Early and Modern Irish

Early and Modern Irish provides students with a training in the critical study of the language, literature and culture of Ireland and Gaelic Scotland from the earliest period from which records are extant down to modern times. A wide range of texts and authors is studied and students are introduced to the basic skills of linguistic and literary analysis as well as to the elements of social history, palaeography and comparative philology.

The course has two components, an early component which comprises all aspects of the subject down to the twelfth century, and a modern component which similarly covers the period from the end of the twelfth century to the present day. The early component includes a study of the Celtic and Indo-European relationships of the Irish language and, in the Sophister years, provides a course in Modern and Middle Welsh, subject to availability of staff. An integral part of the Modern Component is a course in Scottish Gaelic.

In their Senior Sophister year students continue their studies in either the early or the modern component alone, and present themselves accordingly for part I and part II of the Moderatorship examination.

The specific aim of the Senior Sophister year is to allow the students to focus on their preferred subject and develop their skills and talents in that subject. In particular the dissertation, written under the supervision of a member of the departmental staff, provides an opportunity and a stimulus for the student to investigate any aspect of the subject that they choose, and allows their creative and scholarly skills to blossom.

• Junior Freshman Early Component
• Senior Freshman Early Component
• Junior/Senior Sophister Early Component

• Junior Freshman Modern Component
• Senior Freshman Modern Component
• Junior/Senior Sophister Modern Component

Junior Freshman

JF Early Component - Modules Studied include:

IR1012-13 Old Irish Grammar and Prose, IR1002 The Sources of Early Irish literature, and IR1004 Introduction to Early Irish Sagas.

JF Modern Component - Modules Studied include:

IR1021 Modern Literary Texts, IR1022 Modern Irish Language History, IR1023 Classical Irish Prose and Verse, IR1035 Composition and Language Laboratory (Connacht, Munster and Ulster Dialects)

Senior Freshman

SF Early Component - Modules Studied include:

IR2001 Early Irish Prose, IR2003 Old Irish Glosses and Verse, IR2005 Early Irish Sagas, IR2006 Introduction to Old Irish II, and IR2007 Early Irish Poetry.

SF Modern Component - Modules Studied include:

IR2021 Modern Poetry, IR2024 Oral Literature, IR2026 Scottish Gaelic Language, IR2052 Modern Literature, IR2035 Composition and Language Laboratory (as above)

Junior / Senior Sophister

JS/SS Early Component - Modules Studied may include:

History of the language III (Ogam and Primitive Irish) and IV (Comparative phonology and morphology), Early Irish Law or Early Irish poetry, Ecclesiastical verse or prose, Secular narrative, Irish Palaeography

JS/SS Modern Component - Modules Studied may include:

Composition, Scottish Gaelic Language, Early Modern Prose, Seventeenth-century post-classical poetry or prose, Ossianic and romantic prose or poetry, Classical Poetry, Eighteenth-century poetry or prose, Oral Literature, Modern Irish literature (novels, drama, poetry, short fiction, biography, world literature in translation, etc), Scottish Gaelic literature, History of the Irish language, Irish Palaeography.

Not every subject will be offered in every year.

Senior Sophisters are required to write a dissertation (of about 10,000 words) on a topic approved by the Head of the Department.