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'''Classical Gaelic''' or '''Classical Irish''' ('''Gáoidhealg''' or '''Gaoidhealg''' {{IPA|/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.<ref name="ling-training" group="ed" /> 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''<ref name="BST" group="ed" /> and ''IGT i''<ref name="IGTi-new" group="ed" /><ref name="IGT" group="ed" />) 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/Guide to Old Irish spelling|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: # the clusters {{IPA|/st, sk, sp/}} are written ''sd, sg, sb'' (this varies in normalized texts), eg. ''inn'''sg'''ne, sub'''sd'''ainnteach'' vs ''in'''sc'''ne, sub'''st'''ainteach'', # the ‘long diphthongs’ and the ''ao'' vowel mark their length with a ‘fada’: ''G'''áoi'''dhealg, t'''áo'''bh, s'''ía'''d, '''ía'''sg, b'''úa'''dh'' vs modern ''G'''aoi'''dhealg, t'''ao'''bh, s'''ia'''d, '''ia'''sc/'''ia'''sg, b'''ua'''dh'', # 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): ''d'''é'''namh, b'''é'''l, sl'''é'''gar'' but '''''Éi'''re'' vs ''d'''éa'''namh, b'''éa'''l, sl'''éa'''gar, '''Éi'''re'', # eclipsis of ''t'' and ''c'' written as ''tt'', ''cc'' (and ''pp'' for ''p''?): ''a '''tt'''igh'' ‘in a house’ vs ''i '''dt'''igh / a '''dt'''igh''. This page follows the spelling conventions of Mac Cárthaigh edition of ''Irish Grammatical Tracts I''<ref name="IGTi-new" group="ed" />, 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 == === Cases === Classical Gaelic nouns and adjectives were declined in 5 distinct grammatical cases: * nominative (''ainm'', lit. ‘name’) – the grammatical subject of the verb and also predicative of copular clauses, * accusative (often ''réim'', lit. ‘succession’, the term is used generally for ‘an oblique case’, accusative plural is often called ''tochlaghadh, tochlughadh'') – the direct object of a verb, also complement of some prepositions, especially when movement is involved, * genitive (''táoibhréim'', lit. ‘side-case, by-case’) – expresses possessor, or otherwise connects two nouns (like in Modern Irish or Scottish Gaelic), * dative (''tuilréim, tuillréim'') – used for complements of most prepositions (so perhaps ''prepositional'' would be a better name), * vocative (sometimes ''agallaimh, gairm agallmha'', ‘address, addressing call’, typically not recognized as separate case in classical grammars) – used when directly addressing someone or something. The case system of Old Irish (which itself lost most of case endings due to apocope) got somewhat eroded during Middle Irish times because of the loss of distinction between unstressed /ə/ and /u/, and also merging of all unstressed absolute final vowels. Nevertheless all the Old Irish cases and their uses survived til Classical Gaelic times even if their forms merged in some noun classes. Classical grammars recognize two grammatical genders: masculine (''feirinnsgne'') and feminine (''baininnsgne''), with the nouns whose accusative singular is the same as nominative singular (ie. mostly nouns declining according to old o-stem pattern) commonly referred to as ‘masculine’, and those whose acc. sg. = dat. sg. (mostly those declining acc. to old ā-stem pattern and consonant stems) referred to as ‘feminine’ (even if actually belonging to the other gender). === Réim connsaine === When a noun was a direct object of the verb it generally had to be in the accusative case and underwent lenition. This lenition is called ''réim connsaine'' (lit. ‘consonant accusative’ or ‘consonant case’). If the noun declined according to masculine pattern, ie. it had its acc. sg. form equal to nom. sg., then ''réim connsaine'' was optional and nominative could be used instead. When one used a noun with a ‘feminine’ declension (ie. the acc. sg. differed from nom. sg.), then both lenition and accusative form were obligatory: * ''do-chiú '''ch'''náoi '''ng'''il'' ‘I see a bright nut’ – here the lenited accusative form ''chnáoi'' must be used since it differs from nominative ''cnú'', it also must eclipse its attributes, since accusative case requires eclipsis, * ''ní fhaca '''ch'''oin'' ‘I did not see a dog’, ''ní fhaca bhoin'' ‘I did not see a cow’ – the acc. sg. forms differ from nom. ''cú'' ‘a dog’ and ''bó'' ‘a cow’, * ''do bhúaileas '''ch'''oin '''ng'''il '''ng'''irr '''cc'''áoich'' ‘I hit/stroke a blind short bright dog’, but: * ''do-chiú '''sh'''úil '''ng'''il'' or ''do-chiú '''s'''úil '''gh'''eal'' ‘I sea a bright eye’, because acc. sg. ''súil'' is the same as nominative, * ''do mharbhas '''fh'''ear '''mb'''eag'' or ''do mharbhas '''f'''ear '''b'''eag'' ‘I killed a small man’ – because ''fear'' is both nominative and accusative form, either can be used; the only requirement being that if the direct object is lenited (has ''réim connsaine''), then it must eclipse its attribute, because it is visibly accusative. Since many nouns have accusative plural (''tochlaghadh'') distinct from their nominative plural, they also are lenited: * ''do-chiú '''fh'''iora beaga'' ‘I see small men’ – acc. pl. distinct from nom. pl. ''fir bheaga'', * also note eg. ''dún do liobhra'' ‘close your books’ – acc. pl. distinct from nom. pl. ''leabhair'' (even though lenition is not visible in writing, and it’s required here by possessive ''do'' ‘your’). The accusative singular definite article eclipses: * ''gearr an '''cc'''ráoibh'' ‘cut the branch’ (nom. sg. ''an chráobh''), * ''muirfead an '''bhf'''ilidh'' ‘I will kill the poet’ (nom. sg. ''an file'') but the eclipsis is optional in direct objects if the form is the same as nominative (a similar rule to ''réim connsaine''): * ''gonfad an '''bhf'''ear'' or ''gonfad an '''f'''ear'' ‘I will wound the man’. [TODO: other situations where acc. form is suppressed – infix pronouns, use of verbal noun phrases, dir. obj. after ''acht, nó'', etc.] === Slégar === [TODO]<ref name="sleagar" group="ed" /> == 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’ (not clear whether it takes accusative or dative in dynamic meaning)<ref name="fa-um"></ref>{{#tag:ref|See ''IGT i''<ref name="IGTi-new" group="ed" />, pp. 238–239: 695 note and 713 note. ''IGT i'' lists ''fáoi'' (that is, 3rd sg. masc. form of ''fa'' ‘under, beneath’) among prepositions taking acc. with the dynamic meaning (the others being ''ann'' and ''air'', ie. ''i'' ‘in(to)’ and ''ar'' ‘on(to)’; also note that 3rd sg. of dynamic ''i'' ‘into’ with acc. is ''inn'', not ''ann''), and does not list ''fa'' among variants of ''um'', but it’s not clear whether the use of ''fa'' in the meaning ‘about’ is proscribed – it seems it is allowed in ''BST''<ref name="BST" group="ed" /> and the only example with verb of motion and accusative there (''cuirfead m’fhalluing fa fhear'') can be understood as ‘around’, variant of ''um, bha, ma'' (‘I will put my cloak around/about a man’ and not ‘beneath a man’). Mac Cárthaigh has no examples of ''fa'' + acc. meaning ‘(going) under’ in poetry.|follow="fa-um"}} * ''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’?<ref name="fa-um" />) * ''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''?<ref name="fa-um" />) ‘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). === Personal forms === === Forms with possessive pronouns === === 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’)<ref name="gan-s"></ref>{{#tag:ref|See ''BST''<ref name="BST" group="ed" /> 213 31, p. 22.|follow=gan-s}} * ''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?<ref name="fa-um" />) * ''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 == === Forms === ==== Sealbhadh (synthetic conjugated forms) ==== === Syntax === ==== Predicative adjectives ==== ==== Definite subject, indefinite predicative ==== ⟨{{smallcaps|copula}}⟩ ⟨{{smallcaps|predicative}}⟩ ⟨{{smallcaps|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 ==== When the predicate is definite, it is separated from the copular verb with a pronoun agreeing with the predicate.<ref name="oir-copula">This usage existed already in Old Irish (where the subject of the copula was never expressed with a pronoun), for example in Old Irish ‘he is a man’ would be expressed ''is fer'' (with the subject ‘he’ being included in the 3rd. sg. copula ''is'' ‘he/she/it is’), and ‘he is ''the'' man’ would be ''is hé in fer'' – note that ''hé'' ‘he’ here '''isn’t''' the subject, but rather a sub-predicate, part of the whole phrase ''hé in fer'' ‘the man’. This is more clearly visible in an example from Würzburg glosses: ''Críost didiu, is sí in chathir'' ‘Christ, then, he is the city’ with the feminine pronoun ''sí'' ‘she’ agreeing with feminine ''in chathir'' ‘the city’, thus literally the sentence is to be understood ‘Christ, then, he-is '''her''' – the city’ with ‘he is’ being represented by ''is'' itself. In Middle Irish, when separate subject pronouns started appearing, this could have been also expressed as ''*Críost didiu, is sí an chathair '''hé''''' with ''hé'' being the subject ‘he’ referring back to ‘Christ’. In earliest Old Irish this sub-predicate wasn’t required, so ''*Críost didiu, is in chathir'' hypothetically would also be possible with the same meaning.</ref><ref name="identification" group="ed"/> ⟨{{smallcaps|copula}}⟩ ''é/í/íad'' ⟨{{smallcaps|predicative}}⟩ ⟨{{smallcaps|subject}}⟩: * ''mo theanga, is é m’arm-sa í'' ‘my language, it is my weapon’ (ie. language is the poet’s weapon, the means by which a poet can defend himself) – note that the first pronoun agrees with the predicate: masculine ''é'' and masculine ''arm'', while the subject is feminine ''í'' ‘she’ standing for feminine ''mo theanga'' ‘my language’, * ''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…’ If the predicate is a singular collective noun, representing multiple people, the pronoun may be plural ''íad'': * ''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). When the subject is understood as a pronoun agreeing in gender with the predicate, it is often omitted (just like subject pronoun is often not expressed with other verbs, and like it wasn’t in Old Irish): * ''más é tal mo Thighearna'' ‘if it be my Lord’s will’ – no subject is explicitly expressed, ''é'' is part of the predicate. But it appears occasionally: * ''is é an seanadh é más fhíor'' ‘it is the old tradition if it be true’ – the first ''é'' is part of the predicative (''é an seanadh'' ‘the old tradition’), the second ''é'' is the subject ‘it’, and the subject is not repeated for the second copula ''más fhíor'' ‘if it be true’. == Relative clauses == == Footnotes == <references/> == References == === Editions of bardic tracts and articles about Classical Gaelic grammar === <ref name="SnaG" group="ed" /> <references group="ed"> <ref name="BST" group="ed">Lambert McKenna (1944), ''Bardic Syntactical Tracts'', Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies</ref> <ref name="ling-training" group="ed">Brian Ó Cuív (1973), ''The Linguistic Training of the Mediaeval Irish Poet'', Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies</ref> <ref name="IGTi-new" group="ed">Eoin Mac Cárthaigh (2014), ''The Art of Bardic Poetry: A New Edition of Irish Grammatical Tracts I'', Dublin Institute For Advanced Studies</ref> <ref name="sleagar" group="ed">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</ref> <ref name="IGT" group="ed">Osborn Bergin (1916–1955), ''Irish Grammatical Tracts'' in ''Ériu'', Supplement, vols. 8–17, Royal Irish Academy</ref> <ref name="SnaG" group="ed">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</ref> <ref name="identification" group="ed">Damian McManus (2021), ''Identification copula clauses linking substantives of different gender in Early and Classical Irish'' in ''North American journal of Celtic studies'', vol. 5, issue 2, pp. 214–241, The Ohio State University Press, [https://doi.org/10.1353/cel.2021.0012 doi:10.1353/cel.2021.0012]</ref> </references> === 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 [[Category:Classical Gaelic]] [[Category:Early Modern Irish]] [[Category:Early Modern Gaelic]]

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