‘Ultach’ ar son comhthuisceana
October 14, 2013
Last week I reported on the conference about preschool education organised by Altram. Everyone was happy with how things went, but we were more than happy with the goody bag that we got at the end. Among the educational materials that we got were two booklets from Ultach/ or Iontaobhas Ultach, the Ulster Trust (the original name of the organisation): the first booklet is called‘An Ghaeilge/The Irish language’; the second one is entitled ‘Logainmneacha/Placenames’. Placenames are one route into Irish. I remember a few years ago I was going through Belfast in a taxi. The driver told me that he was a Protestant and that he was going to be doing an Irish course: he got interested in placenames driving round the city and he wanted to learn more about them. I wondered ‘Why is he telling me this?’ I forgot that I was wearing my Fáinne. ‘An Ghaeilge/The Irish language’ is an excellent publication. It starts with the origins of the language. There is a section in it about the ancient writing system, Ogham. There is then an account of the decline of Irish and the Revival: it shows how important Protestants were in the preservation of Irish. There are notes on education, the media and the arts.
There are two pages on Irish words in English and on words that have come into Irish from other languages. At the end there is a very interesting chapter on surnames. The booklets may be obtained free of charge from ‘Ultach’ and they are also on the Internet. It is well worthwhile having a look at the site www.ultach.org you will get a list of books for beginners which the organisation has published, and of books which destroy the lie that Irish belongs to one political organisation or one religion.
www.derryjournal.com
Published on Gaelport.com 14 October 2013
Derry Journal – Liam Uilliam Eoghain
