persons under that age are rapidly substituting the labio-dental for the bilabial sound. Finck regards the Aran f, v as labio-dental (i pp. 64, 77) and it would be interesting to know if any distribution of the sounds similar to that described above exists in the west. Dottin (RC. xiv 104) gives f′ as labio-dental but is not explicit on the subject of f, v. For Munster cp. further Chr. Bros. Grammar p. 9 (probably based on Henebry). Henderson (ZCP. v 97) and Rhys (p. 87) both regard labiodental f, v as the normal sounds in Scotch and Manx Gaelic but I think that if the following facts are taken into consideration it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that bilabial f, v were everywhere the original sounds. i. Irish initial f arose from Idg. u̯. ii. At the present day intervocalic f represents bhth, mhth, i.e. an unvoiced w. It is frequently impossible to distinguish between w̥ and bilabial f, as they are so closely related to one another in formation, iii. χ + w frequently passes into fw (§ 313). iv. English words beginning with wh appear in Irish and Anglo-Irish with fw, cp. the spellings fwenever, fweel.
§ 310. Initial f represents O.Ir. f before a, o, u or before l, r followed by the same vowels, e.g. fαdə, ‘long’ M.Ir. fota; fαruw, ‘roost’, M.Ir. forud; fαrsiN′, ‘plentiful’, O.Ir. fairsing; fαlαχ, ‘hiding’, M.Ir. folach; fα:, ‘cause’, M.Ir. fáth, fád; fα:gæl′, ‘to leave’, M.Ir. fácbáil; flαihiʃ (pl.), ‘heaven’, Di. flaitheas, O.Ir. flaith; fokəl, ‘word’, O.Ir. focul; fõ:wər, ‘autumn’, M.Ir. fogamur; fr⅄:χ, ‘heather’, O.Ir. froech; fwær′ə ‘wake of the dead’, M.Ir. faire; fwəid′ə, ‘patience’, O.Ir. foditiu; fwïL′N′i:m, ‘I suffer’, O.Ir. foloing (3rd sing.); fwïl′, ‘blood’, O.Ir. fuil; fwir′αχt, ‘to tarry’, M.Ir. furecht; fwi:L′i:, ‘leavings’, Wi. fuidell; fwi:ʃuw, ‘improvement’, M.Ir. foessam; fwi:wər, ‘edge’, M.Ir. fáebur; fw⅄:grə, ‘to proclaim’, O.Ir. fócre; fw⅄:χɔg, ‘limpet’, M.Ir. faochóg.
f also occurs as the aspirated form of initial p, e.g. sə fαræʃt′ə, ‘in the parish’; flu:χ ʃə, ‘he choked’; t′αχ ə fo̤bwil′, ‘Roman Catholic chapel’; ꬶα: fα:ʃt′ə, ‘two children’.
§ 311. Medial f usually arises from O.Ir. b, m followed by th or ch. The off-glide is a kind of w̥ and is clearly audible. Examples – gαfəN, ‘aloes’; kα:fri:, ‘sowins’, Di. cáith-bhruith; Lα:frəN, ‘one of the handles of a flail’, Di. lámh-chrann; mαrəfαχ, ‘slaughter’, cp. Atk. marbthach; Nỹufə, ‘sanctified’, Di. naomhtha, Nỹufər, pres. pass. M.Ir. noemthar. The ending ‑fə of the prepositional pronouns in the third person plural is probably due to
