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a, o, u or by l or r, before the same vowels, when preceded by the article an, e.g. ə tro:n, ‘the nose’; er′ ə trα:d′, ‘in the street’. Also to a masculine substantive under like conditions when preceded by a preposition and the definite article, e.g. dəN tïgərt, ‘to the priest’.
§ 380. t after r, l, χ in words of native origin goes back to Idg. t, e.g. αLt, ‘joint’, M.Ir. alt, < *paltos; mɔLt, ‘wether’, cp. Lat. multo; tαrt, ‘thirst’, cp. Engl. thirst; ʃαχt, ‘seven’, Lat. septem; t′αχt ‘coming’, O.Ir. techt, <*tiktā; bɔχt, ‘poor’, O.Ir. bocht, < *bog-to‑; o̤χt, ‘breast’, O.Ir. ucht, cp. Lat. pectus; əNo̤χt, ‘to-night’, O.Ir. innocht, cp. Lat. noct-is; kαrtαn, ‘sheep-louse’, M.Ir. cart; b′α:Ltin′ə, ‘May’, M.Ir. beltene, belltaine; gα:Ltə, ‘Protestant’, Di. gallta, for the ending cp. gαstə, ‘quick, smart’, M.Ir. gasta. Similarly in loan-words from Latin, e.g. k′αrt, ‘right’, O.Ir. cert < Lat. certus; sïgərt, ‘priest’, O.Ir. sacart, sacardd (why t and not d? the form is peculiar in other respects, cp. § 103); b′αNαχt, ‘blessing, greeting’, O.Ir. bendacht < Lat. benedictio.
§ 381. Otherwise medial and final t usually represents an older tt before original a, o, u (O. and M.Ir. tt, t), e.g. αt, ‘swelling’, O.Ir. att; bαtə, ‘stick’, M.Engl. batte; brαt, ‘flag’ (brαt mαruw, ‘shroud’), O.Ir. bratt; b′iətαχ, ‘hospitaller’, M.Ir. bíattach; t′i:r Nə m′r′αtən, ‘Wales’, M.Ir. Brettan (gen. plur.), the word for ‘Welshman’ is b′r′αn̥αχ; kαt, ‘cat’, M.Ir. catt; p′αtə, ‘pet’, M.Ir. petta (evidently an early borrowing but its precise origin is not clear); sLαt, ‘rod’, M.Ir. slat.
In late loan-words from English Donegal t = Engl. t, e.g. hαtə, ‘hat’; kɔ:tə, ‘coat’; ru:tə, ‘root’. bαtæL′t′ə, ‘an armful’, b. f′eir′, ‘a wap of hay’, < Engl. bottle (?), may have come in in the middle period or quite recently, cp. Sg. Fearn. botán p. 100 = O’R. boiteán.
§ 382. t and t′ not infrequently interchange as the initial of substantives, a natural confusion seeing that the aspirated form of both is h, e.g. tαstæl′, ‘to want’, Di. teastuighim, cp. O.Ir. tesstá. The alternation in t′αχ, ‘house’, gen. sing. tiə, occurs already in O.Ir. and is due to vowel-gradation.
§ 383. t has in a few cases been prefixed to words beginning with a vowel or f, cp. ə ti:s ɔ:g § 379. Examples – to̤bəN, ‘sudden’, M.Ir. opond; tuəm′ tα̃:uw, ‘an idle rumour’, v. Di. tuaim = fuaim. Cp. t′iL′uw by the side of f′iL′uw, ‘to return’, v. Di. tilleadh.
