Thursday 23 November 2017

Gaelic in Ayrshire Part 1


Siorramachd Inbhir Àir (Ayrshire) agus Gàidhealtachd na Carraige (Carrick).
The following article is a translation of the original Gaelic article written by Girvan MacKay which appeared in the magazine Gairm.

MacAoidh, G. (1979). Gàidhlig ann an Siorramachd Inbhir-Àir. Gairm. 106, 134-40.

When the daughter of our old school master married, she left the island and went to live in Irvine, Ayrshire. The last time we heard from her she said that she couldn't keep up with the number of people in the town that wanted to learn Gaelic. They heard that she was a Skye woman and a number of people came to her asking her to teach "our old language" to them. As she had studied Gaelic at Higher level, she was not unwilling and she started a small class.

Now, Irvine is bang in the middle of the area that the call "Burns Country", and if anyone thinks, (particularly Ayrshire folk) about the speech of area, it's Scots, or at least a mixture of Scots and English, like that which Burns used, that comes to mind. If we look carefully at the map of Ayrshire we'll see that the majority of place-names are Gaelic. There are English place-names there too, especially in the North, but these are neither the oldest, nor the most common in the area. The further we go towards South Ayrshire and Carrick, the more scarce the English names become and the more common the Gaelic names become and the more it becomes clear that Carrick was the heart of the Southern Gàidhealtachd (Gaelic speaking area), and in an era not too far from us that part of the country was more Gaelic than the Western Isles. The people of Irvine were therefore correct when they said that they wanted to learn "our old language".

Certainly its not too far back in the history of Scotland that the people of Ayrshire ceased to speak Gaelic. It's surprising how long the language endured in the South. In the book Leabhar Bàrdachd na Gàidhlig, t.d.  xxi, Dr William Watson wrote:

"As regards to the geographical distribution, we find no poets south of the Firth or Clyde: Gaelic was becoming obsolescent in Galloway and Ayrshire by the beginning of the modern period i.e. ca. (1600).

"Dr T. M. Murray Lyon, Edinburgh  has informed me of a note left by his father, as follows; 'My grand-aunt, Jean MacMurray, who died in 1836 at the age of 87, has informed me that Margaret MacMurray, the representative of the elder branch of the MacMurrays of Cultzeon, near Maybole, who died at a very advanced age about the year 1760, was long talked of as having been the last Gaelic-speaking native of Carrick.' Robert was born near Ayr in 1759 - 'upon the Carrick border' ".

However, the dear doctor was not completely correct at all when he said that the language was becoming 'obsolescent' as early as that. On the authority of papers such as "The Persistence of Gaelic in Galloway and Carrick" (W.L. Lorimer), and other sources, Pádraig Ó Snodaigh attested in his book Hidden Ulster that Gaelic was spoken in the South of Scotland as late as the nineteenth century at least. Someone once said to me that there were a small handful of people Gaelic speakers alive in Galloway in our own century (i.e. 20th century). Ó Snodaigh wrote as follows;

"Always to be remembered in the context of the language question is that the Gaelic language was spoken over a much wider area of Scotland in the 17th. century than is often realised. Galloway and Ayrshire, for example - areas from which many of the Scottish planters came - were to a considerable extent Gaelic-speaking then (T.F. O'Rahilly, Irish Dialects Past and Present, pp. 161-164); it is said that the last record Gaelic speaker in Carrick, Ayrshire, died as late as 1760, though there is evidence for continuity in the area much later than that [W.J. Watson, Bàrdachd Ghàidhlig, for the Carrick reference. But old people still spoke Gaelic in Glen Barr in 1820; an elderly woman spoke it in Ballantrae c. 1830; and Alexander Murray (1775 - 1813), sometime professor of Oriental Languages at Edinburgh University - a herd's son from Kirkcudbright - had Gaelic as his first language (A. Archibald, Letters to Me, October, 1972)].

Gàidhealtachd na Carraige (Carrick): Looking out to Creag Aillse (Ailsa Craig) from Tùrnbuirg (Turnberry)
We have evidence therefore that Gaelic was spoken in Glen Barr, close to Girvan, and in Ballantrae. 

There are Gaelic place-name elements in some of the most common names of the map of the Scottish mainland, e.g.: 

Achadh - Field
Allt - Stream
Baile - Town
Bàrr - Summit, peak 
Bealach - Mountain pass
Beinn - Mountain
Beith - Birch
Cathair -  City
Carraig - Rock
Cill(e) - Chapel, Church, Cell
Cnoc - Hill 
Coire - Corrie
Craobh - Tree
Cùil - Recess
Dail - Field
Darach - Oak
Dealg -  Pin
Driseag - Thorn bush
Druim - Ridge
Dubh - Black
Dùn - Fort
Eaglais - Church
Eala - Tomb, sepulchre
Eun - Bird
Gall - Foreigner
Gart - Field 
Gleann - Glen
Iubhar - Yew
Leac - Flagstone
Lag - Hollow
Lèana - Water meadow
Linn - Deep pool
Loch - Lake
Magh - Plain 
Maol -  Mull, rounded promontory
Peighinn - Pennyland
Roinn - Partition
Sràid - Street
Sròn - Promontory (lit. Nose)
Tiobar (Tobar) - Well
Tòrr - Mound
Tràigh - Beach

As there were no recording devices around before the last native speaker died, we cannot be sure what the Gaelic of Ayrshire sounded like. Perhaps we can learn something from the form of place-names in English. However, there are sounds that are not at all certain. At any rate, the majority of Gaelic place-names here are easily recognisable, even in English form, and the sound is not massively different from the words as they would have been heard in other parts of the Gàidhealtachd where the language was not too extensive or too rare.

To be continued in Part 2...

Thursday 16 November 2017

"The Gaelic of Galloway and the South of Scotland" Part 2

A digitised version of the original hand drawn by Gaelic map of Galloway, Carrick & Cumbria by Girvan MacKay.

The following article is a translation of the original Gaelic article written by Girvan MacKay which appeared in the magazine Gairm.

MacAoidh, G. (1977-8). Gàidhlig Ghallghallaibh agus Alba-a-Deas. Gairm. 101, 83-89.

Continued from Part 1


Theses elements can be found in many place-names in the Lowlands: Bail' an Tràigh (Ballantrae), Machair na Sgitheig (The name for Cairnryan prior to the 18th century when the Post Office changed it), Loch Ruighinn (Loch Ryan), Na Roinnean (The Rhinns), Sròn Reamhair (Stranraer), Port Phàdraig (Port Patrick), Gleann Luis (Glenluce), Bàigh Luis (Luce Bay), Port Lagain ( Port Logan), Maol nan Gall (Mull of Galloway), Na Machraichean (The Machars), Gleann an t-Sruthail (Glentrool), Gleann Càin (Glenkens), Fleòd (Fleet), Taigh Mhàrtainn (The old name for Whithorn according to D.D.C. Pouchin Mould: Scotland of the Saints), Càrn Eideird (Cairn Edward), Loch Dùin (Loch Doon), Dail Meallain (Dalmellington), Dùn Phrìs (Dumfries; Although apparently this name is incorrect; Drumfries can be seen in older records - Druim Phrìs) Dornag (Dornock).

It's surprising that this last place, Dornag (Dornock) is so close to the border, and even on the other side in England we can see a Gaelic name or two: Cardurnock (Cathair Dornaig - City of the First Sized Stone), Glassan (Glasan - Green Place), Drumburg (Druim Burgh - Burgh of the Ridge), Eden (Aodann - Face), Glendhu (Gleann Dubh - Black Valley).

Back over on this side again, there are plenty of names that are very Gaelic, even close to Ayr (Inbhir Àir) to the North and Ananndale (Srath Anainn) and Nithsdale (Srath Nuadh) to the East: Magh Baoghaill (Maybole), Eaglais Fiachain (Ecclefechan), Eunach (Enoch), Bàrr Daingneach (Bardennoch), Druim Lannraig (Drumlanrig), Druim Sionnach ( Drumshinnoch), Meurach (Merrock), Loch Móna (Loch Moan), Crìoch or Crìche (Cree), Loch an t-Suidhe (Loch Suie), Lothair (Lowther), Lag Uaine (Lagwine), Poll Madaidh (Polmaddie), Cnoc Greighe (Knock Grey), Cnoc nam Ban (Knockban), Uileanna/Uilne (Willianna), Dail Cheathairn ( Dalquhern), Am Bogha (The Bow), Am Meall (The Meaul), A' Chreig (The Craig), Càrn 'n Abhaill (Carnavel), Creag nan Gillean (Craigengillan), Fhionnghlas (Finlas), Beinn Bhreac (Benbrack), Achadh nam Breac (Auchenbrack), Achadh na Boinne (Achenbainzie), Dail Uaine (Dalwine), Loch nam Muc (Loch Muck), Srath Aibhne (Strathaven), Dail Seangain (Dalshangan), Druim Buidhe (Drambuie), Sròn (Stroan), Gleann an Ceàrd (Glencaird), Baoghan (Buchan), Bàrr Grianain (Bargrennann), Meall Eighe (Milyea), Baile MhicIlleFhinnein (Balmaclellan, founded in 1466 AD), Gleann Lighe (Glenlee), Ceann Mór (Kenmure).

2) Gaelic Words in Local Speech

Here are some of the words that are, or at least were, common in the speech of the local populace: Bealltainn (May Day), crùisgean (oil lamp), ciste (chest, possibly via Scots), ceir (tail), dreug (mare), mart (cow), àird (point of the compass), bean-sìthe (banshee), gobhlachan (earwig; lit. little forked object), Lùnastal (Lammas Day/August), lochan (small loch), féileadh beag (kilt), seun (magic/charm), taom (splash), brat (carpet/mat), céis (farrow sow), claist (listen), clamhsa (close e.g. of a tennament, via Scots), cog (drinking vessel), creag (rock or cliff), cròn (swarthy), dinn (cram), diamharan (hermit), fàl (scythe), gad (withe), cubhag (cuckoo), griosach (something roasted), càl (cabbage), cnapag (shinty ball), cnoc (hill), lod (small pool), làr (floor), linn (deep pool), lùb (bend or curve), làmh (hand), mol (praise), pàirc (field), prìne (pin) preas (bush), stùr (stoor); the last four examples likely coming from Gaelic via English or from Scots.

Ceann mu Dheas (Southend): Where possibly the closest recorded dialect to Lowland Gaelic was spoken.

3) Gaelic of Southend, Kintyre

Examples of this dialect can be found in pages 106-116 of the book The Gaelic of Kintyre by Nils Holmer (Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, 1962). Holmer wrote the following about this dialect: "The Gaelic was always said to be more 'Irish' than in any other part of Kintyre... The thing which first strikes the observer... is the retention of the voiced g, b, d, in all positions, e.g. drochaid (DrOXidzh), bodach (boDaX), maide briste (mèdhze brisht'e: 'fire-tongs'), rodagach (rodeagaX) 'bog myrtle', deich mionaidean (dzheç minedzhen)... The original voiced sounds were always distinct from the corresponding voiceless sounds (c, p, t)... Aon (e : n), 'one' is still heard from Southend speakers as an indefinite pronoun... naoi(dh) Ne: 'nine'... Bainne (ben'e) and maide (medzhe)... also represent the modern pronunciation, but teine  (tshin'e)... if correct, is Irish... further the use of e, i for ö in the words oidhche (i : çe), coilleach (kel'aX), maol (me : l)*... Some words are not used by other speakers today, as: maide briste... which is common in the Glens of Antrim, deich mionaidean a dh'easbhaidh do (ten minutes [wanting] to), tarraing an fhraoich 'heath rush', ainmidh 'horse'... eclipsis in Eilean nan Caorach (ilen (n)e gE : reX)


In the examples of conversation we have in this book, we can see how alike this Southern dialect of Scottish Gaelic and the Irish of Ulster and of Rathlin Island were. Occasionally there is a Manx accent on a word or two, e.g. d instead of g in the word tig (tid): Xa dshid for "cha tig" (Cf. Manx Gaelic eeast for iasg i.e. "fish"). As in the Lowlands, o was used instead of a e.g. smolan (smalan). On page 116 we read The Lord's Prayer in the Gaelic of Southend, Kintyre and the phonetic sound is surprisingly like that of Irish. (It is clear that the Gaelic of the Lowlands was very Irish also e.g. "brack" for "breac" in place-names.) We find plenty of Irish words in the Southern dialect, e.g. fiafraich (feòraich)  from Southend, Kintyre; cos (cas; foot), capull (each; horse), madadh (cù; dog) among others from Galloway. 

If we put these clues altogether, we'll have a good picture of the Gaelic spoken in Galloway and the South right down to the Scottish Borders and even over the other side. The English veneer is very thin in this quarter, and it's clear there's no other language in this country of ours that's as "national" as Gaelic. 

*C.f. Rathlin

Bibliography for Further Research 

A Forgotten Heritage, Hannah Aitken, Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh, 1973.

Remains of Galloway and Nithsdale Song, R.H. Cromek, London, 1810.

Dumfries and Galloway Naturalist and Antiquarian Society Transactions, The Gallovidian Encylopedia, John MacTaggart, London, 1824.

Aids to the Pronunciation of Irish, Christian Brothers, M.H. Gill & Son Ltd., Dublin, 1922.

Foclóir Béarla agus Gaedhilge, L. McCionnaith, Oifig Dhíolta Foillseacháin Rialtais, Dublin, 1935. 

The Gaelic of Kintyre, Nils Holmer, Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies, 1962.

Scotland of the Saints, James B. Johnston, John Murray, London, 1934.

Witchcraft in South-West Scotland, T. Maxwell-Wood, J. Maxwell & Son, Dumfries, 1911.

Saturday 11 November 2017

"The Gaelic of Galloway and the South of Scotland" Part 1

Càrn Mór a' Charsa Fheàrna (Cairnmore of Carsphairn): The Big Mountain of the Fertile Tract of Alder 

The following article is a translation of the original Gaelic article written by Girvan MacKay which appeared in the magazine Gairm.

MacAoidh, G. (1977-8). Gàidhlig Ghallghallaibh agus Alba-a-Deas. Gairm. 101, 83-89.

When I married a girl from the Scottish Lowlands (Galloway), I didn't know that that area was one of the most Gaelic areas in the history of Scotland, despite the fact that a word of Gaelic will rarely be heard there today. We see this clearly if we look at a map of the South of Scotland. It should be remembered that Old Galloway consisted of the area now known as Dumfries & Galloway as well as the area of Carrick, which is now part of [South] Ayrshire. It could be said that the Scottish Gàidhealtachd (Gaelic speaking area) of old once stretched from Sutherland in the North-West to the border with Cumberland in the South. 

The etymology of vernacular speech is a bit like archaeology. When Orientalist archaeologists excavated renowned historical sites such as Jerusalem and Jericho, they discovered that those ancient cities were built upon strata. In Jerusalem for example there were Jebusite, pre-Davidic, post-Davidic, Solomonic, post-Exilic, Seleucidic, Roman and Ottoman strata. Each civilisation or culture built its own town on the ancient site without wiping out the previous town. It seems that the language of humankind is to be found everywhere, and we good examples can be found in the place-names of the Scottish Lowlands. On top of the stratum of Old Celtic (Cumbric and Pictish) there is a stratum of Norse and Gaelic and on top of that there is a new stratum of English and Scots. Out of all these strata it is the stratum of Gaelic which is the greatest and most widespread. 

However if the native Gaelic of the Scottish Lowlands died a number of years ago, can we find out what it was like, and revive Southern Gaelic? It's out conjecture in this article that we certainly can piece together this 'dead' speech as, in a sense, it did not die out completely. There are three keys or clues to unravel this problem:


  1. Place-names;
  2. Gaelic words in local speech;
  3. The Gaelic of Southend in Kintyre (The part of the Gàidhealtachd closest to the Lowlands; the place from which a good number of families came to cultivate the land.)
 In the first instance, let's see the relationship between Lowland Gaelic and other dialects. We can show it like a family-tree:



*It's clear that there is a relationship between the Gaelic of Mann, Scotland and Ulster, however in this work this question is not being explored.
Now, one at a time, let's look at the clues we have:

1) Gaelic words in local place-names.

This is but sample of the large number to be found in Galloway:


Abhainn - River
Abhall - Fruit tree
Achadh - Field
Aodann - Face, used to describe geographical features i.e. aodann creige - a rock face.
Baile - Town or village (From the year 1466 onwards)
Bàrr - Apex or summit
Bealach - (mountain) Pass
Bean - Woman
Boinne - Drop, small amount of liquid
Bradan - Salmon
Breac - Speckled, Trout
Buidhe - Yellow
Càin - Tribute, duty, tariff
Capall - Horse, usually mare in other Scottish Gaelic dialects.
Cathair - City, Chair
Càrn - Mountain, usually means a cairn of pile of stone in other dialects.
Carraig - Rock
Ceann - Head
Ceàrd - Tinker
Cille - Chapel (Cell)
Clais - Furrow
Cnoc - Hille
Coille - Woods
Coire - Corry (Geographical feature), cauldren
Cos - Foot, usually cas in other dialects.
Creag - Rock
Crìoch - Boundary or border
Cuach - Goblet or "quaich"
Cùl - Back, hind part
Dail - Meadow
Daingneach - Stronghold
Dòrnag - (fist sized) Stone
Dubh - Black
Dùn - Hillfort
Eaglais - Church
Eigh - Ice
Eun - Bird
Fionn - Fionn
Gall - Foreigner, Lowlander
Gàrradh - Dyke, wall
Geàrr - Short
Glas - Green, Grey
Gleann - Glen, Valley
Gobhar - Goat
Greigh - Flock
Grian - Sun
Lag(an) - Hollow(s)
Lighe - Place of stagnating water
Linn - A deep pool
Loch - Loch, lake
Lod - pool, pond, marsh
Lòn - Marshy meadow
Lus - Plant
Machair - Plains
Madadh - Dog, usually in other dialects.
Magh - Level country, plain
Maol - Bare, blunt, a rounded promontory (i.e. a mull, e.g. Mull of Kintyre)
Meall - Pile, heap
Meur - Finger
Mòine - Peat
Monadh - Moor
Mòr - Large, great
Muc - Pig
Nuaidh - New
Pàirc - Field
Poll - Mud, hole
Port - Port
Preas - Bush, thicket
Reamhar - Fat (adj.)
Roinn - Section or portion
Sean - Old
Seangan - Ant
Sgitheag - Femail fairy
Sidhe - Fairy
Sionnach - Fox
Sloc - Pit
Srath - A wide valley
Sròn - Nose or promontory
Stuth - Stuff
Suidhe - Seat
Tarbh - Bull
Tigh - House, usually taigh in other dialects.
Tòrr - Heap or mound.
Uaine - Green
Uilleann - Elbow

To be continued in Part 2

Monday 6 November 2017

"Gaelic was never spoken here!"

The primary myth that gets banded about with regards to Gaelic in the Lowlands. Leaving aside the Northern Isles of Orkney and Shetland that were not acquired by the Kingdom of Scotland until late in the 15th century, its a myth that is not really applicable to anywhere in Scotland. 

Tied in with this myth is often a misunderstanding of both Scotland's origins as a nation as well as a misunderstanding of the role each language has played in Scotland's long, and very multilingual, history.

Opponents of Gaelic in the North East of Scotland often cite the existence of the Pictish language as a counterweight to Gaelic. Let's put aside the fact that the Pictish language is long since extinct and so few examples of it survive that scholars are unable to reach a consensus as to what kind of language it may have been.

This assertion ignores the linguistic decline of the Pictish language in the time of the Picts themselves. By the time the Gaels of Dalriada and the Picts united their kingdoms to form the Kingdom of Alba it is widely held that the Picts themselves had long since adopted the language of their compatriots to be. 

This very fact alone illustrates the importance of Gaelic to Scotland. Without Gaelic, there simply would have been no Scotland. The language was simply the very essence of the creation of the nation.

The new kingdom's boundaries North of the Forth and the Clyde were not to last too long and the Kingdom expanded, swallowing up the former territories of the Britons and the Angles to the South.

With the acquisition of new territories came the acquisition of new subjects speaking their own languages. The Angles in the South East of Scotland, in what is now Lothian and the Borders, were a Germanic people who spoke the Anglic language, or Old English. This is the language from which Modern English descends and, through its Northern variety as spoken in Scotland, from which the Scots language descends.

The Britons in the South West were a Celtic people who spoke the Cumbric language, which shares a common ancestor with Modern Welsh, Cornish and Breton in the Brythonic language. Theses languages are of the P-Celtic branch, as opposed to Scottish Gaelic, Irish and Manx which belong to the Q-Celtic branch.

As the map shows, by 1000 AD Cumbric was already in retreat under heavy pressure from Gaelic, to which it would eventually succumb. The legacy of the Cumbric Language in Scotland can be seen through the wealth of place-names of Cumbric origin in the South of Scotland. 

Anglic would prove to be more resilient than Cumbric. From its South Eastern base, it would eventually spread across the Lowlands, even into certain parts of the Highlands, and would supplant Gaelic as the language of the Scottish Court. However, before its almighty march to prominence and subsequent fall from grace post-1707, the Scots language was, for a long time, a minority language in predominantly Gaelic speaking nation.

During this time, Gaelic was the language of the court and the language of officialdom. Perceptions from the modern Anglosphere can often lead to a distorted view that monolingualism is the norm. Just as it is not the norm now, neither was it then. While Anglic, which itself had earlier supplanted Brythonic from the South East, may have been the language of the people, it operated in a Gaelic world. Multilingualism would very much have been a fact of life and therefore Gaelic very much had relevance. 

The other minority language that was spoke in Scotland at this time was the Norse language, the ancestor language to modern Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic and Faroese. The language was brought to the islands and coastal of the North and West by colonising Norsemen. It would supplant the native Gaelic of these areas before eventually being supplanted itself by Gaelic.

The Norse language leaves us a vast legacy through a wealth of place names and loan words, many of which are commonly used in Gaelic today. Even the accent and pronunciation of many dialects of Scottish Gaelic still exhibit the influence of the Norse language today. The descendant of the Old Norse language, Norn, was formerly spoken in Orkney, Shetland and Caithness. The language lingered on until the at least the mid 19th century 

Opponents of Gaelic in Caithness often use the area's Norse heritage as a counterweight to the Gaelic language. While the acknowledgement of, and celebration of this Norse heritage is admirable, it need not be at the expense of the areas Gaelic heritage. This illustrates a key misunderstanding of Scotland's origins. The country was forged together with many different peoples and languages, Gaelic being at the heart of that. If Scotland's beginnings were in a multilingual, multicultural mix, why shouldn't her future be?

Embracing Scotland's Gaelic heritage need not be to the expense of other heritage and cultures of what ever part of Scotland you might hail. In fact, it only adds to the richness of it. However, to deny the Gaelic heritage of Scotland is to deny her very essence. It's time the Lowlands woke up to this.

My next series of articles will focus on Scotland's Southern Gàidhealtachd of Galloway and Carrick where I'll be looking at the legacy this has left us and what the language might have been like.






Purpose of this blog

The purpose of this blog is to help dispel some of the myths that still surround the subject of Gaelic and the Lowlands of Scotland. We've all heard them. One that is all too common: "Gaelic was never spoken here." Despite the wealth of evidence of Gaelic in the Lowlands of Scotland, the Lowlands' Gaelic history and heritage seems to have slipped out of the consciousness of many Scots. 

Throughout this blog I'm going to be looking back at the evidence we do have and exploring what this can tell us about where, how and by whom Gaelic was spoken in the Lowland areas. We'll also be looking at the Lowlands' place in the wider Gaelic world and what impact and relevance the area's Gaelic heritage has for its people today. 

I hope you'll find this blog interesting and informative and I very much hope that this can go some way to altering some of the preconception we have about the language and culture's place in the Lowlands.