Gaelicization or Gaelicisation is the act or process of making something Gaelic. As Gaelic today is primarily a linguistic concept, this usually refers to language, but can refer to the transmission of any Gaelic cultural feature.

Historically, this was a "natural" process, and was the famous fate of the Picts, many of the Hiberno-Normans and Scoto-Normans, and perhaps most famously of all, the people who became known as the Norse-Gaels. Today, Gaelicization is more often an artificial process, particularly present in Ireland, whereby placenames, surnames and given names are Gaelicized, or more often, re-Gaelicized, in order to prevent the further decline of the modern language.

See also

• Goidelic languages: Irish, Scottish and Manx Gaelic
• Norman Ireland
• Norse-Gaels
• Scotland in the High Middle Ages
• Statutes of Kilkenny

Bibliography

• Ball, Martin J, & Fife, James, (eds.), The Celtic Languages (Routledge Language Family Descriptions Series), (2002)

Cultural assimilation | Goidelic languages | History of Ireland | History of Scotland | Linguistics | Transliteration | Word coinage

Gaélicisation