by p rather than ph; and to represent φ by f, as the Italians have done in filosofia, filologia, &c., by which some ambiguities and anomalies in declension would be avoided.
[12] The affinity between the sounds of v and u is observable in many languages, particularly in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
[13] Agreeably to the like pronunciation, the Welsh write this word marw, the Manks marroo.
[14] It is still pronounced fuair in the Northern Highlands, and it is so written in Irish. See Irish Bible, Gen. xxxv. 18, 19; John ii. 14, viii. 62, 53.
[15] So fathast yet, fein self, are in some places pronounced as if they began with an h instead of an f. The latter word is, by the Manks, written hene.
[16] Over a considerable part of the Highlands that propensity to aspiration, which has been already remarked, has affixed to c, in the end of a word, or of an accented syllable, the sound of chc; as, mac a son, torc a boar, acain moaning; pronounced often machc, torchc, achcain.
There is reason to believe that this compound sound of chc was not known of old, but is a modern corruption.
This pronunciation is not universal over the Highlands. In some parts the c retains its proper sound in all situations.
If the articulation in question had, from the first, been compounded, it is highly probable that it would have been represented, in writing, by a combination of letters, such as chc; especially as we find that the same sound is represented at other times, not by a single consonant, but by a combination, as in the case of chd. Why should it be thought that boc a buck, and bochd poor, were originally pronounced alike, when they are distinguished both in writing and signification?
The word