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82-475: Old Irish , also called Old Gaelic ( Old Irish : Goídelc , Ogham script : ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; Irish : Sean-Ghaeilge ; Scottish Gaelic : Seann-Ghàidhlig ; Manx : Shenn Yernish or Shenn Ghaelg ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from c. 600 to c. 900. The main contemporary texts are dated c. 700–850; by 900

164-605: A long vowel is sometimes indicated in the manuscript not with a diacritical mark , but by doubling or writing out the vowel twice. However, it was clearly transcribed by someone who did not know any Irish and it contains, in Thurneysen's words, "every misreading which the Irish script could suggest". The edition published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (vol. II, pp. 244 ff.) contains both

246-444: A broad labial (for example, lebor /ˈLʲev u r/ "book"; domun /ˈdoṽ u n/ "world"). The phoneme /ə/ occurred in other circumstances. The occurrence of the two phonemes was generally unrelated to the nature of the corresponding Proto-Celtic vowel, which could be any monophthong: long or short. Long vowels also occur in unstressed syllables. However, they rarely reflect Proto-Celtic long vowels, which were shortened prior to

328-444: A broad labial (for example, lebor /ˈLʲev u r/ "book"; domun /ˈdoṽ u n/ "world"). The phoneme /ə/ occurred in other circumstances. The occurrence of the two phonemes was generally unrelated to the nature of the corresponding Proto-Celtic vowel, which could be any monophthong: long or short. Long vowels also occur in unstressed syllables. However, they rarely reflect Proto-Celtic long vowels, which were shortened prior to

410-420: A complex sound system involving grammatically significant consonant mutations to the initial consonant of a word. Apparently, neither characteristic was present in the preceding Primitive Irish period, though initial mutations likely existed in a non-grammaticalised form in the prehistoric era. Contemporary Old Irish scholarship is still greatly influenced by the works of a small number of scholars active in

492-429: A consonant ensures its unmutated sound. While the letter ⟨c⟩ may be voiced / ɡ / at the end of some words, but when it is written double ⟨cc⟩ it is always voiceless / k / in regularised texts; however, even final /ɡ/ was often written "cc", as in bec / becc "small, little" (Modern Irish and Scottish beag , Manx beg ). In later Irish manuscripts, lenited f and s are denoted with

574-429: A consonant ensures its unmutated sound. While the letter ⟨c⟩ may be voiced / ɡ / at the end of some words, but when it is written double ⟨cc⟩ it is always voiceless / k / in regularised texts; however, even final /ɡ/ was often written "cc", as in bec / becc "small, little" (Modern Irish and Scottish beag , Manx beg ). In later Irish manuscripts, lenited f and s are denoted with

656-486: A short tract or excerpt for a florilegium . The Cambrai Homily appears in a manuscript of the Bibliothèque Municipale (Cambrai, MS. 679, formerly 619, fos. 37rb–38rb). The manuscript was copied in the period 763–790 by a Carolingian scribe working in northern France for Alberic, bishop of Cambrai and Arras . The language of the homily itself, however, dates it to the late 7th century or

738-431: A sickly pale complexion. One of the primary means of achieving glas martyrdom is fasting, a common penance which gained special significance from the practice of fasting as codified in early Irish law . A person with an unanswered claim against a social superior might threaten or enact a hunger strike ( trocsad ) against him, taking up a position outside his residence and potentially polluting his house and family with

820-459: A sound / h / and a letter h , there is no consistent relationship between the two. Vowel-initial words are sometimes written with an unpronounced h , especially if they are very short (the Old Irish preposition i "in" was sometimes written hi ) or if they need to be emphasised (the name of Ireland, Ériu , was sometimes written Hériu ). On the other hand, words that begin with

902-402: A sound / h / and a letter h , there is no consistent relationship between the two. Vowel-initial words are sometimes written with an unpronounced h , especially if they are very short (the Old Irish preposition i "in" was sometimes written hi ) or if they need to be emphasised (the name of Ireland, Ériu , was sometimes written Hériu ). On the other hand, words that begin with

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984-467: A word containing it being variably spelled with ⟨au, ai, e, i, u⟩ across attestations. Tulach "hill, mound" is the most commonly cited example of this vowel, with the spelling of its inflections including tulach itself, telaig , telocho , tilchaib , taulich and tailaig . This special vowel also ran rampant in many words starting with the stressed prefix air- (from Proto-Celtic *ɸare ). Archaic Old Irish (before about 750) had

1066-426: Is forebear to Modern Irish , Manx and Scottish Gaelic . Old Irish is known for having a particularly complex system of morphology and especially of allomorphy (more or less unpredictable variations in stems and suffixes in differing circumstances), as well as a complex sound system involving grammatically significant consonant mutations to the initial consonant of a word. Apparently, neither characteristic

1148-489: Is known as Primitive Irish . Fragments of Primitive Irish, mainly personal names, are known from inscriptions on stone written in the Ogham alphabet. The inscriptions date from about the 4th to the 6th centuries. Primitive Irish appears to have been very close to Common Celtic , the ancestor of all Celtic languages , and it had a lot of the characteristics of other archaic Indo-European languages. Relatively little survives in

1230-430: Is separation from all that one loves, perhaps on a peregrinatio pro Christo or " pilgrimage on behalf of Christ" that might be extended permanently; blue (or green) martyrdom ( glasmartre ) involves the denial of desires, as through fasting and penitent labors, without necessarily implying a journey or complete withdrawal from life; red martyrdom ( dercmartre ) requires torture or death. The Irish color word glas for

1312-508: Is shown in the chart below. The complexity of Old Irish phonology is from a four-way split of phonemes inherited from Primitive Irish, with both a fortis–lenis and a "broad–slender" ( velarised vs. palatalised ) distinction arising from historical changes. The sounds /f v θ ð x ɣ h ṽ n l r/ are the broad lenis equivalents of broad fortis /p b t d k ɡ s m N L R/ ; likewise for the slender (palatalised) equivalents. (However, most /f fʲ/ sounds actually derive historically from /w/ , since /p/

1394-431: Is subject to u -affection, becoming ⟨éu⟩ or ⟨íu⟩ , while /e₁ː/ is not. A similar distinction may have existed between /o₁ː/ and /o₂ː/ , both written ⟨ó⟩ , and stemming respectively from former diphthongs (*eu, *au, *ou) and from compensatory lengthening. However, in later Old Irish both sounds appear usually as ⟨úa⟩ , sometimes as ⟨ó⟩ , and it

1476-430: Is subject to u -affection, becoming ⟨éu⟩ or ⟨íu⟩ , while /e₁ː/ is not. A similar distinction may have existed between /o₁ː/ and /o₂ː/ , both written ⟨ó⟩ , and stemming respectively from former diphthongs (*eu, *au, *ou) and from compensatory lengthening. However, in later Old Irish both sounds appear usually as ⟨úa⟩ , sometimes as ⟨ó⟩ , and it

1558-410: Is the ancestor of all modern Goidelic languages: Modern Irish , Scottish Gaelic and Manx . A still older form of Irish is known as Primitive Irish . Fragments of Primitive Irish, mainly personal names, are known from inscriptions on stone written in the Ogham alphabet. The inscriptions date from about the 4th to the 6th centuries. Primitive Irish appears to have been very close to Common Celtic ,

1640-399: Is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from c. 600 to c. 900. The main contemporary texts are dated c. 700–850; by 900 the language had already transitioned into early Middle Irish . Some Old Irish texts date from the 10th century, although these are presumably copies of texts written at an earlier time. Old Irish

1722-594: Is unclear whether /o₂ː/ existed as a separate sound any time in the Old Irish period. /ou/ existed only in early archaic Old Irish ( c. 700 or earlier); afterwards it merged into /au/ . Neither sound occurred before another consonant, and both sounds became ⟨ó⟩ in later Old Irish (often ⟨ú⟩ or ⟨u⟩ before another vowel). The late ⟨ó⟩ does not develop into ⟨úa⟩ , suggesting that ⟨áu⟩ > ⟨ó⟩ postdated ⟨ó⟩ > ⟨úa⟩ . Later Old Irish had

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1804-593: Is unclear whether /o₂ː/ existed as a separate sound any time in the Old Irish period. /ou/ existed only in early archaic Old Irish ( c. 700 or earlier); afterwards it merged into /au/ . Neither sound occurred before another consonant, and both sounds became ⟨ó⟩ in later Old Irish (often ⟨ú⟩ or ⟨u⟩ before another vowel). The late ⟨ó⟩ does not develop into ⟨úa⟩ , suggesting that ⟨áu⟩ > ⟨ó⟩ postdated ⟨ó⟩ > ⟨úa⟩ . Later Old Irish had

1886-674: The Stowe Missal date from about 900 to 1050. In addition to contemporary witnesses, the vast majority of Old Irish texts are attested in manuscripts of a variety of later dates. Manuscripts of the later Middle Irish period, such as the Lebor na hUidre and the Book of Leinster , contain texts which are thought to derive from written exemplars in Old Irish now lost and retain enough of their original form to merit classification as Old Irish. The preservation of certain linguistic forms current in

1968-559: The eclipsis consonants also denoted with a superdot: Old Irish digraphs include the lenition consonants: the eclipsis consonants: the geminatives : and the diphthongs : The following table indicates the broad pronunciation of various consonant letters in various environments: When the consonants b, d, g are eclipsed by the preceding word (always from a word-initial position), their spelling and pronunciation change to: ⟨mb⟩ / m / , ⟨nd⟩ /N/ , ⟨ng⟩ / ŋ / Generally, geminating

2050-558: The eclipsis consonants also denoted with a superdot: Old Irish digraphs include the lenition consonants: the eclipsis consonants: the geminatives : and the diphthongs : The following table indicates the broad pronunciation of various consonant letters in various environments: When the consonants b, d, g are eclipsed by the preceding word (always from a word-initial position), their spelling and pronunciation change to: ⟨mb⟩ / m / , ⟨nd⟩ /N/ , ⟨ng⟩ / ŋ / Generally, geminating

2132-429: The Book of Leinster , contain texts which are thought to derive from written exemplars in Old Irish now lost and retain enough of their original form to merit classification as Old Irish. The preservation of certain linguistic forms current in the Old Irish period may provide reason to assume that an Old Irish original directly or indirectly underlies the transmitted text or texts. The consonant inventory of Old Irish

2214-565: The Homilia in Evangelia by Pope Gregory I , and an explanation of the three degrees of martyrdom , designated by the colors red , blue (or green, Irish glas ) , and white . The Cambrai Homily is one of the few surviving written sources for Old Irish in the period 700 to 900. As such, it was an important source for Rudolf Thurneysen 's classic grammar of Old Irish. It exhibits some distinctive orthographical features; for instance,

2296-858: The Würzburg Glosses (mainly) on the Pauline Epistles , the Milan Glosses on a commentary to the Psalms and the St Gall Glosses on Priscian 's Grammar. Further examples are found at Karlsruhe (Germany), Paris (France), Milan, Florence and Turin (Italy). A late 9th-century manuscript from the abbey of Reichenau , now in St. Paul in Carinthia (Austria), contains a spell and four Old Irish poems. The Liber Hymnorum and

2378-405: The abbey of Reichenau , now in St. Paul in Carinthia (Austria), contains a spell and four Old Irish poems. The Liber Hymnorum and the Stowe Missal date from about 900 to 1050. In addition to contemporary witnesses, the vast majority of Old Irish texts are attested in manuscripts of a variety of later dates. Manuscripts of the later Middle Irish period, such as the Lebor na hUidre and

2460-500: The druids . Irish saints had to forgo the bloody " crown of martyrdom " until the Viking invasions at the end of the 8th century . St. Jerome had used the term " white martyrdom " for those such as desert hermits who aspired to the condition of martyrdom through strict asceticism . The Cambrai homilist elaborates also on a distinction made by Gregory between inward and outward martyrdom. White martyrdom ( bánmartre ), he says,

2542-468: The orthography of Old Irish is not fixed, so the following statements are to be taken as generalisations only. Individual manuscripts may vary greatly from these guidelines. The Old Irish alphabet consists of the following eighteen letters of the Latin alphabet : in addition to the five long vowels , shown by an acute accent (´): the lenited consonants denoted with a superdot (◌̇): and

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2624-417: The orthography of Old Irish is not fixed, so the following statements are to be taken as generalisations only. Individual manuscripts may vary greatly from these guidelines. The Old Irish alphabet consists of the following eighteen letters of the Latin alphabet : in addition to the five long vowels , shown by an acute accent (´): the lenited consonants denoted with a superdot (◌̇): and

2706-607: The trocsad , a term that came into use also for hagiography , had a distinctively Irish character, leading perhaps to the use of the Celtic color word. The Irish triad appears with a Latin fragment at the end of the Cambrai text: castitas in iuventute, continentia in habundantia . This fragment corresponds to a triad in the Prebiarum de multorum exemplaribus , a didactic florilegium of 93 questions. The Prebiarum supplies

2788-530: The Continent were much less prone to the same risk because once they ceased to be understood, they were rarely consulted. The earliest Old Irish passages may be the transcripts found in the Cambrai Homily , which is thought to belong to the early 8th century. The Book of Armagh contains texts from the early 9th century. Important Continental collections of glosses from the 8th and 9th century include

2870-577: The Modern Irish and Scottish dialects that still possess a four-way distinction in the coronal nasals and laterals . /Nʲ/ and /Lʲ/ may have been pronounced [ɲ] and [ʎ] respectively. The difference between /R(ʲ)/ and /r(ʲ)/ may have been that the former were trills while the latter were flaps . /m(ʲ)/ and /ṽ(ʲ)/ were derived from an original fortis–lenis pair. Old Irish had distinctive vowel length in both monophthongs and diphthongs . Short diphthongs were monomoraic , taking up

2952-484: The Old Irish period may provide reason to assume that an Old Irish original directly or indirectly underlies the transmitted text or texts. The consonant inventory of Old Irish is shown in the chart below. The complexity of Old Irish phonology is from a four-way split of phonemes inherited from Primitive Irish, with both a fortis–lenis and a "broad–slender" ( velarised vs. palatalised ) distinction arising from historical changes. The sounds /f v θ ð x ɣ h ṽ n l r/ are

3034-468: The Old Irish period, but merged with /u/ later on and in many instances was replaced with /o/ due to paradigmatic levelling. It is attested once in the phrase i r ou th by the prima manus of the Würzburg Glosses . /æ ~ œ/ arose from the u-infection of stressed /a/ by a /u/ that preceded a palatalized consonant. This vowel faced much inconsistency in spelling, often detectable by

3116-407: The Old Irish period, but the short vowels changed much less. The following short vowels existed: The short diphthong ŏu likely existed very early in the Old Irish period, but merged with /u/ later on and in many instances was replaced with /o/ due to paradigmatic levelling. It is attested once in the phrase i r ou th by the prima manus of the Würzburg Glosses . /æ ~ œ/ arose from

3198-611: The ancestor of all Celtic languages , and it had a lot of the characteristics of other archaic Indo-European languages. Relatively little survives in the way of strictly contemporary sources. They are represented mainly by shorter or longer glosses on the margins or between the lines of religious Latin manuscripts , most of them preserved in monasteries in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France and Austria, having been taken there by early Irish missionaries . Whereas in Ireland, many of

3280-411: The body through fasting , and when out of compassion for him we regard the needs of our neighbour as our own. A person who has compassion for the needs of his neighbour truly carries the cross in his heart. Christ is to be regarded as a model not only of meaningful suffering, but of relations to others: "everyone's sickness was sickness to him, offence to anyone was offence to him, everyone's infirmity

3362-443: The broad lenis equivalents of broad fortis /p b t d k ɡ s m N L R/ ; likewise for the slender (palatalised) equivalents. (However, most /f fʲ/ sounds actually derive historically from /w/ , since /p/ was relatively rare in Old Irish, being a recent import from other languages such as Latin.) Some details of Old Irish phonetics are not known. /sʲ/ may have been pronounced [ɕ] or [ʃ] , as in Modern Irish. /hʲ/ may have been

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3444-610: The complexities of PIE verbal conjugation are also maintained, and there are new complexities introduced by various sound changes (see below ). Old Irish was the only known member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages , which is, in turn, a subfamily of the wider Indo-European language family that also includes the Slavonic , Italic / Romance , Indo-Aryan and Germanic subfamilies, along with several others. Old Irish

3526-554: The complicated Proto-Indo-European (PIE) system of morphology. Nouns and adjectives are declined in three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter); three numbers (singular, dual, plural); and five cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, dative and genitive). Most PIE noun stem classes are maintained ( o -, yo -, ā -, yā -, i -, u -, r -, n -, s -, and consonant stems). Most of the complexities of PIE verbal conjugation are also maintained, and there are new complexities introduced by various sound changes (see below ). Old Irish

3608-468: The deletion (syncope) of inner syllables. Rather, they originate in one of the following ways: Stress is generally on the first syllable of a word. However, in verbs it occurs on the second syllable when the first syllable is a clitic (the verbal prefix as- in as·beir /asˈberʲ/ "he says"). In such cases, the unstressed prefix is indicated in grammatical works with a following centre dot ( ⟨·⟩ ). As with most medieval languages ,

3690-468: The deletion (syncope) of inner syllables. Rather, they originate in one of the following ways: Stress is generally on the first syllable of a word. However, in verbs it occurs on the second syllable when the first syllable is a clitic (the verbal prefix as- in as·beir /asˈberʲ/ "he says"). In such cases, the unstressed prefix is indicated in grammatical works with a following centre dot ( ⟨·⟩ ). As with most medieval languages ,

3772-411: The early 9th century. Important Continental collections of glosses from the 8th and 9th century include the Würzburg Glosses (mainly) on the Pauline Epistles , the Milan Glosses on a commentary to the Psalms and the St Gall Glosses on Priscian 's Grammar. Further examples are found at Karlsruhe (Germany), Paris (France), Milan, Florence and Turin (Italy). A late 9th-century manuscript from

3854-433: The following consonant (in certain clusters) or a directly following vowel in hiatus . It is generally thought that /e₁ː/ was higher than /e₂ː/ . Perhaps /e₁ː/ was [eː] while /e₂ː/ was [ɛː] . They are clearly distinguished in later Old Irish, in which /e₁ː/ becomes ⟨ía⟩ (but ⟨é⟩ before a palatal consonant). /e₂ː/ becomes ⟨é⟩ in all circumstances. Furthermore, /e₂ː/

3936-432: The following consonant (in certain clusters) or a directly following vowel in hiatus . It is generally thought that /e₁ː/ was higher than /e₂ː/ . Perhaps /e₁ː/ was [eː] while /e₂ː/ was [ɛː] . They are clearly distinguished in later Old Irish, in which /e₁ː/ becomes ⟨ía⟩ (but ⟨é⟩ before a palatal consonant). /e₂ː/ becomes ⟨é⟩ in all circumstances. Furthermore, /e₂ː/

4018-470: The following inventory of long vowels: Early Old Irish /ai/ and /oi/ merged in later Old Irish. It is unclear what the resulting sound was, as scribes continued to use both ⟨aí⟩ and ⟨oí⟩ to indicate the merged sound. The choice of /oi/ in the table above is somewhat arbitrary. The distribution of short vowels in unstressed syllables is a little complicated. All short vowels may appear in absolutely final position (at

4100-408: The following inventory of long vowels: Both /e₁ː/ and /e₂ː/ were normally written ⟨é⟩ but must have been pronounced differently because they have different origins and distinct outcomes in later Old Irish. /e₁ː/ stems from Proto-Celtic *ē (< PIE *ei), or from ē in words borrowed from Latin. /e₂ː/ generally stems from compensatory lengthening of short *e because of loss of

4182-469: The following inventory of long vowels: Early Old Irish /ai/ and /oi/ merged in later Old Irish. It is unclear what the resulting sound was, as scribes continued to use both ⟨aí⟩ and ⟨oí⟩ to indicate the merged sound. The choice of /oi/ in the table above is somewhat arbitrary. The distribution of short vowels in unstressed syllables is a little complicated. All short vowels may appear in absolutely final position (at

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4264-669: The former were trills while the latter were flaps . /m(ʲ)/ and /ṽ(ʲ)/ were derived from an original fortis–lenis pair. Old Irish had distinctive vowel length in both monophthongs and diphthongs . Short diphthongs were monomoraic , taking up the same amount of time as short vowels, while long diphthongs were bimoraic, the same as long vowels. (This is much like the situation in Old English but different from Ancient Greek whose shorter and longer diphthongs were bimoraic and trimoraic, respectively: /ai/ vs. /aːi/ .) The inventory of Old Irish long vowels changed significantly over

4346-468: The language had already transitioned into early Middle Irish . Some Old Irish texts date from the 10th century, although these are presumably copies of texts written at an earlier time. Old Irish is forebear to Modern Irish , Manx and Scottish Gaelic . Old Irish is known for having a particularly complex system of morphology and especially of allomorphy (more or less unpredictable variations in stems and suffixes in differing circumstances), as well as

4428-643: The late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Rudolf Thurneysen (1857–1940) and Osborn Bergin (1873–1950). Notable characteristics of Old Irish compared with other old Indo-European languages , are: Old Irish also preserves most aspects of the complicated Proto-Indo-European (PIE) system of morphology. Nouns and adjectives are declined in three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter); three numbers (singular, dual, plural); and five cases (nominative, vocative, accusative, dative and genitive). Most PIE noun stem classes are maintained ( o -, yo -, ā -, yā -, i -, u -, r -, n -, s -, and consonant stems). Most of

4510-422: The letter h ⟨fh⟩ , ⟨sh⟩ , instead of using a superdot ⟨ḟ⟩ , ⟨ṡ⟩ . When initial s stemmed from Primitive Irish *sw- , its lenited version is ⟨f⟩ [ ɸ ] . The slender ( palatalised ) variants of the 13 consonants are denoted with / ʲ / marking the letter. They occur in the following environments: Although Old Irish has both

4592-421: The letter h ⟨fh⟩ , ⟨sh⟩ , instead of using a superdot ⟨ḟ⟩ , ⟨ṡ⟩ . When initial s stemmed from Primitive Irish *sw- , its lenited version is ⟨f⟩ [ ɸ ] . The slender ( palatalised ) variants of the 13 consonants are denoted with / ʲ / marking the letter. They occur in the following environments: Although Old Irish has both

4674-569: The letter m usually becomes the nasal fricative / ṽ / , but in some cases it becomes a nasal stop, denoted as / m / . In cases in which it becomes a stop, m is often written double to avoid ambiguity. Ambiguity arises in the pronunciation of the stop consonants ( c, g, t, d, p, b ) when they follow l, n, or r : Old Irish language Old Irish , also called Old Gaelic ( Old Irish : Goídelc , Ogham script : ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; Irish : Sean-Ghaeilge ; Scottish Gaelic : Seann-Ghàidhlig ; Manx : Shenn Yernish or Shenn Ghaelg ),

4756-411: The letter m usually becomes the nasal fricative / ṽ / , but in some cases it becomes a nasal stop, denoted as / m / . In cases in which it becomes a stop, m is often written double to avoid ambiguity. Ambiguity arises in the pronunciation of the stop consonants ( c, g, t, d, p, b ) when they follow l, n, or r : Cambrai Homily The homily expounds on Matthew 16:24 with a selection from

4838-421: The missing third element as largitas in paupertate : "What are the types of martyrdom other than death? That is, three. Self-control in abundance, generosity in poverty, chastity in youth." Later examples of similar triads also exist. The identification of the text as a fragment of a homily has been criticized by Milton Gatch, who maintains that early Christian Ireland lacked a homiletic movement aimed at sharing

4920-423: The night immersed in water or on nettles or nutshells or in the presence of a corpse. In one 12th-century Irish poem, the speaker Suibne Geilt , a dweller in the wilderness, says "My feet are wounded; my cheek is glas ." In a much-referenced analysis of the Irish colors of martyrdom, Clare Stancliffe presented comparative textual evidence to suggest that glas martyrdom was so called because its austerity produced

5002-409: The older manuscripts appear to have been worn out through extended and heavy use, their counterparts on the Continent were much less prone to the same risk because once they ceased to be understood, they were rarely consulted. The earliest Old Irish passages may be the transcripts found in the Cambrai Homily , which is thought to belong to the early 8th century. The Book of Armagh contains texts from

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5084-520: The responsibility of the faster's death. Irish saints fasted not only to mortify the flesh, but to coerce secular authorities and even to convince God himself. According to the Betha Adamnáin and some Irish annals, for instance, St. Adomnán fasted and immersed himself every night in the River Boyne as a protest against the kingship of Írgalach mac Conaing . D.A. Binchy has argued that

5166-509: The same amount of time as short vowels, while long diphthongs were bimoraic, the same as long vowels. (This is much like the situation in Old English but different from Ancient Greek whose shorter and longer diphthongs were bimoraic and trimoraic, respectively: /ai/ vs. /aːi/ .) The inventory of Old Irish long vowels changed significantly over the Old Irish period, but the short vowels changed much less. The following short vowels existed: The short diphthong ŏu likely existed very early in

5248-542: The same sound as /h/ or /xʲ/ . The precise articulation of the fortis sonorants /N/, /Nʲ/, /L/, /Lʲ/, /R/, /Rʲ/ is unknown, but they were probably longer, tenser and generally more strongly articulated than their lenis counterparts /n/, /nʲ/, /l/, /lʲ/, /r/, /rʲ/ , as in the Modern Irish and Scottish dialects that still possess a four-way distinction in the coronal nasals and laterals . /Nʲ/ and /Lʲ/ may have been pronounced [ɲ] and [ʎ] respectively. The difference between /R(ʲ)/ and /r(ʲ)/ may have been that

5330-408: The sound /h/ are usually written without it: a ór /a hoːr/ "her gold". If the sound and the spelling co-occur , it is by coincidence, as ní hed /Nʲiː heð/ "it is not". The voiceless stops of Old Irish are c, p, t . They contrast with the voiced stops g, b, d . Additionally, the letter m can behave similarly to a stop following vowels. These seven consonants often mutate when not in

5412-408: The sound /h/ are usually written without it: a ór /a hoːr/ "her gold". If the sound and the spelling co-occur , it is by coincidence, as ní hed /Nʲiː heð/ "it is not". The voiceless stops of Old Irish are c, p, t . They contrast with the voiced stops g, b, d . Additionally, the letter m can behave similarly to a stop following vowels. These seven consonants often mutate when not in

5494-513: The stressed prefix air- (from Proto-Celtic *ɸare ). Archaic Old Irish (before about 750) had the following inventory of long vowels: Both /e₁ː/ and /e₂ː/ were normally written ⟨é⟩ but must have been pronounced differently because they have different origins and distinct outcomes in later Old Irish. /e₁ː/ stems from Proto-Celtic *ē (< PIE *ei), or from ē in words borrowed from Latin. /e₂ː/ generally stems from compensatory lengthening of short *e because of loss of

5576-477: The teachings of the Church Fathers in the vernacular. Gatch holds that Irish canonical and penitential literature shows scant interest in preaching, and that homilies represent "a peculiarly English effort to assemble useful cycles of preaching materials in the native tongue." The so-called Cambrai Homily , he says, lacks the opening and close that is characteristic of the genre, and was probably just

5658-437: The text as it appears in the manuscript and a restoration of what the editors believe to be the correct text. The passage from Matthew is addressed by Jesus to his disciples , calling upon each of them to follow his example and "take up his cross ." The homily takes an inclusive view of penitence as combining self-mortification with compassion for others: We carry the cross of Christ in two ways, both when we mortify

5740-434: The third way of martyrdom can be translated as either " "blue or green" ". Its symbolism in regard to martyrdom has been explained variously but not definitively. Glas has a figurative meaning of "fresh, raw, sharp" (in regard to weather) and "harsh" (morally); it also applies to complexion ("wan") or the discoloration of a corpse as "bluish, livid." The Irish treatise De arreis prescribes "fearsome penances" such as spending

5822-518: The u-infection of stressed /a/ by a /u/ that preceded a palatalized consonant. This vowel faced much inconsistency in spelling, often detectable by a word containing it being variably spelled with ⟨au, ai, e, i, u⟩ across attestations. Tulach "hill, mound" is the most commonly cited example of this vowel, with the spelling of its inflections including tulach itself, telaig , telocho , tilchaib , taulich and tailaig . This special vowel also ran rampant in many words starting with

5904-431: The very end of a word) after both broad and slender consonants. The front vowels /e/ and /i/ are often spelled ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨ai⟩ after broad consonants, which might indicate a retracted pronunciation here, perhaps something like [ɘ] and [ɨ] . All ten possibilities are shown in the following examples: The distribution of short vowels in unstressed syllables, other than when absolutely final,

5986-431: The very end of a word) after both broad and slender consonants. The front vowels /e/ and /i/ are often spelled ⟨ae⟩ and ⟨ai⟩ after broad consonants, which might indicate a retracted pronunciation here, perhaps something like [ɘ] and [ɨ] . All ten possibilities are shown in the following examples: The distribution of short vowels in unstressed syllables, other than when absolutely final,

6068-452: The way of strictly contemporary sources. They are represented mainly by shorter or longer glosses on the margins or between the lines of religious Latin manuscripts , most of them preserved in monasteries in Germany, Italy, Switzerland, France and Austria, having been taken there by early Irish missionaries . Whereas in Ireland, many of the older manuscripts appear to have been worn out through extended and heavy use, their counterparts on

6150-567: The word-initial position. In non-initial positions, the single-letter voiceless stops c, p, and t become the voiced stops / ɡ / , / b / , and / d / respectively unless they are written double. Ambiguity in these letters' pronunciations arises when a single consonant follows an l, n, or r . The lenited stops ch, ph, and th become / x / , / f / , and / θ / respectively. The voiced stops b, d, and g become fricative / v / , / ð / , and / ɣ / , respectively—identical sounds to their word-initial lenitions. In non-initial positions,

6232-566: The word-initial position. In non-initial positions, the single-letter voiceless stops c, p, and t become the voiced stops / ɡ / , / b / , and / d / respectively unless they are written double. Ambiguity in these letters' pronunciations arises when a single consonant follows an l, n, or r . The lenited stops ch, ph, and th become / x / , / f / , and / θ / respectively. The voiced stops b, d, and g become fricative / v / , / ð / , and / ɣ / , respectively—identical sounds to their word-initial lenitions. In non-initial positions,

6314-603: Was infirmity to him." The homily outlines three degrees of martyrdom , designated by color. This triad is unique, but draws on earlier distinctions between "red" and "white" martyrdom . Red martyrdom , or violent death as a result of religious persecution , was rarely obtainable after the establishment of Christian hegemony in the Roman Empire . Blood martyrdom was not a regular feature of early Christian life in Ireland, despite narratives that depict conflict between missionaries and traditional religious authorities such as

6396-519: Was present in the preceding Primitive Irish period, though initial mutations likely existed in a non-grammaticalised form in the prehistoric era. Contemporary Old Irish scholarship is still greatly influenced by the works of a small number of scholars active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Rudolf Thurneysen (1857–1940) and Osborn Bergin (1873–1950). Notable characteristics of Old Irish compared with other old Indo-European languages , are: Old Irish also preserves most aspects of

6478-488: Was quite restricted. It is usually thought that there were only two allowed phonemes: /ə/ (written ⟨a, ai, e, i⟩ depending on the quality of surrounding consonants) and /u/ (written ⟨u⟩ or ⟨o⟩ ). The phoneme /u/ tended to occur when the following syllable contained an *ū in Proto-Celtic (for example, dligud /ˈdʲlʲiɣ u ð/ "law" (dat.) < PC * dligedū ), or after

6560-428: Was quite restricted. It is usually thought that there were only two allowed phonemes: /ə/ (written ⟨a, ai, e, i⟩ depending on the quality of surrounding consonants) and /u/ (written ⟨u⟩ or ⟨o⟩ ). The phoneme /u/ tended to occur when the following syllable contained an *ū in Proto-Celtic (for example, dligud /ˈdʲlʲiɣ u ð/ "law" (dat.) < PC * dligedū ), or after

6642-519: Was relatively rare in Old Irish, being a recent import from other languages such as Latin.) Some details of Old Irish phonetics are not known. /sʲ/ may have been pronounced [ɕ] or [ʃ] , as in Modern Irish. /hʲ/ may have been the same sound as /h/ or /xʲ/ . The precise articulation of the fortis sonorants /N/, /Nʲ/, /L/, /Lʲ/, /R/, /Rʲ/ is unknown, but they were probably longer, tenser and generally more strongly articulated than their lenis counterparts /n/, /nʲ/, /l/, /lʲ/, /r/, /rʲ/ , as in

6724-412: Was the only known member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages , which is, in turn, a subfamily of the wider Indo-European language family that also includes the Slavonic , Italic / Romance , Indo-Aryan and Germanic subfamilies, along with several others. Old Irish is the ancestor of all modern Goidelic languages: Modern Irish , Scottish Gaelic and Manx . A still older form of Irish

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