The Ancient Tongue’s Transformation

    The history of the Irish language has changed significantly over time. There is an interesting history why they don’t communicate in their language anymore and how the government worked to preserve it. Reasons include emigration, government and laws, and language barriers.

The Irish language is more than 2,500 years old. Irish is the oldest written language. The Irish are related to languages like Scottish and Manx. It is older than English, as English has only been the main language in Ireland for the last 162 years. The Irish language has been spoken in Ireland for approximately 2,500 years. Before that, there were no records of the language spoken. It has been suggested that Irish was the language of the Iberian Celts, who arrived around 500 B.C.  Around 2,500 years ago, the precursor to the English language was a German dialect spoken between the present Netherlands and Denmark. English only became distinct in the 430s, when the Jutes, Angles and Saxons migrated to Britain. The Germanic influence in Celtic Britain began 1,600 years ago, much later than the Gaelic settlement in Ireland. Irish is significantly older than English, which gained prominence in Ireland in the 1400s and became the main language in the 1860s due to factors like famine and emigration.

Proof of the name “Irish” dates back to an Irish language primer given to Queen Elizabeth I. Contrary to other claims, Éamon de Valera didn’t create the Irish language, but likely established an official writing standard. Like other languages, such as German, Spanish, and Italian, Irish had spoken variations before the official standard was set in 1958.

Over the past 1,600 years, the Irish language has become more like English. In Ireland now, about two million people speak the Irish language.  The language was lost when over a million people died due to starvation deaths during the famine of 1847. Also, the language was lost when people emigrated to other countries. People in rural areas communicate more about native Irish. In recent years, the UK government passed a bill to protect the Irish language. In today’s world, some people use social media to learn Irish.  Preserving the language, after it was lost, is important to the Irish people.

The Irish stopped speaking their language in 1616. The British outlawed the Irish language in the 19th century. In 1851, the government of Ireland put out a census and discovered that less than 25% of the people living in Ireland spoke Irish. Another reason why people in Ireland stopped speaking Irish was because the British rulers, who took over Ireland, forced the Irish people to speak English.

The Irish language, over 2,500 years old, is the oldest written language in Ireland and is related to languages like Scottish and Manx. It is older than the English language, which gained prominence in Ireland in the 1400s and became the main language in the 1860s due to factors like famine and emigration. In 1851, less than 25% of the population spoke Irish. Over the past 1600 years, the Irish language has become more like English, with about two million people speaking it today.