Early Irish (TSM)
Early Irish provides students with a training in the critical study of the language, literature and culture of Ireland from the earliest period from which records are extant down to the twelfth century. A wide range of texts is studied and students are introduced to the basic skills of linguistic and literary analysis as well as to elements of social history, palaeography and comparative philology.
Early Irish 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.
In their Senior Sophister year students continue their studies in either Early Irish or their other TSM subject alone.
The specific aim of the Senior Sophister year is to allow 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
JF Early Irish - Modules Studied include:
IR1012-13 Old Irish Grammar and Prose, IR1002 The Sources of Early Irish literature, and IR1004 Introduction to Early Irish Sagas.
Senior Freshman
SF Early Irish - 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.
Junior / Senior Sophister
JS/SS Early Irish - 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
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.