The Crib: A Blog for New Parents

The Celtic people inhabited the entire European continent, until they were forced to move farther west, into what is now Ireland, Britain, Brittany, and Galicia (part of Spain). Eventually, the Celts began to do some conquering of their own, and were able to spread out into other areas of the world. When they invaded the continent, the Romans called all people of Celtic origin, Gaels, or Scottis’s, hence the word Gaelic. Today, it refers mostly to Scots people and the language they speak.

Gaelic is an English word, used to define the three of the six Celtic languages.

The three Goidelic (Gaelic) languages – Q-Celtic- are;

Irish Gaelic, Manx Gaelic, and Scots Gaelic.

The three Brythonic (British) languages are;

Welsh, Cornish, and Breton.

The major separation between the two types, is best described like this; the Indo-European consonant *kw sound, developed into a k-sound in Q-Celtic (or Goidelic) languages, which was once spelled with a q. In the P-Celtic (or Brythonic) languages, it became a p-sound. For example, the words meaning “son”, or “son of”, in Goidelic are maq, or mac, in Brythonic, they would be map, or mab.

Historians’ believe that a Celtic language arrived in Ireland sometime during the last millennium BC, before the rise of the Roman Empire. This language developed into what today is known as Irish Gaelic. It was around 500 AD that Irish settlers brought the language to Scotland as well, where it developed into a separate language (Scottish Gaelic). The name ‘Ireland’ is based on the Irish word Ériu, which is both the name of the island and a goddess, and is thought to mean ‘The Fertile One/Land’. Manx Gaelic originated on The Isle Of Man, when Irish pilgrims arrived on the island, and their language blended with the British language and became dominant, until Man was conquered by Scandinavia, and Norse became the dominant language, England and Scotland controlled Man at times, as well, so they also had an influence on the language.

Manx Gaelic is mostly extinct, and has been since 1974, but there are occasional attempts at resurrecting this language.

There are 3 main dialects within the Irish Gaelic language - Ulster, Munster and Connaught. These arise from the location where they are spoken most fluently. Throughout Ireland, the dialects are not easily understood by each other, though they are similar. Depending on where you are, and where you’re from, conversing in the native dialect is somewhat complicated.

Munster-Leinster (Southern Irish) Cad é mar atá tú?

"What is it as you are?"

Connacht (Western Irish) Cén chaoi a bhfuil tú?

"What way [is it] that you are?"

Donegal (Ulster, Northern Irish) Conas taoí?

"How are you?"

The Irish language was outlawed when the people were conquered by the English, thus the Irish names were anglicized. Such as; a man named Aodhán Ó Murchú in Ireland, or Fearchar Mac an-tSaoir in Scotland would become Aidan Murphy and Farquar McIntyre in English.

It has become common for misunderstandings to become beliefs, and that is why people tend to believe there is a bigger difference between Irish, Celtic, and Gaelic names.

What happened is that the different words have taken on new meanings, Celtic brings to mind the ancient druids, Gaelic is used to refer to the warriors, and Irish is used when talking about Ireland’s traditional peasant class.

In reality, the three words have the same basic meaning, the same origin. It is just a matter of what period of time, and what place you want to choose the name for your baby from.