The Goidelic ( /ɡɔɪˈdɛlɪk/ goy-DEL-ik) or Gaelic languages ( /ˈɡeɪlɪk/ GALE-ik; Irish: teangacha Gaelacha; Scottish Gaelic: cànanan Goidhealach; Manx: çhengaghyn Gaelgagh) are one of two groups of Insular Celtic languages. The other group is the Brittonic languages.
Historically, Goidelic languages formed a continuous range of dialects stretching from Ireland through the Isle of Man to Scotland. Today, there are three modern Goidelic languages: Irish (Gaeilge), Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), and Manx (Gaelg). Manx stopped being spoken as a first language in the 20th century but has been brought back to some extent.
Nomenclature
The word "Gaelic" alone can sometimes mean Scottish Gaelic, especially in Scotland, which makes it unclear. Irish and Manx are also called Irish Gaelic and Manx Gaelic because they are Goidelic or Gaelic languages. However, using the word "Gaelic" is not needed when talking about Irish or Manx, as these names already clearly refer to those languages. This is different from Scottish Gaelic, where the word "Gaelic" helps distinguish it from the Germanic language called Scots. In English, the word "Gaelic" is often pronounced differently depending on the language: Scottish Gaelic is pronounced /ˈɡælɪk/, while Irish and Manx Gaelic are pronounced /ˈɡeɪlɪk/.
The names people use for their languages (Gaeilge, Gaelic, Gaolainn in Irish; Gaelg in Manx; and Gàidhlig in Scottish Gaelic) come from the Old Irish word "Goídelc." This word originated from the Old Welsh term "Guoidel," which meant "wild men" or "savages." According to the medieval story "Lebor Gabála Érenn," the Gaelic language is said to have come from Goídel Glas, a legendary ancestor of the Gaels and the creator of their language.
Classification
The Goidelic languages are part of the Insular Celtic branch, which is a subgroup of the larger Celtic language family. The grouping is organized as follows.
Origin, history, and range
During the historical era, the Goidelic language was mainly spoken in Ireland and possibly along the west coast of Scotland. Medieval Gaelic writings describe the kingdom of Dál Riata forming in western Scotland around the 6th century. Most scholars believe Dál Riata was established by people from Ireland, but this idea is not agreed upon by all. An archaeologist named Ewan Campbell points out that there is no clear evidence of a large movement of people from Ireland to Scotland. Instead, he suggests that strong sea connections helped keep Gaelic culture alive on both sides of the North Channel.
Over time, Dál Riata grew stronger and more influential. The neighboring Picts, a group that may have spoken a language related to Brittonic, eventually adopted Gaelic language and culture across Scotland. The language of the Isle of Man, called Manx, is similar to Gaelic spoken in the Hebrides, Gaelic in northeast and eastern Ireland, and the now-extinct Galwegian Gaelic of Galloway. Manx also shows some influence from Old Norse due to Viking invasions and from earlier British inhabitants.
The oldest written form of Goidelic is called Primitive Irish, found in ancient carvings known as Ogham inscriptions from about the 4th century. These early writings are very similar to the Gaulish language used in parts of Europe before and during the Roman Empire. The next stage, Old Irish, appears in notes added to Latin religious and grammar texts from the 6th to 10th centuries, as well as in older writings copied in Middle Irish. Middle Irish, which came before modern Goidelic languages, is the term for the language used from the 10th to 12th centuries. Many texts, including early Irish law writings, survive in this form.
Classical Gaelic, also called Early Modern Irish, was the standard written language in Ireland and Scotland from the 13th to 18th centuries. It was widely used in literature and is often called Classical Irish. Ethnologue, a reference for language studies, refers to this standard written form as "Hiberno-Scottish Gaelic." During this time, Ireland was seen as the main homeland of Gaelic culture by Scottish writers.
Later, differences in spelling and writing rules led to separate standard forms for each Goidelic language. Manx writing, developed in the 16th and 17th centuries, was based on English and Welsh spelling rules and did not follow the same literary standard as other Goidelic languages.
Proto-Goidelic, or Proto-Gaelic, is the name given to the earliest form of the Goidelic language before it split into different dialects. It is believed to have been the ancestor of the three Goidelic languages: Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic, which developed separately during the Middle Irish period.
Irish
Irish is one of the two official languages of the Republic of Ireland, along with English. Historically, it was the most commonly used language on the island, but today it is mainly spoken in parts of the south, west, and northwest. The areas where Irish is officially spoken are called the Gaeltacht. In the Republic of Ireland, many government groups, including the parliament (Oireachtas), its upper house (Seanad), lower house (Dáil), and the prime minister (Taoiseach), have official names in Irish. Some of these groups are only referred to by their Irish names even when speaking in English. Currently, the Gaeltacht areas are mainly found in Counties Cork, Donegal, Mayo, Galway, Kerry, and to a lesser extent in Waterford and Meath. In the Republic of Ireland, about 1.77 million people (41.4% of those aged three and older) say they can speak Irish to some degree. Of these, about 77,185 (1.8%) use Irish daily outside of school. Irish is also being revived in Northern Ireland and has some legal recognition there since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. It became an official language in Northern Ireland in 2022. The 2001 census in Northern Ireland showed that 167,487 people (10.4%) had some knowledge of Irish. Together, this means that about one in three people (around 1.85 million) on the island of Ireland can understand Irish at some level.
After the Flight of the Earls in 1607, English-speaking leaders gained more power, leading to a decline in Irish speakers. Irish remained the main language of most people until the late 18th century, but the Great Famine of the 1840s had a major impact. This event, which affected people who mostly spoke Irish, led to a sharp drop in native speakers. This decline has only recently started to improve.
The Irish language is recognized as an official and working language of the European Union. It became Ireland’s national language and the 23rd language to receive such recognition from the EU. Before this, Irish had the status of a treaty language.
Scottish Gaelic
Many people in the north and west of mainland Scotland and the Hebrides still speak Scottish Gaelic, but the language is decreasing in use. It is estimated that about 60,000 people in Scotland speak Scottish Gaelic as their first language, and around 1,000 people in Nova Scotia speak the Canadian Gaelic dialect.
In the past, Scottish Gaelic was spoken in much larger areas. For example, it was the main language of most of the Scottish Highlands until more than 100 years ago. Galloway was once a Gaelic-speaking region, but the Galwegian dialect has not been spoken there for about 300 years. It is thought that Galloway had dialects that changed between Scottish Gaelic and the other two Goidelic languages. During the early High Middle Ages, Gaelic was spoken in the Scottish Borders and Lothian, but it was likely only used by a small group, such as rulers, landowners, and religious leaders. Other parts of the Scottish Lowlands spoke Cumbric or Scots Inglis, except for the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland, where Norse was spoken. Scottish Gaelic was brought to North America by Gaelic settlers. Because there were many Gaelic speakers, publications and newspapers in Gaelic were created from Cape Breton Island to California.
Scotland, called Alba in Insular Celtic languages, gets its English name from the Latin word "Scotus," which means "Gael." Originally, the word "Scotland" referred to the land of the Gaels. In early Old English texts, the word "Scotland" was used to describe Ireland. Until the late 15th century, the word "Scottis" in Scottish English referred only to Gaelic and its speakers, who were called Scots. As the ruling class began to speak Scots Inglis or English, the word "Scottis" became more associated with the land rather than the people. The word "Erse," meaning "Irish," was used more often as a way to separate Gaelic from Scottish identity, suggesting it was not truly Scottish. This was a political label, as Gaelic has been in Scotland for as long as, or longer than, English.
In the early 16th century, dialects of northern Middle English, known as Early Scots, developed in Lothian and later spread to other parts of Scotland. These dialects later took the name "Scots." By the 17th century, Gaelic speakers were mostly limited to the Highlands and Hebrides. After the second Jacobite Rebellion of 1746, the Crown imposed harsh rules on Highland communities, leading to more decline in Gaelic use, partly due to forced migration, such as the Highland Clearances. Further decline happened in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Scottish Parliament has given Scottish Gaelic legal protection and "equal respect" (but not full legal equality) with English. This has raised hopes that Scottish Gaelic might be saved from disappearing and could even be revived.
Manx
For many years, Manx was the common language of most people on the Isle of Man. However, its use began to drop quickly during the 19th century. It is believed that the last people who only spoke Manx died around the middle of the 19th century. In 1874, about 30% of the population could speak Manx, but by 1901, this had fallen to 9.1%, and by 1921, it was 1.1%. The last person who natively spoke Manx, Ned Maddrell, passed away in 1974.
At the end of the 19th century, efforts to bring Manx back into use began. These efforts were led by the Manx Language Society (Yn Çheshaght Ghailckagh). During the 20th century, experts and language lovers worked to find the last native speakers, recording their speech and learning from them. In the 2011 United Kingdom census, 1,823 people on the Isle of Man were reported to speak Manx, which was 2.27% of the population of 80,398. This number had been growing steadily over time.
Today, Manx is the only language used for teaching in five of the island’s pre-schools, run by a company called Mooinjer veggey ("little people"). This company also manages the only primary school that teaches entirely in Manx, called Bunscoill Ghaelgagh. Manx is taught as a second language in all of the island’s primary and secondary schools, as well as at the University College Isle of Man and the Centre for Manx Studies.
Comparison
This text compares numbers from the Goidelic language group, including Old Irish, and includes Welsh numbers to show differences between the Goidelic and Brythonic language groups.
In Goidelic languages, the words "un" and "daa" are not used anymore when counting. Instead, the words "nane" and "jees" are typically used. For comparison, the older forms of these words are shown in the table above.
In Welsh numbers, when there are differences between male and female forms (marked with ‡), the male forms are listed.
Influence on other languages
Many languages have some influence from Goidelic languages, even though these languages are not part of the Goidelic language family.