8
tives are formed from substantives ending in ‑αn by the addition of ‑tə, e.g. mαkαNtə, ‘civil, decent’, lit. ‘filial’ < O.Ir. maccán, ‘puerulus’; spαdαNtə, ‘seedy, out of sorts’, Di. spadánta; fʹiαNtə, ‘wild’ (used of people), Di. fiadhanta; α̃uwlaNtə), ‘foolishly prating’, formed from α̃uwlɔrʹ, Di. amhlóir, M.Ir. oblóir.
α similarly arises from á, in fʹiəstαlαχ, ‘rush’, Di. fiastalach (which should be spelt with ‑á‑); fʹαdαli꞉, ‘to whistle’, fʹαdαlαχ, ‘whistling’, Di. feadálach; fʹɛkʹαlαχ, ‘conspicuous, remarkable, handsome’; fαdαlαχ, ‘slow’, Di. fadálach; ɔr̥αlαχə, ‘offerings’, plur. of ɔr̥ælʹ, Di. ofráil. Further u꞉hαs, ‘prodigy’, M.Ir. uathbás; prα꞉kαs, ‘small, deformed person’, Di. prácás; rα꞉mαs, ‘idle talk’; dʹrʹəuwlαs, ‘licentiousness’, dʹrʹəuwlαsαχ, ‘licentious’, cp. Di. dreabhlas, drobhlas; o̤rLαr, ‘floor’, Di. urlár.
§ 11. In a number of cases α represents an older ó (for the same change in S. Ulster see G. J. 1896 p. 147 col. 1). The suffix denoting the agent ‑óir appears regularly in Donegal as ‑ɔrʹ, but when the abstract suffix ‑αχt is added α appears for ɔ—thus ti꞉dɔrʹ, ‘thatcher’, Di. tuigheadóir but ti꞉dαrαχt, ‘thatching’. Similarly spwæʃtʹαrαχt, ‘strolling about’, Di. spaisteoireacht; NʹɛəLtαrαχt, ‘idling’, cp. Engl. ‘star-gazing’, Di. néalladóireacht. Here we may also mention ʃαnəmαNti꞉, ‘preacher’, Di. seanmóntaidhe, cp. ʃαnəmɔrʹ, ‘sermon’. Just as ‑óir becomes ‑ɔrʹ, so the feminine termination ‑óg, O.Ir. ‑óc is reduced to ‑ɔg and commonly to ‑αg, especially by the younger people, e.g. fwiNʹɔg, ‑αg, ‘window’, M.Ir. fuindeóg; fwi꞉lʹαg, ‘sea-gull’, cp. O.Ir. foilenn; kyNʹαg, ‘churn-dash’, M.Ir. cuindeóg. In the plural the ɔ is perhaps more firmly rooted, e.g. mʹiəLtɔgy꞉, ‘nudges’; αsɔgy꞉, ‘weasels’; bʹαχɔgy꞉, ‘bees’. In the genitive and dative singular the vowel is generally æ, erʹ ə NyNʹægʹ, ‘on the window’; gαh bʹαχægʹə, ‘the sting of a bee’.
§ 12. O.Ir. é in the terminations ‑én, ‑él, ‑ét appears as α. A similar change seems to have taken place in all the Irish dialects, cp. Finck i p. 26; Henebry p. 29. é first gave ɛə as in accented syllables, then jα(꞉). eá < O.Ir. é is not unknown in stressed syllables, cp. Henderson, ZCP. iv 90 and Molloy’s 36th dialect-list, where the forms eád, eádail, eádtrom and eágcáoine are quoted. Examples: kï̃vαd, ‘to watch, look at’, also ‘to mind’ in kï̃vαd də χɔsə, ‘mind your feet’, Di. coimhéad, Wi. comét; kʹïnʹαl, ‘sort, kind’, O.Ir. cinél, cenél, Di. cinéal, similarly kʹïnʹαLtə, ‘kind’ (adj.); kïlʹαn, ‘pup’, M.Ir. culén; kɔrNʹαl, ‘corner’, Di. coirnéal; kαir̥ʹαmʹ, ‘triumph’, M.Ir. caithréim; dïvαn, ‘a scart’,
