Initial q simple. See caraid, W. câr, ceud, first, W. cynt, coille, W. celli, cas, W. coes, coileach, W. ceiliog, etc.
Initial q labialised, that is, qv: casd, W. pâs, ciall, W. pwyll, ceithir, W. pedwar, ceann, W. pen, coire, W. pair, co, W. pa, cruimh, W. pryf.
It seems clear that G. g at times represents I. E. k, q, as W. has the latter. Compare G. geug with W. cainc, Skr. çañku; but W. ysgainc shows the reason for the anomaly—an s initial has been dropped, and in dropping it the G. reduced c to g. Further compare garmainn, giomach. Cf. dias.
(2) Intervocalic k, q. The G. is ch, W. g, b. Compare cruach, W. crûg, fichead, deich, loch; also each, W. ebol, seach, W. heb, etc.
(3) Pre-consonantal k, q. Before r, l, n, the c disappears with compensatory lengthening as in deur, Lat. dacrima, meur, dual, muineal, tòn; and compare Prof. Strachan’s derivations for mèanan, breun, càin, lèana. With s, the result in G. is s, O. Ir. ss, W. ch, as in uasal, W. uchel. Before explosives, cb, cd, cg do not appear; ct becomes chd, for which see under t (4); for c‑c, see paragraph (5) here.
(4) Post-consonantal k, q. After r and l, the guttural appears as c, as in cearc, uircean, malc, olc, falc, etc. After n (m), it sinks to g, with a preceding long vowel, as in eug, breug, already discussed. After s, the c is preserved, but in G. it is written as g, as in measg, nasg, teasg, etc. After explosives, the t and d of the prefix or root preserves the c following, for which see under t and d pre-consonantal. For c or g before c, see next paragraph.
(5) Intervocalic Gaelic c. It may arise from ‑tk, ‑dk, ‑kk, ‑gk. From ‑tk in freiceadan (*frith-com-et-án); ‑dk in faic, acarach, ruicean, acuinn; ‑kk in muc, *mukkus, cac, craicionn, ìoc, leacainn; from ‑gk in bac, boc, breac, cnoc, gleac. The word mac, son, postulates a Gadelic makko‑s as against the Ogmic maqvi (gen.) and W. mab; it is difficult to account for the G. form.
I. E. g, gh; ꬶ, ꬶh.
These consonants all, save in one case, appear in G. as g, aspirated to gh, and W. shows g and nil in similar circumstances. The exception is in the case of ꬶ, which when labialised, becomes G. and W. b. But ꬶh, whether labialised or not, becomes g in G.
(1) Initial I. E. g: in guth, gin, gnàth, geimheal, gò. I. E. gh is in geamhradh, gabh, gag, geal, white, I. E. ꬶ simple appears in geal, leech, goir, goile, gearan, guala, gràdh; I. E. ꬶh in
