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An Introduction to the Language
History
Irish Gaelic is one of Europe's oldest languages still spoken today. Together with its relative Scottish Gaelic, both members of the Goidelic family, and its more distant relatives Welsh and Breton, members of the Brythonic family, Irish Gaelic and the other languages form the branch of the Celtic languages, a sub-group of the Indo-European languages and is as such, although distantly related to e.g English an independent language.
Irish Gaelic is spoken as the official language of the Republic of Ireland – Póblacht na hÉirinn – however is only spoken fluently by a small number of people residing in the Gaeltachts, traditionally strong Irish Gaelic areas where the English occupation saw little or no interest in settling. However, Irish Gaelic today is a strong middle-class, urban phenomenon and is taught in all schools all over Ireland, and became the status of being the first Celtic official language in the European Union 2007.
The Irish Gaelic evolved from an Ghaeilge Ársa, which is the first recorded form of Gaelic in Ireland found on Ogham-covered stones, and was followed by An tSean-Ghaeilge spoken between 700-900 A.D. The era that followed, a time when Vikings ruled Ireland saw the rise and fall of an Mhéan-Ghaeilge, and was followed by an Ghaeilge Chlasaiceach, the standard written form all over Scotland and Ireland until the 1600 when Scottish and Irish Gaelic split up into two different languages and we begin to talk about an Nua-Ghaeilge. This period was a sad time in the Irish history, Irish Gaelic lost its high standard and the dialectal differences grew bigger. It was only in the beginning of the 20th Century that Irish once again became an important language, as a symbol for the Fight for Freedom against the English Occupation, and was chosen to be one of Ireland‘s two official language when the Irish Free State was founded in 1922.
The dialects of Irish Gaelic are very varied and the further north one travels the more the Irish Gaelic resembles Scottish Gaelic, for example one may take the difference between the phrase "How do you do?" in the different areas of Ireland.
In Connemara one may say "Cen chaoi an bhfuil tú?" in Connacht "Conas ata tu?" and in Ulster "Cad e mar átá tú?" which is closer to the Scottish "ciamar a tha thu?" than to the standard Irish. However, in Ireland Scottish Gaelic was only spoken on the Isle of Rathlin, and one must not forget that Scottish Gaelic first only was a dialect of Irish Gaelic spoken by Gaels that settled in Scotland and there evolved their own language.
Further one must not forget the ancient language of Siúlta spoken by the Travellers of Ireland, which as well as Irish is a language of Celtic origin however heavily influenced by English, and almost exclusively used by Travellers to conceal the meaning of something from non-travellers. However, Siúlta is rarely mentioned when Celtic languages are discussed, and does not receive the same status as Gaeilge within the Republic of Ireland.
In Ireland English is spoken by most people as an everyday language, but in the different Gaeltachts, Contae Dhún na nGall being the biggest one, and whom all receive funding from the Irish state, Gaelic is a living and vibrant language and used in all situations, ranging from formal to informal occasions.
Family
Indo-European
- Celtic
- Insular Celtic
- Goidelic
- Irish Gaelic
- Goidelic
- Insular Celtic
Spoken in
Irish Gaelic is an official language in Ireland, where it has roughly 50,000 speakers who use the language as their first mode of communication, and an additional 500,000 speakers who use the language on a weekly basis. Despite being an official language in Ireland Irish is often mentioned as the Celtic language who is at most risk from going extinct. Apart from being the official language of Ireland, Irish is an official language in the European Union as well.
