Manx Language - History

History

Manx is a Goidelic language, closely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic. On the whole it is not mutually intelligible with these, though the speakers of the three languages find it easy to gain passive competency in each other's languages and even spoken competency.

Like Scottish Gaelic and modern Irish, Manx is derived from older forms of Irish. The earliest known language of the Isle of Man was a form of Brythonic.

Manx is descended from Primitive Irish, which is first attested in Ogham inscriptions from the 4th century AD. These writings have been found throughout Ireland and the west coast of Great Britain. Primitive Irish transitioned into Old Irish through the 5th century. Old Irish, dating from the 6th century, used the Latin script and is attested primarily in marginalia to Latin manuscripts, but there are no extant examples from the Isle of Man. By the 10th century Old Irish had evolved into Middle Irish, which was spoken throughout Ireland, in Scotland and the Isle of Man. Like the coastal areas of Scotland and Ireland, the Isle of Man was colonised by the Norse, who left their legacy in certain loanwords, personal names, and placenames such as Laxey (Laksaa) and Ramsay (Rhumsaa).

During the later Middle Ages, the Isle of Man fell increasingly under the influence of England, and from then on the English language has been the chief external factor in the development of Manx. Manx began to diverge from Early Modern Irish in around the 13th century and from Scottish Gaelic in the 15th. The language sharply declined during the 19th century and was supplanted by English.

Manx-language books were not printed until the beginning of the 18th century, and there was no Manx–English dictionary until the 19th century. Except for a few ballads composed in the 16th century and some religious literature, there is no pre-20th century literature in the Manx language. The Manx were to all intents and purposes an oral society, with all folklore, history, interpersonal business and the like passed on by word of mouth.

In 1848, J. G. Cumming wrote that, "there are ... few persons (perhaps none of the young) who speak no English," and Henry Jenner estimated in 1874 that about 30% of the population habitually spoke Manx (12,340 out of a population of 41,084). According to official census figures, 9.1% of the population claimed to speak Manx in 1901; in 1921 the percentage was only 1.1%. Since the language had fallen to a status of low prestige, parents tended not to teach the language to their children, thinking that Manx would be useless to them compared with English.

Following the decline in the use of Manx during the 19th century, Yn Cheshaght Ghailckagh (The Manx Language Society) was founded in 1899. By the middle of the 20th century only a few elderly native speakers remained (the last of them, Ned Maddrell, died on 27 December 1974), but by then a scholarly revival had begun to spread and many people had learned Manx as a second language. The revival of Manx has been aided by the recording work done in the 20th century by researchers. Most notably, the Irish Folklore Commission was sent in with recording equipment in 1948 by Éamon de Valera. There is also the work conducted by language enthusiast and fluent speaker Brian Stowell, who is considered personally responsible for the current revival of the Manx language.

In the 2011 census, 1,823 out of 80,398, or 2.27% of the population, claimed to have knowledge of Manx. This is an increase of 134 people, from the 2001 census. The largest concentration of speakers was in Douglas, with 566 people professing an ability to speak, read or write in Manx. Peel had the second largest number of speakers, with 179 people professing an ability to speak, read or write in Manx. Other large concentrations included Onchan (146), and Ramsey (149).

Manx given names are once again becoming common on the Isle of Man, especially Moirrey and Voirrey (Mary, properly pronounced similar to the Scottish Moira, but often mispronounced as Moiree/Voiree when used as a given name by non-Manx speakers), Illiam (William), Orry (from the Manx King of Norse origin), Breeshey (also Breesha) (Bridget), Aalish (also Ealish) (Alice), Juan (Jack), Ean (John), Joney, Fenella (Fionnuala), Pherick (Patrick) and Freya (from the Norse Goddess) remain popular.