Gaelic type, sometimes called
Irish character,
Irish type, or
Gaelic script, is a family of
insularInsular script was a medieval script system originally used in Ireland, then Great Britain, that spread to continental Europe under the influence of Celtic Christianity. Irish missionaries also took the script to continental Europe, where they founded monasteries such as Bobbio. The scripts were...
typefaceIn typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
s devised for printing Irish and used between the 16th and 20th centuries. Sometimes all Gaelic typefaces are called
CelticCeltic art is the art associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic...
or
uncialUncial is a majuscule script commonly used from the 3rd to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters are written in either Greek, Latin, or Gothic.-Development:...
, though most Gaelic types are not uncials. The "Anglo-Saxon" types of the 17th century are included in this category because both the Anglo-Saxon types and the Gaelic/Irish types derive from the
InsularInsular script was a medieval script system originally used in Ireland, then Great Britain, that spread to continental Europe under the influence of Celtic Christianity. Irish missionaries also took the script to continental Europe, where they founded monasteries such as Bobbio. The scripts were...
manuscript hand.
The terms
Gaelic type, Gaelic script, and
Irish character translate the
IrishIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
phrase
cló Gaelach . In Ireland the term
cló Gaelach is used in opposition to the term
cló Rómhánach '
Roman typeIn typography, roman is one of the three main kinds of historical type, alongside blackletter and italic. Roman type was modelled from a European scribal manuscript style of the 1400s, based on the pairing of inscriptional capitals used in ancient Rome with Carolingian minuscules developed in the...
'.
Characteristics
Besides the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, Gaelic typefaces must include all vowels with
acute accentThe acute accent is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts.-Apex:An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels.-Greek:...
s (Áá Éé Íí Óó Úú) as well as a set of consonants with dot above , and the
Tironian sign et "
{{Redirect|Gaelic script|the Gaelic manuscript hand|Insular script}}
Gaelic type, sometimes called Irish character, Irish type, or Gaelic script, is a family of insularInsular script was a medieval script system originally used in Ireland, then Great Britain, that spread to continental Europe under the influence of Celtic Christianity. Irish missionaries also took the script to continental Europe, where they founded monasteries such as Bobbio. The scripts were...
typefaceIn typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
s devised for printing Irish and used between the 16th and 20th centuries. Sometimes all Gaelic typefaces are called
CelticCeltic art is the art associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic...
or
uncialUncial is a majuscule script commonly used from the 3rd to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters are written in either Greek, Latin, or Gothic.-Development:...
, though most Gaelic types are not uncials. The "Anglo-Saxon" types of the 17th century are included in this category because both the Anglo-Saxon types and the Gaelic/Irish types derive from the
InsularInsular script was a medieval script system originally used in Ireland, then Great Britain, that spread to continental Europe under the influence of Celtic Christianity. Irish missionaries also took the script to continental Europe, where they founded monasteries such as Bobbio. The scripts were...
manuscript hand.
The terms
Gaelic type, Gaelic script, and
Irish character translate the
IrishIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
phrase
cló Gaelach . In Ireland the term
cló Gaelach is used in opposition to the term
cló Rómhánach '
Roman typeIn typography, roman is one of the three main kinds of historical type, alongside blackletter and italic. Roman type was modelled from a European scribal manuscript style of the 1400s, based on the pairing of inscriptional capitals used in ancient Rome with Carolingian minuscules developed in the...
'.
Characteristics
Besides the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, Gaelic typefaces must include all vowels with
acute accentThe acute accent is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts.-Apex:An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels.-Greek:...
s (Áá Éé Íí Óó Úú) as well as a set of consonants with dot above ({{Unicode|Ḃḃ Ċċ Ḋḋ Ḟḟ Ġġ Ṁṁ Ṗṗ Ṡṡ Ṫṫ}}), and the
Tironian sign et "
{{Redirect|Gaelic script|the Gaelic manuscript hand|Insular script}}
Gaelic type, sometimes called Irish character, Irish type, or Gaelic script, is a family of insularInsular script was a medieval script system originally used in Ireland, then Great Britain, that spread to continental Europe under the influence of Celtic Christianity. Irish missionaries also took the script to continental Europe, where they founded monasteries such as Bobbio. The scripts were...
typefaceIn typography, a typeface is the artistic representation or interpretation of characters; it is the way the type looks. Each type is designed and there are thousands of different typefaces in existence, with new ones being developed constantly....
s devised for printing Irish and used between the 16th and 20th centuries. Sometimes all Gaelic typefaces are called
CelticCeltic art is the art associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic...
or
uncialUncial is a majuscule script commonly used from the 3rd to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters are written in either Greek, Latin, or Gothic.-Development:...
, though most Gaelic types are not uncials. The "Anglo-Saxon" types of the 17th century are included in this category because both the Anglo-Saxon types and the Gaelic/Irish types derive from the
InsularInsular script was a medieval script system originally used in Ireland, then Great Britain, that spread to continental Europe under the influence of Celtic Christianity. Irish missionaries also took the script to continental Europe, where they founded monasteries such as Bobbio. The scripts were...
manuscript hand.
The terms
Gaelic type, Gaelic script, and
Irish character translate the
IrishIrish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
phrase
cló Gaelach . In Ireland the term
cló Gaelach is used in opposition to the term
cló Rómhánach '
Roman typeIn typography, roman is one of the three main kinds of historical type, alongside blackletter and italic. Roman type was modelled from a European scribal manuscript style of the 1400s, based on the pairing of inscriptional capitals used in ancient Rome with Carolingian minuscules developed in the...
'.
Characteristics
Besides the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, Gaelic typefaces must include all vowels with
acute accentThe acute accent is a diacritic used in many modern written languages with alphabets based on the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek scripts.-Apex:An early precursor of the acute accent was the apex, used in Latin inscriptions to mark long vowels.-Greek:...
s (Áá Éé Íí Óó Úú) as well as a set of consonants with dot above ({{Unicode|Ḃḃ Ċċ Ḋḋ Ḟḟ Ġġ Ṁṁ Ṗṗ Ṡṡ Ṫṫ}}), and the
Tironian sign et "{{UnicodeTironian notes is a system of shorthand said to have been invented by Cicero's scribe Marcus Tullius Tiro. Tiro's system consisted of about 4,000 signs, somewhat extended in classical times to 5,000 signs. In the European Medieval period, Tironian notes were taught in monasteries and the system...
, used for
agus 'and' in Irish. Gaelic typefaces also often include insular forms of the letters
s and
r, and some of them contain a number of
ligatureIn writing and typography, a ligature occurs where two or more graphemes are joined as a single glyph. Ligatures usually replace consecutive characters sharing common components and are part of a more general class of glyphs called "contextual forms", where the specific shape of a letter depends on...
s used in earlier Gaelic typography and deriving from the manuscript tradition. Lower-case
i is drawn without a dot (though it is not the Turkish dotless
ı), and the letters
d,
f,
g, and
t have insular shapes.
Many modern Gaelic typefaces include Gaelic letterforms for the letters
j,
k,
q,
v,
w,
x,
y, and
z, and typically provide support for at least the vowels of the other Celtic languages. They also distinguish between & and {{Unicode|⁊}} (as did traditional typography), though some modern fonts replace the ampersand with the Tironian note ostensibly because both mean 'and'.
Origin
{{main|Insular script}}
The Irish uncial alphabet originated in medieval manuscripts as an "insular" variant of the Latin alphabet. The first Gaelic typeface was designed in 1571 for a
catechismA catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
commissioned by Elizabeth I to help convert the Irish Roman-Catholic population to Anglicanism.
Use
Typesetting in Gaelic script remained common in Ireland until the mid-20th century. Gaelic script is today used merely for decorative typesetting; for example, a number of traditional Irish newspapers still print their name in Gaelic script on the first page, and it is also popular for pub signs, greeting cards, and display advertising.
Edward LhuydEdward Lhuyd was a Welsh naturalist, botanist, linguist, geographer and antiquary. He is also known by the Latinized form of his name, Eduardus Luidius....
's grammar of the
Cornish languageCornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
used Gaelic-script consonants to indicate sounds like [ð] and [θ].
Gaelic script in Unicode
UnicodeUnicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...
treats the Gaelic script as a font variant of the
Latin alphabetThe Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
. A lowercase
insular gInsular G is a form of the letter g somewhat resembling a tailed z or lowercase delta, used in Britain and Ireland. It was first used by the Irish, passed into Old English, and developed into the Middle English letter yogh...
(ᵹ) was added in version 4.1 as part of the Phonetic Extensions block because of its use in Irish linguistics as a phonetic character for [ɣ].
Unicode 5.1 (2008) further added a capital G (Ᵹ) and both capital and lowercase letters D, F, R, S, T, besides "turned insular G", on the basis that
Edward LhuydEdward Lhuyd was a Welsh naturalist, botanist, linguist, geographer and antiquary. He is also known by the Latinized form of his name, Eduardus Luidius....
used these letters in his 1707 work
Archaeologia Britannica as a scientific orthography for
CornishCornish is a Brythonic Celtic language and a recognised minority language of the United Kingdom. Along with Welsh and Breton, it is directly descended from the ancient British language spoken throughout much of Britain before the English language came to dominate...
.
- Ᵹ ᵹ Insular G
Insular G is a form of the letter g somewhat resembling a tailed z or lowercase delta, used in Britain and Ireland. It was first used by the Irish, passed into Old English, and developed into the Middle English letter yogh...
(U+A77D, U+1D79)
- Ꝺ ꝺ Insular D (U+A779, U+A77A)
- Ꝼ ꝼ Insular F (U+A77B, U+A77C)
- Ꝿ ꝿ Turned insular G (U+A77E, U+A77F)
- Ꞃ ꞃ Insular R (U+A782, U+A783)
- Ꞅ ꞅ Insular S (U+A784, U+A785)
- Ꞇ ꞇ Insular T (U+A786, U+A787)
Samples
In each figure above, the first sentence is a pangramA pangram , or holoalphabetic sentence, is a sentence using every letter of the alphabet at least once. Pangrams have been used to display typefaces, test equipment, and develop skills in handwriting, calligraphy, and keyboarding...
and reads:
Chuaigh bé mhórshách le dlúthspád fíorfhinn trí hata mo dhea-phorcáin bhig,
Ċuaiġ bé ṁórsháċ le dlúṫspád fíorḟinn trí hata mo ḋea-ṗorcáin ḃig,
meaning "A greatly satisfied woman went with a truly white dense spade through the hat of my good little well-fattened pig".
The second sentence (bottom line) reads:
Duibhlinn/Ceanannas an cló a úsáidtear anseo,
meaning "Duibhlinn/Ceannanas is the font used here".
The second sentence uses the short forms of the letters r and s; the first uses the long forms.
See also
- Blackletter
Blackletter, also known as Gothic script, Gothic minuscule, or Textura, was a script used throughout Western Europe from approximately 1150 to well into the 17th century. It continued to be used for the German language until the 20th century. Fraktur is a notable script of this type, and sometimes...
; Fraktur (typeface)Fraktur is a calligraphic hand and any of several blackletter typefaces derived from this hand. The word derives from the past participle fractus of Latin frangere...
- Insular script
Insular script was a medieval script system originally used in Ireland, then Great Britain, that spread to continental Europe under the influence of Celtic Christianity. Irish missionaries also took the script to continental Europe, where they founded monasteries such as Bobbio. The scripts were...
- Irish orthography
Irish orthography has evolved over many centuries, since Old Irish was first written down in the Latin alphabet in about the 6th century AD. Prior to that, Primitive Irish was written in Ogham...
- ISO/IEC 8859-14
ISO/IEC 8859-14:1998, Information technology — 8-bit single-byte coded graphic character sets — Part 14: Latin alphabet No. 8 , is part of the ISO/IEC 8859 series of ASCII-based standard character encodings, first edition published in 1998. It is informally referred to as Latin-8 or Celtic...
- Latin alphabet
The Latin alphabet, also called the Roman alphabet, is the most recognized alphabet used in the world today. It evolved from a western variety of the Greek alphabet called the Cumaean alphabet, which was adopted and modified by the Etruscans who ruled early Rome...
- Roman type
In typography, roman is one of the three main kinds of historical type, alongside blackletter and italic. Roman type was modelled from a European scribal manuscript style of the 1400s, based on the pairing of inscriptional capitals used in ancient Rome with Carolingian minuscules developed in the...
- Uncial
Uncial is a majuscule script commonly used from the 3rd to 8th centuries AD by Latin and Greek scribes. Uncial letters are written in either Greek, Latin, or Gothic.-Development:...
- Theobald Stapleton
Theobald Stapleton, alias Teabóid Gallduf or Gallduff , was an Irish Roman Catholic priest born in County Tipperary, Ireland. Little is known of his career, except that he was a priest living in Flanders....
(who devised an Antiqua orthography for Irish in 1639)
Sources, external links
- Michael Everson
Michael Everson is a linguist, script encoder, typesetter, and font designer. His central area of expertise is with writing systems of the world, specifically in the representation of these systems in formats for computer and digital media...
's History and classification of Gaelic typefaces, 2000-06-19
- Michael Everson
Michael Everson is a linguist, script encoder, typesetter, and font designer. His central area of expertise is with writing systems of the world, specifically in the representation of these systems in formats for computer and digital media...
's Celtscript range of fonts
- Brendan Leen's Four centuries of printing in the Irish character, Cregan Library, St Patrick's College, Drumcondra
- Vincent Morley's An Cló Gaelach (in Irish)
- Mícheál Ó Searcóid's The Irish Alphabet, an article on the origin, history and present-day usage of the Irish typeface, 1990
- Mathew D. Staunton's Trojan Horses and Friendly Faces: Irish Gaelic Typography as Propaganda. La revue LISA. ISSN 1762-6153. Vol. III; n°1. 2005.
- Bunchló GC, a Gaelic modern minuscule font in Unicode.
- Gadelica, a Gaelic traditional minuscule font in Unicode.
- More information about Gaelic fonts
{{Irish linguistics}}
{{Typography terms}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaelic Type}}