrαχt, ‘reading’, Di. léightheoireacht; in a syllable with medium stress, α çɛlʹə, ‘each other’, O.Ir. céle, Manx chelley, the form with unreduced vowel çeilʹə occurs in poems, cp. p. 194 l. 37. ɛdirʹ, ‘between’, O.Ir. eter, etir seems due to confusion with αdər- in αdərꬶiə, ‘intercession’, Wi. etar‑.
§ 83. Owing to palatalisation O.Ir. accented a, o followed by a palatal consonant sometimes give ɛ, e.g. ɛgʹ, ɛgʹə, ɛkʹi, O.Ir. oc, oca, aci; ɛvNʹαχə, plur. of o꞉Nʹ, ‘river’, M.Ir. abann, plur. aibne; gɛnʹə̃v, ‘sand’, M.Ir. gainim (dat.); gɛnʹαn, ‘gannet’ (?). seivirʹ, ‘rich’, M.Ir. saidbir commonly has ei but sɛvirʹ is also heard, which is probably due to the comparative Nʹi꞉s sɛvrʹə and the substantive sɛvrʹəs, ‘riches’, where the shortening is regular before a group of consonants. Here we may mention Lɛhə, plur. of Lα꞉, ‘day’, O.Ir. lathi, lathe.
§ 84. In a few instances we find ɛ where we least expect it, corresponding to an older e before a non-palatal consonant, e.g. bʹɛri꞉, plur. of bʹαrαχ, ‘heifer’, Di. bearach; kʹɛdi꞉nʹə, ‘Wednesday’, with ɛ for ï, cp. § 105; Lʹɛhαχ, ‘sea-weed used as manure’, Di. leathach, kɔrαn Lʹehi꞉, ‘a hook for cutting sea-weed’; Lʹɛmɔg, ‘nip’, Di. líomóg. dʹɛrəmwidʹ, M.Ir. Diarmait, is peculiar.
§ 85. In syllables with secondary stress ɛ occurs in α꞉vɛʃ, ‘ocean’, Di. aibhéis, instead of æ in α꞉rNʹɛʃ (§ 79).
