SINGLE (INCLUDING ORIGINALLY GEMINATED) CONSONANTS

166. (a) As a rule the labials b, p, f, m (together with -102-

mb) and the gutturals g, c, ch (together with ng) are not palatalized in syllabic anlaut when preceded by a stressed á or ō + ̆, ū + ̆ (also úa). Examples: ·rubai, prototonic form of ro·bí 'can be'; ad·opuir 'offers' (- beir); cnámai, nom. pl. of cnáim 'bone'; úama (later attested, for -e -ae), gen. of flare 'cave';

trummae 'heaviness' (suffix -e); ad·ágathar 'fears' (pass. ·áigther ); ógai dat. sg. 'virginity'; ruccae 'shame'; ungae 'uncia'.

(b) Single (and formerly geminated) consonants at the beginning of an unstressed syllable which ends in a non-palatal consonant are not palatalized before (original) palatal vowels, except when (1) they are preceded by a palatal vowel or u, or (2) they were originally followed by i + ̯ (or i in hiatus). Examples: úasal 'high' (W. uchel) as against ísel 'low'; tabart 'giving' as against epert 'saying' (-bert); sacard 'sacerdos'; arch. ached, later achad, 'field'; adall, vb.n. of ad·ella 'visits', as against bu (i )den 'troop' (W. byddin); dorus 'door', dat. pl. doirsib (stem *_{doressu-); ammus 'attempt' (ad+mess); ·anacht 'he}

protected' (√aneg-, pres. ind. aingid ); calad 'hard' (Bret. kalet); but cailech 'cock' (W. ceiliog), cp. Ogam gen. CALIACI; flaithem 'lord', cp. § 268, 3.

The above rules rest on comparatively slender evidence. There are not many examples in which the orthography of O.Ir. affords definite proof of the quality of the consonants, and in which the older vocalism is known for certain; later sources must be used with caution, for changes of all kinds have taken place in the interval. Exceptions are numerous. To a large extent they may be explained as

analogical formations. Levelling has been very frequent, for example, among the inflected forms of verbs and nouns. Thus in the verbal stem uc(c)- (i-flexion, § 759 ) the c (= g) should be non-palatal when the vowel remains anti palatal when it is dropped; instead, its quality fluctuates in all inflected forms of the verb, e.g. 3 sg. -uicci beside -uccai, pret. -uc beside -uic, pl. -ucsat beside -uicset. Even ad·cí 'sees' has prototonic 2 and 3 sg. ·aicci anti ·accai, 1 pl. ·accam (·aciam Thes. II. 31, 23), 3 ·acat, despite the fact that in the last two forms, as shown by deuterotonic ad·ciam, ad·ciat, the c was originally followed by i in hiatus; the source of the nonpalatal c may have been the 1 sg. *_{·accu (cp. déccu 'I gaze', regular}

according to §167 ). In gen. sg. abae Ml. 78b_{4, beside dat. pl. aibnib 81}c_{3, non-palatal β may come from}

nom. sg. aub 'river'. In muimme 'foster-mother' change of quality from *_{maimme has been suggested}

( Pokorny, KZ. XLV. 362 ff.). claideb 'sword', where d was not followed by i + ̯, may have been influenced by gen. sg. nom. pl. claidib, acc. pl. claidbiu, etc. In certain borrowed words like aiccent, aiccend 'accentus' the interior vowel is retained and the preceding consonant palatalized; cailech 'calix' seems to have been attracted by cailech 'cock'. luige 'oath' Wb. (Mod. Ir. luighe ), beside regular lugae Ml.,

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may have been influenced by such frequent compounds as fír-luige, comluige, where u was unstressed. After ŭ, however, there are other examples where the change of quality is difficult to explain by analogy; e.g. cuicce 'to her' Wb. beside cucae Sg. (§ 433); gen sg. suibi Ml. 47d_{2 beside nom. sg. subæ + ̇}

'jubiliation', dat. subu ; cluiche 'play' (cluichech 'playing' Sg., cluichigidir 'plays' Ml.). Possibly dialectal differences played some part here. So too in úaithed 'singleness, singular number' Wb. 25a_{38, otherwise}

úathad, the influence of other forms such as gen. -thid does not seem likely. Rather, the impression is conveyed of a rising tide of innovation which, however, did not reach every word, or at all events had not yet reached every word in our period. In accordance with this view, áige 'pillar' (Fél.) may be regarded as a survival from an earlier stage of the language. However, an examination of each separate word and of every possible analogical influence cannot be undertaken here.

It remains to consider a few instances of non-palatal quality which cannot be explained in terms of (b). In amaires (am-iress) 'unbelief' the neg. particle am- is apparently treated as an autonomous member of a compound (cp. § 159 ); so too an- ( § 870 ) before a vowel does not seem to have been palatalized in O.Ir., cp. anéolas, anecne. The neutral quality may actually spread to the following syllable: amaras (Mod.Ir. amhras in Munster), dat. amarais Ml. 97d_{13 (iress 'faith'). The adjectives soraid 'expeditious,}

easy' and doraid 'difficult' are usually regarded as compounds of réid 'level' (cp. W. hy-rwydd

'expeditious'), although the comparative soirthiu 'celerior' Sg. 15a_{4 and the abstract soirthe Ml. 93}b₄

suggest rather connexion with rethid 'runs, flows', riuth 'running'. The influence of amraid 'uneven, difficult', where μa_ρa _{is easier to explain, could account for the present examples. On the other hand, so-}

and do- show a general tendency, the reasons for which are obscure, to take neutral consonance after them; cp. sonairt 'strong' (nert 'strength'); solus 'bright', probably to lés 'light'. Forms like sochenéuil, dochenéuil ( § 345 ) are due to the influence of the word cenél. In irar 'eagle' (KZ. XLVIII. 61), which together with W. eryr points to a primary form *_{eriros, the neutral -ρ-, despite the i-, is as yet}

unexplained. Sometimes, too, other consonants besides those enumerated in (a) are nonpalatal after single long vowels; e.g. dat. sg. dúrai 'hardness' Ml. 62a_{26 (abstr. noun from dúr < Lat. dūrurs) beside}

gen. dúire Fél. Prol. 66; dat. sg. lán (a )i 'fullness' Fél. Dec. 10; here analogy with long vowels due to compensatory lengthening ( § 163 ) has been suggested. But under this heading there remains much that is still obscure.

167. As a rule, originally palatalized gutturals and labials at the beginning of an unstressed syllable which ends in u-quality acquire u-quality themselves. Examples: ·adamrugur 'I wonder at' for *_{·adamraigiur,}

3sg. ·adamraigedar, vb.n. adamrugud from -aγethu_{; su (i )digud 'setting'; ro·laumur 'I dare' Wb.}

17a_{8 beside 3sg. ro·laimethar (but archaic ru·laimur}

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Wb. I. 17c_{21, with μ}i_{); temul Ml. 16}c_{7, 30}a_{3, dat. sg. of temel 'darkness'; impu 'about them' as against}

intiu 'into them'; irdorcu irdurcu erdarcu airdircu 'more conspicuous, clearer' (compar. suffix -i_u).

There are numerous exceptions, but all of them may be explained by analogy. Palatalization is especially frequent after palatal vowels; e.g. ·torisnigiur 'I trust' Ml. 126d_{19 (with γ}i_{, on the model of the other}

persons) beside ísligur 'I lower', ·cairigur 'I censure'; tigiu 'thicker' Ml. 20b_{1 (modelled on other}

comparatives with -i_{u) beside gliccu 'acuter' Wb. 26}d_{26; imdibiu Wb. 2}a_{3 beside more frequent imdibu,}

dat. sg. of imdibe 'circumcision' (modelled on other cases with βi_{); ·epiur 'I say' Wb. 4}b_{26 (modelled on}

deuterotonic as·biur, or the 2, 3 sg. ·epir ) beside ·epur 5a_{31. But palatalization is also found after}

neutral vowels: compar, laigiu Sg. and Ml. beside laugu lugu 'smaller'; dánaigiud 'bestowing' (vb.n. of ·dánaigedar ) Ml. 96a_8.

168. 4. In proclitics palatalization of consonants is generally abandoned (for the vocalism of proclitics see § 115a ). Examples: am 'I am' (in other verbs -im); ata 'which are' (otherwise -te); ad· , prototonic form of the preposition aith- ( § 824 ); mad·génatar 'blessed are they' ( § 384 ), from maith 'good'; ar 'before, on account of', prep., but as the conjunction 'for' fluctuating between air and ar ; similarly in tain and in tan 'when'; arch. amail 'as', but amal in Wb., Ml., and Sg.; fel and fail beside fíl feil 'who is'.

169. The most probable explanation of all cases of non-palatalized consonants which originally stood before palatal vowels would seem to be as follows: At one time every consonant immediately preceding a palatal vowel (or i + ̯) was at least in some degree palatalized; hence all the above cases (not merely those in § 167 ) would involve the loss of former palatalization. In words like serce ( § 160 ) only the last consonant of the group was palatalized, not the first, and thus the neutral quality in serc (a )e is due to the influence of the first consonant, as in § 158. This theory of former palatalization cannot, indeed, be proved: archaic forms ill which the unstressed vowel has been preserved unaltrered, such as toceth 'luck', fugell 'judgement', ached 'field', clocher 'stony field' (for later tocad, fugall, achad, clochar ), give no indication

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of the quality of the preceding consonant. The spelling fuigial RC. XXV. 346, 2 (= fugell?) cannot be relied on, for the same word seems to be written fugiath in an obscure passage RC. XIV. 246, 31.

170. 5. REPLACEMENT OF u-QUALITY BY NEUTRAL

a. The consonants ch, cc, th (including 3 δ < th), ss always have neutral instead of u-quality in syllabic auslaut after original a; e.g. cath nom. acc. dat. sg. 'battle' (stem cathu-), compound cocad ; mace dat. sg. 'son'; iressach dat. sg. 'faithful'; airechas '(high) rank' (suffix -assu-).

Only where the vowel of the preceding syllable is o are occasional exceptions found; e.g. cogud Ml. 103d_{5, dat. sg. of cocad ; foscud dat. sg. 'shade' Ml. 50}d_{7 from scáth 'shadow'; but later examples}

like acc. pl. coicthiu ACL. III. 298 § 67 suggest that the above forms may have been influenced by words in -ad < -eth like tocad, arch. toceth. In cobsud 'stable' and anbsud 'unstable', from fossad 'firm', the influence of syncopated o is apparently operative.

But -ch < γ in arch. inp·auch 'ago' Filargirius Gl. and old δ in audbirt 'offering' Thes. II. 26, 40 (cp. § 80c) have u-quality.

Final -ss resists u-quality after stressed e and o also; cp. nom. acc. dat. mes (s ) 'judgment' (stem messu-), but in compounds tomus, ammus, etc.; ross dat. sg. 'wooded slope' Sg. 204 ( Thes. II. 290, 10). For certain exceptions, e.g. dat. sg. fus 'rest' beside fos (s ), see § 76. The archaic spelling i routh gl. in studio ( § 88 ) shows that at that time th still had u-quality after o.

b. After long vowels the glide u does not appear; e.g. bés (u-stem) 'custom', gním (u-stem) 'deed'. In syllabic. auslaut after long vowels (except, perhaps, ū) consonants which originally had u-quality appear to have become neutral. This change is indicated by compounds like fognam dat. sg. 'service' Wb. 4a_{21, etc., cosnam dat. sg. 'contending' 18}c_{18, where u is plainly neutral as in the}

simplex gním, sním ; on the other hand the earlier compound dénum dénom 'doing' (de-gním) retains the original u-quality. In Sg. the compound with imm-fo- fluctuates between immognom and immf + ̇ognam 'construction'; this MS. also has frithgnom 'officium' 106b_12,

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which is written frithgnam in Ml. (even acc. pl. frithgnamu 56b_{4). Cp. also archaic demure Wb. I. 8}d_3,

later todernam, 'torment', to sním.

171. (c) The exact conditions under which u-quality was lost or retained in original consonant groups cannot be determined from the examples at our disposal. It would appear from dat. sg. salm, folt, corp, recht ( §§ 278, 307 ) that after a stressed vowel u-quality was replaced by neutral even at the end of a syllable. But -r + consonant has u-quality after palatal vowels; e.g. neurt, dat. sg. of nert 'strength'; dat. sg. seurc 'sickness' Ml. 142c_{3; (in ) deurb 103}b_{11, 138}c_{11, advb. from derb 'certain'; later attested fíurt}

'miracle, uirtus' (acc. pl. always fírtu ), cp. also spiurt 'spiritus'; but dat. sg. terc § 351. So too cht after i, e.g. riucht 'shape'; cp. mliuchtae 'milch' Ml. 100b_{15 beside mlichtae 100}b_20.

On the other hand, after an unstressed vowel u-quality clearly prevails in do·imm-urc 'I constrain' (org-), fris-com-urt 'I have injured', as·ru-burt 'I have said' (stem. bert-); dat. sg. ifurnn 'hell' Wb. 13c_{26, Ml.}

130b_{6, iffiurn 23}a_{5; dat. sg. coindeulc coindeulgg 'comparison' Sg. 3}b_{1, 25}b_{2. For interior syllables cp.}

172. (d) The quality of non-palatal consonants at the beginning of unstressed syllables is largely determined, not by the original quality of the following vowel, but rather by the character of the

consonants themselves. Nevertheless the replacement of u-quality by neutral is often found in Wb. and to a still greater extent in Ml.

1. Where the syllable ends in a palatal consonant labials and gutturals show u-quality in the earlier period. Examples: cosmuil 'similar' Wb. 12d_{1, 25}d_{13, in Ml. always cosmail (already in Wb. adramail 'fatherlike'}

6d_{6, sainemail 'excellent' 3}c_{33); menmuin Wb., menmain Ml., dat. sg. of menm (a )e 'mind'; cétbuid}

'sense' Wb., cétbaid Ml. (to buith 'being'); dulburiu (read dulburi?) acc. pl. 'ineloquent' Wb. 28c_{1, which}

indicates a nom. sg. dulbuir beside sulbair 'eloquent' 8a_{5, 12; ·cechuin}

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Wb., reduplicated preterite of canid 'sings', but ·cechain (n ) ·cachain Ml.; doguilse 'sorrow' Wb., dogailse Ml.; manchuib, dat. pl. of manach 'monk' Thes. II. 238, 19 (Arm.). But already in Wb. the dat. pl. is always -aib (when not -ib): hireschaib, noíbaib, mogaib, lámaib, etc.

Note that even where the vowel u is original, u appears in Ml. after other consonants also; e.g. con·utuinc 'builds' Wb., con·utaing Ml.: in·o-laid 'he entered' Ml. 25a_{21, to luid 'went'.}

173. 2. Gutturals and labials (other than unlenited m) also have u-quality (or o-quality, § 102 ) when the syllable ends in non-palatal lenited r, l, or n. Examples; anacul anacol 'protection'; fogur fogor 'sound'; orcun 'slaying' (comrorcan Ml. 127d_{5); accobor accobur accubur 'wish' (vb. ad·cobra ); brithemon}

(britheman Ml. 104a_{8), gen. of brithem 'judge'; tempul 'templum'.}

The original quality of the vowel is immaterial. In brithemon o may be original; in such case-forms the spelling -un (súainemun Wb. 26b_{17) is exceptional; fogur from -gar; for orcun see § 160 ; in anacul,}

accobor, tempul the last vowel is a secondary development ( § 112 ). u-infection is rarest before an old e which has undergone a change of quality in accordance with § 166b : topur 'well' Wb. 29c_{7 (cp. inber}

'estuary'); but óbar úabar 'vainglory' Wb. (cp. adj. húaibrech ), cuman 'remembered' (-men).

But neutral quality is usual before unlenited r l and n in syllabic auslaut; e.g. ·comollnither 'it may be fulfilled' Wb. 2c_{17, much rarer than comaln- . Still domunde 'worldly' and brithemonda 'judicial' Thes.}