Gaelicization
Encyclopedia
Gaelicization or Gaelicisation is the act or process of making something Gaelic
, or gaining characteristics of the Gaels
. The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group who are traditionally viewed as having spread from Ireland to Scotland and the Isle of Man.
"Gaelic" as a linguistic term, refers to the Gaelic language
, but can also refer to the transmission of any other Gaelic cultural feature such as social norms and customs, music, sport etc.
Historically, Gaelicisation was a "natural" process, and was the famous fate of the Picts
, many of the Hiberno-Norman
s and Scoto-Norman
s, and perhaps most famously of all, the people who became known as the Norse-Gaels
. Today, Gaelicisation is more often a pro active or deliberate process, particularly present in Ireland, whereby placenames, surnames and given names are Gaelicised, or more often, re-Gaelicised, in order to prevent the further decline of the modern language.
Gaels
The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....
, or gaining characteristics of the Gaels
Gaels
The Gaels or Goidels are speakers of one of the Goidelic Celtic languages: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx. Goidelic speech originated in Ireland and subsequently spread to western and northern Scotland and the Isle of Man....
. The Gaels are an ethno-linguistic group who are traditionally viewed as having spread from Ireland to Scotland and the Isle of Man.
"Gaelic" as a linguistic term, refers to the Gaelic language
Goidelic languages
The Goidelic languages or Gaelic languages are one of the two branches of the Insular Celtic languages, the other consisting of the Brythonic languages. Goidelic languages historically formed a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland through the Isle of Man to the north of Scotland...
, but can also refer to the transmission of any other Gaelic cultural feature such as social norms and customs, music, sport etc.
Historically, Gaelicisation was a "natural" process, and was the famous fate of the Picts
Picts
The Picts were a group of Late Iron Age and Early Mediaeval people living in what is now eastern and northern Scotland. There is an association with the distribution of brochs, place names beginning 'Pit-', for instance Pitlochry, and Pictish stones. They are recorded from before the Roman conquest...
, many of the Hiberno-Norman
Hiberno-Norman
The Hiberno-Normans are those Norman lords who settled in Ireland who admitted little if any real fealty to the Anglo-Norman settlers in England, and who soon began to interact and intermarry with the Gaelic nobility of Ireland. The term embraces both their origins as a distinct community with...
s and Scoto-Norman
Scoto-Norman
The term Scoto-Norman is used to described people, families, institutions and archaeological artifacts that are partly Scottish and partly Norman...
s, and perhaps most famously of all, the people who became known as the Norse-Gaels
Norse-Gaels
The Norse–Gaels were a people who dominated much of the Irish Sea region, including the Isle of Man, and western Scotland for a part of the Middle Ages; they were of Gaelic and Scandinavian origin and as a whole exhibited a great deal of Gaelic and Norse cultural syncretism...
. Today, Gaelicisation is more often a pro active or deliberate process, particularly present in Ireland, whereby placenames, surnames and given names are Gaelicised, or more often, re-Gaelicised, in order to prevent the further decline of the modern language.
External links
- The Necessity for De-Anglicising Ireland by Douglas Hyde
See also
- Norman Ireland
- Norse-GaelsNorse-GaelsThe Norse–Gaels were a people who dominated much of the Irish Sea region, including the Isle of Man, and western Scotland for a part of the Middle Ages; they were of Gaelic and Scandinavian origin and as a whole exhibited a great deal of Gaelic and Norse cultural syncretism...
- Hiberno-Normans
- More Irish than the Irish themselvesMore Irish than the Irish themselves"More Irish than the Irish themselves" is a phrase used in Irish historiography to describe a phenomenon of cultural assimilation in late medieval Norman Ireland....
- Old English (Ireland)Old English (Ireland)The Old English were the descendants of the settlers who came to Ireland from Wales, Normandy, and England after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169–71. Many of the Old English became assimilated into Irish society over the centuries...
- CelticizationCelticizationCelticization is a supposed mechanism of the spread of the Celts and the Celtic languages in Iron Age Europe.During the first millennium BC, the early Celts expanded from a core territory in Central Europe to Iberia, the British Isles and later also the Balkans, and are assumed to have "Celticized"...
- Scotland in the High Middle AgesScotland in the High Middle AgesThe High Middle Ages of Scotland encompass Scotland in the era between the death of Domnall II in 900 AD and the death of king Alexander III in 1286...
- Statutes of KilkennyStatutes of KilkennyThe Statutes of Kilkenny were a series of thirty-five acts passed at Kilkenny in 1366, aiming to curb the decline of the Hiberno-Norman Lordship of Ireland.-Background to the Statutes:...