Poblacht na hÉireann
(Béarla:
Republic of Ireland
). Teangacha oifigiúla
Gaeilge Béarla Achar
70,273 km² Daonra
4,635,400 (2015)
Irish is an ancient language, with a limited number of speakers nowadays, but it still attract many people and is one of the official languages of the Republic of Ireland. According to irishlanguage.net, the earliest form of the language, Primitive Irish, is found in ogham inscriptions up to about the 4th century. After the conversion to Christianity, Old Irish begins to appear as glosses in the margins of Latin manuscripts, beginning in the 6th century, until it gives way in the 10th century to Middle Irish. Modern Irish dates from about the 16th century. Irish being a Celtic language, it has peculiar features which are unknown to other languages.