PREFACE.
Although the grammatical system of Old Irish is now fairly well established, very little systematic work has as yet been done at the grammar of the later periods of the language. It had long been my intention to undertake some investigations on the history of the Irish language, and accordingly, when, on the lamented death of the late Professor Strachan, Professor Kuno Meyer suggested to me to take up “The Language of the Annals of Ulster” as a subject for a dissertation for the M.A. degree of Manchester University, I thought it well to treat the material at my disposal from an historical point of view. Whilst keeping this before me, I have not in the present volume deemed it advisable to deal with the whole of Old- and Early Middle-Irish grammar beyond comparing the material of the Annals with that of contemporary documents. In the course of the work, I endeavour to show that the Annals, from the early eighth century onwards, consist of a chronicle taken from contemporary records, and so may be expected to afford a means of dating various Irish documents from the eighth to the eleventh century.
Before proceeding to thank those from whom I have received kind assistance and encouragement, I wish, first of all, to place on record my indebtedness to the great scholar to whose memory this book is dedicated, for a valuable training in the scientific study of Old Irish, and for his many important papers on Irish grammar which have served as my guide.
My best thanks are due to Professor Kuno Meyer, of
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