GAELIC

or ERSE LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, the language spoken by the Highlanders of Scotland, named by them Gaelic, but often called by the Lowlanders Erse or Ersh which is manifestly a corruption of Irish. To this dialect of the Celtic languages belongs that also spoken in Ireland and the Isle of Man. There are some differences in the tongue spoken in these three localities, but not sufficiently distinct to mark them as separate languages..The Gaelic is copious, rich and expre ive and capable of great eloquence and power. It has no affinity with Greek or Latin, but rather resembles the Hebrew, especially in the inflection of nouns and conjugation of verbs. The earliest Gaelic writings extant date back to the 7th century, though there is reason to believe that before that date writings existed that have been destroyed during the incursions of Danes and North men. The earliest literary forms were those embodied in the sagas or song-stories reciting the deeds of gods, dem i-gods and national heroes. Many of these were pagan in spirit, though later they were marked by accretions from Biblical story. They may be roughly divided into three cycles: the Mythological, the Heroic and the O ianic. The first deals with stories representing the succe ive settlements of Ireland, and in these the gods and dem i-gods figure largely. The second group of sagas recite the history of the conquering Milesian race who dominated Ireland until the coming of the English. 'The third concern themselves with the exploits of Fionn or Finn, a national hero, about whom cluster a vast number of songs and stories making up the body of Fenian literature. In the 17th cent. the bardic features gave way to historical, antiquarian and biographical compositions by men of deep learning. In the last two decades of the 19th cent, there was a notable revival Lipf interest in the study of the Gaelic t gue and the pres- - ervation of Gaelic literature which has continued to the present and has enlisted the co-operation of a large body of enthusiastic and accomplished scholars.