2002-12-12 - 11:12 a.m.

Finals are not so fun. Oh well. I have an Irish written final tonight. I more or less know the information but I'm worried about the spelling. The system for spelling in Irish is incredibly archaic. It has been updated once since the 12th century. The update happened in 1948 (I think) and was done to help simplify the language. For example, in unsimplified Irish, my name is Eibhdhlìs. The "bh" and the "dh" are silent. With the newly simplified version of Irish since 1948, my name is spelled Eibhlìs. The "bh" is still silent. A lot of people have simply become lazy and spell my name Eilìs. It amazes me that a spelling system can stay exactly the same for so long even though the oral language is so fluid.

Scottish Gaelic hasn't been simplified like Irish has. I was looking over some Scottish Gaelic for another class I'm in and the word for the Scottish speaking area in Scotland (which is the same pronounciation as the word fo the Irish speaking area in Ireland) is incredibly long and complicated and I wouldn't have been able to guess its meaning had someone not pronounced it for me.

Anyway, it's interesting looking at various archaisms of languages. I'm interested particularly in the silent "k" sound in English that previously wasn't. I'm curious as to why "knave" is pronounced "nave" and "knife" is "nife" and "know" is "no". I'm curious as to why that became easier or more convenient or more fashionable or whatever than "kuh-nave" or "kuh-nife" or "kuh-no". Oh well, I'll keep looking for an answer.

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