Page:Quiggin Dialect of Donegal 0140.png

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§ 433. After r, l g′ goes back to Idg. g, e.g. m′ir′ig′, ‘rust’, O.Ir. meirg; fαrəg′ə, ‘sea’, O.Ir. fairggæ, foirrce; ær′əg′ïd, ‘money’, O.Ir. arget, W. ariant.

§ 434. g′ appears for d′ in two words. This substitution seems to take place not infrequently in Sc. Gaelic dialects, cp. ZCP. iv 507. The words in question are g′r′i:dαn, ‘dregs’, = Di. Macbain dríodar; g′ɔ:kαn to̤·bαkə, ‘a small lump of tobacco’, Di. geocán and diúcán, deocán. The form with d′ also occurs in d′ïkαn m′ïn′ə, ‘a small quantity of meal’. For k′ and g′ in krɔ:g′uw see § 415.

g′ represents Engl. j in g′ï, Di. giota, ‘bit’, < Engl. ‘jot’.

§ 435. Occasionally g′ is hardened from O.Ir. d, g (=gh), thus regularly in the imperative second plur. of all verbs, though it must have arisen in verbs of the second conjugation. The ending was ‑ighidh, i.e. iji: which gave ‑ig′i:, e.g. ïm′ig′i:, ‘depart’; b′ig′i:, ‘be’; d′α:nig′i:, ‘do’. Craig (Grammar² p. 123) quotes a form with d (= d′) which I have never heard. This is evidently the same as Manx ‑jee (Rhys p. 154 where a wrong explanation is given). We further find g′ for gh in ũig′, ‘cave’ (also ũi) < uaigh, M.Ir. uag (the words for ‘cave’ and ‘grave’ have been confused), cp. Di. uaig; in′ig′iL′t′, ‘grazing’, Di. ingheilt; ig′iN′, ‘ring to put round the neck of cattle’ (not in dictionaries), formed from M.Ir. id (?).

§ 436. Intervocalic g seems to have a tendency to become a spirant and to disappear in Donegal. The only instance I find in Finck is the case of the preposition ag with the pronominal suffixes (l.c. i p. 127, əs < əgəs does not belong here), cp. § 170. But in the peninsula of Glencolumbkille this treatment of intervocalic g seems to be regular in the word for ‘priest’ and the pronominal forms of ag, see G. J. 1891 p. 79 col. 2. In Meenawannia g′ is treated in this way in kə·tiə, ‘why’, < cad chuige; i:N′t′αχ, ‘a certain’, < éiginteach, íginteach (i:n′αχ also occurs < eig′in′αχ), cp. Di. s. éigin.