Scottish English
Michael Everson
everson at evertype.com
Thu Oct 20 21:54:07 CEST 2005
Karen,
Of the Celtic languages, there are three Goidelic
or Gaelic languages, all or which derived from
dialects originating in Ireland. They can be
described unambiguously thus:
Gaeilge na hÉireann
Gàidhlig na hAlban
Gaelg Vannin
that is,
Irish Gaelic (lit. the Gaelic of Ireland)
Scottish Gaelic (lit. the Gaelic of Scotland)
Manx Gaelic (lit. the Gaelic of Mann)
In ordinary speech, however, they are normally called:
Gaeilge
Gàidhlig
Gaelg
that is,
Irish
Gaelic (or Scottish Gaelic)
Manx
It depends where you are and what precisely you
need to convey. Some people (in Northern Ireland
for instance) also use "Gaelic" to refer to the
Irish language, at least in casual speech. But in
my view, a videotape with Irish-language content
that labelled it "Gaelic" would be labelling it
incorrectly.
--
Michael Everson * http://www.evertype.com
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