Yew Two

[Jim Rader]

Mr. Long is playing with Irish orthography here.  The Old Irish word
is <ibar>, with a short <i>, as cited earlier in the message.  The
spellings with <iu> reflect Early Modern Irish developments (growth
of a glide vowel, shift of the diphthongal crest) and resemblance to
Greek <iophoros> is chimerical.  Fluctuations between <io/iu>
spellings in Modern Irish/Scottish Gaelic words reflect mid/high
vowel exchanges in dialects that have nothing to do with the Old
Irish forms of the words.

Jim Rader

> Of course, Gr <iophoros> as a borrowed word into Celtic may possibly have
> ended up as Irish <iubhar> and Gaelic <iubhar>.  (See, e.g., Gaelic
> <leabhar>,a book; Welsh <llyfr>; from Latin <liber>; <io> and <iu> being
> somewhat interchangeable, compare Gaelic <iollagach> with <iullagach>, both
> meaning frolicsome.)  See also Gaelic <uthaidh, i:thaidh>, arrow;
> <coiliobhar>, a kind of gun; <ionntraich>, miss.  Cf., Gaelic <giuthas>,
> Early Irish <gius>, fir or similar wood.) All thios might suggest a
> connection that conforms better perhaps to what we know about the use of
> trade names for materials in ancient times.
...........
>
> Regards,
> Steve Long