Cover of O'Curry's influential 𝗟𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝘂𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗜𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 (𝟭𝟴𝟳𝟯)

O'Curry's lectures on the manuscript materials still arguably best single work on Gaelic primary sources

"Something in the songs - though I could understand only a few of the words - something in the music - something in the atmosphere gripped me, and I seemed to be put in touch with something far back in the Race. Unknown depths in me were stirred and across the centuries I seemed to be in touch with the days when Irish speech and Irish manners and traditions were in every valley and on every hill and by every river... I understood, accepted, and felt myself to be one with the Gael. For the first time I saw the whole of Ireland. It was a revelation, one which in the fifty years that have since elapsed, has not faded."

P. S. O'Hegarty recalls his experience of encountering a 1902 Gaelic League Feis as a young man, and its effects in awakening national consciousness.

'In the Gaelic League', Radio Éireann Broadcast, 1952

“…his home is abroad, his enemies are his friends, he is patriotic for foreigners, he is a stranger in his own house”

James Stephens on West Britons, Sinn Fein, 1st June, 1907.

"It has resulted from the injustice of many, that the Catholic Irish nation, placed between hammer and anvil, was denied every privilege, yes even the study of its own language: not only public, but also the general private use; so that the ancient records of the Fatherland, Lives of the Saints, Religion, Church traditions and the memory of a long time lie buried deep and are indeed delivered to eternal oblivion. For that reason, I, wishing to set my face against so great a curse, have composed this little book, for the educated and uneducated."

Froinsias Ó Maolmhuaidh states his reasons for writing his influential 1677 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝗟𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗼–𝗛𝗶𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮, a grammar for learning Irish.

Ó Maolmhuaidh was a Franciscan who worked in St.Isidore's Irish College, Rome. Also lectured in Austria and Lombardy.

Tomás Mac Síomóin notes something on a small scale in terms of language in this book, covered in channel before.

In pg 108, he talks about certain words then started changing, like referring to ancient Greek+Rome as 'Slavenhalterordung' (slave holding societies) instead of 'Antike' (antiquity) and the Middle Ages as 'Feudlordung' (feudal order) rather than 'Mittelalter' meant you were an East German.

If you say 'Plaste' instead of 'Plastik' you are East German, if you say 'Kaufhalle' instead of 'Supermarkt', you are East German.

More examples, but it shows how depending on cultural dynamic, it can have a profound effect on how a nation analyses reality via their language. Reminder - East vs West Germany was only apart for 45 years and was starting to diverge.

"Considering how one's world-view is shaped by words, ponder the fact in Ireland a complete language has almost entirely disappeared to be replaced by that of a colonizing power and its accompanying baggage!"

"How many Irish children, even Irish-speaking ones, know a tenth as much (to be hopelessly optimistic) about the Fianna and Red Branch heroes of traditional Gaelic mythology, Fionn Mac Cumhail and Cúchulain, as they do about The Simpsons, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob Squarepants, etc., and the world of Disney?"

Tomás Mac Síomóin in 'The Broken Harp' discussing effects of Anglo-US media in Ireland.