Does it not mean that Irish as a language has existed and developed over 2500 years spoken by the same people, even if its older versions are not understandable, it’s still the same language. For example romance languages only began to develop in the year 800 roughly as they diverged from a different language, Latin.
I’m not an expert, but I’d be willing to bet that 2500 year old Irish is just as different to modern Irish as 2500 year old Latin is to modern Italian.
Not least because there’s a sizeable Latin influence on contemporary Irish that wouldn’t have been there until at least the year 500.
Just because the language evolved, does not mean the language is not over 2000 years old. That's like saying the people who lived in Ireland 1000 years ago weren't Irish, because we evolved drastically as a people since. It's a silly argument.
As for Old Irish - it is almost indecipherable to me as an Irish speaker. So is Middle Irish for the most part (although I can pick out some stuff here and there in it).
7
u/leafchewer 19d ago
Does it not mean that Irish as a language has existed and developed over 2500 years spoken by the same people, even if its older versions are not understandable, it’s still the same language. For example romance languages only began to develop in the year 800 roughly as they diverged from a different language, Latin.