The Gaels are a group of Insular Celtic ethnic groups native to Ireland, parts of Scotland, and the Isle of Man. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic languages comprising Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic.
Gaelic language and culture originated in Ireland, extending to Dál Riata in western Scotland. In antiquity, the Gaels traded with the Roman Empire and also raided Roman Britain. The primary Latin name for the Gaels was Scoti. In the Middle Ages, Gaelic culture became dominant throughout the rest of Scotland and the Isle of Man. There was also some Gaelic settlement in Wales, where they founded petty kingdoms, and in the Faroe Islands, where they were probably the first inhabitants. Gaelic missionaries were influential in Northumbria and the Carolingian Empire. In the Viking Age, small numbers of Vikings raided and settled in Gaelic lands, becoming the Norse-Gaels. In the 9th century, Dál Riata and Pictland merged to form the Gaelic Kingdom of Alba (Scotland). Meanwhile, Gaelic Ireland was made up of several kingdoms, with a High King often claiming lordship over them.
In the 12th century, Anglo-Normans conquered parts of Ireland, while parts of Scotland also became Normanized. However, Gaelic culture remained strong throughout Ireland, and in Scotland in the Highlands, Hebrides, and Galloway. In the early 17th century, the last Gaelic kingdoms in Ireland fell under English control. King James VI and I sought to subdue the Gaels and wipe out their culture; first in the Scottish Highlands via repressive laws such as the Statutes of Iona, and then in Ireland by colonizing Gaelic land with English and Scots-speaking Protestant settlers. In the following centuries, Gaelic language was suppressed and mostly supplanted by English. However, it continues to be the main language in Ireland's and Scotland's (Outer Hebrides and pockets of the north-west Highlands). The modern descendants of the Gaels have spread to other parts of Wales, Scotland and England, the Americas and Australasia.
Traditional Gaelic society was organised into clans, each with its own territory and king (or chief), elected through tanistry. The Irish were previously pagans who had many gods, venerated their ancestors and believed in an Otherworld. Their four yearly festivals – Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasa – continued to be celebrated into modern times. The Gaels have a strong oral tradition, traditionally maintained by shanachies. Inscription in the ogham alphabet began in the 4th century. The Gaels' conversion to Christianity accompanied the introduction of writing in the Roman alphabet. Irish mythology and Brehon law were preserved and recorded by medieval Irish monasteries. Gaelic monasteries were renowned centres of learning and played a key role in developing Insular art and Celtic Christianity. In the Middle Ages, most Gaels lived in roundhouses and ringforts. The Gaels long have had their own styles of dress; that in Ireland was typified for centuries by the ('saffron shirt'), and in Gaelic Scotland by the belted plaid (precursor of the modern kilt). Gaelic peoples have produced distinctive music, dances, festivals, and sports (including the Gaelic games in Ireland and Highland games in Scotland) into the modern era. Gaelic culture continues to be a major component of Irish, Scottish, and Manx society.
Ethnonyms Throughout the centuries, Gaels and Gaelic-speakers have been known by a number of names. The most consistent of these have been Gael, Irish, and Scots. In Latin, the Gaels were called , but this later came to mean only the Gaels of Scotland. Other terms, such as Milesian, are not as often used. An Old Norse name for the Gaels was Vestmenn (meaning "Westmen", due to inhabiting the Western fringes of Europe).
Gael The word 'Gaelic' is first recorded in print in the English language in the 1770s, replacing the earlier '' which is attested as far back as 1596. 'Gael', defined as a 'member of the Gaelic race', is first attested in print in 1810. 'Goidelic' has also been used in English since the 19th century, but usually refers to the language group..
These names all come from the Old Irish word . In Early Modern Irish, it was spelled (singular) and (plural). In modern Irish, it is spelled (singular) and (plural). According to scholar John T. Koch, the Old Irish form of the name was borrowed from an Archaic Welsh form , meaning 'forest people', 'wild men' or, later, 'warriors'. is recorded as a personal name in the Book of Llandaff. The root of the name is cognate at the Proto-Celtic level with Old Irish 'wild', and , derived ultimately from Proto-Indo-European . This latter word is the origin of Fianna and Fenian.
In medieval Ireland, the bardic poets who were the cultural intelligentsia of the nation, limited the use of specifically to those who claimed genealogical descent from the mythical Goídel Glas. Even the Gaelicised Normans who were born in Ireland, spoke Irish and sponsored Gaelic bardic poetry, such as , were referred to as ('foreigner') by , a 14th-century Chief Ollam of Ireland.
Irish The ethnic name Irish has existed in the English language since the 11th century, in the form , which derived from the stem of Old English , 'inhabitant of Ireland', from Old Norse . The origin of this word is the Old Irish , which is from Old Celtic , likely associated with the Proto-Indo-European term meaning 'fertile'. is mentioned as a goddess in the .
The ancient Greeks, in particular Ptolemy in his second-century Geographia, possibly based on earlier sources, located a group known as the (from , ) in the south-west of Ireland. This group has been associated with the of Irish tradition by T. F. O'Rahilly and others. The included peoples such as the and . Ancient Roman writers, such as Caesar, Pliny, and Tacitus, derived from the name ; although the Romans tended to call the isle , and the Gaels .
Within Ireland, the term , 'Irish', only gained its modern political significance as a primary denominator from the 17th century onwards, as in the works of Geoffrey Keating, where a Catholic alliance between the native and , 'old foreigners' (of Norman descent), was proposed against the , 'new foreigners', or , 'English' (the ascendant Protestant New English settlers).
Scots The Romans began to use the term Scoti to describe the Gaels in Latin from the 4th century onward. At the time, the Gaels were raiding the west coast of Britain; it is thus conjectured that the term means "raider, pirate". The term "Scot" applied to the Gaels in general, not just those in Scotland. Examples are Johannes Scotus Eriugena and other figures from Hiberno-Latin culture, and the Schottenkloster founded by Irish Gaels in Germanic lands.
From the 5th to 10th centuries, early Scotland was home not only to the Gaels of Dál Riata but also the Picts, the Britons, Angles and lastly the Vikings.
The Gaels of northern Britain referred to themselves as Albannaich in their own tongue and their realm as the Kingdom of Alba (founded as a successor kingdom to Dál Riata and Pictland). Germanic groups tended to refer to the Gaels as Scottas and so when Anglo-Saxon influence grew at court with Duncan II, the Latin Rex Scottorum began to be used and the realm was known as Scotland. Eventually, 'Scot' and 'Scottish' came to refer to all inhabitants of Scotland, whether Gaelic or not. Germanic-speakers in Scotland began to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse (meaning "Irish").
Population
Kinship groups
In traditional Gaelic society, a patrilineal kinship group is referred to as a clann or, in Ireland, a fine.Ó Dónaill, Niall (1992). Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla. Dublin, Ireland: An Gúm. Both in technical use signify a dynastic grouping descended from a common ancestor, much larger than a personal family, which may also consist of various kindreds and septs. (Fine is not to be confused with the term fian, a 'band of roving men whose principal occupations were hunting and war, also a troop of professional fighting-men under a leader; in wider sense a company, number of persons; a warrior (late and rare)').
Using the Munster-based Eóganachta as an example, members of this clann claim patrilineal descent from Éogan Mór. It is further divided into major kindreds, such as the Eóganacht Chaisil, Glendamnach, Áine, Locha Léin and Raithlind... These kindreds themselves contain septs that have passed down as Irish Gaelic surnames, for example the Eóganacht Chaisil includes O'Callaghan, MacCarthy, O'Sullivan and others.
The Irish Gaels can be grouped into the following major historical groups; Connachta (including Uí Néill, Clan Colla, Uí Maine, etc.), Dál gCais, Eóganachta, Érainn (including Dál Riata, Dál Fiatach, etc.), Laigin and Ulaid (including Dál nAraidi). In the Highlands, the various Gaelic-originated clans tended to claim descent from one of the Irish groups, particularly those from Ulster. The Dál Riata (i.e. – MacGregor, MacDuff, MacLaren, etc.) claimed descent from Síl Conairi, for instance.. Some arrivals in the High Middle Ages (i.e. – MacNeill, Buchanan, Munro, etc.) claimed to be of the Uí Néill. As part of their self-justification; taking over power from the Norse-Gael MacLeod in the Hebrides; the MacDonalds claimed to be from Clan Colla.
Genetics
A 2009 genetic study recorded the world's highest frequencies of Haplogroup R-M269 among populations on the Atlantic fringes of northwestern Europe; including the Irish (85%), Scots, Welsh, Bretons and Basques.
R-L21, a sub-group of R-M269, is dominant among males of Gaelic ancestry, reaching a peak frequency of 94% in western Ireland. The world's highest frequencies of lactase persistence (the ability to digest milk into adulthood), and hereditary haemochromatosis, are also found among Irish people of Gaelic ancestry.
In 2016, an archaeogenetics study analyzing ancient DNA found that Bronze Age men buried on Rathlin Island between 2000–1500 BC were most genetically similar to the modern Irish, Scots and Welsh. They all belonged to Haplogroup R-L21 and had the gene for lactase persistence; one also had the gene for hereditary haemochromatosis. This shows that the genetic traits associated with the Gaels, and the Insular Celts as a whole, had emerged by 4,000 years ago. The study's authors suggested that the proto-Celtic language, ancestral to the Gaelic languages, may have arrived around this time.
Developments in genetic genealogy have allowed geneticists to link genetic subclades with specific Gaelic kindred groups (and their surnames), vindicating elements of Gaelic genealogy as found in works such as the Leabhar na nGenealach. For example, the Uí Néill (O'Neill, O'Donnell, Gallagher, etc.), are associated with R-M222 and the Dál gCais (O'Brien, McMahon, Kennedy, etc.) are associated with R-L226.
A 2017 genetic study, the "Irish DNA Atlas", shows that the Irish population can be divided into ten geographic genetic clusters; seven of Gaelic Irish ancestry, and three of shared Irish-British ancestry. The differences between the Gaelic clusters are small, and are "surprisingly faithful to the historical boundaries of Irish provinces and kingdoms". These clusters are "Ulster" in the northwest, "Connacht" in the west and midlands, "North Munster" (corresponding to historical Thomond), "South Munster" (corresponding to historical Desmond), "Leinster" (corresponding to the historical kingdom), "Central Ireland", and "Dublin". The Gaelic "Ulster" cluster shows the biggest genetic distance from Britain; this was the region that remained outside English control for the longest. The study also showed that a cluster in Argyll in western Scotland is genetically closer to the Gaelic Irish clusters than the other Scottish clusters. This area was historically Gaelic-speaking (part of the kingdom of Dál Riata).