Technology, Terminology, and the Irish Language, Past and Present

doi:10.1017/9781009182881.015

Chapter 13 - Technology, Terminology, and the Irish Language, Past and Present

from Part III - Invention

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2023

Sharon Arbuthnot

Edited by

Margaret Kelleher and

James O'Sullivan

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Margaret Kelleher: Affiliation:
University College Dublin
James O'Sullivan: Affiliation:
University College Cork

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Summary

New technologies inevitably require new terminology. To refer to rudders, spectacles, telephones, and more, over the centuries Irish speakers borrowed words from other languages as well as repurposing native terms. In recent times, the challenge posed by loanwords has been political as much as linguistic, but, while we cannot know how people of the Middle Ages felt about the inflow of words from Norse or Norman French, technological vocabulary probably tells the history of contact between the Irish and other cultures more clearly than any other word-field. Within Irish itself, terms for inventions and innovations serve as fascinating case studies in language change and resilience: some medieval words for still-common devices have inexplicably fallen out of use; some early terms have been recorded again after long periods of silence; some words have manifested twice, hundreds of years apart. This chapter charts the emergence and development of a selection of technological terms in both medieval and modern Irish.

Keywords

Irish Gaelic language terminology medieval loanwords

Type: Chapter
Information: Technology in Irish Literature and Culture , pp. 217 - 232

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009182881.015 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2023

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