What language does Brigid speak?

I speak a lot about learning Irish to speak to Brigid. But really, what language(s) does Brigid speak? Probably most of the languages her followers use. But let’s take a historical look. As always I’m focusing on Irish Brigid here. I’m not an expert on the history of the Irish language, never mind the history of other languages!!

Languages change and develop

I mean, the Irish we speak now, is not the same as the Irish my grandparents spoke. Trust me…

Hell, the Irish I speak, isn’t the same as the Irish my parents speak. Slang comes in. Here’s a nice article on why and how languages change. And even within a language, there are differences in dialect, meaning and spelling. Just compare the US and UK spelling of words like “colour/color”.

So, if we’re looking at the language that Brigid speaks, we need to look at history.

But here I’m going to delve a bit into the stages of Irish development. So, we’ll be looking at

• Primitive Irish
• Old Irish
• Middle Irish
• Early Modern/ Classical Irish
• Modern Irish dialects

And even within those classifications, there are differences. Anyone who has learned Munster Irish in school then had to deal with Donegal/ Ulster Irish in an exam will tell you that!!!

So, when I say “learn Irish to speak to Brigid in her own tongue”, I’m being a bit vague on purpose. Because, modern Irish isn’t Brigid’s native tongue. But I’m going to talk through the various generations of Irish in this post, heavily based on this article, because it rounds up nicely a high level overview of the available information and research.

Primitive Irish

There is discussion among linguists and archaeologists about the arrival of the original ancestor of Irish in Ireland. Estimates vary from 1200BCE to 2000BCE. Either way, we’re looking at millennia ago. (Possibly this is the language that Brig – or Brigid – of the Caith Maigh Tuired speaks)

Primitive Irish, on the other hand, becomes evident from standing stones from 300CE or 400CE.

There’s a whole load of debate about Primitive Irish with certain sources claiming that Ogham was based on the Latin alphabet cos it only has 5 vowel sounds. Irish has 10 (that fada making the vowels long basically)

How and ever, the language form exists. Mostly in the form of names and only in fragmentary form. Now, it can be hard to make out what’s actually being written. If there’s a bit chopped off said stone, you can never be sure whether a full letter is missing or part thereof – so you have to make your best guess.

As far as I’m aware, fluency in Primitive Irish is fairly impossible because of the lack of resources to examine.

Old Irish however…

Well, here we have a different story. Old Irish, as a vernacular language, started to be written in the margins of Latin manuscripts from the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Apparently, this was the first written vernacular language north of the Alps…

We always like to be special. And when it comes to words, well, the Irish have history there!

While many of our surviving manuscripts date from the period of Middle Irish, the construction of the language, the conventions etc, strongly suggest they were originally written in Old Irish. The Senchas Mór and the Ulster Cycle tales are good examples of this. So, possibly again, the language that our aspect of Brigid in the Caith Maigh Tuired.

Basically, you have the Irish monks and scribes writing things out in Latin, and scribbling things in the margins in their own langauge…

Middle Irish

Middle Irish is where most of our manuscripts and tales sit. We’re talking 900CE to about 1300CE. Ish. When delineating language, it’s always “ish”.

But we have a good understanding of Middle Irish because of the recording of those tales. We (ok, scholars of this period) can see the development of a more complicated, variable language. Old Irish was noted for being uniform: Middle Irish less so.

I’m going to be honest here, I make a bash of it sometimes when I want to meditate at something, but even Middle Irish is usually beyond me. People like Morgan Daimler however, I consider expert here.

Early Modern Irish

Here we’re getting to the kinda of Irish I could kinda, maybe, in case of emergency make a stab at translating somewhere in the ballpark.

Possibly.

On a good day.

This is a transition phase between Middle and Modern Irish. Hence why I might manage to translate a bit. But we are in the 1200CE – 1700CE ish part of the timeline. The eagle eyed among you will notice this is the period of what I’d consider the Gaelic culture in Ireland. While there were plantations from the English from 1169 on (Diarmuid MacMurrough being an asshole), the Gaelic way of life still held sway on the island during this time frame.

We have extensive grammar rules, conventions, structures, all sorts for this period, because these would have been used to train the legal professions, medical professions, administrators, history keepers, etc. And boy did they like their rules! I have read that there were specific legal forms and mental short cuts used in the legal texts. Almost as if the texts were aide memoirs rather than full explanations… Depending on the memory was still alive and well in Ireland at this time.

For me, this is most closely related to the language that St. Brigid would speak.

Modern Irish. Kinda.

With the Flight of the Earls in 1607, the end of Gaelic Ireland and the start of the final plantations came into play.

This was the time of the gradual decline of the language. Not because it was outlawed, but because through a regime of social pressure, it was seen as backwards, a sign of poverty or ill-education to not speak English.

Aristocrats would never speak Irish in this Ireland. And although there are plenty of records of people dealing with courts and English/British officialdom through Irish, it was still declining.

It is thought that the Irish language remained the majority tongue through to 1800CE anyway. It used to be thought that an Gorta Mór caused much of the decline of the language, but more recently, this has been proven to be inaccurate.

The Gaelic Revival of the 18th and 19th centuries brought renewed focus on the language and there is a general acceptance that it is an important part of our culture and heritage on this island today.

So… what does Brigid speak?

Well… all of the above?

I have communicated, in my spiritual practice, with various aspects of Brigid. And language has been an important part of that. There are certain aspects of Brigid that I can only communicate with through Irish.

But there are plenty that I can communicate with in English, in imagery, in thoughts too vague for words at all.

If we are looking at the Tuatha de Danann aspect of Brigid, I’d be thinking Primitive Irish or Old Irish.

For Cormac’s Glossary, LGE, Children of Tuireann – think Middle Irish.

For the saint -honestly, I’d think Modern Irish would be ok.

But really, Brigid is a deity related to communication anyway. She will communicate in a way to have you understand her.

I know people exist that communicate with Brigid in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian… and doubtless hundreds more languages. I’m not entirely sure our deities need language to communicate with us, I think they just use that to help us deal with the communication.

If you are following Scottish Bride, I’d suggest looking into the history of Scots Gaelic and Scots itself (Scots being a completely separate language to both the Gáidhlig and English). For Welsh Ffraid, look at the history of the Welsh language.

Finally

For me, it’s a sign of respect to at least make an effort to learn the native language of the deity you are dealing with. For me, with Brigid, that’s Irish. And yes, I use the modern tongue because it’s more practical than others.

If you want to go learn older forms of the language, fire ahead! There is nothing stopping you. And fair play to you!

But for me, modern Irish is enough for when I need it.