Middle Irish

E6802

Middle Irish is the historical stage of the Irish language spoken and written roughly between the 10th and 12th centuries, serving as a bridge between Old Irish and Early Modern Irish.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form Occurrences
Middle Gaelic 2
Classical Irish 1

Statements (46)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Celtic language variety
Goidelic language
historical language stage
alsoKnownAs Middle Irish
surface form: Middle Gaelic
chronologicalPosition between Old Irish and Early Modern Irish
developedFrom Old Irish
developedInto Early Modern Irish
endTime circa 1200
era Middle Ages
follows Old Irish
hasFeature increased use of periphrastic constructions
phonological changes from Old Irish
simplification of Old Irish inflection
transition toward Early Modern Irish grammar
influenced Classical Modern Irish
Manx
Scottish Gaelic
ISOStatus historical language (no modern ISO 639-3 code as separate language)
languageFamily Celtic languages
Goidelic
surface form: Goidelic languages

Indo-European language family
surface form: Indo-European languages
linguisticStatus bridge stage between Old Irish and Early Modern Irish
partOf Irish language
precedes Early Modern Irish
primaryRegion Gaelic Ireland
scriptDirection left-to-right
spokenIn Ireland
Isle of Man (crown dependency)
surface form: Isle of Man

parts of Scotland
startTime circa 900
subdivisionOf Goidelic branch of Celtic languages
typicalGenre didactic literature
genealogies
hagiography
usedBy Irish monastic scholars
scribes
secular poets
usedFor historical annals
legal texts
religious texts
sagas and narrative literature
usedInPeriod 10th century
11th century
12th century
writingSystem Latin script
writingTradition manuscript culture

Referenced by (13)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Early Modern Irish alsoKnownAs Middle Irish
this entity surface form: Classical Irish
Middle Irish alsoKnownAs Middle Irish
this entity surface form: Middle Gaelic
Old Irish ancestorOf Middle Irish
Proto-Celtic ancestorOf Middle Irish
Early Modern Irish developsFrom Middle Irish
Old Irish followedBy Middle Irish
Early Modern Irish follows Middle Irish
Manx hasAncestor Middle Irish
Irish language hasHistoricalStage Middle Irish
Modern Irish hasPredecessor Middle Irish
Ulster Irish influencedBy Middle Irish
this entity surface form: Middle Gaelic
Goidelic laterStage Middle Irish