Language in Early Ireland

(2.5,3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Taught at a host institution. "EMIR 20010 at UCD; Language was an important facet of the vibrant society of Early Ireland. The Irish cultivated not just Latin, the learned language of the Christian church in Europe, but also their own vernacular - Early Irish - to a remarkably high degree of literary skill and sophistication. We will look at several aspects of language in society in Ireland up to the high middle ages, the practitioners of writing and the institutions which fostered it. The main focus will be on Irish, which produced the oldest vernacular literature in medieval Western Europe. From the earliest written remains - the Ogham inscriptions - to the introduction of Irish to Britain and the flowering of a remarkable literature in manuscript, culminating in the great compilations of later medieval times, Irish has a rich and varied history.