Page:Quiggin Dialect of Donegal 0068.png

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68

mo shúil. Else in pausa forms only in the case of a few adverbs and the pronouns huw, hï (Pedersen, KZ. xxxv 331 f.), hαL, ‘yonder’, O.Ir. tall; huəs, ‘aloft’, O.Ir. túas; hui, əhui, ‘in the north, to the north’, O.Ir. fa thuaith; herʹ, ‘in the east’, hiər, ‘in the west’, M.Ir. tair, tíar; hærʹ, hærʹə, ‘past, beyond’ (prep.), O.Ir. tar, dar. The h as initial of heidʹ ʃə, ‘he will go’, is due to the loss of the pretonic syllable < do-théit, which has doubtless influ­enced higʹ ʃə, ‘he comes’, M.Ir. tic (future ïky꞉). The reason for the constant aspira­tion of the infin. hαχt, O.Ir. techt as also of ꬶɔl, ‘to go’, is not plain. The h of henʹikʹ, ‘came’, O.Ir. tánicc is due to the analogy of other preter­ites.

§ 177. h arises sometimes in combinations like ghth, bhth, thmh, as in Nʹi꞉ αhαr = ní fhághthar; Lʹɛhαrαχt, ‘reading’, Di. léigh­theoir­eacht; tihə, ‘houses’, Di. tighthe; dαhinʹ mʹə, ‘I recog­nised’, < aithgeuin; Nʹα̃ujlʹi꞉hu꞉lʹ (‑jlʹiw̥əlʹ), ‘unlawful’, Di. neamh-dhligh­theamhuil; LUhə, ‘rotten’, < lobhtha; Lũ꞉hər, ‘vigorous, active’, Di. lúthmhar.

§ 178. χ has a tendency to give up its spirant character and become h. This seems to be general in Ulster, cp. O’Donovan, Grammar p. 48; G. J. 1896 p. 146 col. 2. See also Rhys p. 71. Initially we find h for χ in hαnikʹ, henʹikʹ, ‘saw’, = chonnaic; ho̤gəd, ‘to you’, Mod.Ir. chugad (Spir. Rose p. 5 spelt thugad); hui, ‘went’, O.Ir. docuaid; hαskər sə, ‘it thawed’, cp. M.Ir. coscrad; ku꞉gʹi꞉ ho̤Nαχtə, ‘Province of Connaught’, M.Ir. cóiced Connacht; (), ‘not’, < ní co (the distri­bution of ní and cha as negatives in Donegal is discussed by Lloyd in Seachrán Chairn tSiadhail p. 124. I can only say that in Meena­wannia cha is generally confined to emphatic answers and here principal­ly in hα ·nɛlʹ, hα row̥ being much rarer. Further east round Balli­namore cha seems to be much more frequent). Medially h may be heard in αhαsαn, ‘reviling’, Di. achmhusán, Meyer ath­chomsan; brαhαn, ‘porridge’, O.Ir. brothchán; fʹlʹαhuw, ‘to starve’, fʹlʹætʹə, ‘perished with cold’, M.Ir. flechud. See further § 333.

§ 179. In a few words h arises from ç, cp. Finck i p. 85. This is the case in hïnəfʹænʹ, ‘already’, Mod.Ir. cheana, O.Ir. cena + féin; fʹihə, ‘twenty’, O.Ir. fiche; ĩ꞉hə, ‘night’, O.Ir. aidche.

§ 180. In certain stress-groups initial f when standing after a word which does not aspirate tends to become h. This is also the case with medial fr. Compare Rhys pp. 72, 165; Pedersen