The Influence of Latin and Norse on the Goidelic Languages - Page 2
© Morag Gladstone
The table below shows examples of Irish borrowings of Latin words. The Scottish Gaelic and Manx equivalents are given to show their development from Old Irish.
| Latin | Old Irish | Sc G | Manx | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ecclesia | eclais | eaglais | agglish | church |
| anima | -- | anam | annym | soul |
| benedictio | beannacht | beannachd | bannaght | blessing |
| credo | -- | creid | credjal | believe |
| peccatum | peaca | peacadh | peccah | sin |
| argentum | airgiod | airgead | -- | money |
| lego | -- | leugh | lhaih | read |
| liber | -- | leabhar | lioar | book |
| quinnio | cín* | -- | -- | book |
Latin also influenced the written language, its Roman letters being adapted to what we refer to as cló-gaelach. Ó Cróinín states that within a century the Irish had assimilated Latin and its traditions 'to the point where Irish Latin writers were indistinguishable, either in style or in language, from their continental counterparts' (3, p. 172). This striking achievement has been attributed to the teaching of grammar. The grammar books of the Late Roman schools which were available at the start of the century were far too advanced for beginners. A teacher, Asper, adapted the elementary grammar book of Donatus and produced the Ars Asporii which was widely used and established itself in the schools by the seventh century (3, p. 176).
As Scotland and Ireland shared the same literary language, Common Classical Gaelic, until the seventeenth century (10, p. vi), it is difficult to identify the developments in the vernacular language in Scotland. The languages did not begin to diverge until the 13th century, when there became a distinction between West (Irish) and East Gaelic (Scotland and Man) (1, p. 63). Once again this distinction is not rigid, given that we know little of the Gaelic spoken in the middle areas e.g. Galloway.
