115
In futures h < f after χ coalesces with the spirant, e.g. k⅄:χə m′ə, ‘I shall wink’; plu:χə m′ə, ‘I shall extinguish’.
§ 331. χ arises from thgh, thch in LUχær′, ‘joy’, M.Ir. luthgáir; αχyɲə, ‘request’, M.Ir. athchuinge; du:χəs, ‘birthright’, M.Ir. duthchus.
§ 332. Donegal has developed a new comparative termination ‑αχə instead of ə which is used with adjectives of more than one syllable ending in a vowel, e.g. dæl′iαχə < dæl′i:, ‘difficult’; dαləbwiαχə < dαləbə, ‘impudent’. The endings ‑ə and ‑αχə occur side by side in other connections, e.g. in the future of verbs and the plural of fem. nouns and ‑αχə is evidently used as a comparative ending for the sake of distinction. We find something similar in b′r′ɛαχə the plural form of b′r′ɛə, ‘fine’, Meyer bregda.
§ 333. We have already seen (§ 178) that χ easily passes into h, and the converse is true for Donegal in isolated cases. χ for h seems to be frequent in Scotch dialects, cp. ZCP. iv 509. See further Henebry p. 19 (ca shoin). Examples – mo̤χuw, ‘springing of cows’, pret. wo̤χ, cp. Di. moth, ‘the male of any animal’, Cormac moth .i. ball ferda, Stokes-Bezz. *muto- (p. 219), mo̤χəsαn, ‘a springing heifer’, O’R. motach, ‘fruitful’, M.Ir. mothach LL 13b 7 rendered by Hyde ‘fertile’. The χ in LαχərNə ·wα:rαχ, ‘to-morrow’ (spelt lá thar na bhárach Cl. S. 22 viii ’03 p. 3 col. 2) can hardly be due to O.Ir. láthe. It is more likely that the preposition hær′, O.Ir. tar, has been substituted for iar which is obsolete except in er′ gu:l, ‘back, behind’; ər du:s, ‘in front’; er′ fα:l′, ‘found’ &c.
gə brα:χ, ‘for ever’, can hardly represent co bráth, as th after long vowels disappears. bráth may have become bráthach under the influence of əmα:rαχ, ‘to-morrow’. The spelling co brach occurs RC. xxiv 371, 373, cp. Manx dy bragh (Rhys’s explanation of the latter l.c. p. 129 will not hold good for Donegal).
§ 334. It should be noted that χ and not ç stands before t′. Henebry pp. 55, 35 says that “the group ‑cht is unaffected and always broad. The palatalised boicht of O.Ir. and found also in Keatynge was merely a symmetrical writing”. This is incorrect. The t may not be palatal in Waterford but O’Leary quotes a form with t′ for Cork and Finck (i 187) gives bøçcə as the gen. sing. fem. of bocht, ‘poor’. I have noted the following forms with ‑χt′ in Donegal, bɔχt′, gen. sing. of bɔχt, ‘poor’; b′αχt′i:,
