Irish Gaelic, Gaeilge in Irish, is probably the learners' favorite of all the Goidelic Celtic languages, especially in the US. Most people know that Ireland was an extremely important center of learning in the Middle Ages, as the popularity of Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization tells us. And although Latin was the language of the Church and therefore the scholars, Irish was the language of everyday use. Not surprisingly, there is also a rich tradition in Irish language literature. So how did a language of such cultural significance suffer such a heavy decline, to the point where extinction is practically imminent?
History of Irish
Irish Gaelic is one of the three “gaelic” languages, including Scottish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic. It derives from the Celtic-speaking migrants who arrived in Ireland sometime at the end of the first millennium BC (1: “History”). At that point, the language spoken by all migrants to the British Isles was virtually identical, as the different branches had yet to develop. But the natural process of language development began almost immediately, and Irish slowly but surely became its own language.
It wasn't until roughly the 6th century, with the coming of Christianity, that Irish was written in the script that is used today, in a slightly modified form, though we know that it was written before then. From the 4th to 6th centuries AD, the only written form of Irish was Archaic Irish, and it was written in Ogham, a script using parallel lines generally etched on wood and stone.
The coming of Christianity to Ireland in the 6th century inspired a major shift in the language. Learning was soon associated with the Church and all its language, Latin. But rather than confine themselves to Latin, the scholars adapted the script to their own language, marking a new stage: Old Irish. This script, although based on the Latin script, is not readable to those of us without training. The form of Old Irish was remarkably uniform throughout the country, where there are few discernable dialectal differences. The language changed very little until the 10th century. Old Irish is also important because it is the parent language of Scottish and Manx Gaelic.
From the 10th to the 13th century, Irish began changing, at first from the powerful impact of the Viking invasions on the region as a whole, and later also from the Anglo-Norman invasion. At this stage it is called Middle Irish. From the 14th century, Irish emerges as Modern Irish, and it is virtually the same language as today.
