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| Irish Gaelic is the
First Official Language in Independent Ireland. It is taught in all
schools that accept funds from the government, and until recently it was
required of all civil servants. Place names and street signs are
in Irish. This incredibly beautiful tongue is again spoken by
more than half the folks in Ireland. But it was not always so . .
. By the time of the Celtic Renaissance, in the 19th Century AD, Irish could scarcely be heard at all in Dublin, and was still spoken only by rural folk of Western Ireland. Spelling had never been standardized. There are three main dialects: Munster (An Mhumhain), Connacht (Connachta) and Ulster (Ulaidh), and uncountable regional and local variations. Údarás na Gaeltachta has authority over modern Irish sort of like L'Académie Française has over French. Irish is the tongue of writers and storytellers, poets and bards, merrymaking and songs that make you laugh and cry and love. Nietzsche once wrote something like 'To sound intelligent, say it in German; to sound profound, say it in Latin; but to sound like God, say it in Greek.' We would add 'to tell a tale, tell it in Irish.' |
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The Irish Unical
alphabet first came into use about the 8th Centruy AD. It is based
on the Latin alphabet. It has just 18 letters, but numerous
diacritical marks. It was used by Irish Catholic monks in the
fabled, fabulous, flowingly illuminated bible called the Book of Kells.
Although the Unical alphabet is still thought of as the 'Irish'
alphabet, modern Irish is mostly written with the contemporary Latin
alphabet -- but still with lots of diacritical marks. Here is the
Unical alphbet:
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For comparison, we have three little mottoes which are apropos. Here they are:
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| Vikings introduced runes to Ireland as
well, and Old Irish can also be found written in the runic
alphabet. Runes, however, are mostly carved on stone and seldom
written on paper or similar stuff, so such writing is still considered
'pre-historic,' which is a bit ironic considering how long stones last.
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Druids had a secret writing of their
own. Called Ogham, it was more of a cipher or hand signal that a true
alphabet. When written, it was often carved on the inside of sheets of bark,
so almost no examples survive. Again, such writing is considered
'pre-historic.'
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Learn some Irish!The best way to learn the Irish Tongue is from a
native speaker. Irish Gaelic has much to offer to the dilettante, aficionado or
scholar. |
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