Wiktionary:About Classical Gaelic

Classical Gaelic (language code ghc) was a highly standardized literary language used in Ireland and Scotland between 13th and early 18th centuries.

What classifies as Classical Gaelic on Wiktionary

We consider any Gaelic text from Ireland or Scotland composed after 1200 and up to 1500 to be written in Classical Gaelic. After 1500 it depends on the character of the text. More conservative texts sticking to older literary norms should be treated as Classical Gaelic, while texts showing more modern dialectal features as early modern forms of Modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic, depending on the language features, the author’s origins, etc.

The general guideline is:

1. treat any Gaelic text composed between 13th and 15th centuries in Ireland and Scotland as Classical Gaelic,
2. treat every poem fulfilling dán díreach requirements as Classical Gaelic,
3. for prose and looser poetry composed in 16th century and later, decide based on the linguistic features of the text.

For non dán díreach texts, some diagnostic features of Classical Gaelic, as opposed to Early Modern Scottish Gaelic, are:

1. use of plural verb endings agreeing with plural subjects (cuirid for ‘they put’),
2. keeping the preverb do-, a-, ad- in compound verbs (do-bheir, a-tá, ad-chí),
3. no reduction of do in past tense indicative and relative (do ghrádhuigh agas do ghlac ‘which have loved and accepted’),
4. no reduction of do to a before verbal nouns (tareis an fhuar chreidimh do chur ar gcul ‘after putting away the vain faith’),
5. consistent use of eclipsis (a gcriochaibh ‘in bounds / lands’),
6. use of future tense separate from the present.

For Irish it’s a bit more complex (since modern dialects do keep some of those features), but some signs of classical nature of texts are:

1. use of fá h- for past copula (gurab Alba fá hainm don chrích sin ‘that that country’s name was Alba’),
2. use of s-preterite forms of simple verbs (cuiris ‘he put’),
3. keeping the -idh ending in independent present tense forms (while -ann is restricted to dependent position),
4. use of eclipsing go in the meaning ‘with’, eclipsing ar in the meaning ‘after’,
5. use of the preposition re beside le for ‘against, with, to, towards’,
6. keeping a distinction between accusative after prepositions like le ‘with’, re ‘against, towards’, go until vs dative after do ‘to’ (eg. leis an bhfear mbeag ‘with the little man’ vs don fhior bheag ‘to the little man’).

Spelling normalization

Main entries should be normalized to modern pre-reform Irish spelling – if the classical form exists in Dinneen’s Dictionary, the spelling of this dictionary should be used. Late early modern (post-15th c.) spelling prescribed by IGT i (so-called Introductory tract) should be listed under the Alternative forms header. Any other spelling actually appearing in manuscripts or edited texts might also be listed.

This means that the word meaning ‘story’ should have its main entry under scéal but the spelling sgél should also be listed. Similarly the main entry for the language’s autonym is Gaoidhealg but Gáoidhealg is the first alternative form.

Quotations should use the spelling of the edition they’re taken from (except that ponc séimhithe, if used in the edition, should be changed to leniting h).

Lemma forms and entry layout

For the verbs, the 3rd person singular indicative present form is the lemma, thus:

• do-bheir,
• cuiridh,
• a-tá,
• do-chí.

This is the same form as used in DIL (but note that DIL will most commonly use the older Old Irish spelling conventions) but it’s different from Dinneen and some Classical Gaelic text editions (where 1st person is often used: do-bheirim, cuirim, a-tú, do-chiú / do-chím), and from modern dictionaries of Irish and Sc. Gaelic (where the imperatives are used, tabhair, cuir, bí, faic).

Nouns and verbs should reference section of IGT i or IGT ii dealing with their inflectional paradigm, if present.

Phonology

The vowel written as ao(i) (or áo(i), in older manuscripts áe, ae, etc.), continuing Old Irish diphthongs áe, óe, uí should be transcribed as /əː/.

Sounds written as dh, th should be transcribed as dental fricatives: /ð, θ, ðʲ, θʲ/.

Classical Gaelic in Goidelic family tree

Currently we do not consider Classical Gaelic to be an ancestor language of any other language (and thus Classical Gaelic entries should not list any descendants) – but this is being discussed and might change in the future (we might set it as an ancestor of Irish and Sc. Gaelic). See the talk page.

Reference templates

See Category:Classical Gaelic reference templates for reference templates specific to Classical Gaelic.