72
the atmosphere, climate’, Di. plainéid. It may also be noted that before the ending ‑αχə (fem. plur. of nouns and fut. act. of the second conjugation) there is a distinct tendency to unvoice a preceding media, e.g. dʹαrəkαχə mʹə from dʹαrəguw, ‘to light’, Di. deargadh; dʹarəfαχə mʹə, ‘I shall assert’, from dʹαrəwi꞉m, Di. dearbhuighim; dʹi꞉kαχə, plur. of dʹi꞉g, ‘dyke, trench’, Di. díog, plur. díogacha.
The plural bαh, ‘cows’, <bα` M.Ir. ba (acc.), is due to the tendency to make a short final accented vowel end in breath (§ 42). Words which in Donegal have come to end in ç in the singular sometimes have h in the plural, e.g. ĩ꞉wα̃iç, ‘image’, M.Ir. imaig, plur. ĩ꞉wα̃ihəNỹ꞉.
2. j.
§ 188. This symbol denotes the y sound in Engl, ‘yes’ but the organs are tense during the production of the Irish sound and the middle of the tongue is raised much higher towards the hard palate. As is the case with all palatal (palatalised) sounds in Donegal the tip of the tongue is pressed more or less firmly against the lower teeth.
§ 189. Most commonly j represents an aspirated initial d or g before O.Ir. e, i, e.g. α jiə, ‘O God’; mə je꞉i, ‘behind me’; jrʹαs mʹə, ‘I drove away’, Di. dreasuighim; fwi꞉ jĩ꞉vαs, ‘scorned, despised’, = faoi dhímheas; ji꞉lʹɛi mʹə, ‘I digested’, Di. díleaghaim; ty꞉w o jαs, ‘south side’; ə jiɲ, ‘the wedge’, = an ghing; ə jαlαχ, ‘the moon’; jα꞉r mʹə, ‘I cut’; bo̤d ə jɛrtə, ‘blast of wind’, = bod an ghiorta, cp. Di. giorraide, giorta; αiçərə n χytʹ fʹrʹ꞉dʹ ə jrʹi꞉si꞉ = aithghiorra an chait fríd an ghríosaigh, i.e. trying to take a short cut and coming to grief, cp. also Lʹeimʹ əNʹ tʹinʹi əNə gʹrʹi꞉suw, ‘from Scylla into Charybdis’; jrʹαd, pret. of gʹrʹαduw, ‘to thrash’; pαræʃtʹə jliNʹə, ‘Parish of Glen(columkille)’.
§ 190. Medially we sometimes find j arising from dh = O.Ir. d before e, i. This is the case after a long vowel in kα꞉jαχ, ‘filthy’, Keat. cáidheach; prα꞉jiNʹαχ, ‘diligent’, O’R. práidhineach, Di. práidhneach. Further in bə ·je꞉, budh e, bə ·jα, budh eadh, cp. Henebry p. 61, KZ. xxxv 325. But note the proclitic form in bwi ən mαduw ə riNʹ ə, ‘it was the dog that did it’. mʹα꞉jəm, ‘I weigh’, Di. meadhaim, is a new formation to the pret. vα̃꞉i < *mheadhuigh and has become the model for other verbs whose stems end in a long vowel, such as te꞉jəm, ‘I choose’, from tö̤uw, Di. toghadh; tʹrʹo꞉jəm, ‘plough’, Di. treabhaim;
