Digital repository of resources for students of Manx

Some of our long-time learnmanx.com users may be familar with Gailck-Hasht; a digital repository of resources for students of Manx, created by Manx speaker and teacher Paul Rogers. Gailck-Hasht has moved and is now to be found in the Manx Language section of the De Linguis Language Tuition Website (www.delinguis.com) 

There is a "Fockleyryn" (Dictionaries) section containing links to Manx dictionaries old and modern, on various websites or in pdf format including a pdf version of J. J. Kneen's Pronouncing Dictionary. There are also links to useful Irish and Scottish dictionaries.

There is a "Teksyn" (Texts) section which contains pdf documents of texts written in Manx arranged in chronological order from the earliest example - Bishop Phillips' Prayer Book of 1610, through the 18th and 19th centuries up to the early 20th century. These texts have either been written by native speakers or by people who had learnt from native speakers when Manx was the language of the majority of the community. Although predominantly religious in nature, there are also secular texts such as the stories by Ned Beg Hom Ruy, or acts of Tynwald publicised in Manx. Of particular interest are the "1821-1872 - Meeryn Gailckagh veih ny pabyryn naight" - letters in Manx that were printed in the Manx newspapers, collected by Chris Lewin. These letters are valuable in that they are not translations from English, but have been composed in Manx by Manx speakers and represent some of the richest idiomatic and most natural Manx prose we have, and together with the stories of Ned Beg provide an excellent model for writing in Manx today. Many of the texts in the Teksyn section are bilingual with the Manx and English texts side by side.

Finally there is an "Artyn" (Articles) section containing various articles and papers written generally in English about the Manx Language. Of particular use to students is the Bun as Bree series by Chris Lewin about Manx grammar, pronunciation and usage. Each edition has been listed with a summary of the points covered, so if you know you read about relative clauses somewhere but can't remember where, then Gailck-Hasht can help you find it! There are also interesting articles by George Broderick about Manx folk songs and place names as well as academic studies that are very useful for Manx learners and teachers alike such as "Counting things in the Manx Bible" and "Variation in Manx Lenition" by Max Wheeler.

delinguis.com

Published: Mon, 19 May 2025