cac73hoya;2012 said:
I thought that it's not really called Gaelic but Irish--Gaelic being, like, an older form of Irish? C'mon, Pazuzu, back me up here! In any case, cool!
The language is usually referred to in English as "Irish", sometimes as "Gaelic", or in general terms as Irish Gaelic as you said, but this is only done when discussing other Goidelic languages. Gaelic is often used in the Irish diaspora. Simply calling the language "Irish" is a precise indication of its constitutional status as the national language of the Republic of Ireland, and by extension, the Irish people.
In the Caighdeán Oifigiúil (the official written standard) the name of the language is "Gaeilge", which reflects the southern Connacht pronunciation.
Before the spelling reform of 1948, this form was spelled Gaedhilge; originally this was the genitive of Gaedhealg, the form used in classical Modern Irish. Older spellings of this include Gaoidhealg in Middle Irish and Goídelc in Old Irish.
Other forms of the name found in the various modern Irish dialects, in addition to south Connacht Gaeilge mentioned above, include Gaedhilic/Gaeilic/Gaeilig, or Gaedhlag in Ulster Irish and northern Connacht Irish and Gaedhealaing/Gaoluinn/Gaelainn in Munster Irish.
And now a bit of Wiki Information, since I'm too lazy to type anymore, and at work, so I really can't.
The Official Status of Irish is given recognition by the Constitution of Ireland as the first official language of Ireland (with English being a second official language), despite the limited distribution of fluency among the population of the country. Since the foundation of the Irish Free State in 1922 (see also History of the Republic of Ireland), the Irish Government required a degree of proficiency in Irish for all civil service positions (including postal workers, tax officials, agricultural inspectors, etc.), as well as for employees of state companies (e.g.RTÉ, ESB, etc).
Proficiency in Irish for entrance to the public service ceased to be a compulsory requirement in 1974, in part through the actions of protest organizations like the Language Freedom Movement. While the requirement was also dropped for wider public service jobs, such as teaching, Irish remains a required subject of study in all schools within the Republic which receive public money (see also Education in the Republic of Ireland). The need for a pass in Leaving Certificate Irish for entry to the Gardaí (police) was dropped in September 2005, although applicants are given lessons in the language during the two years of training. Most official documents of the Irish Government are published in both Irish and English. On January 18, 2007, Marian Harkin, a North West Independent MEP, became the first MEP to officially address the European Parliament in Irish (although several other Irish MEPs had done so previously in an unofficial capacity).
In 1938, the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge (The Gaelic League), Douglas Hyde (an Anglican), was inaugurated as the first President of Ireland. The record of his delivering his auguration Declaration of Office in his native Roscommon Irish remains almost the only surviving remnant of anyone speaking in that dialect.
The National University of Ireland, Galway is required to appoint a person who is competent in the Irish language, as long as they meet all other respects of the vacancy they are appointed to. This requirement is laid down by the University College Galway Act, 1929 (Section 3) and recently was subject of a High Court case on the matter - it is expected that the requirement may be repealed in due course.
As an official language of the European Union all legislation and documents of major public importance or interest are produced in Irish. Before Irish became an official language on 1st January 2007, it was afforded the status of treaty language and only the highest-level documents of the EU had been translated into Irish.
The language has also received a degree of formal recognition in Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. The British government promised to create legislation encouraging the language as part of the 2006 St Andrews Agreement through an "Irish Language Act - Acht na Gaeilge".
Even though modern parliamentary legislation is supposed to be issued in both Irish and English, in practice it is frequently only available in English.
Publicly displayed Irish is sometimes ungrammatical, which has the potential to irritate speakers and activists. That the Dáil uses Irish in less than 1% of its business may also contribute to the public image of the revival.
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