Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum. Vol. 2

This second part of our work includes the ancient inscriptions in the Celtic languages, or in Latin, written in the Half-Uncial character; the script of Saxon and Irish MSS., which is altogether Christian so far as the islands are concerned. It is the immediate parent of the alphabet in whose letters the Irish language has been written and printed down to the present day, but fundamentally there was nothing essentially 'Irish' about it — it was merely an adaptation of the cursive script of Latin of about the fourth century A.D., and doubtless was originally carried into Northern Europe by Christian Missionaries and their attendant scribes.