77-403: Gaeldom may refer to: Areas in which some Gaelic languages (Scottish Gaelic and Manx) are spoken Gàidhealtachd , areas of Scotland where Scottish Gaelic is spoken See also [ edit ] Permanent North American Gaeltacht Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
154-502: A great deal of literature survives in it, including the early Irish law texts. Classical Gaelic , otherwise known as Early Modern Irish , covers the period from the 13th to the 18th century, during which time it was used as a literary standard in Ireland and Scotland. This is often called Classical Irish , while Ethnologue gives the name " Hiberno-Scottish Gaelic " to this standardised written language. As long as this written language
231-456: A microcosm of the whole world's population in Ireland". Several other companions echo the names of ancient Irish goddesses. Ireland is then uninhabited for 300 years, until a second group of people arrive. They are led by Partholón , who is descended from Noah through Magog. They sail to Ireland via Gothia, Anatolia , Greece, Sicily and Iberia. They include Partholón's wife Delgnat , their four chieftain sons, and others. When they arrive, there
308-689: A pre-existing Gaelic culture on both sides of the North Channel . Dál Riata grew in size and influence, and Gaelic language and culture was eventually adopted by the neighbouring Picts (a group of peoples who may have spoken a Brittonic language ) who lived throughout Scotland . Manx, the language of the Isle of Man , is closely akin to the Gaelic spoken in the Hebrides , the Irish spoken in northeast and eastern Ireland, and
385-516: A salmon and later an eagle and a hawk, living for 5,500 years after the Flood, whence he becomes a man again and recounts Ireland's history. In an earlier version of the tale, the first woman in Ireland is Banba . Banba, Fódla and Ériu were a trio of land goddesses and their husbands were Mac Cuill (son of hazel), Mac Cecht (son of the plough) and Mac Gréine (son of the Sun). It is likely that Cessair,
462-459: A single week. Only one man, Tuan mac Cairill , survives. Like Fintán, he lives for centuries in a number of forms, so that he can recount Irish history. This chapter also includes the tale of Delgnat committing adultery with a servant. Partholón comes from Bartholomaeus (Bartholomew) and he is probably an invention of the Christian writers, possibly being borrowed from a character of that name in
539-706: A son named Goídel Glas . Goídel crafts the Goidelic (Gaelic) language from the original 72 languages that arose after the confusion of tongues . Goídel's offspring, the Goidels (Gaels), leave Egypt at the same time as the Israelites ( the Exodus ) and settle in Scythia. After some time they leave Scythia and spend 440 years travelling the Earth, undergoing trials and tribulations akin to those of
616-538: A succession of wars and floods. Numerous fragments of Ireland's mythological history are scattered throughout the 7th and 8th centuries. In his Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History (1861), Eugene O'Curry , Professor of Irish History and Archaeology at the Catholic University of Ireland , discussed various genres of historical tales mentioned in the manuscripts: The Tochomladh
693-551: Is a collection of poems and prose narratives in the Irish language intended to be a history of Ireland and the Irish from the creation of the world to the Middle Ages . There are a number of versions, the earliest of which was compiled by an anonymous writer in the 11th century. It synthesised narratives that had been developing over the foregoing centuries. The Lebor Gabála tells of Ireland being "taken" (settled) by six groups of people:
770-655: Is derived from Old Welsh Guoidel meaning "wild men, savages". The medieval mythology of the Lebor Gabála Érenn places its origin in an eponymous ancestor of the Gaels and the inventor of the language, Goídel Glas . The family tree of the Goidelic languages, within the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, is as follows During the historical era, Goidelic
847-539: Is descended from Adam through the sons of Noah . It tells us how Noah's son Japheth is the forebear of all Europeans (see Japhetites ), how Japheth's son Magog is the forebear of the Gaels and Scythians , and how Fénius Farsaid is the forebear of the Gaels. Fénius, a prince of Scythia , is described as one of 72 chieftains who built the Tower of Babel . His son Nel weds Scota , daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh , and they have
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#1732851309031924-605: Is killed by unnamed attackers and his men return to Iberia. The Gaels set sail with a great force to avenge his death and take Ireland. They are referred to here as the Sons of Míl Espáine (or Milesians ). The name Míl Espáine comes from the Latin Miles Hispaniae ("soldier of Hispania "). After they land, they fight against the combined forces of the Tuath Dé and Fomorians. On their way to Tara , they are met on three mountains by
1001-560: Is loosely based on real events. In the 1940s, T. F. O'Rahilly created a model of Irish prehistory based on his analysis of the Lebor Gabála and the early Irish language. He suggested that there were four waves of Celtic migrations or invasions: the Cruthin (c. 700–500 BC), the Érainn or Builg (c. 500 BC), the Laigin , Domnainn and Gálioin (c. 300 BC), and the Gaels (c. 100 BC). He argued that
1078-428: Is only one open plain, three lakes and nine rivers. They clear four more plains and a further seven lakes burst from the ground . Named figures are credited with introducing cattle husbandry, ploughing, cooking, brewing, and dividing the island in four. They battle and defeat the mysterious Fomorians , who are led by Cichol Gricenchos . Eventually, Partholón and his people (now 5,000 men and 4,000 women) die of plague in
1155-478: Is possibly based on the Tower of Hercules , which was rebuilt at Corunna by the Romans. According to the Lebor Gabála , the first people to arrive in Ireland are led by Cessair , daughter of Bith, son of Noah . They are told to go to the western edge of the world to escape the oncoming Flood . They set out in three ships, but two are lost at sea. They land in Ireland, at Dún na mBárc on Bantry Bay , forty days before
1232-505: Is proposed as the predecessor of Goidelic, which then began to separate into different dialects before splitting during the Middle Irish period into the separate languages of Irish , Manx , and Scottish Gaelic . Irish is one of the Republic of Ireland 's two official languages along with English . Historically the predominant language of the island, it is now mostly spoken in parts of
1309-492: Is sometimes used to refer to Scottish Gaelic, especially in Scotland, and therefore is ambiguous. Irish and Manx are sometimes referred to as Irish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic (as they are Goidelic or Gaelic languages), but the use of the word "Gaelic" is unnecessary because the terms Irish and Manx, when used to denote languages, always refer to those languages. This is in contrast to Scottish Gaelic , for which "Gaelic" distinguishes
1386-743: The Gaeltachtaí are primarily found in Counties Cork , Donegal , Mayo , Galway , Kerry , and, to a lesser extent, in Waterford and Meath . In the Republic of Ireland 1,774,437 (41.4% of the population aged three years and over) regard themselves as able to speak Irish to some degree. Of these, 77,185 (1.8%) speak Irish on a daily basis outside school. Irish is also undergoing a revival in Northern Ireland and has been accorded some legal status there under
1463-669: The Canadian Gaelic dialect in Nova Scotia . Its historical range was much larger. For example, it was the everyday language of most of the rest of the Scottish Highlands until little more than a century ago. Galloway was once also a Gaelic-speaking region, but the Galwegian dialect has been extinct there for approximately three centuries. It is believed to have been home to dialects that were transitional between Scottish Gaelic and
1540-580: The Caspian Sea in 44 ships but, after a year and a half of sailing, the only ship to reach Ireland is Nemed's. On board are his wife, his four chieftain sons, and others. During their time in Ireland, the Nemedians clear twelve plains and build two royal forts, and four lakes burst from the ground. They win four battles against the Fomorians. After Nemed and many others die of plague, the Nemedians are oppressed by
1617-602: The European Union . Ireland's national language was the twenty-third to be given such recognition by the EU and previously had the status of a treaty language. Some people in the north and west of mainland Scotland and most people in the Hebrides still speak Scottish Gaelic, but the language has been in decline. There are now believed to be approximately 60,000 native speakers of Scottish Gaelic in Scotland , plus around 1,000 speakers of
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#17328513090311694-513: The Fir Bolg (men of bags), and contain two sub-groups known as the Fir Domnann and Fir Gálioin. Led by their five chieftains, they divide Ireland into five provinces : Gann takes North Munster, Sengann takes South Munster, Genann takes Connacht, Rudraige takes Ulster and Slanga takes Leinster. A succession of nine High Kings rule over Ireland for the next 37 years. Those who went into the north of
1771-484: The Lebor Gabála was first compiled in the 11th century, the three waves of settlers had grown to six. Joseph Lennon says "These waves may, in fact, represent the redactors' attempts to account for numerous oral accounts in Irish of origin legends". It is also suggested that there are six waves to match the " Six Ages of the World ". These stories continued to be enriched and elaborated upon by Irish historian-poets throughout
1848-691: The Tuatha Dé Danann took husbands from the Gaeil when they 'invaded' and 'colonised' Ireland. The pattern of successive invasions recounted in the LGE is reminiscent of Timagenes of Alexandria's account of the origins of the Gauls of continental Europe. Cited by the 4th-century historian Ammianus Marcellinus , Timagenes (1st century BC) describes how the ancestors of the Gauls were driven from their native lands in eastern Europe by
1925-551: The tochomlaidh referred to above by O'Curry), paraphrasing and enlarging the verse. The result was the earliest version of LGE. It was written in Middle Irish, a form of Irish Gaelic used between 900 and 1200. Within a century of its compilation there existed a plethora of copies and revisions of Lebor Gabála , with as many as 136 poems between them. It is "somewhat misleading" to refer to the Lebor Gabála as one narrative. No two versions are identical, although many elements remain
2002-499: The 15th century, Scottis in Scottish English (or Scots Inglis ) was used to refer only to Gaelic, and the speakers of this language who were identified as Scots . As the ruling elite became Scots Inglis/English-speaking, Scottis was gradually associated with the land rather than the people, and the word Erse ('Irish') was gradually used more and more as an act of culturo-political disassociation, with an overt implication that
2079-611: The 1607 Flight of the Earls (and the disappearance of much of the Gaelic nobility), Irish was spoken by the majority of the population until the later 18th century, with a huge impact from the Great Famine of the 1840s. Disproportionately affecting the classes among whom Irish was the primary spoken language, famine and emigration precipitated a steep decline in native speakers, which only recently has begun to reverse. The Irish language has been recognised as an official and working language of
2156-494: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement but its official usage remains divisive to certain parts of the population. The 2001 census in Northern Ireland showed that 167,487 (10.4%) people "had some knowledge of Irish". Combined, this means that around one in three people ( c. 1.85 million ) on the island of Ireland can understand Irish at some level. Despite the ascent in Ireland of the English and Anglicised ruling classes following
2233-480: The 19th and early 20th centuries. The Scottish Parliament has afforded the language a secure statutory status and "equal respect" (but not full equality in legal status under Scots law ) with English, sparking hopes that Scottish Gaelic can be saved from extinction and perhaps even revitalised. Long the everyday language of most of the Isle of Man , Manx began to decline sharply in the 19th century. The last monolingual Manx speakers are believed to have died around
2310-454: The 19th century". Today, scholars regard the Lebor Gabála as primarily myth rather than history. It appears to be mostly based on medieval Christian pseudo-histories, but it also incorporates some of Ireland’s native pagan mythology. Scholars believe that the goal of its writers was to provide a history for Ireland that could compare to that of Rome or Israel, and which was compatible with Christian teaching. The Lebor Gabála became one of
2387-409: The 20th century, recording their speech and learning from them. In the 2011 United Kingdom census , there were 1,823 Manx speakers on the island, representing 2.27% of the population of 80,398, and a steady increase in the number of speakers. Today Manx is the sole medium for teaching at five of the island's pre-schools by a company named Mooinjer veggey ("little people"), which also operates
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2464-532: The 9th century. In the 10th and 11th centuries, several long historical poems were written that were later incorporated into the scheme of LGE. Most of the poems on which the 11th-12th century version of LGE was based were written by the following four poets: It was late in the 11th century that a single anonymous scholar appears to have brought together these and numerous other poems and fitted them into an elaborate prose framework – partly of his own composition and partly drawn from older, no longer extant sources (i.e.
2541-413: The Christian histories of Saint Jerome and Isidore. The Fomorians have been interpreted as a group of deities who represent the harmful or destructive powers of nature; personifications of chaos, darkness, death, blight and drought. Ireland is then uninhabited for 30 years, until a third group of people arrive. They are led by Nemed , who is also descended from Noah through Magog. They set out from
2618-405: The Flood. The only survivors are Cessair, forty-nine other women, and three men: Fintan mac Bóchra , Bith and Ladra. The women are split evenly among the men. Each also takes one as his wife: Fintán takes Cessair, Bith takes Barrfhind and Ladra takes Alba. However, Bith and Ladra soon die and Ladra is the first man buried in Ireland. When the Flood comes, Fintán is the only one to survive. He becomes
2695-452: The Fomorian kills Nuada, but Balor's grandson Lugh kills him and becomes king. The Tuath Dé enjoy 150 years of unbroken rule. The tale of the Gaels is now resumed. Íth, who has spied Ireland from the top of Breogán's Tower, sails to the island with a group of men. He travels to Aileach Néit where he meets Ireland's three kings: Mac Cuill, Mac Cecht and Mac Gréine of the Tuath Dé. However, he
2772-620: The Fomorians Conand and Morc. Each Samhain , they must give two-thirds of their children, their wheat and their milk to the Fomorians. This tribute that the Nemedians are forced to pay may be "a dim memory of sacrifice offered at the beginning of winter, when the powers of darkness and blight are in the ascendant". Eventually, they rise up against the Fomorians and attack the Tower of Conand with 60,000 warriors (30,000 on sea and 30,000 on land), defeating Conand. Morc then attacks, and almost all of
2849-559: The Goths , described by James Carey as "a model of barbarian pseudohistory", Isidore concludes that the Goths and Gets are related due to their similar names, and says that they (along with the Scythians) descend from Magog. The claim of Iberian origins may be based on three things: the coincidental similarity of the names Iberia and Hibernia , Isidore describing Iberia as the "mother[land] of
2926-696: The Irish comparable to that of the Israelites in the Old Testament of the Bible. This history was intended to fit the Irish into Christian world-chronology, to "find a place for Ireland in the Biblical history of the world". In doing so, it links them to events from the Old Testament and likens them to the Israelites. Ancestors of the Irish were described as enslaved in a foreign land, fleeing into exile, wandering in
3003-587: The Israelites. The druid Caicher foretells that their descendants will reach Ireland. After seven years at sea, they settle in the Maeotian marshes . They then sail via Crete and Sicily and eventually conquer Iberia . There, Goídel's descendant Breogán founds a city called Brigantia, and builds a tower from the top of which his son Íth glimpses Ireland. Brigantia was the Roman name of Corunna in Galicia and Breogán's tower
3080-575: The LGE was a conflation of two independent works: a History of the Gaedil (modelled after the history of the Israelites in the Old Testament), and an account of several pre-Gaelic settlements of Ireland (to the historicity of which Macalister gave very little credence). The latter was then inserted into the middle of the other work. Macalister theorised that the quasi-Biblical text had been a scholarly Latin work named Liber Occupationis Hiberniae ("The Book of
3157-455: The Nemedians are either killed in the fighting or swept away by the sea. Only one ship of thirty men escapes. Some of them go "into the north of the world", some go to Britain and become the ancestors of all Britons , and some go south to Greece. Those who went to Greece were enslaved by the Greeks and made to carry bags of soil and clay. After 230 years, they sail back to Ireland. They are known as
Gaeldom - Misplaced Pages Continue
3234-552: The Syriac Cave of Treasures ), as well as the four Christian works mentioned earlier (i.e. The City of God , etc.). This part also contains a genealogy derived via the Historia Brittonum from the 6th-century Frankish Table of Nations , itself relying partly on the 1st-century Germania of Tacitus . It gives the descent of the major peoples of Europe from three brothers. This chapter begins by explaining that all mankind
3311-668: The Taking of Ireland"). The earliest surviving account of Irish origins is found in the Historia Brittonum ("History of the Britons"), written in Wales in the 9th century. The story probably came from a now-lost Irish source. It says that Ireland was settled by three groups of people from the Iberian Peninsula . The first are the people of Partholón , who all die of plague. The second are
3388-531: The Tuath Dé conjure up a great wind that prevents them from sailing back to land. However, Amergin calms the wind by reciting a verse. The surviving ships return to land and the two groups agree to divide Ireland between them. The Gaels take the world above, while the Tuath Dé take the world below (i.e. the Otherworld ) and enter the sídhe mounds. Modelled on the Biblical Books of Kings , this chapter recounts
3465-467: The aforementioned Banba, Fódla and Ériu – the wives of Ireland's three kings. Each goddess asks that the Gaels name the land after her. One of the Gaels, Amergin , promises that it shall be so. At Tara, they meet the three kings, who defend their claim to the joint kingship of the land. They ask that there be a three-day truce, during which the Gaels must stay a distance of nine waves from land. The Gaels agree, but once their ships are nine waves from Ireland,
3542-408: The deeds of various kings of Ireland, most of them legendary or semi-legendary, from the time of Éber and Érimón to the early 5th century of the Christian era. A continuation of the previous chapter, it is the most accurate part of Lebor Gabála , being concerned with historical kings of Ireland whose deeds and dates are preserved in contemporary written records. For many centuries, the Lebor Gabála
3619-461: The demonic Fomorians, who have been likened to the Æsir and Vanir of Norse mythology . It is suggested that the Nemedians' struggle against the Fomorians is "an echo of the primordial clash" between these two groups of supernatural beings, and that the Fir Bolg are the human equivalent of the Fomorians. While most scholars view the work as primarily myth rather than history, some have argued that it
3696-524: The first three groups spoke Brittonic languages . O'Rahilly believed some of the 'invasions' in Lebor Gabála are based on these, but that others were invented by the writers. He also argued that many of Ireland's 'pre-Gaelic' peoples continued to flourish for centuries after 100 BC. O'Rahilly's theory has been challenged by historians and archaeologists, and is no longer accepted. In The White Goddess (1948), British poet and mythologist Robert Graves argued that myths brought to Ireland centuries before
3773-609: The language from the Germanic language known as Scots . In English, it is common to have distinct pronunciations of the word, with Scottish Gaelic pronounced / ˈ ɡ æ l ɪ k / compared to Irish and Manx Gaelic pronounced / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / . The endonyms ( Gaeilge , Gaelic and Gaolainn in Irish, Gaelg in Manx and Gàidhlig in Scottish Gaelic) are derived from Old Irish Goídelc , which in turn
3850-508: The language was not really Scottish, and therefore foreign. This was something of a propaganda label, as Gaelic has been in Scotland for at least as long as English, if not longer. In the early 16th century the dialects of northern Middle English , also known as Early Scots , which had developed in Lothian and had come to be spoken elsewhere in the Kingdom of Scotland , themselves later appropriated
3927-486: The middle of the 19th century; in 1874 around 30% of the population were estimated to speak Manx, decreasing to 9.1% in 1901 and 1.1% in 1921. The last native speaker of Manx, Ned Maddrell , died in 1974. At the end of the 19th century a revival of Manx began, headed by the Manx Language Society ( Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh ). Both linguists and language enthusiasts searched out the last native speakers during
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#17328513090314004-467: The most popular and influential works of early Irish literature. Mark Williams says it was "written in order to bridge the chasm between Christian world-chronology and the prehistory of Ireland". The Lebor Gabála is usually known in English as The Book of Invasions or The Book of Conquests . In Modern Irish it is Leabhar Gabhála Éireann or Leabhar Gabhála na hÉireann . The writers of Lebor Gabála Érenn sought to create an epic written history of
4081-597: The name Scots . By the 17th century Gaelic speakers were restricted largely to the Highlands and the Hebrides. Furthermore, the culturally repressive measures taken against the rebellious Highland communities by The Crown following the second Jacobite Rebellion of 1746 caused still further decline in the language's use – to a large extent by enforced emigration (e.g. the Highland Clearances ). Even more decline followed in
4158-428: The now-extinct Galwegian Gaelic of Galloway (in southwest Scotland), with some influence from Old Norse through the Viking invasions and from the previous British inhabitants. The oldest written Goidelic language is Primitive Irish , which is attested in Ogham inscriptions from about the 4th century. The forms of this speech are very close, and often identical, to the forms of Gaulish recorded before and during
4235-447: The people of Cessair , the people of Partholón , the people of Nemed , the Fir Bolg , the Tuatha Dé Danann , and the Milesians . The first four groups are wiped out or forced to abandon the island; the fifth group represents Ireland's pagan gods, while the final group represents the Irish people (the Gaels ). The Lebor Gabála was highly influential and was largely "accepted as conventional history by poets and scholars down until
4312-413: The people of Nemed , who eventually return to Iberia. The last group are led by three sons of a warrior or soldier from Hispania ( mīles Hispaniae ), who sail to Ireland in thirty ships. They see a glass tower in the middle of the sea and set out to capture it, but when they reach it, all but one of their ships are sunk. Only one ship is saved, and its passengers are the ancestors of all the Irish. When
4389-403: The physician and Credne the metalsmith replace Nuada's hand/arm with a working silver one, and he re-takes the kingship. Though in some versions Nuada's arm is replaced with a silver one by Dian Cecht immediately, but he is still considered unfit to be king and Dian Cecht's son Cian replaces it with an arm made of flesh. The Tuath Dé then fight the Fomorians in the Second Battle of Moytura. Balor
4466-439: The province of Connacht. Nuada , king of the Tuath Dé, loses his hand or arm in the battle and is thus no longer fit to be their king. He is replaced by Bres (a half-Fomorian), who becomes High King of Ireland. However, Bres mistreats the Tuath Dé and neglects his kingly duties. This may reflect the occasional supremacy of the powers of blight (the Fomorians) over the powers of growth (the Tuath Dé). After seven years, Dian Cecht
4543-405: The races", and Orosius describing Ireland as lying "between Iberia and Britain". The claim that the Gaels settled in the Maeotian marshes seems to have been taken from the Book of the History of the Franks , and their travels to Crete and Sicily may have been based on the tale of Aeneas . Other parts of the Lebor Gabála derive from pagan Gaelic mythology, most notably the divine Tuath Dé and
4620-455: The same. There are five recensions , surviving in more than a dozen medieval manuscripts: The following table summarises the extant manuscripts that contain versions of LGE. Most of the abbreviations used are taken from R. A. S. Macalister's critical edition of the work (see references for details): The LGE was translated into French in 1884. The first complete English translation was made by R. A. Stewart Macalister between 1937 and 1942. It
4697-450: The sole Manx-medium primary school, the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh . Manx is taught as a second language at all of the island's primary and secondary schools and also at the University College Isle of Man and Centre for Manx Studies . Comparison of Goidelic numbers, including Old Irish. Welsh numbers have been included for a comparison between Goidelic and Brythonic branches. * un and daa are no longer used in counting. Instead
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#17328513090314774-442: The south, west, and northwest. The legally defined Irish-speaking areas are called the Gaeltacht ; all government institutions of the Republic, in particular the parliament ( Oireachtas ), its upper house ( Seanad ) and lower house ( Dáil ), and the prime minister ( Taoiseach ) have official names in this language, and some are only officially referred to by their Irish names even in English. At present,
4851-479: The suppletive forms nane and jees are normally used for counting but for comparative purposes, the historic forms are listed in the table above There are several languages that show Goidelic influence, although they are not Goidelic languages themselves: Lebor Gab%C3%A1la %C3%89renn Lebor Gabála Érenn (literally "The Book of the Taking of Ireland"; Modern Irish spelling: Leabhar Gabhála Éireann , known in English as The Book of Invasions )
4928-509: The three men and their three wives are a Christianised replacement for them. Fintán/Mac Cuill may also be linked to the Salmon of Knowledge , which gains all the world's knowledge after eating nine hazelnuts that fall into a well . The women who accompany Cessair appear by their names to represent the world's ancestral mothers; they included Alba (ancestor of the Britons), Espa (Spanish), German (Germans), Gothiam (Goths), Traige (Thracians), and so forth. Thus "their arrival can be read as creating
5005-415: The time of the Roman Empire . The next stage, Old Irish , is found in glosses (i.e. annotations) to Latin manuscripts —mainly religious and grammatical—from the 6th to the 10th century, as well as in archaic texts copied or recorded in Middle Irish texts. Middle Irish, the immediate predecessor of the modern Goidelic languages, is the term for the language as recorded from the 10th to the 12th century;
5082-664: The title Gaeldom . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gaeldom&oldid=1093888763 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Gaelic languages The Goidelic ( / ɡ ɔɪ ˈ d ɛ l ɪ k / goy- DEL -ik ) or Gaelic languages ( Irish : teangacha Gaelacha ; Scottish Gaelic : cànanan Goidhealach ; Manx : çhengaghyn Gaelgagh ) form one of
5159-475: The two groups of Insular Celtic languages , the other being the Brittonic languages . Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from Ireland through the Isle of Man to Scotland . There are three modern Goidelic languages: Irish ( Gaeilge ), Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig ), and Manx ( Gaelg ). Manx died out as a first language in the 20th century but has since been revived to some degree. Gaelic , by itself,
5236-449: The two other Goidelic languages. While Gaelic was spoken across the Scottish Borders and Lothian during the early High Middle Ages it does not seem to have been spoken by the majority and was likely the language of the ruling elite, land-owners and religious clerics. Some other parts of the Scottish Lowlands spoke Cumbric , and others Scots Inglis , the only exceptions being the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland where Norse
5313-439: The wilderness, or sighting the "Promised Land" from afar. The writers also sought to incorporate native pre-Christian stories about the origins of the Irish, and to reconcile them with medieval Christian lore. The LGE seems to have been influenced by four major Christian works in particular: The pre-Christian elements, however, were never entirely effaced. One of the poems in LGE, for instance, recounts how goddesses from among
5390-537: The work into English, wrote: "There is not a single element of genuine historical detail, in the strict sense of the word, anywhere in the whole compilation". The tale of the Gaels coming to Ireland is believed to be an invention of the Christian writers and an attempt to liken the Gaels to the Israelites. The claim of Scythian origins seems to be based on the superficial similarity of the names Scoti and Scythae . Other medieval pseudo-histories did likewise with other nations. For example, in his earlier History of
5467-483: The world are the supernaturally-gifted Tuatha Dé Danann (or Tuath Dé), who represent the main pagan gods of Ireland. They come to Ireland in dark clouds and land on Sliabh an Iarainn in the west, bringing with them Four Treasures . They fight the Fir Bolg for the ownership of Ireland in the First Battle of Mag Tuired (Moytura). The Tuath Dé are victorious. In some versions, the Fir Bolg flee Ireland and settle on remote offshore islands, while in others they are granted
5544-808: Was accepted as an accurate and reliable account of the history of Ireland. As late as the 17th century, Geoffrey Keating drew on it while writing his history of Ireland, Foras Feasa ar Éirinn , and it was also used extensively by the authors of the Annals of the Four Masters . Recently, however, the work has been subjected to greater critical scrutiny. One contemporary scholar has placed it in "the tradition of historical fabrication or pseudohistory "; another has written of its "generally spurious character" and has drawn attention to its many "fictions", while acknowledging that it "embodies some popular traditions". The Irish archaeologist R. A. Stewart Macalister , who translated
5621-444: Was accompanied by an apparatus criticus , Macalister's own notes and an introduction. Macalister's translation "synthesizes the versions of this already synthesized text". The collection can be divided into ten chapters: A retelling of the familiar Christian story of the creation , the fall of Man and the early history of the world. In addition to Genesis , the author draws upon several recondite works for many of his details (e.g.
5698-521: Was an Immigration or arrival of a Colony; and under this name the coming of the several colonies of Parthalon of Nemedh , of the Firbolgs, the Tuatha Dé Danann , the Milesians, etc., into Erinn, are all described in separate tales. It is probably from the original records of these ancient stories that the early part of the various Books of Invasions has been compiled. R. A. Stewart Macalister believes that
5775-445: Was restricted to Ireland and, possibly, the west coast of Scotland . Medieval Gaelic literature tells us that the kingdom of Dál Riata emerged in western Scotland during the 6th century. The mainstream view is that Dál Riata was founded by Irish migrants, but this is not universally accepted. Archaeologist Ewan Campbell says there is no archaeological evidence for a migration or invasion, and suggests strong sea links helped maintain
5852-527: Was spoken. Scottish Gaelic was introduced across North America with Gaelic settlers. Their numbers necessitated North American Gaelic publications and print media from Cape Breton Island to California. Scotland takes its name from the Latin word for 'Gael', Scotus , plural Scoti (of uncertain etymology). Scotland originally meant Land of the Gaels in a cultural and social sense. (In early Old English texts, Scotland referred to Ireland.) Until late in
5929-507: Was the norm, Ireland was considered the Gaelic homeland to the Scottish literati . Later orthographic divergence has resulted in standardised pluricentristic orthographies. Manx orthography, which was introduced in the 16th and 17th centuries, was based loosely on English and Welsh orthography, and so never formed part of this literary standard. Proto-Goidelic, or Proto-Gaelic, is the proposed proto-language for all branches of Goidelic. It
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