he term Goidelic is used to embrace the Celtic
dialects of Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. In each case the
national name for the speech is _Gaelic_ (Ir. _Gaedhlig_, Scottish
_Gaidhlig_, Manx _Gailck_), from Ir. Scottish _Gaodhal, Gaedheal_, Mid.
Ir. _Goedel_, W. _Gwyddel_, "a Gael, inhabitant of Ireland or Scotland."
Old Irish may be regarded as the ancestor of Scottish and Manx Gaelic,
as the forms of these dialects can be traced back to Old Irish, and
there are practically no monuments of Scottish and Manx in the oldest
period. Scottish and Irish may be regarded as standing to one another in
much the same relation as broad Scottish and southern English. The
divergences of Scottish and Manx from Irish will be mentioned below. The
language of the Ogam inscriptions is the oldest form of Goidelic with
which we are acquainted. Some 300 inscriptions have up to the present
been discovered in this alphabet, the majority of them hailing from the
south-west of Ireland (Kerry and Cork). In Scotland 22 are known, whilst
in England and Wales about 30 have turned up. Most of the latter are in
South Wales, but odd ones have been found in North Wales, Devon and
Cornwall, and one has occurred as far east as Hampshire. The Isle of Man
also possesses two. The letters in the oldest inscriptions are formed by
strokes or notches scored on either side of the edge of an upright
stone. Thus we obtain the following alphabet:--

--'----''----'''----''''----'''''-- --,----,,----,,,----,,,,----,,,,,--
h d t c q b l v s n

--/----//----///----////----/////-- --.----..----...----....----.....--
m g ng z r a o u e i

This system, which was eked out with other signs, would seem to have
been framed in the south-west of Ireland by a person or persons who were
familiar with the Latin alphabet. Some of the inscriptions probably go
back to the 5th century and may even be earlier. As illustrations of the
simplest forms of Ogam inscriptions we may mention the following:
_Doveti maqqi Cattini_, i.e. "(the stone) of Dovetos son of Cattinos";
_Trenagusu Maqi Maqi-Treni_ is rendered in Latin _Trenegussi Fili
Macutreni hic jacit; Sagramni Maqi Cunatami_, "(the stone) of Sagramnos
son of Cunotamos"; _Ovanos avi Ivacattos_, "(the stone) of Ovanus
descendant of Ivacattus." It will be seen that in the oldest of these
inscriptions q is still kept ap