Conradh na Gaeilge

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Conradh na Gaeilge, Dublin

Conradh na Gaeilge (Irish; English: Gaelic League , dt. "League of Irish") is an association with the aim of keeping Irish alive as a language in Ireland . It was founded on July 31, 1893 by Douglas Hyde , a Protestant and Unionist from Frenchpark ( County Roscommon ) in Dublin . Hyde remained the driving force of the Gaelic League for decades . Other founding members were Eugene O'Growney , Eoin MacNeill . The Gaelic League evolved from the earlier Gaelic Union of Ulick Bourke and became the leading institution in promoting the Gaelic Revival towards the end of the 19th century. She maintained the newspaper An Claidheamh Soluis ("The Sword of Light") as a separate organ, the most famous editor of which was the leader of the Easter Rising of 1916 , Patrick Pearse , and organized the first Irish Céilí . From 1893 to 1909 the Gaelic League also edited the monthly Gaelic Journal , one of the first major bilingual magazines in Ireland, founded by the Gaelic Union in 1892 with Hyde's help .

The Gaelic-speaking areas in Ireland were much more severely decimated than the English -speaking areas during the Great Famine between 1845 and 1852 through starvation and forced emigration. The Gaelic language was thereby displaced into isolated, separate areas, especially in the far west, and replaced by English as the colloquial language in most of the country. No Gaelic was taught in schools; there was also no written literature or generally accessible texts in Gaelic. At this point the Gaelic Revival movement began, whose supporters gathered in the Gaelic League with the aim of reviving Gaelic and making it the generally recognized national language as an expression of the linguistic and cultural identity of the Irish nation. Gaelic should be used both as a spoken colloquial language and as the language of use for written and printed texts. Likewise, the revival of the old and the creation of a new Irish literature in Gaelic was sought.

Advertisement of the Gaelic League in the Gaelic Journal 1894

Given the historical background of the fall of Parnell in 1890 and the associated political disappointments, the Gaelic League found great popularity after its foundation as an organization that was rather apolitical in terms of its initial objectives. With a language reform, the Gaelic League wanted to ensure standardization and create the basis for equality between Gaelic and English. In addition, the Gaelic League organized language courses across the country to bring the Irish people closer to their own language again. In the Gaeltacht , numerous summer courses lasting several weeks were held, in which thousands of young Irish people with great idealism took part.

The effect of these holiday courses in the Gaeltacht, however, turned out to be double-edged. On the one hand, so many young Irish were given the opportunity to get to know the simple life, language and culture of the rural population in the far west; on the other hand, however, they also brought the English language and the lifestyle of the people from the Anglicised cities to the Gaeltacht. Just like tourism later on, the efforts of the Gaelic League unintentionally contributed to the further displacement of the Gaelic language in the Gaeltacht.

With the organization of festivals on a national and international level, in which original forms of folk art such as singing, making music, dancing and poetry were the focus, the old folk traditions, dances and songs as well as making music and finally the Gaelic language itself were to be revalued to no longer be considered backwoodsmen.

After the independence of the Free State , the efforts of the Gaelic League led to Gaelic becoming the official language alongside English and an inviolable part of Irish cultural policy to this day. Although the more radical goal of making Gaelic the sole national language could not be achieved, the bilingualism of all official publications from legal texts to street names or signposts has become an indispensable element of national identity. The great influence and political weight of the Gaelic League was also evident in 1938 when its founder Douglas Hyde was elected the first President of the newly created Republic of Ireland.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Heinz Kosok: History of Anglo-Irish Literature . Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-503-03004-2 , pp. 145f.
  2. ↑ Cf. Heinz Kosok: History of Anglo-Irish Literature . Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-503-03004-2 , pp. 144f.
  3. ↑ Cf. Heinz Kosok: History of Anglo-Irish Literature . Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-503-03004-2 , p. 145.
  4. ↑ Cf. Heinz Kosok: History of Anglo-Irish Literature . Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-503-03004-2 , p. 145.
  5. ↑ Cf. Heinz Kosok: History of Anglo-Irish Literature . Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-503-03004-2 , pp. 145f.