Notes on Classical Gaelic Grammar

Classical Gaelic or Classical Irish (Gáoidhealg or Gaoidhealg /ɡɯːð´əlɡ ~ ɡɯːɣ´əlɡ/ in the language itself) was the standard language of bardic poetry in Ireland and Scotland between 13th and 18th century. It was created in late 12th century by poets trying to bring the poetic language closer to the vernacular of that time, the standard allowed a lot of spoken forms used in the dialects of late 12th century, even though it was itself highly prescriptive.

While the spoken language evolved, the grammar of the language used in poetry was kept fixed throughout centuries (although new vocabulary was used in poetry). The spoken language of 13th–18th century Ireland (and one used in prose texts) is called Early Modern Irish while the term Classical Gaelic is typically reserved for the standardized conservative language of the bardic poetry.

This article deals with elements of grammar of this bardic standard (although it might mention some developments rejected in the bardic standard occasionally). But bear in mind it’s more of a random collection of notes (mostly from Bardic Syntactical Tracts and IGT i) than a comprehensive grammar. It’s also a work in progress.

Orthography

Early Modern Irish and Scottish manuscripts vary a lot in the spelling they used. The earliest manuscripts use basically the Middle Irish spelling that’s closer to Old Irish system than to modern orthography, later ones start to write consonants in a more modern way and mark lenition (semi-)consistently using ponc séimhithe (dot placed above the letter, sometimes a little h instead of a dot) but there are several ways to mark eclipsis (namely, the letters t and c are often doubled to tt, cc in eclipsing context). [TODO: expand]

Modern normalized editions of Classical Gaelic and Early Modern Irish texts often use the modern pre-reform Irish spelling as one can find eg. in Dinneen’s dictionary. But that’s often not the spelling used in manuscripts – and one won’t find it often in dyplomatic editions of classical texts.

Among the common differences between the spellings used commonly in manuscripts and the modern normalized spelling are:

1. the clusters /st, sk, sp/ are written sd, sg, sb (this varies in normalized texts), eg. innsgne, subsdainnteach vs inscne, substainteach,
2. the ‘long diphthongs’ and the ao vowel mark their length with a ‘fada’: Gáoidhealg, táobh, síad, íasg, búadh vs modern Gaoidhealg, taobh, siad, iasc/iasg, buadh,
3. the long é before a broad consonant stands on its own, breaking the leathan le leathan rule (while it is the expected éi before a slender one): dénamh, bél, slégar but Éire vs déanamh, béal, sléagar, Éire,
4. eclipsis of t and c written as tt, cc (and pp for p?): a ttigh ‘in a house’ vs i dtigh / a dtigh.

This page follows the spelling conventions of Mac Cárthaigh edition of Irish Grammatical Tracts I, that is, unlike most modern editions, it normalizes the spelling to form closer to the older usage described above.

[TODO: something about spelling of reduced unstressed vowels: a vs u vs o; i vs ei]

Declension

TODO: tables with different declension patterns, explanation of cases.

Réim connsaine

TODO: explanation of lenition of direct object accusative, exceptions when (unlenited) nominative can be used instead. Also lenition after ar.

Prepositions

Stationary dative vs accusative of motion

Classical Gaelic keeps the distinction between accusative and dative grammatical case used after certain prepositions. Accusative is used to convey the motion (eg. i + accusative means ‘into’) while dative expresses stationary position (eg. i + dative means ‘inside’). It’s the same distinction as can be found in German, Latin (with stationary ablative), Slavic languages (with stationary locative).

[TODO: list all prepositions taking acc/dat depending on meaning]

For example:

• Cuirfead mo láimh ar fear or ar fhear ‘I will put my hand upon a man’ with accusative (motion),
• Bíaidh mo lámh ar fior ‘my hand will be on a man’ with dative (stationarily placed).

But some prepositions take just one of the cases, eg. ós always takes the dative:

• Cuirfead mo láimh ós fhior ‘I will put my hand above a man’ with dative (even though motion is involved here).

There are also compound “prepositions” that take genitive – they are generally phrases with the second element being a noun which itself is either in dative or accusative, and thus they themselves cause either lenition (if the noun-part is in dative) or eclipsis (if the noun-part is in accusative). Some of them change the mutation they cause based on their meaning:

• tar éis fhir or ar éis fhir ‘after a man’ (lit. ‘on, over a track of a man’) – in the meaning ‘after’ éis is in dative and causes lenition,
• tar éis bhfir or ar éis bhfir ‘instead of a man’ (lit. ‘onto, over a track of a man’) – in the meaning ‘instead of’ éis is in accusative and causes eclipsis.

But some of them cause always the same mutation regardless of meaning:

• d’éis fhir can mean both ‘after a man’ and ‘instead of a man’ (do can be used instead of ar or tar in both meanings, but it always takes éis in dative),

With dative

Most prepositions expressing static position take dative, some of them can also take accusative in dynamic meaning (denoting target place of movement) – see #Stationary dative vs accusative of motion above.

• a^H ‘out of, from’
• ag ‘at’
• ar(^L?) ‘on’
• do^L ‘to, for’
• do^L ‘from’
• fa^L ‘under, beneath’
• go^N ‘with’
• i^N ‘in’
• íar^N, ar^N ‘after’
• ó^L ‘from’
• ós^L ‘above’ (takes dative even in dynamic meaning)

With accusative

These typically take accusative in the singular, but dative in plural (except for mar, dar, gan which take acc. pl. too):

• ar(^L?) ‘onto’
• i^N ‘into’
• idir, eidir ‘between’
• (fa^L ‘under’?)
• gan^L ‘without’ – takes accusative also in plural
• go^H ‘to’
• le^H, lé^H ‘with’
• re^H, ré^H ‘to, against’
• re^N ‘before’
• tar ‘across’
• tre^L ‘through’
• um^L, bha^L, ma^L (fa^L?) ‘about’

With genitive

Those prepositions are actually compounds of a preposition and a noun. The complement of those compound prepositions is put in genitive (because technically it is attributing another noun – the one being the second part of the preposition), and it will be either lenited or eclipsed – depending whether the second part of the preposition itself is in dative or accusative. For example i n-aghaidh meaning ‘against’ eclipse the following noun, because it means literally ‘in(to) the face of…’ and aghaidh ‘face’ is in accusative, eg. i n-aghaidh bhfear ‘against men’ and i n-aghaidh bhfir ‘against a man’, but in the meaning ‘in front of’ (as a stationary location) it lenites: i n-aghaidh fhir ‘in front of a man’ (eg. sitting at a table).

Forms with the article

• a^H ‘out of’: as an, as na + dative
• ag ‘at’: ag an, gan, gun, agan, agon + dative (note the difference between gan fhior ‘at the man’, gan fhear ‘without a man’, gan tshúil ‘at the eye’ and gan shúil ‘without an eye’) (BST 213 31, p. 22)
• ar ‘on’: ar an, ar na + dative or accusative
• do ‘to’: don, dona + dative
• do ‘from’: don, dona + dative
• fa ‘under, beneath’: fan + dative (or accusative?)
• go^H ‘until, to’: gus an + accusative (gus an bhfear), anomalously just gus (gus bhfear), gus na + dative plural
• go^N ‘with’: gus an + dative
• i^N ‘in’: sg. san (sa), is in + dative or accusative, pl. sna, is na + dative
• do-chum ‘to’ – generally not accepted in dán díreach, poets used go, gus an instead – even though it is an old compound preposition common in speech
• le^H ‘with’: leis an, leis na (note that it’s always leis before the article, even though it can be lais in conjugated 3rd. sg. form and in the meaning ‘also’)
• um^L, bha^L, ma^L (fa^L) ‘about’: uman, bhan, man (fan)

Copula

Syntax

Definite subject, indefinite predicative

⟨copula⟩ ⟨predicative⟩ ⟨subject⟩:

• is rí an fear ‘the man is a king’
• is rí maith an fear ‘the man is a good king’

with adjectives more common:

• is maith an rí an fear ‘the man is a good king, the king that the man is, is good’
• is maith na fir an slúagh or is maithe na fir íad an slúagh ‘the host is good men’ vs is maith an slúagh é na fir ‘the men are a good host’

Both subject and predicative definite

⟨copula⟩ é/í/íad ⟨predicative⟩ ⟨subject⟩:

• is é an rí Conn ‘Conn is the king’
• is íad fir an bhaile an slúagh táinig… ‘the host that came was the men of the town…’
• is í (or íad) an chlíar an chlíar táinig… ‘the group of poets (or clergy) that came was the group of poets/clergy…’ (í or íad can be used, because plural pronoun can be used for collective nouns)

References

Editions of bardic tracts and articles about Classical Gaelic grammar

• Lambert McKenna (1944), Bardic Syntactical Tracts, Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies
• Brian Ó Cuív (1973), The Linguistic Training of the Mediaeval Irish Poet, Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies
• Eoin Mac Cárthaigh (2014), The Art of Bardic Poetry: A New Edition of Irish Grammatical Tracts I, Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies
• Eoin Mac Cárthaigh (2015), Sléagar agus ‘genitives lenited in special circumstances’ i bhfilíocht na scol in Aon don Éigse (Coimhín Breatnach, Meidhbhín Ní Úrdail ed.), pp. 239–245, Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies
• Osborn Bergin (1916–1955), Irish Grammatical Tracts in Ériu, Supplement, vols. 8–17, Royal Irish Academy
• Damian McManus (1994), An Nua-Ghaeilge Chlasaiceach in Stair na Gaeilge: in ómós do P[h]ádraig Ó Fiannachta (Kim McCone ed.), pp. 335–445, Coláiste Phádraig, Maigh Nuad

Editions of bardic poetry

• Mícheál Hoyne (2018), Fuidheall Áir: Bardic poems on the Meic Dhiarmada of Magh Luirg, c. 1377 – c. 1637, Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies