"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 cù 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