73
spʹrʹeijəm, ‘I spread’, Di. spréidhim; kruijəm, ‘I harden’, Di. cruadhuighim, but this may come direct from krui, ‘hard’, kruijə, ‘steel’, Di. cruaidhe. Similarly tα꞉jəm, ‘I weld, solder’, Di. táithim, táthaim; grõ꞉jəm,’I gain’, Di. gnóthuighim, infin. grõuw.
j is lost in mʹi꞉rʹəN, ‘discord’, Di. míghreann.
§ 191. The prepositions do, de are frequently reduced to ə and when standing before a substantive with vocalic initial, a j or ꬶ is inserted according as the O.Ir. initial was palatal or not. This ə j- (ə ꬶ‑) is usually explained as being a reduplication of the do, de and the j (ꬶ) is written dh’ (Henebry pp. 60, 61). In many cases the j (ꬶ) were originally doubtless nothing more than glides, cp. the insertion of w § 199. In parts of Munster this reduplication of do has even been extended to the preterites of verbs, e.g. do dhól sé for d’ól sé (Molloy, 25th dialect-list). Examples—hu꞉si꞉ ʃəd ə jo̤mpər, ‘they started carrying’; Lα꞉n ə çleiv ə jeiʃkʹ, ‘the basket full of fish’, α lʹɛhəd(ʹ) də jαr, ‘such a man’; Nʹi꞉s mo꞉ ə jïglə, ‘greater fear’; tα꞉ ʃɛ gɔl ə jïmʹαχt, ‘he is going to go away’; tα꞉ ʃïnʹ ə jiNʹtʹiNʹ əgəm, ‘that is my intention’; ho̤g ʃɛ bɔ꞉ əNə welʹə ə jinʹigʹiLʹtʹ, ‘he brought a cow home to graze’; əmwiç sə ti꞉w o jαs də jeirʹiNʹ, ‘down in the south of Ireland’; hu꞉si꞉ ʃi꞉ ə jiçə ætʹəni꞉, ‘she started eating furze’; ə jɛəNtɔ꞉r̥i꞉s, ‘at one birth’; tα꞉ ʃɛ jiəχfwi꞉ ɔrəm, ‘it is incumbent upon me’, = de fhiachaibh, v. Dinneen; ə jæNʹænʹ (gə), ‘although’, v. Di. aimhdheoin.
§ 192. fʹ, mʹ, bʹ before accented ɔ꞉, o꞉ are followed by j, cp. Henebry p. 40, Dottin, RC. xiv 107. Examples—bʹjɔ꞉, ‘alive’, O.Ir. beó; bʹjɔirʹ, ‘beer’, Meyer beóir; fʹjɔ꞉ləmʹ, ‘to learn’, O.Ir. foglaimm (§ 321); fʹjɔ꞉lʹ, ‘flesh, meat’, M.Ir. feóil; fʹjɔ꞉χən, ‘seasoning, drying’, Di. feochadh; fʹjɔ꞉tʹə, ‘seasoned’, Di. feoidhte; fʹjɔχαn, ‘breeze, puff’ (?); fʹjo꞉s, ‘excellence’, M.Ir. febas; mʹjo꞉nʹ, ‘means’ (§ 40); mʹjõ꞉rʹ, ‘mind’, O.Ir. mebuir. O.Ir. eó became jɔ꞉, eba gave jo꞉ but in the case of all consonants except fʹ, mʹ, bʹ the j coalesced with the preceding palatal consonant. The labials as such can only be palatalised by raising the tongue into the j position simultaneously with the loosening of the lip-contact. This renders the assumption necessary that Donegal, the Decies (Henebry p. 40) and N. Connaught (RC. xiv 107) have given up palatalised labials before other vowels than those mentioned in this paragraph. This I believe to be the case. The Aran dialect and Scotch Gaelic have preserved the j, cp.
