Editing Old Irish (section)

{{Short description|Oldest widely attested Gaelic language}}
{{distinguish|Primitive Irish}}
{{Citation style |reason=article uses full and short citations. Pick one style, and then use it consistently |date=January 2025}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=August 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox language
| name             = Old Irish
| altname          = Old Gaelic
| nativename       = {{lang|sga|Goídelc}} {{lang|sga|ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ}}
| pronunciation    = {{IPA|sga|ˈɡoːi̯ðʲelɡ|}}
| region           = Ireland, [[Isle of Man]], [[Wales]], [[Scotland]], [[Devon]], [[Cornwall]]
| familycolor      = Indo-European
| fam2             = [[Celtic languages|Celtic]]
| fam3             = [[Insular Celtic languages|Insular Celtic]]
| fam4             = [[Goidelic languages|Goidelic]]
| ancestor         = [[Primitive Irish]]
| script           = [[Latin script|Latin]], [[Ogham script|Ogham]]
| era              = 6th–10th century; evolved into [[Middle Irish]] by around the 10th century
| iso2             = sga
| iso3             = sga
| glotto           = oldi1246
| glottorefname    = Old Irish (8–9th century)
| lingua           = 50-AAA-ad
| notice           = IPA
}}

'''Old Irish''', also called '''Old Gaelic'''<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.abdn.ac.uk/registry/courses/course/CE3063/2021|title = CE3063: Introduction to Old Gaelic 1A – Catalogue of Courses}}</ref><ref name="koch">{{cite book |title=Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia |last=Koch |first=John Thomas |year=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |page=831 |quote=The Old Irish of the period c.&nbsp;600–c.&nbsp;900&nbsp;AD is as yet virtually devoid of dialect differences, and may be treated as the common ancestor of the Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx of the Middle Ages and modern period; Old Irish is thus sometimes called 'Old Gaelic' to avoid confusion.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Edinburgh History of the Scots Language |last=Ó Baoill |first=Colm |year=1997 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |page=551 |chapter=13: The Scots-Gaelic Interface |quote=The oldest form of the standard that we have is the language of the period c.&nbsp;AD&nbsp;600–900, usually called 'Old Irish' – but this use of the word 'Irish' is a misapplication (popular among English-speakers in both Ireland and Scotland), for that period of the language would be more accurately called 'Old Gaelic'.}}</ref> ({{langx|sga|Goídelc}}, <small>[[Ogham|Ogham script]]</small>: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; {{langx|ga|Sean-Ghaeilge}}; {{langx|gd|Seann-Ghàidhlig}}; {{langx|gv|Shenn Yernish}} or {{lang|gv|Shenn Ghaelg}}), is the oldest form of the [[Goidelic languages|Goidelic/Gaelic language]] for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from {{circa}} 600 to {{circa}} 900. The main contemporary texts are dated {{circa}} 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 is forebear to [[Modern Irish]], [[Manx language|Manx]] and [[Scottish Gaelic]].<ref name="koch" />

Old Irish is known for having a particularly complex system of [[morphology (linguistics)|morphology]] and especially of [[allomorphy]] (more or less unpredictable variations in stems and suffixes in differing circumstances), as well as a complex [[phonology|sound system]] involving grammatically significant [[Irish initial mutations|consonant mutations]] to the initial consonant of a word. Apparently,<ref group=*>It is difficult to know for sure, given how little [[Primitive Irish]] is attested and the limitations of the [[Ogham]] alphabet used to write it.</ref> neither characteristic was present in the preceding [[Primitive Irish]] period, though initial mutations likely existed in a non-grammaticalised form in the prehistoric era.{{sfn|Jaskuła|2006}}{{full citation needed|date=July 2024}}

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).