Page:The language of the annals of Ulster - Ó Máille.pdf/19



§ 1. In the following dissertation I propose to give some account of the language of the Annals of Ulster from the earliest entries down to about A.D. 1050.

Professor Kuno Meyer was the first to draw attention to the importance of the Ulster Annals as a help in dating the various changes that took place in Old Irish, inasmuch as these Annals are taken from contemporary documents from the seventh century onwards, and represent more or less faithfully the Old and Early Irish sources from which they were compiled. Hence, when carefully investigated, the Annals will show the development the language underwent during the Old and Middle Irish periods. In this way they serve, so to speak, as a history of the Irish language as well as a history of Ireland.

Dr. Meyer was preparing a collection of the nominal forms to form the nucleus of a history of Old and Middle Irish declension. The late Professor Strachan was, at the same time, engaged in working at the language of the Annals, when, to the great grief and loss of all Irish scholars, death so abruptly took him away. Dr. Meyer suggested that I should take in hand the treatment of the whole subject. He kindly lent me the material he had collected, and Dr. Strachan’s notes and collections were also, through the kindness of Mrs.