161-748: The Gaels ( / ɡ eɪ l z / GAYLZ ; Irish : Na Gaeil [n̪ˠə ˈɡeːlʲ] ; Scottish Gaelic : Na Gàidheil [nə ˈkɛː.al] ; Manx : Ny Gaeil [nə ˈɡeːl] ) are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland , Scotland and the Isle of Man . They are associated with the Gaelic languages : a branch of the Celtic languages comprising Irish , Manx and Scottish Gaelic . Gaelic language and culture originated in Ireland , extending to Dál Riata in western Scotland . In antiquity,
322-404: A briugu (hospitaller) could have twice the normal property qualifications of a lord of whatever grade (and this can extend, in theory, up to the qualifications of a king). Further, a briugu had to open his house to any guests. This included feeding them, no matter how large the group—he could lose his status if he ever refused a guest. Because of that stipulation, the position of briugu
483-470: A túath normally had a low status, as status was based not only on property but also on familial connections. There are two main ranks of commoners, the ócaire (lit. "young lord") and bóaire ("cow lord"), though Binchy thinks the ócaire is a recent offshoot of the latter, who had less property but was still a freeman. In addition are the bóaire febsa (a bóaire of quality who had an honour-price of 5 séts ). The highest commoner
644-547: A unique dialect of Irish developed before falling out of use in the early 20th century. With a writing system , Ogham , dating back to at least the 4th century AD, which was gradually replaced by Latin script since the 5th century AD, Irish has one of the oldest vernacular literatures in Western Europe . On the island, the language has three major dialects: Connacht , Munster and Ulster Irish . All three have distinctions in their speech and orthography . There
805-624: A Christian Law, promulgated by the Synod of Birr in 697, sought to raise the status of women of that era, although the actual effect is unknown. Regardless, although Irish society under the Brehon Laws was male-dominated, women had greater freedom, independence and rights to property than in other European societies of the time. Men and women held their property separately. The marriage laws were very complex. For example, there were scores of ways of combining households and properties and then dividing
966-717: A bargaining chip during government formation in Northern Ireland, prompting protests from organisations and groups such as An Dream Dearg . Irish became an official language of the EU on 1 January 2007, meaning that MEPs with Irish fluency can now speak the language in the European Parliament and at committees, although in the case of the latter they have to give prior notice to a simultaneous interpreter in order to ensure that what they say can be interpreted into other languages. While an official language of
1127-575: A better future for Ireland and all her citizens." The Strategy was produced on 21 December 2010 and will stay in action until 2030; it aims to target language vitality and revitalization of the Irish language. The 30-page document published by the Government of Ireland details the objectives it plans to work towards in an attempt to preserve and promote both the Irish language and the Gaeltacht. It
1288-566: A broader meaning than lord] between two [types of] aires ). According to Críth Gablach , these individuals had status in between a commoner and a full lord. In the case of poets, a poet with skill qualifications but who did not have proper training was a bard . According to Breatnach poets who were not allied with the church were given this rank for that reason. In addition, there were ways that, in an extraordinary circumstance, an individual could achieve higher status without having parents with such qualifications. Someone who chose to become
1449-478: A cultural and social force. Irish speakers often insisted on using the language in law courts (even when they knew English), and Irish was also common in commercial transactions. The language was heavily implicated in the "devotional revolution" which marked the standardisation of Catholic religious practice and was also widely used in a political context. Down to the time of the Great Famine and even afterwards,
1610-553: A degree course in the NUI federal system to pass the subject of Irish in the Leaving Certificate or GCE / GCSE examinations. Exemptions are made from this requirement for students who were born or completed primary education outside of Ireland, and students diagnosed with dyslexia . NUI Galway is required to appoint people who are competent in the Irish language, as long as they are also competent in all other aspects of
1771-461: A fair amount of information about how Irish Kingship worked, relatively little is actually related to early Irish laws. In particular, very little material survives regarding succession practices, which have been reconstructed as the system of Tanistry . A section of the Senchas Már tract on status was apparently devoted to succession, although little survives. Most early material on succession
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#17327655039871932-409: A fixed period of time. The client owed service to his lord, and at the end of the grant period returned the grant with interest. Any increase beyond the agreed interest was his to keep. This allowed for a certain degree of social mobility as an astute free client could increase his wealth until he could afford clients of his own, thus becoming a lord. A poorer man could become a "base client" by selling
2093-460: A fully recognised EU language for the first time in the state's history. Before Irish became an official language it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU were made available in Irish. The Irish language was carried abroad in the modern period by a vast diaspora , chiefly to Great Britain and North America, but also to Australia , New Zealand and Argentina . The first large movements began in
2254-548: A household could not be disposed of without the consent of both spouses. Polygamy was also supported, and regulated with complex codes. Later it was justified by reference to the Old Testament although church authorities opposed it. Under Western Catholic church law, women were still largely subject to their fathers or husbands and were not normally permitted to act as witnesses, their testimony being considered "biased and dishonest". While scholars have discovered
2415-755: A large proportion of the Gaelic-speaking population now lives in the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh in Scotland, and Dublin , Cork as well as Counties Donegal and Galway in Ireland. There are about 2,000 Scottish Gaelic speakers in Canada ( Canadian Gaelic dialect), although many are elderly and concentrated in Nova Scotia and more specifically Cape Breton Island . According to the U.S. Census in 2000, there are more than 25,000 Irish-speakers in
2576-576: A leader; in wider sense a company, number of persons; a warrior (late and rare)'). Using the Munster-based Eóganachta as an example, members of this clann claim patrilineal descent from Éogan Mór . It is further divided into major kindreds, such as the Eóganacht Chaisil , Glendamnach , Áine , Locha Léin and Raithlind. These kindreds themselves contain septs that have passed down as Irish Gaelic surnames , for example
2737-468: A method of shaming a wrongdoer to recover a debt, or to demand the righting of a wrong. Other legal institutions prominent in early Irish law but foreign to most contemporary legal systems, such as the use of sureties , have been considered as survivals from earlier periods. More recently historians have come to doubt such attributions. While few historians argue that all Irish law comes from church influence, they are today much more wary as to what material
2898-585: A paper suggested that within a generation, non-Gaeltacht habitual users of Irish might typically be members of an urban, middle class, and highly educated minority. Parliamentary legislation is supposed to be available in both Irish and English but is frequently only available in English. This is notwithstanding that Article 25.4 of the Constitution of Ireland requires that an "official translation" of any law in one official language be provided immediately in
3059-575: A pass in Leaving Certificate Irish or English, and receive lessons in Irish during their two years of training. Official documents of the Irish government must be published in both Irish and English or Irish alone (in accordance with the Official Languages Act 2003, enforced by An Coimisinéir Teanga , the Irish language ombudsman). The National University of Ireland requires all students wishing to embark on
3220-433: A patrilineal kinship group is referred to as a clann or, in Ireland, a fine. Both in technical use signify a dynastic grouping descended from a common ancestor, much larger than a personal family, which may also consist of various kindreds and septs . ( Fine is not to be confused with the term fian , a 'band of roving men whose principal occupations were hunting and war, also a troop of professional fighting-men under
3381-441: A person with a certain status could have that status themselves, assuming they had the proper qualifications, even if their father did not. This created an interesting in-between stage. A commoner who had the property qualifications but not the parentage to become a lord is variously referred to as a flaith aithig , (a commoner lord), a fer fothlai (a man of withdrawal), or an aire iter da airig (an aire [here with
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#17327655039873542-403: A physician. Some suggest that the effects of the wound would be clear to a physician at that point if not before. First, either the victim would have died if such was likely, or it would be clear that the patient was in danger. If the first was the case, the injurer had to face punishment for murder, and in the second he had to pay a heavy fine called a crólige báis , "blood-lying of death." If
3703-400: A position shared with children, the insane, slaves, and others. However, there were many exceptions: for example, status was gained through inheritance. At times, some rose to ranks of leadership, and women, like men, were Brehons. Brehon Laws have a reputation among modern scholars as rather progressive in their treatment of women, with some describing the law as providing for equality between
3864-759: A pre-existing maritime province united by the sea and isolated from the rest of Scotland by the Scottish Highlands or Druim Alban , however, this is disputed. The genetical exchange includes passage of the M222 genotype within Scotland. From the 5th to 10th centuries, early Scotland was home not only to the Gaels of Dál Riata but also the Picts , the Britons , Angles and lastly the Vikings . The Romans began to use
4025-483: A regulation on the compensation for bee stings when the legal tract Bechbretha relates the story of Congal Cáech , who was deposed on account of being blinded by a bee. A fair amount of the material on kings relates to their position within the Irish laws of status, which see, of which the king is ranked at the top, parallel with the Bishops and the highest level of poets . Three levels of kings are referred to in
4186-562: A religious context. An Irish translation of the Old Testament by Leinsterman Muircheartach Ó Cíonga , commissioned by Bishop Bedell , was published after 1685 along with a translation of the New Testament. Otherwise, Anglicisation was seen as synonymous with 'civilising' the native Irish. Currently, modern day Irish speakers in the church are pushing for language revival. It has been estimated that there were around 800,000 monoglot Irish speakers in 1800, which dropped to 320,000 by
4347-476: A retinue with them. A lord not only had greater ability but also needed to take greater steps to preserve their honour, lest they lose their lordship. The order of lords varies, but in Críth Gablach it is as follows: aire déso ("lord of vassals"), aire ard ("high lord"), aire tuíseo ("lord of precedence"), and the aire forgill ("lord of superior testimony"). After the normal lords were
4508-409: A share in his honour price, making his lord entitled to part of any compensation due him. The lord could make him a smaller grant of land or livestock, for which the client paid rent in produce and manual labour. A man could be a base client to several lords simultaneously. On account of the structure of early Irish society, all law was essentially civil and offenders had to answer only to the victim or
4669-405: A whole plough-share or all the rights in a mill. Above these are a series of lords who apparently had clients of their own—the primary factor in lordship—as well as more property and a higher honour price. According to Críth Gablach , each grade of lord increase by 5 séts for each rank, and also increased the number of clients. In addition, when they travelled they were expected to maintain
4830-443: A wider meaning, including the Gaelic of Scotland and the Isle of Man , as well as of Ireland. When required by the context, these are distinguished as Gaeilge na hAlban , Gaeilge Mhanann and Gaeilge na hÉireann respectively. In English (including Hiberno-English ), the language is usually referred to as Irish , as well as Gaelic and Irish Gaelic . The term Irish Gaelic may be seen when English speakers discuss
4991-521: Is red hair , with 10% of Irish and at least 13% of Scots having red hair, much larger numbers being carriers of variants of the MC1R gene , and which is possibly related to an adaptation to the cloudy conditions of the regional climate. In countries where Gaels live, census records documenting population statistics exist. The following chart shows the number of speakers of the Gaelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, or Manx). The question of ethnic identity
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5152-413: Is a survival and what has changed. A past may still be suggested for a certain legal concept based on Irish legal terms' being cognate with terms in other Celtic languages, although that information does not prove that the practice described by the legal term has not changed. Today, the legal system is assumed to contain some earlier law influenced by the church, and adaptation through methods of reasoning
5313-436: Is a valid historical account, given the lateness of the story (originating hundreds of years after Patrick's time). Early Irish law recognised a number of degrees of agnatic kinship , based on a belief that there was a common male ancestor. The closest kin group that is defined is gelfine (bright-kin)—descendants of a common grandfather (including the grandfather's relationships to his descendants and his children). This
5474-400: Is actually correct) who then gives it as a judgment in a case. It is not clear how much kings made judgments by themselves and how much they had to follow professional advice. The kings do not appear to have stood as judges in all cases, and in some cases, the professional jurists took that role. One subject the laws did cover is how the king fit within the rest of the legal system. The king
5635-452: Is also An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , a standardised written form devised by a parliamentary commission in the 1950s. The traditional Irish alphabet , a variant of the Latin alphabet with 18 letters , has been succeeded by the standard Latin alphabet (albeit with 7–8 letters used primarily in loanwords ). Irish has constitutional status as the national and first official language of
5796-511: Is divided into four separate phases with the intention of improving 9 main areas of action including: The general goal for this strategy was to increase the number of daily speakers from 83,000 to 250,000 by the end of its run. By 2022, the number of such speakers had fallen to 71,968. Before the partition of Ireland in 1921, Irish was recognised as a school subject and as "Celtic" in some third level institutions. Between 1921 and 1972, Northern Ireland had devolved government. During those years
5957-401: Is entitled to while being nursed according to his rank, it also mentions that the practice was no longer in use, and instead, an additional fine encompassed the same provisions the injurer would have had to pay for under sick maintenance. Bretha Crólige does not mention anything about the practice being obsolete. It does mention that certain types of person could not be maintained because of
6118-411: Is for racing horses , and Saturday is for judging (a different word from Monday, but the distinction is unclear). According to the introduction to the Senchas Már , the world had numerous problems before the creation of that text. Among those problems was that everyone was in a state of equality. Unequal status was of great import to early Irish Christian society and it is recorded in many places in
6279-627: Is known also as the rí ruirech (king of overkings) and rí cóicid (king of a province). To a certain degree, kings acted as agents of the law. While other kings in Europe were able to promulgate law, such as Alfred the Great and his Doom book , Irish kings had very little authority to do so. They could collaborate on law authored by the church. Cáin Adomnáin has the names of many kings attached to it who apparently enacted and enforced
6440-477: Is likely. In all other cases, an injurer was responsible for paying a fine . The legal text Bretha Déin Chécht "The Judgments of Dían Cécht " goes into considerable detail in describing the fines based on the location of the wound , the severity, and in some cases the type. According to that text, the payment was decided by a physician after nine days. Prior to that, the victim was cared for by his family and
6601-651: Is mentioned as a goddess in the Lebor Gabála Érenn as a daughter of Ernmas of the Tuatha Dé Danann . Along with her sisters Banba and Fódla , she is said to have made a deal with the Milesians to name the island after her. The ancient Greeks , in particular Ptolemy in his second century Geographia , possibly based on earlier sources, located a group known as the Iverni ( Greek : Ιουερνοι ) in
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6762-587: Is only in Gaeltacht areas that Irish continues to be spoken as a community vernacular to some extent. According to data compiled by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht , Sport and Media , only 1/4 of households in Gaeltacht areas are fluent in Irish. The author of a detailed analysis of the survey, Donncha Ó hÉallaithe of the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology , described
6923-472: Is slightly more complex, but included below are those who identify as ethnic Irish , Manx or Scottish . It should be taken into account that not all are of Gaelic descent, especially in the case of Scotland, due to the nature of the Lowlands . It also depends on the self-reported response of the individual and so is a rough guide rather than an exact science. The two comparatively "major" Gaelic nations in
7084-412: Is still spoken daily to some extent as a first language . These regions are known individually and collectively as the Gaeltacht (plural Gaeltachtaí ). While the fluent Irish speakers of these areas, whose numbers have been estimated at 20–30,000, are a minority of the total number of fluent Irish speakers, they represent a higher concentration of Irish speakers than other parts of the country and it
7245-666: The Fíor-Ghaeltacht (true Gaeltacht ), a term originally officially applied to areas where over 50% of the population spoke Irish. There are Gaeltacht regions in the following counties: Gweedore ( Gaoth Dobhair ), County Donegal, is the largest Gaeltacht parish in Ireland. Irish language summer colleges in the Gaeltacht are attended by tens of thousands of teenagers annually. Students live with Gaeltacht families, attend classes, participate in sports, go to céilithe and are obliged to speak Irish. All aspects of Irish culture and tradition are encouraged. The Act
7406-423: The brithem could achieve, and the honour price apparently did not vary based on skill. Other professionals, such as makers of chariots or engravers, had still lower honour prices (less than that of a bóaire ). Finally, a few professions received only meagre ranks, as with the lowest poets, and the authors may be actively making fun of some of the professions, such as comb makers. Status in early Ireland
7567-410: The taman , drisiuc , and oblaires. Their honour prices are no more than a pittance, and their poetry is apparently painful to hear. Other professions could give status based on the profession and the skill, but no professions besides poets could have a status as high as the bishop, king, or highest poet. For instance, in one text the jurist or brithem had three ranks, and the highest
7728-402: The tánaise ríg , who was supposed to be heir to the throne. He had higher property qualifications than the aire forgill , but his prime claim to higher status was that he would one day be king. Kings held the highest status that the laws describe. The basic king had an honour price of seven cumals , and higher kings had yet a higher status. Having the highest status, the king especially
7889-604: The Leabhar na nGenealach . Examples can be taken from the Uí Néill (i.e. – O'Neill, O'Donnell, Gallagher, etc.), who are associated with R-M222 and the Dál gCais (i.e. – O'Brien, McMahon, Kennedy, etc.) who are associated with R-L226. With regard to Gaelic genetic genealogy studies, these developments in subclades have aided people in finding their original clan group in the case of a non-paternity event , with Family Tree DNA having
8050-674: The Schottenkloster founded by Irish Gaels in Germanic lands. The Gaels of northern Britain referred to themselves as Albannaich in their own tongue and their realm as the Kingdom of Alba (founded as a successor kingdom to Dál Riata and Pictland). Germanic groups tended to refer to the Gaels as Scottas and so when Anglo-Saxon influence grew at court with Duncan II , the Latin Rex Scottorum began to be used and
8211-581: The Brehons , or judges, guided entirely by an oral tradition. Some of these laws were recorded in writing by Christian clerics. The earliest theory to be recorded is contained in the Prologue to the Senchas Már . According to that text, after a difficult case involving St. Patrick , the Saint supervised the mixing of native Irish law and the law of the church. A representative of every group came and recited
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#17327655039878372-583: The Eastern Church there were normally five or six grades (sometimes more), and the Western Church typically had eight or nine grades. Although the various groups were theoretically on par with each other, the church apparently had supremacy. Críth Gablach states "Who is nobler, the king or the bishop? The bishop is nobler, for the king rises up before him on account of the Faith; moreover,
8533-712: The Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous to the island of Ireland . It was the majority of the population's first language until the 19th century, when English gradually became dominant, particularly in the last decades of the century, in what is sometimes characterised as a result of linguistic imperialism . Today, Irish is still commonly spoken as a first language in Ireland's Gaeltacht regions, in which 2% of Ireland's population lived in 2022. The total number of people (aged 3 and over) in Ireland who declared they could speak Irish in April 2022
8694-631: The Republic of Ireland , and is also an official language of Northern Ireland and among the official languages of the European Union . The public body Foras na Gaeilge is responsible for the promotion of the language throughout the island. Irish has no regulatory body but An Caighdeán Oifigiúil , the standard written form, is guided by a parliamentary service and new vocabulary by a voluntary committee with university input. In An Caighdeán Oifigiúil ("The Official [Written] Standard ")
8855-588: The Welsh legal texts. On the other hand, this is not regarded as unquestionable evidence that the practices described by such terms are unchanged or even have their origins in the same period as do the terms. Another important aspect when considering the origins is that the early Irish law texts are not always consistent. Early Irish law is, like the Old Irish language, remarkably standard across an Island with no central authority; as one scholar wrote, "The edifice of
9016-523: The bardic poets who were the cultural intelligentsia of the nation, limited the use of Gaoidheal specifically to those who claimed genealogical descent from the mythical Goídel Glas . Even the Gaelicised Normans who were born in Ireland, spoke Irish and sponsored Gaelic bardic poetry, such as Gearóid Iarla , were referred to as Gall ("foreigner") by Gofraidh Fionn Ó Dálaigh , then Chief Ollam of Ireland . A common name, passed down to
9177-613: The belted plaid and kilt . They also have distinctive music , dance, festivals , and sports . Gaelic culture continues to be a major component of Irish , Scottish and Manx culture . Pontic Steppe Caucasus East Asia Eastern Europe Northern Europe Pontic Steppe Northern/Eastern Steppe Europe South Asia Steppe Europe Caucasus India Indo-Aryans Iranians East Asia Europe East Asia Europe Indo-Aryan Iranian Indo-Aryan Iranian Others European Throughout
9338-430: The early Christian period . The laws were a civil rather than a criminal code, concerned with the payment of compensation for harm done and the regulation of property, inheritance and contracts; the concept of state-administered punishment for crime was foreign to Ireland's early jurists. They show Ireland in the early medieval period to have been a hierarchical society, taking great care to define social status, and
9499-634: The 17th century, largely as a result of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , which saw many Irish sent to the West Indies . Irish emigration to the United States was well established by the 18th century, and was reinforced in the 1840s by thousands fleeing from the Famine . This flight also affected Britain. Up until that time most emigrants spoke Irish as their first language, though English
9660-789: The 1998 Good Friday Agreement , the language gradually received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, and then, in 2003, by the British government's ratification in respect of the language of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . In the 2006 St Andrews Agreement the British government promised to enact legislation to promote the language and in 2022 it approved legislation to recognise Irish as an official language alongside English. The bill received royal assent on 6 December 2022. The Irish language has often been used as
9821-400: The 2021 census of Northern Ireland , 43,557 individuals stated they spoke Irish on a daily basis, 26,286 spoke it on a weekly basis, 47,153 spoke it less often than weekly, and 9,758 said they could speak Irish, but never spoke it. From 2006 to 2008, over 22,000 Irish Americans reported speaking Irish as their first language at home, with several times that number claiming "some knowledge" of
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#17327655039879982-403: The 6th century, used the Latin alphabet and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts. During this time, the Irish language absorbed some Latin words, some via Old Welsh , including ecclesiastical terms : examples are easpag (bishop) from episcopus , and Domhnach (Sunday, from dominica ). By the 10th century, Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish , which
10143-485: The 9th century, Dál Riata and Pictland merged to form the Gaelic Kingdom of Alba . Meanwhile, Gaelic Ireland was made up of several kingdoms , with a High King often claiming lordship over them. In the 12th century, Anglo-Normans conquered parts of Ireland, while parts of Scotland became Normanized . However, Gaelic culture remained strong throughout Ireland, the Scottish Highlands and Galloway . In
10304-571: The Act all detailing different aspects of the use of Irish in official documentation and communication. Included in these sections are subjects such as Irish language use in official courts, official publications, and placenames. The Act was recently amended in December 2019 in order to strengthen the already preexisting legislation. All changes made took into account data collected from online surveys and written submissions. The Official Languages Scheme
10465-471: The European Union , only co-decision regulations were available until 2022, due to a five-year derogation, requested by the Irish Government when negotiating the language's new official status. The Irish government had committed itself to train the necessary number of translators and interpreters and to bear the related costs. This derogation ultimately came to an end on 1 January 2022, making Irish
10626-567: The Eóganacht Chaisil includes O'Callaghan, MacCarthy, O'Sullivan and others. The Irish Gaels can be grouped into the following major historical groups; Connachta (including Uí Néill , Clan Colla , Uí Maine , etc.), Dál gCais , Eóganachta , Érainn (including Dál Riata , Dál Fiatach , etc.), Laigin and Ulaid (including Dál nAraidi ). In the Highlands, the various Gaelic-originated clans tended to claim descent from one of
10787-752: The Gaels traded with the Roman Empire and also raided Roman Britain . In the Middle Ages, Gaelic culture became dominant throughout the rest of Scotland and the Isle of Man . There was also some Gaelic settlement in Wales , as well as cultural influence through Celtic Christianity . In the Viking Age , small numbers of Vikings raided and settled in Gaelic lands, becoming the Norse-Gaels . In
10948-593: The Irish Gaels, their culture did not survive the conquests and colonisations by the English between 1534 and 1692 (see History of Ireland (1536–1691) , Tudor conquest of Ireland , Plantations of Ireland , Cromwellian conquest of Ireland , Williamite War in Ireland . As a result of the Gaelic revival , there has been renewed interest in Irish genealogy ; the Irish Government recognised Gaelic Chiefs of
11109-734: The Irish groups, particularly those from Ulster . The Dál Riata (i.e. – MacGregor, MacDuff, MacLaren, etc.) claimed descent from Síl Conairi , for instance. Some arrivals in the High Middle Ages (i.e. – MacNeill, Buchanan, Munro, etc.) claimed to be of the Uí Néill. As part of their self-justification; taking over power from the Norse-Gael MacLeod in the Hebrides; the MacDonalds claimed to be from Clan Colla. For
11270-435: The Irish jurists would have sanctioned. There is a dispute as to just how large a role each of these aspects may have played in creating the legal texts. The evidence leaves important scope for debate. In one area, scholars have found material that is clearly old. A number of legal terms have been shown to have originated in the period before the Celtic languages split up, because they are preserved both in Old Irish and in
11431-425: The Irish language policy followed by Irish governments as a "complete and absolute disaster". The Irish Times , referring to his analysis published in the Irish language newspaper Foinse , quoted him as follows: "It is an absolute indictment of successive Irish Governments that at the foundation of the Irish State there were 250,000 fluent Irish speakers living in Irish-speaking or semi Irish-speaking areas, but
11592-600: The Name since the 1940s. The Finte na hÉireann (Clans of Ireland) was founded in 1989 to gather together clan associations; individual clan associations operate throughout the world and produce journals for their septs. The Highland clans held out until the 18th century Jacobite risings . During the Victorian-era, symbolic tartans, crests and badges were retroactively applied to clans. Clan associations built up over time and Na Fineachan Gàidhealach (The Highland Clans)
11753-569: The Old Irish form of the name was borrowed from an Archaic Welsh form Guoidel , meaning "forest people", "wild men" or, later, "warriors". Guoidel is recorded as a personal name in the Book of Llandaff . The root of the name is cognate at the Proto-Celtic level with Old Irish fíad 'wild', and Féni , derived ultimately from Proto-Indo-European * weidh-n-jo- . This latter word is the origin of Fianna and Fenian . In medieval Ireland,
11914-620: The Republic of Ireland ), new appointees to the Civil Service of the Republic of Ireland , including postal workers , tax collectors , agricultural inspectors, Garda Síochána (police), etc., were required to have some proficiency in Irish. By law, a Garda who was addressed in Irish had to respond in Irish as well. In 1974, in part through the actions of protest organisations like the Language Freedom Movement ,
12075-471: The Roman alphabet. Irish mythology and Brehon law were preserved and recorded by medieval Irish monasteries. Gaelic monasteries were renowned centres of learning and played a key role in developing Insular art ; Gaelic missionaries and scholars were highly influential in western Europe. In the Middle Ages, most Gaels lived in roundhouses and ringforts . The Gaels had their own style of dress, which became
12236-476: The Senchas Már", a late introduction to the main collection of Irish law, makes a claim on how this came about. It declares that prior to the coming of St. Patrick , Irish law demanded capital punishment in all cases of murder. Christianity was supposed to preach forgiveness. The two fines are apparently a compromise so that the murderer is both punished and forgiven. It is at least dubious whether or not this
12397-707: The United States, with the majority found in urban areas with large Irish-American communities such as Boston , New York City and Chicago. As the Western Roman Empire began to collapse, the Irish (along with the Anglo-Saxons) were one of the peoples able to take advantage in Great Britain from the 4th century onwards. The proto-Eóganachta Uí Liatháin and the Déisi Muman of Dyfed both established colonies in today's Wales . Further to
12558-591: The Western fringes of Europe). Informally, archetypal forenames such as Tadhg or Dòmhnall are sometimes used for Gaels. The word "Gaelic" is first recorded in print in the English language in the 1770s, replacing the earlier word Gathelik which is attested as far back as 1596. Gael , defined as a "member of the Gaelic race", is first attested in print in 1810. In English, the more antiquarian term Goidels came to be used by some due to Edward Lhuyd 's work on
12719-401: The ancestors and believed in an Otherworld . Their four yearly festivals – Samhain , Imbolc , Beltane and Lughnasa – continued to be celebrated into modern times. The Gaels have a strong oral tradition , traditionally maintained by shanachies . Inscription in the ogham alphabet began in the 4th century. The Gaels' conversion to Christianity accompanied the introduction of writing in
12880-533: The arrival of proto-Celtic language, possibly ancestral to Gaelic languages , may have occurred around this time. Several genetic traits found at maximum or very high frequencies in the modern populations of Gaelic ancestry were also observed in the Bronze Age period. These traits include a hereditary disease known as HFE hereditary haemochromatosis , Y-DNA Haplogroup R-M269 , lactase persistence and blue eyes . Another trait very common in Gaelic populations
13041-746: The beginning of the following academic year. For a number of years there has been vigorous debate in political, academic and other circles about the failure of most students in English-medium schools to achieve competence in Irish, even after fourteen years of teaching as one of the three main subjects. The concomitant decline in the number of traditional native speakers has also been a cause of great concern. In 2007, filmmaker Manchán Magan found few Irish speakers in Dublin , and faced incredulity when trying to get by speaking only Irish in Dublin. He
13202-401: The bishop raises his knee before the king." This relative ranking is reflected elsewhere. In addition, according to Críth Gablach the ranking of the lay grades was modeled after the ecclesiastical grades in that there should be seven grades, a number rarely met perfectly. Irish law recognised a number of classes, from unfree to king, which were ranked within the status tracts. Little space
13363-400: The centuries, Gaels and Gaelic-speakers have been known by a number of names. The most consistent of these have been Gael , Irish and Scots . In Latin , the Gaels were called Scoti , but this later came to mean only the Gaels of Scotland . Other terms, such as Milesian , are not as often used. An Old Norse name for the Gaels was Vestmenn (meaning "Westmen", due to inhabiting
13524-488: The death of the father. A young son just out on his own was called a fer midboth (a man of middle huts), apparently, someone who occupied a hut on his father's land. These persons were semi-independent but did not have the full honour price of a free man until they reached 20. Even after a certain age, a "Son of a Living Father" was expected to be dutiful to his father and could only set up an independent household with his father's permission. In addition, those from outside
13685-434: The difficulty in doing so. Thus it was very hard to provision those of the highest rank and obviously impossible to find a substitute to do their work. Certain professionals could similarly be difficult. On the other hand, a number of persons could cause difficulty to the people maintaining the victim. Such troublesome individuals included the insane and women likely to cause trouble for those nursing them. Early Ireland has
13846-465: The distinction of being one of the first areas to shun capital punishment. While a murderer might be killed for his/her crime, this was the option of last resort. Instead, the murderer typically had to pay two fines. One is the fixed éraic or cró , that is either a "body fine" or a " wergild ", and the other is the Log nEnech , an honour price owed to the kin of the victim that varied according to
14007-590: The early 17th century, the last Gaelic kingdoms in Ireland fell under English control . James VI and I sought to subdue the Gaels and wipe out their culture; first in the Scottish Highlands via repressive laws such as the Statutes of Iona , and then in Ireland by colonizing Gaelic land with English and Scots-speaking Protestant settlers. In the following centuries Gaelic language was suppressed and mostly supplanted by English. However, it continues to be
14168-529: The early Irish laws. The Irish law texts describe a highly segmented world, in which each person had a set status that determined what legal tasks they could undertake and what recompense they could receive when a crime was committed against them. Críth Gablach and Uraicecht Becc are two of the main texts focusing on lay landholders, the latter of which also briefly covers the status of skilled individuals and of clerics . Other texts describe other groups, such as Uraicecht na Ríar , which focuses on
14329-474: The end of the famine, and under 17,000 by 1911. Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national and first official language of Republic of Ireland (English being the other official language). Despite this, almost all government business and legislative debate is conducted in English. In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde , was inaugurated as
14490-402: The events it depicts, but it also incorrectly dates the collection of the Senchas Már to the time of St. Patrick while scholars have been able to determine that it was collected during the 8th century, at least three centuries after the time of St. Patrick. Some of the ideas in the tale may be correct, and it has been suggested by modern historians that the Irish jurists were an offshoot from
14651-560: The first President of Ireland . The record of his delivering his inaugural Declaration of Office in Roscommon Irish is one of only a few recordings of that dialect. In the 2016 census, 10.5% of respondents stated that they spoke Irish, either daily or weekly, while over 70,000 people (4.2%) speak it as a habitual daily means of communication. From the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see History of
14812-476: The ground. Some of the texts give considerable detail on diet, tools owned, the number of livestock, and even the size of the house a person of a given status had. Modern scholars have generally assumed such details rarely match exactly what someone of a given rank had. In addition, Críth Gablach contains the fee a client paid to a lord, according to rank from the lowest free man through the noble ranks, even though no noble would be another's client. Paralleling
14973-443: The importance of keeping a proper environment for the victim during his sick-maintenances. Largely this means that anything that might cause loud noise was prohibited in the vicinity. This included fights by men as well as by dogs, the playing of games and even the disciplining of children. It is clear from the law tracts that the practice of Sick Maintenance was being discarded. Críth Gablach mentions some of what each individual
15134-414: The injurer had to find a suitable location and move the victim. Then the injurer had to pay for food for the victim and a retinue—which could be considerable depending on the victim's rank. The injurer also had to provide someone to fulfil the victim's duties while he was incapacitated. He also had to pay a fine for the missed opportunity for procreation if appropriate. Bretha Crólige also goes into
15295-459: The king directly, a dependent of the king known as an aithech fortha (substitute churl) was enforced against instead, and the king was responsible for repaying the substitute churl. The laws also specified certain cases in which a king lost his honor price. These included doing the work of a commoner, moving around without a retinue, and showing cowardice in battle; again, though, it is unclear how often such stipulations were followed. Finally,
15456-659: The language family, is derived from the Old Irish term. Endonyms of the language in the various modern Irish dialects include: Gaeilge [ˈɡeːlʲɟə] in Galway, Gaeilg / Gaeilic / Gaeilig [ˈɡeːlʲəc] in Mayo and Ulster , Gaelainn / Gaoluinn [ˈɡeːl̪ˠən̠ʲ] in West/Cork, Kerry Munster , as well as Gaedhealaing in mid and East Kerry/Cork and Waterford Munster to reflect local pronunciation. Gaeilge also has
15617-410: The language was in use by all classes, Irish being an urban as well as a rural language. This linguistic dynamism was reflected in the efforts of certain public intellectuals to counter the decline of the language. At the end of the 19th century, they launched the Gaelic revival in an attempt to encourage the learning and use of Irish, although few adult learners mastered the language. The vehicle of
15778-425: The language. For most of recorded Irish history , Irish was the dominant language of the Irish people , who took it with them to other regions , such as Scotland and the Isle of Man , where Middle Irish gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx . It was also, for a period, spoken widely across Canada , with an estimated 200,000–250,000 daily Canadian speakers of Irish in 1890. On the island of Newfoundland ,
15939-460: The largest such database at present. In 2016, a study analyzing ancient DNA found Bronze Age remains from Rathlin Island in Ireland to be most genetically similar to the modern indigenous populations of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and to a lesser degree that of England. The majority of the genomes of the insular Celts would therefore have emerged by 4,000 years ago. It was also suggested that
16100-513: The law stands above all local and regional rivalries as a unified system." Even so, close examination has revealed some variations. Among these one can especially point to variations both in style and content between two of the major legal schools, as they are known: those that produced the Bretha Nemed and Senchas Már . Indications of women's status is indicated by the honour price system. A typical woman did not carry an honour price:
16261-410: The law. Additionally, a king could issue a temporary law in times of emergency. But kings could not, by their own authority, issue permanent law codes. Kings also acted as judges, although the extent of their power compared to that of professional jurists has been debated. One law tract, Gubretha Caratniad , describes a brithem giving advice to a king (in this case, advice that seems flawed but
16422-413: The laws commented on how the king was to arrange his life and holdings and how many individuals should be in his retinue. In particular, Críth Gablach gives a highly schematized and unrealistic account of how the king spends his week: Sunday is for drinking ale , Monday is for judging, Tuesday is for playing fidchell , Wednesday is for watching hounds hunt, Thursday is for sexual union , Friday
16583-427: The laws related to that group, and they were written down and collected into the Senchas Már , excepting that any law that conflicted with church law was replaced. The story also tells how the law transitioned from the keeping of the poets , whose speech was "dark" and incomprehensible, to the keeping of each group who had an interest in it. The story is extremely dubious as not only is it written many centuries after
16744-401: The lector in a third position. The seven grades are subsumed into the Irish law of status, but it is unclear to what degree they conformed to all of the various status stipulations. According to Críth Gablach , the seven grades of the church are the basis for the theoretical seven lay and poetic grades (see below). At the same time it is clear that the number seven is an insular invention, in
16905-521: The main language in Ireland's Gaeltacht and Scotland's Outer Hebrides . The modern descendants of the Gaels have spread throughout the rest of the British Isles, the Americas and Australasia . Traditional Gaelic society was organised into clans , each with its own territory and king (or chief), elected through tanistry . The Irish were previously pagans who had many gods , venerated
17066-582: The mid-18th century, English was becoming a language of the Catholic middle class, the Catholic Church and public intellectuals, especially in the east of the country. Increasingly, as the value of English became apparent, parents sanctioned the prohibition of Irish in schools. Increasing interest in emigrating to the United States and Canada was also a driver, as fluency in English allowed
17227-488: The modern day, is " Irish "; this existed in the English language during the 11th century in the form of Irisce , which derived from the stem of Old English Iras , "inhabitant of Ireland", from Old Norse irar . The ultimate origin of this word is thought to be the Old Irish Ériu , which is from Old Celtic *Iveriu , likely associated with the Proto-Indo-European term *pi-wer- meaning "fertile". Ériu
17388-491: The modern era are Ireland (which had 71,968 "daily" Irish speakers and 1,873,997 people claiming "some ability of Irish", as of the 2022 census ) and Scotland (58,552 fluent "Gaelic speakers" and 92,400 with "some Gaelic language ability" in the 2001 census). Communities where the languages still are spoken natively are restricted largely to the west coast of each country and especially the Hebrides islands in Scotland. However,
17549-405: The murderer into slavery, or kill the murderer. Even then, the monetary possibilities may have discouraged capital punishment in some cases. In certain cases, though, where the murderer and victim were relatives, capital punishment could not be carried out as it would make the executioner commit fingal or kin-slaying . Another situation where the murderer could be killed was when the murderer
17710-576: The name Hibernia . Thus the name "Hibernian" also comes from this root, although the Romans tended to call the isle Scotia , and the Gaels Scoti . Within Ireland itself, the term Éireannach (Irish), only gained its modern political significance as a primary denominator from the 17th century onwards, as in the works of Geoffrey Keating , where a Catholic alliance between the native Gaoidheal and Seanghaill ("old foreigners", of Norman descent)
17871-804: The name of the language is Gaeilge , from the South Connacht form, spelled Gaedhilge prior the spelling reform of 1948, which was originally the genitive of Gaedhealg , the form used in Classical Gaelic . The modern spelling results from the deletion of the silent ⟨dh⟩ in Gaedhilge . Older spellings include Gaoidhealg [ˈɡeːʝəlˠəɡ] in Classical Gaelic and Goídelc [ˈɡoiðʲelɡ] in Old Irish . Goidelic , used to refer to
18032-469: The new immigrants to get jobs in areas other than farming. An estimated one quarter to one third of US immigrants during the Great Famine were Irish speakers. Irish was not marginal to Ireland's modernisation in the 19th century, as is often assumed. In the first half of the century there were still around three million people for whom Irish was the primary language, and their numbers alone made them
18193-635: The north, the Érainn's Dál Riata colonised Argyll (eventually founding Alba ) and there was a significant Gaelic influence in Northumbria and the MacAngus clan arose to the Pictish kingship by the 8th century. Gaelic Christian missionaries were also active across the Frankish Empire . With the coming of the Viking Age and their slave markets, Irish were also dispersed in this way across
18354-655: The number now is between 20,000 and 30,000." In the 1920s, when the Irish Free State was founded, Irish was still a vernacular in some western coastal areas. In the 1930s, areas where more than 25% of the population spoke Irish were classified as Gaeltacht . Today, the strongest Gaeltacht areas, numerically and socially, are those of South Connemara , the west of the Dingle Peninsula , and northwest Donegal, where many residents still use Irish as their primary language. These areas are often referred to as
18515-591: The oaths of those of lower status. In part, the seven ecclesiastical grades originate outside Ireland (as holy orders , later subdivided into minor orders and major orders ) although their position in Ireland has been shaped by local thinking. The grades are given in Uraicecht Becc as liachtor ( lector ), aistreóir ( doorkeeper ), exarcistid ( exorcist ), subdeochain ( sub-deacon ), deochain ( deacon ), sacart (priest), and escop (bishop) although Bretha Déin Chécht puts
18676-667: The old Irish word breithim meaning judge ), comprised the statutes which governed everyday life in Early Medieval Ireland . They were partially eclipsed by the Norman invasion of 1169, but underwent a resurgence from the 13th until the 17th century, over the majority of the island, and survived into Early Modern Ireland in parallel with English law. Early Irish law was often mixed with Christian influence and juristic innovation. These secular laws existed in parallel, and occasionally in conflict, with canon law throughout
18837-503: The other official language, if not already passed in both official languages. In November 2016, RTÉ reported that over 2.3 million people worldwide were learning Irish through the Duolingo app. Irish president Michael D. Higgins officially honoured several volunteer translators for developing the Irish edition, and said the push for Irish language rights remains an "unfinished project". There are rural areas of Ireland where Irish
18998-730: The poetic class that had preserved the laws. According to the Annals of Ulster , the Senchas Már was written in AD 438. For some time, especially through the work of D. A. Binchy , the laws were held to be conservative and useful primarily for reconstructing the laws and customs of the Proto-Indo-Europeans just as linguists had reconstructed the Proto-Indo-European language . For instance, historians have seen similarities between Irish and Indian customs of fasting as
19159-557: The political party holding power in the Stormont Parliament , the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), was hostile to the language. The context of this hostility was the use of the language by nationalists. In broadcasting, there was an exclusion on the reporting of minority cultural issues, and Irish was excluded from radio and television for almost the first fifty years of the previous devolved government. After
19320-486: The property and its increase when disputes arose. Divorce was provided for on a number of grounds (that ultimately deal with the inability to have a child), after which property was divided according to what contribution each spouse had made to the household. A husband was legally permitted to hit his wife to "correct" her, but if the blow left a mark she was entitled to the equivalent of her bride-price in compensation and could, if she wished, divorce him. The property of
19481-554: The realm was known as Scotland; this process and cultural shift was put into full effect under David I , who let the Normans come to power and furthered the Lowland-Highland divide. Germanic-speakers in Scotland spoke a language called Inglis , which they started to call Scottis ( Scots ) in the 16th century, while they in turn began to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse (meaning "Irish"). In traditional Gaelic society,
19642-526: The realms under Viking control; as a legacy, in genetic studies, Icelanders exhibit high levels of Gaelic-derived mDNA . Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish : Gaeilge ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family . It is a member of the Goidelic language group of
19803-473: The relationship between Celtic languages . This term was further popularised in academia by John Rhys ; the first Professor of Celtic at Oxford University ; due to his work Celtic Britain (1882). These names all come from the Old Irish word Goídel/Gaídel . In Early Modern Irish , it was spelled Gaoidheal (singular) and Gaoidheil/Gaoidhil (plural). In modern Irish, it is spelled Gael (singular) and Gaeil (plural). According to scholar John T. Koch ,
19964-492: The relationship between the three Goidelic languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Gaelic is a collective term for the Goidelic languages, and when the context is clear it may be used without qualification to refer to each language individually. When the context is specific but unclear, the term may be qualified, as Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Manx Gaelic. Historically the name "Erse" ( / ɜːr s / URS )
20125-432: The requirement for entrance to the public service was changed to proficiency in just one official language. Nevertheless, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools in the Republic of Ireland that receive public money (see Education in the Republic of Ireland ). Teachers in primary schools must also pass a compulsory examination called Scrúdú Cáilíochta sa Ghaeilge . As of 2005, Garda Síochána recruits need
20286-647: The revival was the Gaelic League ( Conradh na Gaeilge ), and particular emphasis was placed on the folk tradition, which in Irish is particularly rich. Efforts were also made to develop journalism and a modern literature. Although it has been noted that the Catholic Church played a role in the decline of the Irish language before the Gaelic Revival, the Protestant Church of Ireland also made only minor efforts to encourage use of Irish in
20447-418: The rights and duties that went with it, according to property, and the relationships between lords and their clients and serfs. The secular legal texts of Ireland were edited by D. A. Binchy in his six-volume Corpus Iuris Hibernici . The oldest surviving law tracts were first written down in the seventh century and compiled in the eighth century. Early Irish law consisted of the accumulated decisions of
20608-412: The same rights. The qualifications for each grade is where the difference occurs. The qualifications fit into three categories, the status of the poet's parent or grandparent, their skill and their training. A particular number of compositions are given for each rank, with the ollam having 350. In addition to the seven main ranks, variously named ranks below these seem to be names for unskilled poets,
20769-466: The sexes. The Laws generally reflect a patriarchal and patrilineal society in which the rules of inheritance were based on agnatic descent. It has sometimes been assumed that the patriarchal elements of the law are the result of influence by canon law or continental practice displacing an older, more egalitarian ancient Celtic tradition, but this is based mainly on conjecture and there is little hard evidence to support such claims. Cáin Adomnáin ,
20930-467: The skill and training of a rank, but not the proper familial qualifications received half the honour price that his skill and training otherwise earned. A member of the property-owning classes could advance himself by becoming a "free client" of a more powerful lord, somewhat akin to the Roman system of clientship . The lord made his client a grant of property (sometimes land, but more usually livestock) for
21091-618: The south-west of Ireland. This group has been associated with the Érainn of Irish tradition by T. F. O'Rahilly and others. The Érainn, claiming descent from a Milesian eponymous ancestor named Ailill Érann , were the hegemonic power in Ireland before the rise of the descendants of Conn of the Hundred Battles and Mug Nuadat . The Érainn included peoples such as the Corcu Loígde and Dál Riata. Ancient Roman writers, such as Caesar , Pliny and Tacitus , derived from Ivernia
21252-438: The status of poets. Much depended on status, and each rank was assigned an honour that was quantified in an honour-price to be paid to them if their honour was violated by certain crimes. The types of food one received as a guest in another's house, or while being cared for due to injury varied based on status. Lower honour prices limited the ability to act as sureties and as witnesses. Those of higher status could "over-swear"
21413-424: The status of the kinsman to whom it was owed and the closeness of his relationship to the victim. Should the murderer be unable to pay by himself, his family was normally responsible for paying any amount the murderer could not pay. Should the family be either unable or unwilling to pay, the victim's family took custody of the murderer. At this point, the victim's family had three options. They could await payment, sell
21574-421: The status of the lay grades are the grades of the filid (poets). Each poetic rank corresponds to a particular lay (and ecclesiastical) rank, from Bóaire to king. In Uraicecht na Ríar these are given as fochloc , macfuirmid , dos , cano , clí , ánruth , and ollam . These are given the same status as and the same honour prices as the lay grades, and hence have effectively
21735-424: The status tracts, such as Críth Gablach : rí benn , (the king of peaks) who is identified elsewhere as the rí túaithe (king of a [single] túath ), who is below the rí buiden (the king of bands) who is identified with the rí túath (king of [multiple] túaths ) or ruiri (overking), who in turn is below the rí bunaid cach cinn (the ultimate king of every individual) who
21896-712: The term Scoti to describe the Gaels in Latin from the 4th century onward. At the time, the Gaels were raiding the west coast of Britain, and they took part in the Great Conspiracy ; it is thus conjectured that the term means "raider, pirate". Although the Dál Riata settled in Argyll in the 6th century, the term "Scots" did not just apply to them, but to Gaels in general. Examples can be taken from Johannes Scotus Eriugena and other figures from Hiberno-Latin culture and
22057-726: The vacancy to which they are appointed. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3). In 2016, the university faced controversy when it announced the planned appointment of a president who did not speak Irish. Misneach staged protests against this decision. The following year the university announced that Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh , a fluent Irish speaker, would be its 13th president. He assumed office in January 2018; in June 2024, he announced he would be stepping down as president at
22218-419: The victim had recovered but his wound was still present, it was measured and a fine paid. Bretha Déin Chécht describes that the wound was measured according to how many grains of a certain plant fit in the wound. The higher the status one was, the smaller the grain used. Thus, there are nine grains mentioned in the text, from a grain of wheat to a bean. If the wound did not heal, and thus the physical blemish
22379-410: The victim's representative. This is important to point out, as in case of serious injury it is in stark contrast to most modern legal systems. Although early Irish law recognised a distinction between intentional and unintentional injury, any type of injury was still normally unlawful and requiring compensation. The main exception is injuries received when the victim has gone into a place where an injury
22540-489: The wholly unfree, a few individuals were semi-free. The senchléithe (hereditary serf) was bound to work the land of his master, whereas the fuidir had no independent status or land of his own, but could at least leave as he might desire. Others might be of less than full status, based on age or origin. The status of children was based on their parents, and they could not act independently. The rights of sons increased with age, but they did not fully increase until after
22701-594: The work of such writers as Geoffrey Keating , is said to date from the 17th century, and was the medium of popular literature from that time on. From the 18th century on, the language lost ground in the east of the country. The reasons behind this shift were complex but came down to a number of factors: The change was characterised by diglossia (two languages being used by the same community in different social and economic situations) and transitional bilingualism (monoglot Irish-speaking grandparents with bilingual children and monoglot English-speaking grandchildren). By
22862-484: The wound is one of "the seven principal bone-breakings ," or if it causes constant vomiting or bloody urine the physician also received a greater fee. If it seemed that the patient would recover but still needed nursing, the injurer was responsible for that. This was known as sick maintenance , rendering variously crólige , folog n-othrusa , folog , or othrus in different texts. Bretha Crólige goes into great detail about this process, describing how
23023-411: Was 1,873,997, representing 40% of respondents, but of these, 472,887 said they never spoke it and a further 551,993 said they only spoke it within the education system. Linguistic analyses of Irish speakers are therefore based primarily on the number of daily users in Ireland outside the education system, which in 2022 was 20,261 in the Gaeltacht and 51,707 outside it, totalling 71,968. In response to
23184-428: Was a problem for the victim's honour, further payments were required. Early Irish law saw certain locations, known as the "twelve doors of the soul" were considered particularly severe. It has been suggested that this is because of the potential for such wounds to turn deadly, although the law texts do not suggest any reason. In such cases, the physician was entitled to a greater share of the fine—one half. Similarly, if
23345-531: Was also sometimes used in Scots and then in English to refer to Irish; as well as Scottish Gaelic. Written Irish is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD, a stage of the language known as Primitive Irish . These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish underwent a change into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from
23506-465: Was at large and the fines had not been paid. The victim's family apparently was responsible to launch a blood feud . It is unclear how often capital punishment was carried out in situations where it would be licit without any records other than the legal tracts. It is clear that that punishment could be avoided in most cases. The origin of this particular legal provision is as unclear as the rest of Irish law. The so-called "Pseudo-Historical Prologue to
23667-458: Was collected by Domhnal O'Davoren in the 16th century. Another seemingly important omission is that the laws never mention the High King of Ireland centred at Tara . Likewise, the laws only once mention the practice of individuals being ineligible for kingship if they are blemished (a practice more widely evident elsewhere, especially in Irish mythology ). That mention is only incidental to
23828-668: Was enacted 1 July 2019 and is an 18-page document that adheres to the guidelines of the Official Languages Act 2003 . The purpose of the Scheme is to provide services through the mediums of Irish and/or English. According to the Department of the Taoiseach, it is meant to "develop a sustainable economy and a successful society, to pursue Ireland's interests abroad, to implement the Government's Programme and to build
23989-535: Was establishing itself as the primary language. Irish speakers had first arrived in Australia in the late 18th century as convicts and soldiers, and many Irish-speaking settlers followed, particularly in the 1860s. New Zealand also received some of this influx. Argentina was the only non-English-speaking country to receive large numbers of Irish emigrants, and there were few Irish speakers among them. Brehon law Early Irish law , also called Brehon law (from
24150-517: Was expected to be careful to keep his honour. Cowardice, as demonstrated in flight from battle, as well as taking up manual labour might cost him his honour-price. These grades are generally equated with the seven grades of clerics, although there is some discrepancy as to how the grades line up, with various texts doing it in different ways and selecting only certain lay grades and ignoring others. The ranking of lay grades has been seen by many scholars as rather schematic and not reflecting realities on
24311-665: Was founded in 2013. At the turn of the 21st century, the principles of human genetics and genetic genealogy were applied to the study of populations of Irish origin. The two other peoples who recorded higher than 85% for R1b in a 2009 study published in the scientific journal, PLOS Biology , were the Welsh and the Basques . The development of in-depth studies of DNA sequences known as STRs and SNPs have allowed geneticists to associate subclades with specific Gaelic kindred groupings (and their surnames), vindicating significant elements of Gaelic genealogy , as found in works such as
24472-431: Was given an honour price only halfway up the other scales. The ranking of a brithem was based on his skill and whether he knew all three components of law (here: traditional law, poetry, and canon law), or fewer. A craftsman who worked with wood could have similar honour prices but these were based on his craftsmanship. A physician and a blacksmith , among other ranks, had an even lower honour price—less than half what
24633-494: Was given to the unfree, which reflects the lack of dependence upon slaves as opposed to other societies, such as Ancient Rome . The laws discuss slaves, both male and female, and the term for a female slave, Cumhall , became a broader currency term. Anthropologist David Graeber suggests this indicates a significant trade in female slaves was present not long before the laws were written. As unfree, slaves could not be legal agents either for themselves or others. In addition to
24794-450: Was not entirely rigid and it was possible for a family to raise its status. If three consecutive generations—grandfather, father, and son—had the property qualifications of a lord, or the poetic qualifications of a higher level poet, etc., then the member of the third generation became a lord. On the other hand, the son or grandson of a lord, or a poet , etc., who did not have the proper qualifications, did not have that status. The grandson of
24955-409: Was not supposed to be above the law. Some stipulations applied specifically to the king. With a king being the most powerful individual, and the one with the highest honour in an area, it was difficult to enforce the law against him. Although it might have been possible to proceed against the king as against any other, the laws also had an innovative solution to this quandary. Instead of enforcing against
25116-474: Was passed 14 July 2003 with the main purpose of improving the number and quality of public services delivered in Irish by the government and other public bodies. Compliance with the Act is monitored by the An Coimisinéir Teanga (Irish Language Commissioner) which was established in 2004 and any complaints or concerns pertaining to the Act are brought to them. There are 35 sections included in
25277-510: Was potentially ruinous, and this outcome is portrayed in a number of tales such as in Togail Bruidne Da Derga and Scela Mucce Meic Datho . A commoner might also ascend to the status of a lord if he is a aire échta (lord of violence). Such a person helped individuals to avenge deaths committed in another túath for a limited time after the cessation of hostilities, although the details are unclear. A poet who had
25438-525: Was proposed against the Nuaghail or Sacsanach (the ascendant Protestant New English settlers). The Scots Gaels derive from the kingdom of Dál Riata , which included parts of western Scotland and northern Ireland. It has various explanations of its origins, including a foundation myth of an invasion from Ireland. Other historians believe that the Gaels colonized parts of Western Scotland over several decades and some archaeological evidence may point to
25599-637: Was spoken throughout Ireland, Isle of Man and parts of Scotland . It is the language of a large corpus of literature, including the Ulster Cycle . From the 12th century, Middle Irish began to evolve into modern Irish in Ireland, into Scottish Gaelic in Scotland, and into the Manx language in the Isle of Man . Early Modern Irish , dating from the 13th century, was the basis of the literary language of both Ireland and Gaelic-speaking Scotland. Modern Irish, sometimes called Late Modern Irish, as attested in
25760-437: Was the mruigfer ("land man"). Either of the last, according to Binchy, may be the "normal bóaire " who appears within the law texts. The three ranks of commoners, at least according to the status tract, vary in the type of clientship they undertook and the property they could hold, though it is unclear how this worked in practice. Commoners apparently had to co-operate in farming as they did not have enough property to own
25921-442: Was unable to accomplish some everyday tasks, as portrayed in his documentary No Béarla . There is, however, a growing body of Irish speakers in urban areas, particularly in Dublin. Many have been educated in schools in which Irish is the language of instruction. Such schools are known as Gaelscoileanna at primary level. These Irish-medium schools report some better outcomes for students than English-medium schools. In 2009,
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