The Speech of the Angels

Padraic Brown <pbrown@...> wrote:
 "Sounds a bit like Shelta and the Travellers in Ireland. One theory I'd read
about them is that they stem from families who were dispossesed of their homes
(for whatever reason) and took to life on the road. I'm not too familliar with
what the language is composed of, but it's a good bet that Irish and English
make up a fair portion of the vocabulary. I _think_ the grammar was essentially
English."

 The best reference on this topic is MacAlister, R.A. Stewart, 1937: "The
Secret Languages of Ireland, with special reference to the origin and nature of
the Shelta Language, partly based upon Collections and Manuscripts of the late
John Sampson, Litt. D., Sometime Librarian of the University of Liverpool.
Cambridge: The University Press." I STRONGLY recommend this book for all of you
conlangers, especially those of you who have been infected with the Celtic bug,
because it is an extremely informative and even entertaining read. Few write
like MacAlister did.

 I mentioned this great book on AUXLANG about two or three months ago, but
AUXLANG was not the right forum for it (what was it that Matthew said?
Margaritas ante porcos...); at the time I wrote
 I have discovered a reference to a few phrases from a unknown language, ... it
appears in an life of an apostle, originally composed in Syriac, which survives
only in a Middle Irish copy. Consequently this "Speech of the Angels" is very,
very old. It may even predate Abbess Hildegard's celebrated "Lingua Ignota."
        Please take a look at
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~haberl/angels.html


 Please, take a look at the references above and tell me what you think of the
"Speech of the Angels." I would be interested to hear a CONLANG perspective on
this phenomenon.

-Chollie



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