In tα꞉ ʃɛ ə jαL erʹαm ə wiNʹtʹ əs, ‘he wants to waste time’, Nʹi꞉lʹ mʹə ə jαL erʹ, ‘I do not like it’, Nʹi꞉lʹ mʹɛ ə jαL erʹ ə ꬶɔLʹ ʃerʹ, ‘I do not want to go over’ we seem to have Dinneen’s ní’l aon gheall aige air, ‘he has no regard for it’ (s. geall) construed personally.
§ 137. The frequent occurrence of this ə before verbs and substantives, the origin of which is often forgotten, has led to its extension in cases where it has no historical foundation. As an instance of this we may regard the relative pronoun ə, cp. Finck ii p. 269. Similarly ə χy꞉çə, ‘ever’, M.Ir. caidche, coidche; erʹ ə hαχt ə welʹə dŨw̥, ‘after coming home’, = iar dteacht; erʹ ə ꬶɔLʹ ʃi꞉s dɔ꞉, ‘after he had gone down’, = iar ndul; aχə·di꞉widə, ‘about, concerning’, < fá gach taoibh de, where however the αχə may stand for gach aon. The d is transported from the shorter phrase fα di꞉widə, for which see §§ 314, 395. It is also possible to regard aχə·di꞉widə as standing for gach fá dtaoibh de with a superfluous gach prefixed as seems to be the case in the curious phrase αχ·dαχərNə lα꞉, ‘every other day’. By the side of this peculiar conglomeration (g)αχ·dαrə Lα꞉ is also used. The chief difficulty lies in the position of the stress, else the phrase might be resolved into gach gach darna lá.
§ 138. A number of non-palatal consonant-groups have developed a svarabhakti vowel ə. Between palatal consonants i takes the place of ə, cp. § 114. The chief cases are the following꞉—
- (a) l + cons.
- lb, e.g. αləbənαχ, ‘Scotchman, Presbyterian’, O.Ir. albanach; dαləbə, ‘bold, forward’, Di. dalba. Between l and p there is no ə, as in αlpαn, ‘lump, bit’, Meyer alp, but kɔləpαχ, ‘stirk’, Meyer colpthach.
- lg, e.g. bɔləg, ‘belly’, M.Ir. bolg; bɔləgəm, ‘a sup’, Meyer bolgam; dʹαləg, ‘thorn’, M.Ir. delg; kɔləg, ‘awn’, Meyer colgg; kʹαləguw, ‘lull to sleep, lullaby’, M.Ir. celg; po̤rəgɔdʹ, ‘purgative’, Di. purgóid; smo̤ləgədαn, ‘shoulder-bone’, Di. smulgadán; ʃαləgə, gen. sing. of ʃelʹigʹ, ‘chase’. Between l and k the svarabhakti vowel only occurs when k = gth, e.g. stɔlkəs, ‘matter, water and blood emitted by a sick beast’, stɔlkirʹə, ‘man hunting with dog and gun’, Di. stalcaire; but kʹαləkə mʹə, ‘I shall lull to sleep’, fut. of kʹαləguw.
- lm, e.g. kαləmə, ‘brave’, M.Ir. calma.
