An Introduction to Old Irish

Rating:
Summary: Good Introduction to an Abstruse Subject
Review: For the interested, there are a variety of source materials for the study of Old Irish. The problem with most of them is that they're hard to come by, unless you know where to look. The best sources are the Irish Texts Society based in London, the Royal Irish Academy (yes, that's correct) and the Center for Advanced Studies, both of which are in Dublin. Most of their publications are inexpensive and good, but it's hard to get their books here in the States.

So you could invest in a trip to Dublin. Or you can start with this book. Please don't assume that this is an exhaustive grammar of Old Irish; it's not - it's a book for beginners. While the Professors Lehmann do not skimp on the basic information, the book moves along at a reasonable pace. The book is straightforward, and is aimed at two audiences. One of these audiences will be students of Historical Linguistics, who will find much of interest here, what with descriptions of consonantal shifts, where Old Irish fits into the Indo-European paradigm, and analyses of VSO versus SVO languages. The other audience would be students of ancient Irish literature, who will find enough to start them feeling their way through the early material, as the bulk of the book is a minute analysis of the grammar and vocabulary of one not extremely long Old Irish tale (Mac da Dho's Pig).

The only problem with this book is that these two audiences are usually not interested in the same things, so be advised. If you fall into a potential third audience - seeking after information on ancient Irish society or folklore - you'll be better off reading somebody like John Matthews, as this book is first and foremost a piece of linguistic scholarship.

Rating:
Summary: An exceptional tutor
Review: Not surprisingly, instruction books on Old Irish, the language of the great early cycles and sagas, are thin and few between. There are loads of dusty and dim-type texts on morphology, orthography, and grammatology, but they're designed by experts for experts and don't really offer much in the way of entry level studies. Thankfully, one of the few books that actually attempts to teach you Old Irish happens to be fantastic. _An Introduction to Old Irish_ presumes to teach you the language by making you read it, right from the start, which has always been my favourite way of learning or teaching a language. The reader, from Lesson 1, is immediately plunged into the great story _Scéla Mucce Meic Dathó_, right from the start. Translations, explanations, and definitions are given to guide you through. But, immediately, you can tell yourself, in a temporary burst of pride: "I be reading the Old Irish!" It gets fierce difficult thereafter, but the authors are generous in their explanations and guidance, and you have a clear, graded path ahead to follow. This book won't teach you pronunciation. You woun't have anywhere to turn to but the book if you're working alone. Ideally, this work would best be part of an undergradute programme in Celtic Studies; however, it's very practical for self-guided study as well. Speaker of Modern Irish will feel especially comfortable with this text. The reality is, if you don't like this book there's not too many other places you could go. Thankfully, I'm fairly sure you will like it. Most appreciatively, the cost of the book is very reasonable; a similar book on learning Old Norse is almost double the cost of this book. I tip my hat to the authors: they've made an incredible contribution that students for generations will be grateful.