Help about irish

whydoc

Hello everyone

It's my ignorance that i didn't know that irish has their own languge till recently . i am happy to know this.
can you tell me about the history of this language ?

i have a question also about irish names. do you have certain names have a specific meanings ? and what are most common names there ?

Thanks alot

Krusader

Irish is one of the oldest languages in europe
It has the largest volume of text written during the dark/middle ages
It is the mother of two other languages Scots Gaelic & Manx Gaelic
Its an official language of Ireland along with English and also an official EU language

Gael

whydoc wrote: »

can you tell me about the history of this language ?

Here's a short, but relatively detailed one:

http://www.gaeilge.ie/The_Irish_Language/History.asp

whydoc

Thanks Gael and Crosáidí for this valuable information.
In schools do you learn it ?
And what about irish names and their meanings ?
Malik for example is this an original Irish name, if so what does it mean ?
And do you still use old names in irish ?

Thanks alot:)

byhookorbycrook

All primary schools teach Irish. Gaelscoileanna teach through the medium of Irish,to children who generally do not have Irish as a first language. There are Gaeltachtaí -Irish speaking areas, in mainly the west of the country.

Cathaoirleach

whydoc wrote: »

And what about irish names and their meanings

Here's a list of Irish names and meanings

http://www.babynamesofireland.com/pages/boy-names-a-c.html

whydoc wrote: »

And do you still use old names in irish ?

Not sure what you mean by 'old names in Irish', but here are the most popular modern Irish names in Ireland for 2008/2009.

Boys: Seán, Conor, Cian, Darragh, Liam, Oisín, Eoin, Cillian

Girls: Aoife, Ciara, Niamh, Saoirse

Source: CSO Boys / CSO Girls

Jem_

whydoc wrote: »

Thanks Gael and Crosáidí for this valuable information.
In schools do you learn it ?
And what about irish names and their meanings ?
Malik for example is this an original Irish name, if so what does it mean ?
And do you still use old names in irish ?

Thanks alot:)

I think Malik is an Arabic name and it means "king, master, leader"

deirdremf

whydoc wrote: »

Thanks Gael and Crosáidí for this valuable information.
In schools do you learn it ?
And what about irish names and their meanings ?
Malik for example is this an original Irish name, if so what does it mean ?
And do you still use old names in irish ?

Thanks alot:)

Many common Irish names are religious in origin. e.g. Séan=John, Máire=Mary, Seosamh=Joseph, Peadar=Peter and so on. They have no meanings in Irish.
Older Irish names like Bríd, Conn, Art, Aodh etc. doubtless had meanings in the distant past, but they are not used as words in modern Irish.

Malik, as jem said, is Arabic and means King. Lots of other Arabic names have meanings: Warda, Rose; Badra, Full Moon, Jamil, Handsome, and so on.

whydoc

Special thanks to everyone here. Very useful for me, indeed.