Old Irish

Old Irish is an ancient Celtic language that was spoken in Ireland from the 4th to the 10th century. It is a member of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic languages, and is closely related to Scottish Gaelic and Manx. Old Irish was first written down in the Latin alphabet in the 8th century, but it was also used in an early form of the Irish alphabet, known as ogham. The oldest surviving texts in Old Irish date from the 10th century, but there are a number of earlier manuscripts, such as the 6th-century Book of Armagh and the 7th-century Book of Mulling. Old Irish is a rich and complex language, with a grammar and vocabulary that are quite different from those of Modern Irish. It has a number of characteristic features, such as the use of the initial consonant of a word to indicate its grammatical function, and a large number of compound words. Despite its decline in everyday use, Old Irish has had a significant influence on the development of the Irish language. A number of words and phrases from Old Irish have been borrowed into Modern Irish, and it has also served as a model for the revival of the Irish language in the 19th and 20th centuries.