Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit! Or, Happy St Patrick’s Day, that time of year where we mark Irish culture, history and heritage—a celebration that takes place all around the world, thanks to the global reach of the Irish diaspora.

The two weeks leading up to St Patrick’s Day on Thursday 17 March are known as Seachtain na Gaeilge and also celebrate the Irish language – Gaelic or Gaelighe, part of the Celtic language family and the first language in Ireland up until the late 18th century.

Nowadays, it is spoken as a first language in large parts of the counties of Cork, Donegal, Galway and Kerry and in smaller areas of Mayo, Meath and Waterford. According to the 2016 census date, the total number of people (aged 3 and over) who claimed they could speak Irish was 1,761,420, representing 39.8 percent of respondents.

Written form’s long history

A basic form of written Irish, known as Ogham, dates back to the 4th century CE and has written Irish in a Latin script since the 5th century CE, making it the oldest vernacular language in Western Europe.

In the early Medieval times, the Irish took the language with them to Scotland and the Isle of Man where it developed into Scots Gaelic and the Manx language.

From the mid-18th century onwards, the language became less popular in the east of Ireland. Reasons for the shift are numerous—and modernisation in the 19th century was not the main thrust of the language’s decline in popularity—but factors such as the discouragement in its use by the Anglo-Irish administration, the Catholic Church’s support of English rather than Irish use and the spread of people speaking both languages played their part.

Use abroad

While many immigrants took the language with them when they left the country in droves through the late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, its use dropped in popularity when emigration slowed.

However, today the language is taught at the tertiary level in North America, Australia and Europe, and Irish speakers outside Ireland contribute to journalism and literature in their language and there are significant Irish-speaking networks in the United States and Canada.

To commemorate Seachtain na Gaeilge, here at Finders Ireland we thought we would pull together a list of the Irish words and terms that relate to genealogy, probate and family trees…

Irish genealogy terms

The word for genealogy is ginealach/ginealas (there’s a strong accent on the first syllable of Irish words, except for a few common words with an unstressed prefix). The word for a genealogist is sloinnteoir.

Other related words include:

• Family Tree: crann ginealaigh
• Maternal: máthartha
• Paternal: athartha
• Descendant: sliochtach
• Beneficiary: tairbhí
• Next of Kin: neasghaol
• Estate: estát
• Intestate: díthiomnach
• Will: uacht
• Probate: probháid

The Irish language is poetic and beautiful – the words roll like the Irish landscape that cultivated them – and it provides an intimate connection to two thousand years of culture, heritage and history.

Like any language, it has its own unique words and ways of expression that do not translate exactly, and those who take the trouble to learn it open themselves up to a whole new appreciation of Irish culture, and particularly music.

We hope this inspires you to learn some of the language if you do not already and to all those who speak it already, we say Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit once more!

Finders International Ireland trace missing beneficiaries to estates, properties and assets. To find out more, you can visit our website. Alternatively, you can email [email protected] or telephone +353 (0)1 5676940