Input and compilation/Languages/Gaelic

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Last modified: 2026-01-07

There’s preliminary support for Irish Gaelic (ga) in ConTeXt.

We have hyphenation patterns (the same as LaTeX, as of 2026-01-07) and fall back to English typographic settings. Translated labels or a setup for Scottish/Manx Gaelic are still missing. Please inquire on the mailing list if you need it and can offer expertise.

Otherwise you just need a suitable font that has insular characters and (combining) dot accents.

Here are some resources:

% needs the Gadelica fonts installed

\mainlanguage[ga]

\starttypescript [serif] [gadelica]
  \setup[font:fallback:serif]
  \definefontsynonym [Serif]       [file:gadelica] [features=default]
  \definefontsynonym [SerifItalic] [file:gadelicacursiva] [features=default]
  \definefontsynonym [SerifBold]   [file:gadelicagravis] [features=default]
\stoptypescript

\definetypeface [gadelica] [rm] [serif] [gadelica] [default]

\setupbodyfont[gadelica]

\starttext

%{\tf Gadelica}
%{\it Gadelica Cursiva}
%{\bf Gadelica Gravis}

\startlines
Ba ġnáċ mé ag siúl le ciuṁais na haḃann,
Ar ḃáinseaċ úr ’s an drúċt go trom,
In aice na gcoillte i gcoim an tsléiḃe,
Gan ṁairg gan ṁoill ar ṡoilse an lae.
\stoplines

\quotation{Do scríoḃas go mionċruinn ar a lán dár gcúrsaí a d’ḟonn go
mbeaḋ cuiṁne i mball éigin orṫu, agus do ṫugas iarraċt ar
ṁeon na ndaoine do ḃí im ṫimpeall do ċur síos ċuin go mbeaḋ
a dtuairisc ’ár ndiaiḋ, mar ná beiḋ ár leiṫéidí arís ann.}

\stoptext