By Bob Carney
Irish is one of the oldest languages in the world that is still spoken as a first language. We have evidence of it written in Ogham form as early as the fourth century, but, it may have been written before that.
Contrary to the popular belief that Ogham was only written on stone pillars, usually depicting place names, Ogham was written on all manners of medium. The sticks, bark, hides and cloth that were used simply did not survive the centuries.
Irish belongs to the Celtic family of languages, which is divided into two factions. The Gaelic branch consists of Irish, Scots Gaelic and Manx and share many similarities. The other branch consists of Breton, Welsh and Cornish and differ dramatically from the Gaelic branch.
The two form one of the twelve branches of the Indo-European linguistic family. Irish speakers refer to the language as Gaeilge, (pron.gway-la-guh or gahl-ih gay), which is derived from an Old Irish word for Irishman, Goidel (goy-del). In English it is refered to as Irish, Gaelic usually is used to reference Scots Gaelic, not Irish.
Primitive Irish
Both groups in the Celtic language family are derived from Primitive Irish. Indo-European languages are believed to have arrived on the shores of Ireland between 2400 and 2000 BC. Primitive Irish is only known from those fragments of Ogham that survived from that early era. They are dated from the third and fourth centuries.
Old Irish
Old Irish is divided into two periods. Early Old Irish dates from the seventh century and differs slightly from Old Irish spoken in the eighth and ninth centuries. Tales from the Ulster Cycle in Irish mythology have their origins in Old Irish literary texts, but were predominately written in Middle Irish.
Middle Irish
Middle Irish was used from 900 to 1200 AD. A large amount of literature, including the entire Ulster Cycle, was written in Middle Irish. The writers from this period blurred the boundaries between Old Irish and Middle Irish, many times moving effortlessly between the two.
Early Modern Irish
Early Modern Irish, from 1200-1600 AD, is when we begin to see the transition from Middle Irish to Modern Irish. Grammatical texts written by native speakers start to appear, helping to teach the nuances of Irish to students of all types.
Perhaps the most important nuances being the Christian monks, who were transcribing everything from sacred writings to history and mythology. The monks also moved back and forth between Latin and Irish. Even elements of Nordic languages make an appearance.
Modern Irish
Irish saw a decline around 1600 AD. English oppression over the next centuries saw the language banned, it’s teaching and writing prohibited. Another weapon to destroy the identity of the Irish.
An Gorta Mor, the famine of the 1840s, hit the Gaeltacht (areas where Irish is the predominate language) extremely hard, reducing the Irish speaking populace through death and emmigration. Ireland’s population prior to the Famine was eight and a half million; by the turn of the century, it had fallen to four million.
The Celtic Revival
In the late 19th century, Ireland was in the midst of a celtic revival. The Irish were reuniting with their past identity. This would lead to the events of 1916, and Irish independence.
Many, such as Padraig Pearse, saw the language as the ultimate expression of a free Ireland. He is famously quoted as saying, “Tír gan Teanga, Tír gan Anam” or “A country without a language, is a country without a soul.”
Douglas Hyde was active in the Society for the Preservation of the Irish Language, and wrote poetry in Irish under a pen name, An Craoibhín Aoibhinn (the pleasant little branch). In 1892 he gave a very famous speech, “The Necessity for De-Anglicizing Ireland.” He said for Ireland to flourish, it must stop turning to England for it’s culture and instead “nurture it’s own language, poetry, art and imagination.”
In the language reform of the 1950s, an “official” dialect was added to the three regional dialects recognized. That official dialect is what is taught in schools, on-line courses and self-learning materials, including the “Speak Irish Now” book that we use in our Speak Irish Cleveland classes.
Speaking Irish Today
In Ireland there are no more monoglots who speak only Irish, everyone speaks English, even if Irish is their first language at home or in their community. Irish has left it’s mark on the English spoken in Ireland. Technically called Hiberno-English or Irish- English, it follows English writing standards but has it’s own dialects. Some grammatical structures and vocabulary are unique to different regions in Ireland.
Perhaps you’ve noticed that the Irish rarely give straight yes or no answers; that’s because we don’t have a word for yes or no in Irish, we respond with the appropriate verb that was used in posing the question, allowing for a much longer response than is actually needed. Many times I’ve said, “I’ve the right to remain silent, but being Irish, I don’t have the ability.”
Irish too has influenced pronunciation. Irish doesn’t allow for an s sound before a t, an n or an l, instead it makes more of an sh sound. In the west of Ireland, the word strike would be pronounced shtrike because of the influence of Irish. Think too of the ommision of a th sound, such as the word thing or three, often pronounced ting or tree. Once again this is the influence of the Irish language.
Can you dig it?
Many years ago, my friend Paul Curran was explaining the grammatical forms of eclipsis and lenition to me. He used the base word of tuig (tigg). It means understand. When it is used in a question, such as, “Do you understand?” the word is eclipised: “An dtuigeann tú?” (ahn dig-unn too) .
He then asked me if I was familiar with the sugar plantations in the Caribbean in the 1600 and 1700s, I knew there was a combination of African slaves and criminals and indentured servants from Ireland, Scotland, England and elswhere.
He then asked me what language they spoke, something I never really thought about. He said he believed a type of hybrid of language was developed so that workers could communicate.
Then he mentioned the great black migration that took place in the US when southern blacks flocked to northern cities to take advantage of better jobs and a better way of life offered by our own industrial revolution. Clubs opened and jazz music was often the choice of entertainment.
Fast forward to the sixties and a phrase that we thought that originated in those clubs became popular among the youth of that era, “Can you dig it?” “Do you understand?” “An dtuigeann tú?” I don’t know how accurate Paul was, but in his memory I will continue to repeat his story.
Tog go bog é!
