The history of Ireland and the Irish language

1. The history of Ireland and the Irish language 1000 B.C. – 1850 A.D.

2. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • We start in the late Bronze Age 1200 B.C. – 800 B.C. • A considerable wealth of bronze and gold is present, an example of which is the great Clare gold hoard

3. The history of Ireland and the Irish language A ring fort near Leacanabuaile

4. The history of Ireland and the Irish language A burial monument (“dolmen”) near Poulnabrone

5. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • Ca. 700 B.C., the Celts arrived from parts of Spain, Gaul and Britain • they brought the “Iron Age” to Ireland

6. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • Under the Celtic influence, Ireland was organized into a number of petty kingdoms, or clans • There were no urban centres, and the economic basis of society was cattle rearing and agriculture • The dwellings were built by the post-and-wattle technique • Some were situated within the older protected sites archaeologists call “ring forts”

7. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • Irish as one of the oldest Celtic and historic written languages of the British Isles and Ireland has its earliest evidence preserved in OGHAM inscriptions • There are dated from the 2nd to the 6th century A.D.

8. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • Since ca. 430 A.D. expansion of Christianity • Traditions in the south and southeast refer to early saints who allegedly preceded St. Patrick • St. Patrick converted all the Irish to Christianity and got the status of national apostle • feast day March 17

9. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • The Irish monasteries became notable centres of learning and devotion • Irish scribes produced manuscripts written in the clear hand known as “Insular Minuscule”

10. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • Traditional Latin alphabet was adapted for the native language • It is still used on road signs and public notices throughout Ireland

11. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • The early Irish Church was strongly influenced by the Brittonic (or Welsh) Church • Through this medium Irish came into contact with the classical languages Brittonic/Welsh Loans from Latin and Greek (through Latin) • Massive phonological changes between the 5th and 6th centuries

12. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • ca 500A.D. predominace of five tribal kingdoms (Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, Meath) • Meath was eventuelly absorbed into Leinster

13. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • ca 500 A.D., five tribal kingdoms (Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, Meath) Munster

14. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • ca 500 A.D., five tribal kingdoms (Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, Meath) Ulster Munster

15. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • ca 500 A.D., five tribal kingdoms (Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, Meath) Ulster Connacht Munster

16. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • ca 500 A.D., five tribal kingdoms (Ulster, Munster, Connacht, Leinster, Meath) Ulster Connacht Leinster Munster

17. The history of Ireland and the Irish language Ulster Munster The flags of the 4 provinces Connacht Leinster

18. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • 7th – 9th century, period of “Old Irish” literacy • Well represented in a large number of textual genres, as well as glosses (explanations) and marginalia (notes on the margin of manuscript texts) • It is the time with the widest geographical spread of Irish speech in Ireland

19. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • High kings ruled in Ireland but “with opposition,” meaning that they were not acknowledged by a minority of provincial kings • The fact that power had been preserved at a local level in Ireland enabled a maximum of resistance to be made (“decentralisation”) • Viking invaders established maritime strongholds (8th century)

20. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • Viking contacts: the result was lexical borrowing esp. seafaring • 23.04.1014 Battle of Clontarf (outside Dublin) • Munster vs. Leinster • Munster won with much slaughter on both sides • Vikings lost their influence

21. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • Anglo-Norman invasion took place (1169 A.D.) • Far-reaching political changes inspired the Irish literati to undertake a new standardization of their language • From the beginning of the 13th century, there was a rigidly fixed written norm, often called Classical Modern Irish, which was used as the exclusive literary medium in Ireland and in Gaelic-speaking Scotland for over four centuries

22. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • The Anglo-Norman Invasion led to a nine-century-long series of adstratum contacts between Irish and English • This included massive lexical borrowings and also syntactic, morphological and phonological modifications

23. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • 1264 A.D., the first Irish parliament was set up • Anglo-Norman control was strengthened by the creation of three new Anglo-Irish earldoms • Kildare, given to the head of the Leinster Fitzgeralds • that of Desmond, given to the head of the Munster Fitzgeralds • and that of Ormond, given to the head of the Butlers, around Tipperary

24. The history of Ireland and the Irish language

25. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • 15th – 16th century linguistic borrowings of popular nature (card-playing terminology) from the continent (mostly French) • 1558 Elizabeth became Queen of England • Her Irish policy had the distinction of having reduced the country to obedience for the first time since the invasion of Henry II (1169)

26. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • 1601 The Battle of Kinsale • The Irish and the supporting Spaniards were defeated by the English (Lord Mountjoy) • The 1000 years old high-literary tradition of Irish collapsed • The Irish standardised written language was washed away

27. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • Irish continued as the language of the greater part of the rural population and, for a time, of the servant classes in town • A general rebellion of the Irish in Ulster was inevitable. It took place in October 1641; and thousands of colonists were murdered or fled

28. The history of Ireland and the Irish language

29. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • 1642 – Gaelic Irish, “Old English” and royal English settlers founded the Confederation of Kilkenny aspiring a Catholic royalistic Ireland • in 1720 the Declaratory Act affirmed the right of the British Parliament to legislate for Ireland and transferred the powers of a supreme court in Irish law cases to the British House of Lords

30. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • Official national flag in the 18th century • 1801 · Ireland gets united with Great Britain to the Unitded Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland(Act of Union”)

31. The history of Ireland and the Irish language • 1.000.000 catholics died of starvation in The Great Potato Famine (1846-1849) • Map shows Percent Change by County from 1841 - 1851