Since I was a girl, Irish culture, as much as everything about Ireland, has always fascinated me. So, when I arrived in Cork, joking at first and then seriously, I asked an Irish friend to teach me some Irish. Well, beers for Gaelic, it’s a good exchange I think!
Anyway, first of all let’s see what Gaelic is.
Gaelic (o Gaeilge) is a Goidelic language and it has three variations: the Irish Gaelic, the Scottish Gaelic and Manx, which was spoken on the Isle of Man. We don’t know the precise period in which it was born but we are sure it was already spoken around the IV century period in which some Ogham inscriptions are attested.
Well, this is the serious explanation.
But if you ask me what Gaelic is, I would answer you that Gaelic is…poetry!
In which other way can you define a language that uses sentences like this: “Ta áthas orm” that means “Happiness is on me”? And not a trivial “I’m happy”!
Yes, I know. Probably I would never learn much more than some sentences…but what about the satisfaction of knowing at least part of this charming language? The language that Celts and bards used centuries and centuries ago?
-Anna