sound arising from various sources. When nasalised it is more open than otherwise.
§ 93. e꞉ corresponds to O.Ir. é as the final of monosyllables, e.g. dʹe꞉, gen. sing. of dʹiə, ‘God’, O.Ir. dé; gʹrʹe꞉, ‘good appearance’, O.Ir. gné; əNʹe꞉, ‘yesterday’, O.Ir. indé. Also frequently in the prefix dʹe꞉, O.Ir. deg, ‘good’, e.g. dʹe꞉lo꞉r̥αχ, ‘eloquent’; dʹe꞉jrʹĩ꞉wəri꞉, ‘good deeds’; dʹe꞉smwi꞉tʹi꞉, ‘good thoughts’; dʹe꞉vrʹiər̥αχ, ‘sweet spoken’; dʹe꞉woluw, ‘sweet smell’. dʹɛ꞉ is sometimes heard in these forms beside dʹe꞉.
§ 94. e꞉ occasionally represents O.Ir. accented é before a consonant, e.g. fʹrʹe꞉wαχə, plur. of fʹrʹeiv, ‘root’, we expect fʹrʹɛ꞉wαχə but the e꞉ is due to the influence of the vowel of the singular; gʹe꞉, ‘goose’, M.Ir. géd but plur. gʹɛαχə; mʹe꞉, ‘fat’, M.Ir. meth; ʃkʹẽ꞉v, ‘beautiful appearance’, Di. scéimh < O.Ir. scíam; sre꞉nʹ, gen. sing. of srɛən, ‘bridle’, O.Ir. srían. This e꞉ also occurs in English loan-words as in tre꞉n, ‘train’; te꞉, ‘tea’. grẽ꞉hə, ‘business, affairs’, grẽ꞉hαχ, ‘busy’ are peculiar. Dinneen only has gnó, gnóthach. The Donegal forms rather point to O.Ir. gnéthech with gr and not gʹrʹ due to association with grõ꞉hən, ‘to gain’, Di. gnóthuighim.
§ 95. There is a variety of e꞉ which occurs when the preceding consonant is not palatal. In modern Irish ae is written to denote this sound but no special symbol is employed in this book. It may be regarded as an unrounded form of the German ö in ‘böse’ and differs from the ordinary e꞉ in two particulars. The latter is formed with the corners of the mouth spread, whilst in the case of this variety the lips are in a neutral position (approximately that of Engl. ɛi in ‘day’) and at the same time the fore part of the tongue is slightly lowered and retracted. Henebry describes his E (p. 6) in such ambiguous terms that it is impossible to make out whether the sound given to the diagraph ao in Munster is similar to this Donegal variety of e꞉. Examples—Le꞉, gen. sing. of Lα꞉, ‘day’< O.Ir. láthi, láthe; re꞉, ‘time’, O.Ir. ré (r < *Rʹ); ge꞉(ə)l, gen. sing. ge꞉lʹ (with the ordinary e꞉), ‘Gael, Catholic’, O.Ir. Góedel, ge꞉lαχ, ‘Catholic’ but generally ge꞉lʹikʹ, ‘Irish, Gaelic’, with the ordinary e꞉. The younger people substitute this sound and also the ordinary e꞉ for the ö̤꞉ of the older folk, who themselves use both in a number of words, thus tö̤uw, teuw, ‘to choose’ < O.Ir. togu; rö̤꞉, re꞉, ‘choice’, O.Ir. rogu. This e꞉ further appears shortened in the diphthong ei in rei, ‘ready’, O.Ir. réid (often rəi).
