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§ 426. Medially and finally g arises from older gg which in O. and M.Ir. is written cc, c. This gg arises from i. Prim. Keltic gg by assimilation in αgəs, ‘and’, O.Ir. ocus, also ə wo̤gəs, ‘near’, O.Ir. ocus; bo̤g, ‘soft’, O.Ir. bocc; bαgər, ‘threaten’, M.Ir. bacur; Lo̤g, ‘weak’, M.Ir. lac; sLo̤gəm, ‘I swallow’, M.Ir. slucim, slocim; smo̤g, ‘snot’, Di. smug. ii. nk with compensatory lengthening, e.g. ɛəg, ‘death’, M.Ir. éc, O.Welsh ancou; gʹɛəg, ‘branch’, M.Ir. géc, Welsh cainc; ɛəgsα͠uwəLtə, ‘prodigious’, cp. O.Ir. écsamail < *n̥ + consm̥malis. iii. Prim. Keltic zg, e.g. mʹɛəg, ‘whey’, M.Ir. medg, Gaulish Lat. mesga; tö̤꞉g, ‘Thady’, O.Ir. Tadg, Gaulish Moritascus; mo̤gəl, ‘mesh’, O.Ir. mocol <*mozgu-, but why is there no lengthening of the vowel as in the two previous cases? The same question arises if we connect bʹïg, ‘small’, O.Ir. becc, with Lat. vescus. iv. O.Ir. assimilation of th + g, th + c in fʹrʹïgrə, ‘answer’, O.Ir. frecre; tʹïgəsk, ‘teaching’, M.Ir. tecosc < to-aith-cosc.
Prim. Keltic g is preserved after l, r, e.g. dʹαləg, ‘thorn’, O.Ir. delg; dʹαrəg, ‘red’, O.Ir. derg; fʹαrəg, ‘anger’, O.Ir. ferg; ʃɛlʹigʹ < ʃαləg, ‘hunting’, O.Ir. selg. Similarly in the loan-word po̤rəgɔdʹ, ‘purgative’. Donegal also has kɔrəgəs, ‘Lent’, M.Ir. corgus < Lat. quadragesima, but as the other dialects have gh (Di. corghas, Macbain carghus) the form is to be compared with the cases mentioned below in § 429.
§ 427. In earlier loan-words Lat. and Norse medial (final) c entered Irish as a lenis and ultimately gave g. The earliest borrowings undergo aspiration, e.g. bachall < baculus, laoch < laicus, for other instances see Pedersen p. 170. Examples – ïgliʃ, ‘the clergy’, O.Ir. eclais, Lat. ecclesia; brɔ꞉g, ‘shoe’, Meyer bróc, Norse brók; gʹrʹɛəgαχ, ‘Greek’; mαrəguw, ‘market’, M.Ir. margad, Norse markaðr (RC. xi 494); pɔ꞉g, ‘kiss’, O.Ir. póc, Lat. pacem; sïgərt, ‘priest’, O.Ir. sacard, Lat. sacerdos; ʃïgəl, ‘rye’, M.Ir. secul, Lat. secale; dʹïgənαχ, ‘dean’, Lat. decanus.
§ 428. g arises from O.Ir. c in pretonic syllables. For gαχ, O.Ir. cach, cech; gən, ‘without’, O.Ir. cen; gə, O.Ir. co; gə·dʹe꞉, O.Ir. cate, cote see Diss. pp. 12, 14, 33, 36. kʹɛ in kʹɛ gə, ‘though’, kʹe꞉, ‘who’, and kα, kʹα, ‘where’, never have g, gʹ. This also occurs before the stress in gæ·ʃαrəwan, ‘dandelion’, Di. caisearbhán; gæ·ʃα꞉, ‘pant’, cp. casachtach (?). The g of gɔʃtʹə, ‘jury’, Di. coiste, cannot be explained in this way. The form is to be compared with the cases of hesitation between k and g mentioned in § 415.
