The language of the Gaels
Despite centuries of persecution and diminution, Gaelic culture dominates the iconic and unique heritage of Scotland. As well as the traditional dancing, music and folklore, the Gaels brought whisky, bagpipes, kilts and tartan as well as an inimitable way of life.
Scottish Gaelic is one of six Celtic languages still spoken in the UK today. The others being Irish, Welsh, Breton, Cornish, and Manx.
Despite the linguistic decline over the centuries, Scottish Gaelic is still very much in regular use today and many Gaelic words have helped to mould and shape the English language as it is today. For example:
English word | Gaelic word | Meaning |
---|---|---|
Bard | Bàrd | Minstrel |
Bog | Bòg | Swamp |
Clan | Clann | Children |
Ceilidh | Cèilidh | Gathering |
Crag | Creag | Cliff |
Croft | Croit | Smallholding |
Dram | Drama | Measurement of liquid |
Galore | Gu leòr | Enough |
Gob | Gob | Beak |
Pet | Peata | Tame animal |
Phoney | Fàinne | False/not genuine |
Quaich | Cuach | Cup |
Sassenach | Sasannach | Saxon/English person |
Slogan | Sluagh-ghairm | War cry |
Smashing | ‘S math sin | That’s great |
Ta | Tapadh | Thanks |
Whisky | Uisge-beatha | Whisky/Water of Life |
It is worth noting that the word “cèilidh” is often mistaken for being a Scottish dance event. This is not the case. The correct meaning of “cèilidh” is “a social gathering”, and “a cèilidh dance” would be the correct phrase to use for this particular kind of event.
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 9th century BC that the Pictish people merged with the Gaels to begin a new era in the Kingdom of Scotland.
Viking raids of 8th 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 |
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 |