Previous work on oxygen in silicon has shown that oxygen dissolves interstitially in silicon forming a complex which may be approximately described as Si
2
O. Absorption bands of Si : O occur at 517, 1136 and 1203 cm
-1
and these have been assigned by earlier authors to the
v
2
(symmetric bending),
v
3
(antisymmetric stretch) and
v
1
(symmetric stretch) normal modes of vibration of Si
2
O. The present investigation confirms the
v
3
origin of the 1136 cm
-1
band (the well-known 9
μ
m band) but we disagree with the earlier assignments of the 517 and 1136 cm
-1
bands. The results reported here are relevant to organic siloxanes. We have extended the investigation of Si : O into the far infrared and we find sharp absorption lines at 29.3, 37.8, 43.3 and 49.0 cm
-1
which we have assigned to the
v
2
mode of Si
2
O. The isotope shift due to
l8
O has been observed in the far infrared spectrum. Effects of uniaxial stress on the 29.3 cm
-1
line have been investigated and are found to be consistent with the assignment to the
v
2
mode. The main features of the far infrared spectrum are accounted for with a simple anharmonic potential which ignores coupling of the Si
2
O to the crystal lattice. We have investigated effects of uniaxial stress on the 517, 1136 and 1203 cm
-1
bands of Si
2
O. Our stress results for the 1136 cm
-1
band are consistent with the earlier
v
3
assignment. Using our normal mode description, we conclude that the 1203 cm
-1
band is a combination band involving
v
3
and
v
2
excitations. We have not been able to give a clear cut assignment to the 517 cm
-1
band, but we suggest that
v
1
type excitation may be involved. The appendix describes the stress splitting of the 836 cm
-1
band of the silicon A centre in electron irradiated Si : O and our results confirm an earlier model for this centre. In all cases investigated here, the stress splittings arise from raising the orientational degeneracy of the oxygen complex.