‘For the better edifying of all degrees’: Continuity and innovation in the language of Manx catechisms

As in other early modern European vernaculars, translated catechisms played a key role in the development of Manx literature. In addition to two translations (c. 1610, 1765) of the brief catechism included in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, a number of longer catechetical texts were published in Manx in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including the first printed book in the language (1707). All of these were translated from English, sometimes appearing in dual-language editions. The translators of these catechisms appear to have faced few major lexical challenges: it is evident that an extensive vernacular terminology for theological and ecclesiastical concepts was already in use, which could be supplemented by paraphrase, semantic adaptation or borrowing where needed. Still, divergences from wider Gaelic usage attest to the sociohistorical situation of the Isle of Man, as well as shifts of doctrine and devotional practice occasioned by the Reformation.