Irish language
Irish, or Gaeilge, is a Goidelic language native to Ireland. It is an official language of Ireland and the European Union.
Goidelic languages: A branch of the Celtic languages that includes Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Irish belongs to this branch alongside Scottish Gaelic and Manx.
Old Irish: The earliest well-attested form of Irish, used chiefly from the sixth through the tenth centuries. Modern Irish descends from this early stage, documented in inscriptions and manuscripts.
Gaeltacht: An officially designated region of Ireland where Irish is the principal community language or has special language-support status. These regions remain central to Irish-speaking community life and transmission.
English language: A West Germanic language that became the dominant language of public life across much of Ireland. English’s expansion helps explain why Irish became a minority community language.
Great Famine (Ireland): A period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852, caused by potato crop failure and worsened by political conditions. The famine accelerated demographic and linguistic changes in Irish-speaking regions.
Irish orthography: The conventions for representing Irish speech in writing, including its alphabet, spelling, and use of diacritics. Its spelling rules encode distinctions such as broad and slender consonants.
Middle Irish: A historical stage of Irish used roughly from the tenth through the twelfth centuries. Its texts trace the language between Old Irish and the later Gaelic literary tradition.
Irish-medium education: Education delivered primarily through Irish, in schools where Irish is the main language of instruction. Schools teach many people Irish and provide settings for using it beyond lessons.
Welsh language: A Brittonic Celtic language spoken chiefly in Wales. Welsh offers a Celtic comparison with a different history of state support and community use.
Irish Free State: The state established in 1922 after the Irish War of Independence, preceding the modern Republic of Ireland. Its government made Irish a central symbol and object of national language policy.