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Old Irish

Movement
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

Early Irish poetry (6th–10th c.) in Gaelic, noted for lyrical intensity and nature imagery

Detailed Definition
Old Irish poetry (c. 600–900 CE) encompasses a rich vernacular tradition characterized by intricate syllabic meters, alliteration, internal rhyme, and complex diction; composed by filid (poet-seers), it includes genres like the rosc (lyric chant) and served both courtly and ritual functions, preserving myth, law, and cosmology through highly formalized oral-literary techniques.
Example
Example in poetry:
Old Irish poetry features intricate alliteration and nature mysticism, as in the 8th-century “Pangur Bán”: “My cat and I pursue our tasks— / his mice, my words, in quiet masks.”
Additional Notes
Old Irish includes medieval Irish poetry with complex prosody (dán díreach). Features alliteration, internal rhyme, syllabic meters. Study for understanding Celtic influence on English poetry. Distinct from later Anglo-Irish tradition.
Also Known As
Ancient Irish Gaelic verse Celtic poetry Old Gaelic
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