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| Gaelic script | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Period | 1571 – |
| Direction | Left-to-right |
| Languages | Modern Irish,Scots Gaelic |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | Latin script
|
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Latg(216), Latin (Gaelic variant) |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
Gaelic type (sometimes calledIrish character,Irish type, orGaelic script) is a family ofInsular script typefaces devised for printingEarly Modern Irish. It was widely used from the 16th century until the mid-18th century in Scotland and the mid-20th century in Ireland, but is now rarely used. Sometimes, all Gaelic typefaces are calledCeltic oruncial although most Gaelic types are not uncials. The "Anglo-Saxon" types of the 17th century are included in this category because both the Anglo-Saxon types and the Gaelic/Irish types derive from the insular manuscript hand.
The termsGaelic type,Gaelic script andIrish character translate theModern Irish phrasecló Gaelach (pronounced[ˌkl̪ˠoːˈɡeːl̪ˠəx]). In Ireland, the termcló Gaelach is used in opposition to the termcló Rómhánach,Roman type.
TheScots Gaelic term iscorra-litir (pronounced[ˌkʰɔrˠəˈliʰtʲɪɾʲ]).Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair (c. 1698–1770) was one of the last Scottish writers with the ability to write in this script,[1] but his main work,Ais-Eiridh na Sean Chánoin Albannaich, was published in the Roman script.
Besides the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, Gaelic typefaces must include all vowels withacute accents⟨Áá Éé Íí Óó Úú⟩ as well as a set of consonants withdot above⟨Ḃḃ Ċċ Ḋḋ Ḟḟ Ġġ Ṁṁ Ṗṗ Ṡṡ Ṫṫ⟩, and theTironian sign et⟨⁊⟩, used foragus 'and' in Irish.
Gaelic typefaces also often include insular forms:⟨ꞃ ꞅ⟩ of the letters⟨r⟩ and⟨s⟩, and some of the typefaces contain a number ofligatures used in earlier Gaelic typography and deriving from the manuscript tradition. Lower-case⟨i⟩ is drawn without adot (though it is not theTurkish dotless⟨ı⟩), and the letters⟨d f g t⟩ have insular shapes⟨ꝺ ꝼ ᵹ ꞇ⟩.
Many modern Gaelic typefaces include Gaelic letterforms for the letters⟨j k q v w x y z⟩, and typically provide support for at least the vowels of the otherCeltic languages. They also distinguish between⟨&⟩ and⟨⁊⟩ (as did traditional typography), though some modern fonts replace the ampersand with the Tironian note ostensibly because both mean 'and'.
The Irish uncial alphabet originated in medieval manuscripts as an "insular" variant of the Latin alphabet. The first Gaelic typeface was designed in 1571 forAibidil Gaoidheilge agus Caiticiosma, acatechism commissioned byElizabeth I to help attempt to convert the Irish Catholic population to Anglicanism.[2][3]
In 1611, Franciscans from Louvain, Belgium, created their own typeface, known as Louvain Irish Type.[2]
Typesetting in Gaelic script remained common in Ireland until the mid-20th century. Gaelic script is today used merely for decorative typesetting; for example, a number of traditional Irish newspapers still print their name in Gaelic script on the first page, and it is also popular for pub signs, greeting cards, and display advertising.Edward Lhuyd's grammar of theCornish language used Gaelic-script consonants to indicate sounds like[ð] and[θ].
In 1996RTÉ created a new corporate logo. The logo consists of a modern take on the Gaelic type face. The R'scounter is large with a short tail, the T is roman script while the E is curved but does not have a counter like a lower case E, and the letters also have slight serifs to them.TG4's original logo, under the brandTnaG, also used a modernization of the font, the use of the curved T and a sans-serif A in the wordna. Other Irish companies that have used Gaelic script in their logos including theGAA,Telecom Éireann andAn Post. TheGarda Síochána uses Gaelic Script on its official seal.
Unicode treats the Gaelic script as a font variant of theLatin alphabet (for example, theglyphs for⟨G⟩ and⟨g⟩ in Gaelic types typically resemble the phonetics insulular g, but useU+0047 GLATIN CAPITAL LETTER G andU+0067 gLATIN SMALL LETTER G, notU+1D79 ᵹLATIN SMALL LETTER INSULAR G andU+A77D ꝽLATIN CAPITAL LETTER INSULAR G). A lowercaseinsular g (ᵹ) was added in version 4.1 as part of thePhonetic Extensions block because of its use in Irish linguistics as a phonetic character for[ɣ].
According toMichael Everson, in the 2006 Unicode proposal for these characters:[4]
To write text in an ordinary Gaelic font, onlyASCII letters should be used, the font making all the relevant substitutions; the insular letters [proposed here] are for use only by specialists who require them for particular purposes.
Unicode 5.1 (2008) added a capital G (Ᵹ) and both capital and lowercase letters D, F, R, S, T, besides "turned insular G", on the basis thatEdward Lhuyd used these letters in his 1707 workArchæologia Britannica as a scientific orthography forCornish.
Unicode 14.0 (2021) added characters, including Insular letters, for theOrmulum:[6]
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