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§ 481. Foreign words which retain the foreign stress may come to be regarded as compounds, e.g. dʹi·ɔ꞉ʃi꞉, ‘diocese’; ʃkʹi·æɲkʹiʃ, ‘quinsy’, < Engl. squinansy. Several obscure words with stress on the second syllable were probably once compounds, e.g. gæ·ʃα꞉, ‘panting’ (note however the inter­jection pα·pα = ‘don’t, don’t touch’); mo·ru꞉χiLʹ, ‘scald-crow’, O’R. moruadh, moruach, Di. mur­thuidhe; pʹlʹei·ʃαm, ‘bother, nuisance’ (?); rə·fɔ꞉rʹi꞉nʹ, ‘a small shower after a squall’.

§ 482. The second member seems to receive the stress in verb-forms with o̤n‑, e.g. o̤n·χo̤r̥ə, ‘a match for’, = ion­chorrtha Cl. S. 25 vi ’04 p. 6 col. 1. ku꞉gʹə ·mũ꞉n, ‘Munster’, ku꞉gʹi(꞉) ·χo̤Nαχtə, ‘Connaught’ and ku꞉gʹi(꞉) ·ləiən, ‘Leinster’, are regular but one generally hears ·ku꞉gʹ o̤luw, ‘Ulster’. Adjec­tives contain­ing Nʹα̃u‑, O.Ir. neph‑, neb‑, have the stress on the second element, e.g. Nʹα̃u·αswiαχ, ‘in­dependent’.

§ 483. Even stress occurs but not exclusively with the prefixes αn‑, ‘very’, drɔχ‑, ‘bad’, dʹi꞉‑, ‘un‑, in‑’, mʹi꞉‑, ‘un‑’, rɔ꞉‑, ‘too’, e.g. ·an·i꞉ʃəl, ‘very low’; ·αn·ɔkrəs, ‘great hunger’; ·αN·Lũ꞉χər, ‘very active’; ·drɔχ·wu꞉nuw, ‘bad manners’; ·drɔχ·i꞉v, ‘bad appear­ance’; ·drɔχ·iəri꞉, ‘attempt to violate’; ·dʹi꞉·ji꞉lʹɛαuw, ‘in­digestion’; ·mʹi꞉·αNtrα꞉χ, ‘untimely’; ·mʹi꞉·α꞉, ‘mis­fortune’; ·mi꞉·eidʹαχ, ‘impatient’; ·mʹi꞉·hα꞉stə, ‘dis­satisfied’ (but also ·mʹihα꞉stə); ·mʹi꞉rʹəN has uneven stress because the etymology (mí-ghreann) is obscured; ·rɔ꞉·wαL, ‘too late’. Further in ə ·jɛəN·tɔʃkʹ, ‘on purpose’; ·kũ꞉·jαs, ‘ambi­dexter’, Di. coimh­dheas.

§ 484. In this particular the Gaelic dialects do not seem to differ very widely, cp. Henderson, ZCP. iv 264 ff. and Finck i 127 ff. The chief cases have been well summar­ised by Finck and we adopt his arrange­ment. · before a syllable is employed to denote strong stress, : medium stress and - weak stress. Where necessary special emphasis may be denoted by ;.

§ 485. A noun as subject is stressed more strongly than the verb, e.g. :henikʹ ·mα꞉rʹə, ‘Mary came’; :ro̤g ə ·wɔ꞉, ‘the cow calved’; :tα꞉ ·LUχærʹ ɔrəm, ‘I rejoice’; ·tɔkrəs ɔrəm, ‘I am hungry’; :Nʹï꞉lʹ ·ɔkrəs ɔrəm, ‘I am not hungry’. But ·tα꞉s əgəm, ‘I know’, ·Nʹïlʹ əs əgəm, ‘I do not know’, Nʹi꞉ ·ro꞉s əgəm, ‘I did not know’, ə ·mʹəwəs əgəm, ‘if I had known’, cp. further (ə) ·gʹəNʹïstə, ‘unawares’.