Dlíthe Luath-Ghaeilge: Staidéar ar Theanga agus ar Dhátú Gluaiseanna agus Tráchtanna

Three texts are analysed: the ‘Marriage Disputes’ commentary, edited by Fergus Kelly (2014); the glosses and commentaries copied by Scribe 1 of Cáin Lánamna (ed. Charlene Eska, 2010); and the glosses on Gúbretha Caratniad, edited by Rudolph Thurneysen (1925).

The crux of the research is to determine to what period of the Irish language the later body of writing in these texts belongs. <br><br>In the three of these texts we have later material which is attached to a canonical text in Old Irish (the language of the period c. 600-900 AD), with the entirety being transmitted in a later manuscript of the Middle Irish (c. 900-1200) or Early Modern Irish (c. 1200-1600) period. In each case, a close examination of the later writing reveals a complex and often intractable linguistic landscape, a situation not helped by the fragmented manuscript tradition. <br><br>The conclusions on each text therefore allow for a good deal of flexibility when it comes to dating the glosses and commentaries examined.