Linguistic excursions (3): Manx / Y Ghaelg
After my recent 'excursionsβ to ScotlandΒ and Wales,Β I'm doubling back and heading north to the Isle of Man to have a brief look at Manx.
A curious little language, once extinct and now in the process of being revived. I was a bit sceptical about reports showing about 1000 or so speakers (presumably using a broad interpretation of what it means to be a speaker) but if, like me, you are happy to be convinced otherwise, you have to watch this beautiful 10 minute videoΒ about the children and staff at the Bunscoill Ghaelgagh.
Anyway, the exercise below is taken from Bunneydys - a course in spoken Manx, published by Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh (the Manx Gaelic Society).Β
It's a pretty slim tome, with basic conversations and vocabulary set out over 60 lessons. There is no grammar explanation or verb tables, etc. There is a very brief guide to spelling and pronunciation at the front, which is not as illuminating as one might prefer. (For example, for the pronunciation of 'gh', it makes a comparison with Scottish 'loch', but also says "if you can, get a Manx speaker to demonstrate this sound." Ironically this edition of the book was published in the auspicious year ofΒ 1974, so I guess it was still possible up to 24 December.... The wikipedia pageΒ also has a good guide to the oddities of Manx pronunciation as well as a certain amount of grammar information.
Anyway, a transcript of lesson 58 is set out below. One of the main points of interest for me is how similar Manx is to Irish and Scots Gaelic, while at the same time this similarity is hidden by its rather strange orthography, and so Iβve set out in the vocabulary list below the text all of the cognate forms as I see them. In many places, each of the languages are still cognate, but in some cases Manx is closer to Scots Gaelic, and in others closer to Irish, and in some cases Manx has diverged from both of them. In a couple of cases Iβve not been able to establish a cognate form in Irish and Scots Gaelic, so itβs either been lost from both of them or come from a different source, which is quite possible.
Manx has been separated from Irish/Scots Gaelic since about the 5th century (Russell (1995)), and appears to have been a spoken language only. At any rate, there does not appear to be any evidence of it ever having had a 'Celtic' script like Irish or Scots Gaelic. At some point around the 16th century, a script was devised which was based on the English of that time, based on the use of 'gh' for guttural /Ο/, but clearly with some influence from Welsh, in the use of 'y' for /Ι/ and possibly other languages having an influence as well.Β
An obvious downside to the script is that it loses a lot of the more obvious connections between words as they go through their various Celtic mutations such as lenition, eclipsis/nasal mutation and palatalisation, although arguably this is also a feature of the Welsh script to some extent. The upside is that the pronunciation is (somewhat) more transparent - at least to native English speakers - and also to those lovely kids in the Bunscoill!
Moirrey:Β Naik oo mee hene as Juan heose er yn villey 'sy gharey, vummig?
Ealish: Honnick mee shiu, dy-jarroo. Ta treisht aym nagh vaik jishag shiu!
Moirrey: Cre'n fa, vummig?
Ealish: Er y fa nagh mie lesh paitΓ§hyn beggey y gholl seose er yn villey shen.
Moirrey: Cha nel mee smooinaghtyn dy naik eh shin, aghterbee.
Ealish: S'mie shen. Agh cha mie lhiam shiu y gholl seose er yn villey, edyr.
Moirrey: Ta jishag Γ§heet nish. Nagh insh da.
Moirrey - girlβs name, equivalent of Moira
Ealish - motherβs name, equivalent of Eilis, Elizabeth
naik oo - did you (sg) see? Irish (Ir) an fhaca, Scots Gaelic (ScG) am faca
mee - I, me. The subject and object form of the pronoun is the same; the position determines the meaning. Here it is the object, following VSO verb order, as in the other Celtic languages. Ir mΓ©, ScG mi
hene - self.  Ir féin, ScG fhèin /he:n/
as - and. Ir, ScG agus, is
Juan - John.
heose up (location), seose upwards (motion). Ir suas (both meanings) ScG shuas /huΙs/ up, suas upwards
er on (here perhaps to be translated as in). Ir ar, ScG air
yn, y the. Ir an, ScG an, am, a'
billey (f) tree. Here lenited as villey, as it is a feminine noun after the article, the same mutation as in Irish and Scots Gaelic. Note different forms for tree are Ir crann and ScG craobh, however Dwelly (1901-1911) lists one meaning of bile as 'cluster of trees' (alongside lip), so this may be an archaic cognate form.
'sy in the from ayns yn. Ir sa ScG 'sa', derived from anns an
garey (f) garden, here lenited as gharey. Ir. gardΓn, garrai ScG gΓ radh
honnick mee I saw. Ir chonaic mΓ©. ScG chunnaic mi
shiu you (pl). Ir, ScG sibh
dy-jarroo indeed. Ir go dearfa, ScG gu dearbh. Note the regular sound change from ScG -bh /v/ to -u/-oo /u/ in Manx, but also note the Manx divergence from Ir/ScG g- to d- in the adverbial particle.
ta is. Ir tΓ‘, ScG tha
treisht hope. Ir dΓ³chas, dΓΊil ScG dΓ²chas. I havenβt been able to find a cognate form for treisht.
aym at me. Ir/ScG agam. Ta treisht aym lit βthere is hope at meβ = I have hope = I hope (that)
nagh - (that) not. Relative negative conjunction. Ir nach, ScG nach
nagh vaik - did not see. The v-Β in the Manx form perhaps reflects eclipsis like in Ir nach bhfaca ScG nach fhaca
jishag - daddy. Note unrelated forms: Ir daidi ScG dadaidh. I havenβt been able to find a cognate form forΒ jishag.
cre'n fa - why. Ir cΓ©n fΓ‘th? (lit. βwhat-the reasonβ). Note different form in ScG carson (lit βwhat-for-causeβ)
mummig mummy. In its lenited form here vummig reflecting the vocative form, as in Irish/Scots Gaelic. Ir mamaΓ, a mhamaΓ, ScG mamaidh, a mhamaidh
er y fa because, lit "for the reason [that]". Ir mar, Γ³ir, ScG o chionn βs (lit. from the reason that), oir
mie good. Ir maith, ScG math.
lesh with him. nagh mie lesh (it is) not good with him = he does not like. Ir Β is maith leis, ScG is toigh/toil leis (lit. is pleasing with him)
paitΓ§hyn children, singular paitΓ§hey. Ir leanbh, pΓ‘iste. ScG leanabh, pΓ iste, but Ir/ScG plural usu. clann
beg small here in plural form beggey. Ir, ScG beag, beaga
goll, y gholl go(ing) (verbal noun). Ir dul, do/a dhul, ScG dol, a dhol. It is interesting to note that in Irish and Scots Gaelic, initial broad gh- and dh- share the /Ι€/ sound, and so perhaps the Manx infinitive to go gholl also shared this sound. Was the original verbal noun doll, but given the identity of the two sounds, did it then back-form goll? Just a thought.
shen that. Ir / ScG sin
cha nel mee I am not. Similar to ScG chan eil mi. Standard Ir has βlostβ the cha, giving a different negative form nΓl mΓ©
smooinaghtyn think(ing) (verbal noun). Ir smaoineabh, ScG smaoineachadh
dy naik eh that he saw. Ir go bhfaca e Β ScG gum faca e
shin we. Ir, ScG sinn
aghterbee anyway. Different forms seen in Ir ar aon chaoi and ScG co-dhiΓΉ. But Ir also uses the similar wording ar bith any in other βanyβ phrases such as duine ar bith anyone. Is Manx aght perhaps the same as Ir acht condition?
s'mie shenΒ thatβsΒ good, fine, literally 'is good that'. Ir βs maith sin ScG 's math sin. Has been said to be the source of colloquial British English, 'smashing!'.
agh but. Ir / ScG ach
cha mie lhiam I don't like ('not (is) good with me'). Ir nΓ maith liom ScG cha toigh leam
edyr at all. Ir ar chor ar bith ScG idir. (NB Ir idir means βbetweenβ and cognate with ScG eadar)
Γ§heet come/coming (verbal noun). Ir teacht ScG tighinn
nish now. Ir anois, ScG a-nis
insh tell (here in root form = 2s imperative). Ir inis ScG innis
da to him. Ir dΓ³, ScG da,dha
Moirrey: Naik oo mee hene as Juan heose er yn villey 'sy gharey, vummig?
Did you see me and John up in the tree in the garden, Mummy?
Ealish: Honnick mee shiu, dy-jarroo. Ta treisht aym nagh vaik jishag shiu!
I saw you, indeed. I hope that Daddy didnβt see you!
Moirrey: Cre'n fa, vummig?
Ealish: Er y fa nagh mie lesh paitΓ§hyn beggey y gholl seose er yn villey shen.
Because he doesnβt like little children going up into that tree.
Moirrey: Cha nel mee smooinaghtyn dy naik eh shin, aghterbee.
I donβt think he saw us, anyway.
Ealish: S'mie shen. Agh cha mie lhiam shiu y gholl seose er yn villey, edyr.
Good. But I donβt like you going up in that tree, at all.
Moirrey: Ta jishag Γ§heet nish. Nagh insh da.
Daddyβs coming now. Donβt tell him.
As ever, if Iβve made any mistakes, please let me know. Or otherwise if youβve enjoyed it, also let me know!
Thinking about my nextΒ βexcursionβ now! Happy to take any suggestions.
Russell (1995), An Introduction to the Celtic Languages)
Dwelly (1901-1911), Illustrated Gaelic-English DictionaryΒ