Page:Quiggin Dialect of Donegal 0128.png

a, o, u or by l or r, before the same vowels, when preceded by the article an, e.g. ə tro꞉n, ‘the nose’; erʹ ə trα꞉dʹ, ‘in the street’. Also to a masculine substan­tive under like condi­tions when preceded by a prepo­sition and the definite article, e.g. dəN tïgərt, ‘to the priest’.

§ 380. t after r, l, χ in words of native origin goes back to Idg. t, e.g. αLt, ‘joint’, M.Ir. alt, < *paltos; mɔLt, ‘wether’, cp. Lat. multo; tαrt, ‘thirst’, cp. Engl. thirst; ʃαχt, ‘seven’, Lat. septem; tʹαχt ‘coming’, O.Ir. techt, <*tiktā; bɔχt, ‘poor’, O.Ir. bocht, < *bog-to‑; o̤χt, ‘breast’, O.Ir. ucht, cp. Lat. pectus; əNo̤χt, ‘to-night’, O.Ir. innocht, cp. Lat. noct-is; kαrtαn, ‘sheep-louse’, M.Ir. cart; bʹα꞉Ltinʹə, ‘May’, M.Ir. beltene, belltaine; gα꞉Ltə, ‘Prot­estant’, Di. gallta, for the ending cp. gαstə, ‘quick, smart’, M.Ir. gasta. Similarly in loan-words from Latin, e.g. kʹαrt, ‘right’, O.Ir. cert < Lat. certus; sïgərt, ‘priest’, O.Ir. sacart, sacardd (why t and not d? the form is peculiar in other respects, cp. § 103); bʹαNαχt, ‘blessing, greeting’, O.Ir. bendacht < Lat. bene­dictio.

§ 381. Otherwise medial and final t usually represents an older tt before original a, o, u (O. and M.Ir. tt, t), e.g. αt, ‘swelling’, O.Ir. att; bαtə, ‘stick’, M.Engl. batte; brαt, ‘flag’ (brαt mαruw, ‘shroud’), O.Ir. bratt; bʹiətαχ, ‘hospital­ler’, M.Ir. bíattach; tʹi꞉r Nə mʹrʹαtən, ‘Wales’, M.Ir. Brettan (gen. plur.), the word for ‘Welshman’ is bʹrʹαn̥αχ; kαt, ‘cat’, M.Ir. catt; pʹαtə, ‘pet’, M.Ir. petta (evidently an early borrowing but its precise origin is not clear); sLαt, ‘rod’, M.Ir. slat.

In late loan-words from English Donegal t = Engl. t, e.g. hαtə, ‘hat’; kɔ꞉tə, ‘coat’; ru꞉tə, ‘root’. bαtæLʹtʹə, ‘an armful’, b. fʹeirʹ, ‘a wap of hay’, < Engl. bottle (?), may have come in in the middle period or quite recently, cp. Sg. Fearn. botán p. 100 = O’R. boiteán.

§ 382. t and tʹ not infrequently interchange as the initial of substan­tives, a natural confusion seeing that the aspirated form of both is h, e.g. tαstælʹ, ‘to want’, Di. teas­tuighim, cp. O.Ir. tesstá. The alter­nation in tʹαχ, ‘house’, gen. sing. tiə, occurs already in O.Ir. and is due to vowel-gradation.

§ 383. t has in a few cases been prefixed to words beginning with a vowel or f, cp. ə ti꞉s ɔ꞉g § 379. Examples – to̤bəN, ‘sudden’, M.Ir. opond; tuəmʹ tα̃꞉uw, ‘an idle rumour’, v. Di. tuaim = fuaim. Cp. tʹiLʹuw by the side of fʹiLʹuw, ‘to return’, v. Di. tilleadh.