The Irish Language

Long ago, it was spoken all across Ireland, and wastongue because they saw speaking English as the only
even used as a literary language in parts of Scotland.way to a better life. Also, the Irish Potato Famine hit
Today, the language has diminished. It is commonlythe poorer, Irish-speaking areas of the country the
used in daily life in only a small portion of Ireland itself, ahardest, killing many native Irish speakers or driving
collection of counties known as the Gaeltachtaí.them to emigrate from Ireland to other countries.
What happened, and is there any hope that it canThe Gaelic League
experience a revival on par with that of the WelshThe Irish language began to experience a revival in the
Language?late 19th century, when the Gaelic League, or Conradh
The Origins of the Languagena Gaeilge, was formed to promote it.
Irish was brought to Ireland by the Celtic people, whoThis coincided with a revival of Irish Nationalist
arrived sometime between 3000 and 1200 BC-no onesentiment and traditional Irish Culture. During this time
is quite sure.period William Butler Yeats and others wrote poems
The first remnants of the written language are mostlyand plays in English about traditional Irish heroes and
memorials inscribed on stones in Ogham script, whichmyths.
date from 5-6 AD. After Christianity took hold, Old IrishAfter the Irish republic gained independence in 1922,
inscriptions and footnotes appear in Bibles andIrish was declared the first official language of the
illuminated manuscripts copied by monks.Republic. However, the new government still continued
Starting in the 8th century AD, the Norse Vikingsto use English as its primary language and the
began pillaging England and Ireland, and Irishpercentage of native speakers continued to fall.
monasteries proved to be an almost irresistibleFor example, since Ireland gained independence the
temptation to the gold-hungry Norsemen. After all,number of fluent Irish speakers has fallen from 250,000
monasteries contained great stores of gold and otherto 20-30,000. The government of the Republic of
shiny treasures, guarded by men who devoutlyIreland has made many attempts to preserve the
believed in the principle of 'Thou Shalt Not Kill.' Thelanguage, including requiring it as a school subject.
Vikings found Ireland so congenial that they evenSome people feel that the way Irish is taught in
founded the city of Dublin in Ireland.schools has actually hastened the decline of the
Middle Irishlanguage, as students see it as a difficult, boring
The result of all of this pillaging was that by the 10thsubject to master instead of an exciting part of their
century AD, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish,cultural heritage.
which showed some Norse influence.Irish in the 21st Century
Some words that Middle Irish borrowed from OldHowever, many Irish citizens at least have a passing
Norse include: bord, for table; scuird, which meant 'skirt,acquaintance with Irish due to these lessons, and there
tunic or cloak' and comes from the Norse word skyrta,have been some encouraging developments in recent
brog, for shoe; and mardagh for market. Middle Irish isyears. For example, in 2005 Irish was made an official
the language that a lot of traditional Irish literature waslanguage of the European Union, meaning that all
written in. For example, the Ulster Cycle, Irishlegislation now has to be translated into Irish.
mythology's answer to the Iliad, was written in MiddleIn 2006, the Irish government released a plan to
Irish.encourage the use of Irish so that "in public discourse
The Decline of the Languageand in public services the use of Irish or English will be,
Early Modern Irish, also called classical Gaelic, was theas far as practical, a choice for the citizen to make
standard written form of Irish from the 13th to 17thand that over time more and more people throughout
centuries, and was used in Scotland as well as inthe State will choose to do their business in Irish."
Ireland.In everyday life, many computer programs, such as
During the 17th century, poets began writing poems inMozilla Firefox and Windows, have an Irish-language
their own dialects instead of using classical Gaelic.option. There is also an Irish-language radio station
After the 17th century, Early Modern Irish was noavailable in The Republic of Ireland, as well as an
longer used. Poems and stories were written inIrish-language TV station called TG4 that broadcasts in
regional dialects, and writing in Irish became a lot lessboth the Republic of Ireland and Belfast in Northern
common during this period of time.Ireland.
The single most important factor in the decline of theAdditonally, there is an increasing number of schools
Irish language was the influence of the Englishcalled gaelscoileanna that teach students in Irish, even
government. Ireland and England had an uneasy,outside of the Irish-speaking regions of the country.
conflict-driven relationship starting in 1171 when KingIrish words also survive in a surprising place: the basis
Henry II of England invaded Ireland.for many American slang words.
Over time, the English government began to ruleFor example, author Daniel Cassidy compiled a list of
Ireland with a stronger hand, and also set up policiesAmerican slang words that have Irish origins: "scram"
that favored English Protestants over Catholics. Thesecomes from scaraim, which means "I get away;" "dig"
policies favored the use of English, the language of thecomes from "tuig," which means "I understand" and
ruling class, over Irish, leading to a long, slow decline in"dude" comes from "dúid," which means a fool
the use of Irish.or a dolt. So remember, next time you call somebody
In 1831, England set up a National School system in"dude," you are actually insulting them. Also, the
Ireland. These schools provided education in Englishexpression "Say Uncle" becomes a lot less puzzling
only, and students discovered speaking Irish werewhen you realize that "anacal" means "mercy" in Irish.
harshly punished. Many Irish parents encouraged theirHopefully, Irish will continue to slowly creep back into
children to learn English and abandon their nativeuse in Ireland itself.