Irish
Alternative name(s): Gaelic, Iers (nl), iriska (sv)
Language family: Indo-European
Language Group: Celtic
Geographical use: Ireland (esp. in the west)
Information: There are between 30 and 100 thousand speakers.
Irish is the oldest Gaelic language of the Celtic languages. The first written sources date back to the 5th to 8th century. Irish history can be divided into 4 periods: Old Irish (800-1000), Early Irish (1200-1500), Middle Irish (1200-1500) and Modern Irish (from 1500). Originally Irish had a lot of cases. Two of them are now left: nominative and genitive.
