Introduction

The transportation of English with reference to Ireland involves two separate but related issues. The first is the taking of the language to Ireland at various points in its history, starting in the late twelfth century and continuing steadily since, with a particularly active period in the seventeenth century which involved both the north and the south of the island. The second issue concerns the spread of English from Ireland to various overseas locations between the mid seventeenth and the late nineteenth centuries. This will be treated in the second half of the current chapter. The initial settlement of Ireland from Britain (Wales) is the concern of the first half.

The story of language in Ireland is one of continual contact and shift. Since the coming of the Celts in the last centuries BC each major movement of population has led to movements in language as well. Initially, the Celts supplanted the pre-Celtic population which was possibly of mixed Vasconic and Atlantic origin (Vennemann 1994). This population survived largely undisturbed until the advent of the Vikings in the late eighth century after which considerable influence of Old Norse on Old Irish occurred (Sommerfelt 1975). At the end of the Middle Irish period, towards the close of the twelfth century, the event which was to have the most enduring effect on the later linguistic history of Ireland took place, the Norman invasion, which, as described below, led to the introduction of English and of Norman French to the country.