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Middle Irish language

 

 
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Middle Irish is the name given by historical philologists
Historical linguistics

Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages;...
 to the Goidelic language
Goidelic languages

The Goidelic languages, , historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, through the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland....
 used from the 10th to 12th centuries; it is therefore a contemporary of late Old English and early Middle English
Middle English

Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman conquest of England of 1066 and about 1470, when the #Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William...
. The modern Goidelic languages
Goidelic languages

The Goidelic languages, , historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, through the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland....
 Irish, Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic languages branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish language and Manx language languages....
, and Manx
Manx language

Manx , also known as Manx Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages spoken on the Isle of Man. The last native speaker, Ned Maddrell, died in 1974, but in recent years it has been the subject of language revival efforts, and it is now the medium of education at the , a primary school for four- to eleven-year-olds in St....
 are all descendants of Middle Irish.

At its height, Middle Irish was spoken throughout Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 and the Isle of Man
Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , or Mann , is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical centre of the British Isles....
; from Munster
Munster

Munster is the southernmost of the four provinces of Ireland. The largest city in Munster is Cork ....
 to the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
 island of Inchcolm
Inchcolm

Inchcolm is an island in the Firth of Forth in Scotland. Repeatedly attacked by English raiders during the Wars of Scottish Independence, it was fortified during both World Wars to defend nearby Edinburgh....
. Its geographical range made it the most widespread of all Insular languages before the late 12th century, when Middle English began to make inroads into Ireland, and many of the Celtic regions of northern and western Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
.

Few mediaeval European languages can rival the volume of literature extant in Middle Irish.






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Middle Irish is the name given by historical philologists
Historical linguistics

Historical linguistics is the study of language change. It has five main concerns:* to describe and account for observed changes in particular languages;...
 to the Goidelic language
Goidelic languages

The Goidelic languages, , historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, through the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland....
 used from the 10th to 12th centuries; it is therefore a contemporary of late Old English and early Middle English
Middle English

Middle English is the name given by historical linguistics to the diverse forms of the English language spoken between the Norman conquest of England of 1066 and about 1470, when the #Chancery Standard, a form of London-based English, began to become widespread, a process aided by the introduction of the printing press into England by William...
. The modern Goidelic languages
Goidelic languages

The Goidelic languages, , historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, through the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland....
 Irish, Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a member of the Goidelic languages branch of Celtic languages. This branch also includes the Irish language and Manx language languages....
, and Manx
Manx language

Manx , also known as Manx Gaelic, is a Goidelic languages spoken on the Isle of Man. The last native speaker, Ned Maddrell, died in 1974, but in recent years it has been the subject of language revival efforts, and it is now the medium of education at the , a primary school for four- to eleven-year-olds in St....
 are all descendants of Middle Irish.

At its height, Middle Irish was spoken throughout Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
, Scotland
Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
 and the Isle of Man
Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , or Mann , is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical centre of the British Isles....
; from Munster
Munster

Munster is the southernmost of the four provinces of Ireland. The largest city in Munster is Cork ....
 to the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
 island of Inchcolm
Inchcolm

Inchcolm is an island in the Firth of Forth in Scotland. Repeatedly attacked by English raiders during the Wars of Scottish Independence, it was fortified during both World Wars to defend nearby Edinburgh....
. Its geographical range made it the most widespread of all Insular languages before the late 12th century, when Middle English began to make inroads into Ireland, and many of the Celtic regions of northern and western Britain
Great Britain

Great Britain is an island lying to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the List of islands by area, and the largest in Europe. With a population of 58.9 million people it is List of islands by population....
.

Few mediaeval European languages can rival the volume of literature extant in Middle Irish. Much of this survival is due to the tenacity of a few early modern Irish antiquarians, but the sheer volume of sagas, annals, hagiographies (etc) which survive shows how much confidence members of the mediaeval Gaelic learned orders had in their own vernacular
Vernacular

Vernacular refers to the native language of a country or a locality. In general linguistics, it is used to describe local languages as opposed to Lingua franca, official standards or global languages....
. Almost all survives from Ireland, however very little from Scotland or Man
Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , or Mann , is a self-governing Crown dependency, located in the Irish Sea at the geographical centre of the British Isles....
. The Lebor Bretnach, the "Irish Nennius", survives only from manuscripts preserved in Ireland; however, Thomas Owen Clancy
Thomas Owen Clancy

Professor Thomas Owen Clancy is an United States of America academic and historian who specializes in the literature of the Celts Dark Ages, especially that of Scotland....
 has recently argued that it was written in Scotland, at the monastery
Monastery

Monastery , a term derived from the Greek language word ???ast?????, neut. of ???ast????? - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of Monk, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in Cenobium or alone ....
 in Abernethy.

See also

  • Dictionary of the Irish Language
    Dictionary of the Irish Language

    Dictionary of the Irish Language: Based Mainly on Old and Middle Irish Materials , published by the Royal Irish Academy, is the definitive dictionary of the origins of the Irish language, specifically the Old Irish language and Middle Irish language stages; the modern language is not included....