Middle Irish
- Middle Irish
-
Middle Irish Gaoidhealg Pronunciation [ˈɡɯːʝeɫɡ] Spoken in Ireland, Scotland, Isle of Man Era Evolved into Early Modern Irish about the 12th century Language family Indo-European- Celtic
- Insular Celtic
- Goidelic
- Middle Irish
- Goidelic
- Insular Celtic
Writing system Latin (Gaelic alphabet) Language codes ISO 639-2 mga ISO 639-3 mga Middle Irish is the name given by historical philologists to the Goidelic language spoken in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man from the 10th to 12th centuries; it is therefore a contemporary of late Old English and early Middle English.[1][2] The modern Goidelic languages, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx, are all descendants of Middle Irish.
At its height, Middle Irish was spoken throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man; from Munster to the island of Inchcolm in the Firth of Forth. Its geographical range made it the most widespread of all Insular languages before the late 12th century, when Middle English began to make inroads into Ireland, and many of the Celtic regions of northern and western Britain.
Few mediaeval European languages can rival the volume of literature extant in Middle Irish. Much of this survival is due to the tenacity of a few early modern Irish antiquarians, but the sheer volume of sagas, annals, hagiographies, and so forth, which survive shows how much confidence members of the mediaeval Gaelic learned orders had in their own vernacular. Almost all of it survives in Ireland; very little survives in Scotland or Man. The Lebor Bretnach, the "Irish Nennius", survives only from manuscripts preserved in Ireland; however, Thomas Owen Clancy has recently argued that it was written in Scotland, at the monastery in Abernethy.[3]
Notes
- ^ Mac Eoin, Gearóid (1993). "Irish". In Martin J. Ball (ed.). The Celtic Languages. London: Routledge. pp. 101–44. ISBN 0-415-01035-7.
- ^ Breatnach, Liam (1994). "An Mheán-Ghaeilge". In K. McCone, D. McManus, C. Ó Háinle, N. Williams, and L. Breatnach (eds.) (in Irish). Stair na Gaeilge in ómós do Pádraig Ó Fiannachta. Maynooth: Department of Old Irish, St. Patrick's College. pp. 221–333. ISBN 0-901519-90-1.
- ^ Clancy, Thomas Owen (2000). "Scotland, the ‘Nennian’ recension of the Historia Brittonum, and the Lebor Bretnach". In Simon Taylor (ed.). Kings, Clerics and Chronicles in Scotland, 500-1297. Dublin & Portland: Four Courts Press. pp. 87–107. ISBN 1-85182-516-9.
Further reading
- MacManus, Damian (1983). "A chronology of the Latin loan words in early Irish". Ériu 34: 21–71.
- McCone, Kim (1978). "The dative singular of Old Irish consonant stems". Ériu 29: 26–38.
- McCone, Kim (1981). "Final /t/ to /d/ after unstressed vowels, and an Old Irish sound law". Ériu 31: 29–44.
- McCone, Kim (1996). "Prehistoric, Old and Middle Irish". Progress in medieval Irish studies. pp. 7–53.
- McCone, Kim (2005). A First Old Irish Grammar and Reader, Including an Introduction to Middle Irish. Maynooth Medieval Irish Texts 3. Maynooth.
See also
Irish linguistics History Sociolinguistics Connacht Irish · Munster Irish · Newfoundland Irish · Ulster Irish · Status of the language · outside IrelandGrammar Writing Names Personal and family names · List of personal namesVariants Dialects Language Alphabet · Gaelic script · Orthography · Phonology · Grammar · Names · Dependent and independent verb formsCulture Categories:- Irish language
- Medieval languages
- Medieval Scotland
- History of Scotland
- Norman and Medieval Ireland
- Celtic
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
Look at other dictionaries:
Middle Irish — noun Date: 1952 the Irish in use between the 10th and 13th centuries see Indo European languages table … New Collegiate Dictionary
Middle Irish — the Irish language of the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. * * * … Universalium
Middle Irish — noun The Gaelic language spoken in Ireland during the 10th, 11th and 12th centuries … Wiktionary
Irish Literature — • It is uncertain at what period and in what manner the Irish discovered the use of letters. It may have been through direct commerce with Gaul, but it is more probable, as McNeill has shown in his study of Irish oghams, that it was from the… … Catholic encyclopedia
Middle Colonies — Regional statistics U.S. States … Wikipedia
Irish Hill, Louisville — Irish Hill is a neighborhood east of downtown Louisville, Kentucky USA. It is bounded by Baxter Avenue to the west, Lexington Road to the north, the middle fork of Beargrass Creek and I 64 to the east. Cave Hill Cemetery is located directly south … Wikipedia
Middle Third (South Tipperary) — Middle Third (Irish: An Trian Meánach) is one of the baronies of Ireland, a historical geographical unit of land. Its chief town is Cashel. It is one of 14 baronies in the old county of Tipperary between Eliogarty to the north (whose chief town… … Wikipedia
Middle Island Presbyterian Church — U.S. National Register of Historic Places … Wikipedia
Irish Snap — is a card game, whose objective is to lose cards as quickly as possible. As there is only one loser, forfeits can be made for the person with all the cards at the end. This game is often played by students between lessons. Rules A pack of cards,… … Wikipedia
Irish stepdance — is a type of performance dance originating in Ireland from traditional Irish dance. Irish stepdancing has been recently popularized by the world famous show Riverdance and its followers. Irish stepdance is performed in most places with large… … Wikipedia