Gaelic

The History of Gaelic

Around 2000 years ago, the Gaels, a Celtic tribe from Central Europe’s Rhineland, fled the Roman conquest to settle in the north of Ireland. 500 years later, Irish settlers crossed the Northern Channel to make a home in Argyll (Gaelic meaning Coast of the Gaels) in a place that became the Kingdom of Dàl Raita. These Gaels brought their language and culture with them and their integration into the communities of what is now Scotland was so successful that Gaelic flourished far and wide to become Scotland’s mother tongue.

In 1609, James VI of Scotland (I England) enacted the Statutes of Iona which compelled Highland “gentlemen” to send their sons to the Lowlands to be educated in English and learn the Protestant way of life. The Statutes were part of a plan to integrate English into the Scottish culture and curb the “barbarism” of the Highlanders.

In 1616, English teaching schools were established across Scotland. The Jacobite rebellions of 1715 and 1745 led to further mistrust of the Gaelic language and teaching in schools across the country was limited in the main to English.

By 1755, less than 23% of Scotland’s population spoke Gaelic. Clearances of the Highlands, World Wars and the Education (Scotland) Act 1872, which completely ignored the Gaelic language, further eroded the use of the language across the nation and, in 2000, a national study by a team of experts at the University of the Highlands and Islands warned that the language was on the verge of complete collapse. 

By 2011, a mere 1.1% (60,000) of the Scottish population was found to be fluent in Gaelic. Over the decades, national censuses show that levels of Gaelic speakers on Skye fell from 74% in 1991 to 46% in 2011 and Kilmuir, in Skye’s far north east, remains the only parish outside the Western Isles that boasts more than 40% of Gaelic speakers at 46%.

Despite the decline, Gaelic remains alive and well in Scottish cultural activities. Music, dance, literature, sports, food, festivities and celebrations continue to distinguish a tradition that has been carried on by communities across the centuries, especially in the Western Isles and north west.

In 1973 Sir Ian Noble founded the National Centre for Gaelic Language and culture at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Sleat. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Language was ratified by UK Government in the early 2000s and led to the Gaelic Language Scotland Act 2005 which established Bòrd na Gàidhlig, a Government-funded body responsible for Gaelic’s development as an official language of Scotland. Gaelic medium schools have sprung up across the country, community outreach drives the language forward nationally, and even the popular learning app Duolingo has helped build a new international generation of Gaelic speakers and an increased uptake in those with a desire to learn the indigenous tongue of the Gaels.

The recent Gaelic revival is allowing the language to return to everyday life and it is very common to hear people speaking it in shops, restaurants, halls and homes across Skye, particularly in the Gaelic strongholds of Trotternish and Sleat.

Gaelic place names

One of the first races to inhabit Scotland is arguably the ancient Celtic tribe called the Picts who ruled Scotland from the late Iron age to the Early Medieval Period. It was not until the 9^th century BC that the Pictish people merged with the Gaels to begin a new era in the Kingdom of Scotland.

Viking raids of 8^th century and subsequent settlement over the next 400 years saw the toponymy and language of the Hebrides change. Confined in the main to the coastal settlements, most of the place names we use today along Skye’s coastline and islands have their origin in Old Norse and have been adopted into the Island’s vernacular, while the interior geology and islands remain mainly Gaelic.

Visitors to the Highlands would have noticed the road signage includes placenames in English and Gaelic. The inclusion of Gaelic placenames by the Highland Council is largely attributed to a man called Sir Ian Noble, whose passion for the language and culture led to a Gaelic revival on Skye and the establishment of the Centre for Gaelic Learning and Development at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Sleat.

The Gaels have a lovely way of expressing names for their mountains, rivers, glens and settlements. Some place names are hailed after people such as Ivor (Iomhair), Hugh (Uisdean); battles such as Couire Na Creiche (corry of the spoil after a bitter and bloody clan battle in 1601); and even diseases such as Coire Na Banachdaich (so named after the smallpox vaccination because of the pitted surfaces of the rocks)! There is also some Pictish, Anglo Saxon and Latin added to the mix, such as Crowling Islands by the bridge from the Latin crulinga (rocky hill).

Even if you do not have the Gaelic, it is relatively easy get an idea of the language by studying the road signs and working out the meaning of the recurring words.

Some place names on Skye and their meanings

Abhainn – River

Ach – Field – eg Achacork (Field of Oats)

Aig (suffix) - Bay

Aird – Promonotory – eg Aird Bernisdale – Promonotory of the Bear/Bjorn.

Aite – Place

Allt – Burn

Ard Dorch (Strath) – Ard (height) Dorch (dark) Height

Ashaig (Strath) – Aiseag – Ferry

Armadale (Sleat) – Arm (sea spur), dale (glen)

Balmore (Duisdale) - Baile (town) mòr (big)

Ballach (Trotternish) – Bealach (pass)

Blaven – Blà Bheinn – Blue (bla from Old Norse) Mountain (beinn)

Bornesketaig – Borgh (fortress or low hill) Sgiotaig (cape)

Braes – Am Bràighe (the hillsides)

Broadford – An t-àth Leathann – The broad ford

Camuscross – Camus (bay) Crois (cross)

Camustianavaig – Camas (bay) Tianabhaig (Dyn from Old Norse meaning noisy)

Ceann – head

Kilchrist (Strath) – Cille (church) Chriosd (Christ)

Colbost (Duirinish) – Cald (cold) bost (Old Norse for steading or farm)

Coruisk – Coire (corrie or cauldron) Uisg (water)

Cuillin – An Cuiltheann (Old Norse kjölen meaning ridges)

Fairy Bridge (Waternish) - Drocaid (bridge) Sìthean (fairies)

Druim na Cloich, Sconser – Druim (ridge) Clach/cloiche (stone)

Duirinish – Deer (Old Norse Dyr) Nis (headland)

Duisdale (Sleat) – Misty or gloomy (duis) dale

Dùn Caan (Raasay) – The white hill fort (from Latin canus)

Duntulm (Trotternish) – Dùn (fort) Thuilm (knoll or hillock)

Dunvegan – Dùn (fort) Bheagan (few)

Eas Mor, Glenbrittle – Eas (waterfall) Mòr (great)

Edinbane – An t-Aodann (pale hill) Bàn (face)

Ellishadder – A cave seat or residence (from Old Norse hellir, natural cave; seadar, a station or place)

Fanks – Na Fangan – sheep pens

Flodigarry – Flòdai (floating), gearraidh (enclosure)

Glamaig – Greedy woman

Glenbrittle – Gleann (valley) Bhreatail (Old Norse meaning broad valley)

Heaste – Heaste (horse farm)

Cnoc a’ Mhaidaih-Ruaidh (Kyleakin) - Cnoc (hill) Mhadaidh-Ruaidh (red fox)

Invertote (Trotternish) - Inbhir (confluence with the sea/estuary) Tobhta (ruins of a croft)

Inis – Island

Inver – meeting of the waters (estuary)

Kenseleyre (Trotternish) – Ceann (point/head) Sàil Eighre (gravel beach)

Kilmore (Sleat) – A Chille Mòr – The great church

Kylerhea (Strath) – Caol (Strait) Reitha (king)

Isle of Skye – An t-Eilean (the island) Sgitheanach (wings)

Kilmuir – A Chille (church) Mhoire (Mary)

Kinloch – Ceann (head) Loch

Kyleakin – Caol (strait) Acain (King Hakkon)

Lisigarry – Leasgeary – Lios (garden) Garry (farm)

Lùib – Bend

Meall – a shapeless lump of hill

Minginish – the great promontory

Moll – Am Mol (shingle or pebble beach)

òb nan Ròn – Bay of Seals

Ord – Rounded hill

Penifiler – Peighinn (penny) nam Fidhleir (fiddler)

Portnalong – Port (harbour), Long (ship, after Longboat)

Portree – Port Righ (Port on by a Slope)

Quiraing – A’ Chuithh (fold, ie The Table) Raing (round)

Raasay – Ratharsair, Isle of the roe deer

Rudha na Goirte (Dunvegan) – Starvation point - Rudh (river point), Goirte (starvation)

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (Sleat) – Great barn on the East Bay

Scorrybreac – Scorr (ridge) Bhreac (grey)

Sgurr Alasdair – Alastair/Alexander’s rock (sgurr)

Shadder (suffix) Shaider (seat/residence)

Skeabost – The sheltered house (sgiath – shelter and bost)

Sligachan – Sligeachan (place of shells)

Sluggans (Portree) – Na Sluganan (gorges of the river)

Snìzort – Snios (snow), ort (from fiòrd, fjord)

Staffin – Stafain (Old Norse for “place of upright pillars”)

Strath – Low lying land between hills/valley

Struan – Sruthan (small stream)

Storr – Steep cliff or pinnacle

Tarskavaig Tarsg (Sleat) - Tarsk (cod), bhaig (bay)

Talisker (Minginish) – Talamh (land) sgeir (rock/cliff)

Teangue (Sleat) – An Teanga the tongue or narrow strip of land)

Tocavaig (Sleat) – Toc (whale), bhaig (bay)

Trotternish – Thrond’s Headland/Point

Uamh - Cave

Uig – nook/retired place

Waternish – Bhàtair (water), nis (headland)

Some useful Gaelic phrases

English	Gaelic	Phonetic pronunciation
Brilliant	Sgoinneil	Skonyel
Cheers	Slaintè mhath	Slancha vah
Do you speak English?	A bheil thu Buerla agaibh?	A veil oo burla akiv
Email	Post-d	Post jay
Excuse me	Gabhaibh mo leisgeul	Gaviv mo leshkal
Good afternoon	Feasgar math	Fesker mah
Good morning	Madainn mhath	Matin vah
Good night	Oidche mhath	Oy-kee vah
Goodbye	Tìoraidh	Chee-a-ree
Hello	Hàlo	Hah-lo
Hotel	Taigh-òsda	Tie osta
How are you	Ciamar a tha thu?	Kimmer a ha hoo?
I am from …	Tha mi à …	Ha mi a …
I am sorry	Tha mi duilich	Ha me doolich
I am well	Tha gu math	Ha gu mah
I don’t know	Chan eil fhios agam	Han yell eesh akam
I don’t understand	Chan eil mi ‘tuigsinn	Han yell mi took-shin
I understand	Tha mi ‘tuigsinn	Ha mi took-shin
Internet	Eadar-lìon	Eeter leeyan
It is cold	Tha I fuar	Ha ee foo-ar
It is raining	Tha I fluich	Ha ee flyooch
It is sunny	Tha I grianach	Ha ee gree-an-och
My name is ….	Is mise ….	Ees meesha
OK	Ceart gu leòr	Kersht gu lyor
Restaurant	Taigh-bìdh	Tie bee
Thank you	Tapadh leibh	Tapah leyv
Toilet	Taigh beag	Tie bek
Very good	Glè mhath	Gley vah
Welcome	Fàilte	Falcha
Welcome to Scotland	Fàilte gu Alba	Falcha gu Alapa
Welcome to the Isle of Skye	Fàilte gu an t-Eilean Sgitheanach	Falcha gu an chellan skee-a-noch
What’s your name	Dè an t-ainm a tha’ oiribh	Jey an tanem a horev
Where are you from?	Cò as a tha thu?	Ko as a ha oo
Where is the post office	Càit a bheil Oiphis a’phuist?	Kacha veil offish a foosht
You are welcome	‘S e do beatha	Shey doh beyhah