Scottish Gaelic language
Language
name=Scottish Gaelic | nativename=Gàidhlig na h-Alba | familycolor=Indo-European | pronunciation=[ˈkɑːlʲəkʲ nə haˈɫapə] | states=Scotland, Canada | region=Scottish Highlands, Western Isles, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia; formerly all of mainland Scotland except the southeastern part (parts of Lothian and Borders) and possibly eastern Caithness. | speakers=58,652 (Scotland, 2001 census), with an additional 500-1000 in Nova Scotia (See also External links below) | fam2=Celtic | fam3=Insular Celtic | fam4=Goidelic | nation=Scotland | agency=Bòrd na Gàidhlig | iso1=gd | iso2=gla | iso3=gla}}
Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. This branch includes also the Irish and Manx languages. It is distinct from the Brythonic branch, which includes Welsh, Cornish, and Breton. Scottish, Manx and Irish Gaelic are all descended from Old Irish. A form of Middle Irish, known as 'Classical Gaelic', was used as a literary language in Scotland until the 18th century. The language is often described as Scottish Gaelic, Scots Gaelic, or Gàidhlig to avoid confusion with the other two Goidelic languages. Outside of Scotland, it is sometimes also called Scottish or Scots, a usage dating back over 1,500 years, for example Old English Scottas. This usage is uncommon in Scotland because since the 16th century the word Scots has by-and-large been used to describe (Lowland) Scots, which developed from the northern form of early Middle English. In Scottish English, Gaelic is pronounced ; outside of Scotland, it is usually .Gaelic, a descendant of the Goidelic branch of Celtic and closely related to Irish, is the traditional language of the Scotti or Gaels, and became the historical language of the majority of Scotland after it replaced Cumbric, Pictish and Norse. It is not clear how long Gaelic has been spoken in what is now Scotland; it has lately been proposed that it was spoken in Argyll before the Roman period, but no consensus has been reached on this question. However, the consolidation of the kingdom of Dál Riata around the 4th century, linking the ancient province of Ulster in the north of Ireland and western Scotland, accelerated the expansion of Gaelic, as did the success of the Gaelic-speaking church establishment. Placename evidence shows that Gaelic was spoken in the Rhinns of Galloway by the 5th or 6th century.
The Gaelic language eventually displaced Pictish north of the Forth, and until the late 15th century it was known in Inglis as Scottis. Gaelic began to decline in mainland Scotland by the beginning of the 13th century, and with this went a decline in its status as a national language. By the beginning of the 15th century, the highland-lowland line was beginning to emerge. | One interpretation of the linguistic divide in 1400, here based on place-name evidence. |
By the early 16th century, Inglis speakers gave the Gaelic language the name Erse (meaning Irish) and thereafter it was invariably the collection of Middle English dialects spoken within the Kingdom of the Scots that they referred to as Scottis (whence Scots). Nevertheless, Gaelic still occupies a special place in Scottish culture, has never been entirely displaced of national language status, and is still recognised by many Scots, whether or not they speak Gaelic, as being a crucial part of the nation's culture. Of course, others may view it primarily as a regional language of the highlands and islands.
Gaelic has a rich oral (beul aithris) and written tradition, having been the language of the bardic culture of the Highland clans for several centuries. The language preserved knowledge of and adherence to pre-feudal laws and customs (as represented, for example, by the expressions tuatha and dùthchas). The language suffered especially as Highlanders and their traditions were persecuted after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, and during the Highland Clearances, but pre-feudal attitudes were still evident in the complaints and claims of the Highland Land League of the late 19th century: this political movement was successful in getting members elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Land League was dissipated as a parliamentary force by the 1886 Crofters' Act and by the way the Liberal Party was seen to become supportive of Land League objectives.
Scottish Gaelic may be more correctly known as Highland Gaelic to distinguish it from the now defunct Lowland Gaelic. Lowland Gaelic was spoken in the southern regions of Scotland prior to the introduction of Lowland Scots. There is, however, no evidence of a linguistic border following the topographical north-south differences. Similarly, there is no evidence from placenames of significant linguistic differences between, for example, Argyll and Galloway. Dialects on both sides of the Straits of Moyle linking Scottish Gaelic with Irish are now extinct. | Geographic Distribution of Gaelic speakers in Scotland (2001) |
The 2001 UK Census showed a total of 58,652 Gaelic speakers in Scotland (1.2% of population over three years old). Compared to the 1991 Census, there has been a diminution of approximately 7,300 people (an 11% of the total), meaning that Gaelic decline (language shift) in Scotland is continuing. To date, attempts at language revival or reversing language shift have been met with limited success.
Considering the data related to Civil Parishes (which permit a continuous study of Gaelic status since the 19th century), two new circumstances have taken place, which are related to this decline:
*No parish in Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 75% any more (the highest value corresponds to Barvas, Lewis, with 74.7%).
*No parish in mainland Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 25% any more (the highest value corresponds to Lochalsh, Highland, with 20.8%).
The main stronghold of the language continues to be the Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan Siar), where the overall proportion of speakers remains at 61.1% and all parishes return values over 50%. The Parish of Kilmuir in Northern Skye is also over this threshold of 50%.
Proportions over 20% register throughout the isles of Skye, Raasay, Tiree, Islay and Colonsay, and the already mentioned parish of Lochalsh in Highland.
Regardless, the weight of Gaelic in Scotland is now much reduced. From a total of almost 900 Civil Parishes in Scotland:
*Only 9 of them have a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 50%.
*Only 20 of them have a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 25%.
*Only 39 of them have a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 10%. | Place names in their original Gaelic are becoming increasingly common on road signs throughout the Scottish Highlands. |
The modern Scottish Gaelic alphabet has 18 letters::A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U
The letter h, now mostly used to indicate lenition of a consonant, was in general not used in the oldest orthography, as lenition was instead indicated with a dot over the lenited consonant. Letters of the alphabet were traditionally named after trees: ailm (elm), beith (birch), coll (hazel), dair (oak), and so on, but this custom is no longer followed.
The quality of consonants is indicated in writing by the vowels surrounding them. So-called slender consonants are palatalised while broad consonants are velarised. The vowels e and i are classified as slender, and a, o and u as broad. The spelling rule known as caol ri caol is leathann ri leathann ("slender to slender and broad to broad") requires that a word-medial consonant or consonant group preceded by a written i or e be also followed by an i or e, and similarly if preceded by a, o or u be also followed by an a, o or u. Consonant quality (palatalised or non-palatalised) is then indicated by the vowels written adjacent to a consonant, and the spelling rule gives the benefit of removing possibly uncertainty about consonant quality at the expense of adding additional purely graphic vowels that may not be pronounced. For example, compare the t in slàinte with the t in bàta . | Another bilingual road sign, at Mallaig in western Scotland. |
The rule has no effect on the pronunciation of vowels. For example, plurals in Gaelic are often formed with the suffix -an, for example, bròg (shoe)/brògan (shoes). But because of the spelling rule, the suffix is spelled -ean (but pronounced the same) after a slender consonant, as in taigh (house)/taighean (houses) where the written e is purely a graphic vowel inserted to conform with the spelling rule because an i precedes the gh.
In changes promoted by the Scottish Examination Board from 1976 onwards, certain modifications were made to this rule. For example, the suffix of the past participle is always spelled -te, even after a broad consonant, as in togte 'raised' (rather than the traditional togta).
Where pairs of vowels occur in writing, it is sometimes unclear which vowel is to be pronounced and which vowel has been introduced to satisfy this spelling rule.
Unstressed vowels omitted in speech can be omitted in informal writing. For example::Tha mi an dòchas (I hope) > Tha mi 'n dòchas
Once Gaelic orthographic rules have been learned, the pronunciation of the written language can be seen to be quite predictable. However learners must be careful not to try to apply English spelling rules to written Gaelic, otherwise mispronunciations will result. Gaelic personal names such as Seònaid are especially likely to be mispronounced when they are used by English speakers.Most letters are pronounced similarly to other European languages. The broad consonants t and d and often n have a dental articulation (as in Irish and the Romance and Slavic languages) in contrast to the alveolar articulation common in English and other Germanic languages). Non-palatal r is an alveolar trill (like Italian r or Spanish rr.)
The "voiced" stops b, d, g are not voiced at all in Gaelic, but are rather voiceless unaspirated. The "voiceless" stops p, t, c are voiceless and strongly aspirated (postaspirated in initial position, preaspirated in medial/final position). Gaelic shares this property with Icelandic. In some Gaelic dialects, stops at the beginning of a stressed syllable become voiced when they follow a nasal consonant, for example: taigh 'a house' is but an taigh 'the house' is ; cf. also tombaca 'tobacco' .
The lenited consonants have special pronunciations: bh and mh are ; ch is or ; dh, gh is or ; th is , , or silent; ph is . Lenition of l n r is not shown in writing.
fh is almost always silent, with only the following three exceptions: fhèin, fhathast, and fhuair, where it is pronounced as .A table of consonants with pronunciations in IPA| Radical | Lenited | | Orthography | Broad | Slender | Orthography | Broad | Slender |
|---|
| b | | | bh | | | | c | | | ch | | | | d | | | dh | | | | f | | | fh | silent | silent | | g | | | gh | | | | l | | | l | | | | m | | | mh | | | | n | | | n | | | | p | | | ph | | | | r | | | r | | | | s | | | sh | | | | t | | | th | | | There are a few general features worth noting.
* Stress is usually on the first syllable: for example drochaid 'a bridge' .(Knowledge of this fact alone would help avoid many a mispronunciation of Highland placenames, for example Mallaig is . (Note, though, that when a placename consists of more than one word in Gaelic, the Anglicised form is liable to have stress on the last element: Tyndrum < Taigh an Droma . This is because, unlike English, Gaelic word order places the specific element - adjectives, genitives - after the generic.)
* A distinctive characteristic of Gaelic pronunciation (which has influenced the Scottish accent – cf. girl and film ) is the insertion of epenthetic vowels between certain adjacent consonants, specifically, between sonorants (l or r) and certain following consonants:tarbh (bull) " Alba (Scotland) " .
*Schwa at the end of a word is dropped when followed by a word beginning with a vowel. For example:duine (a man) " an duine agad (your man) " | The 10th-century Book of Deer contains the oldest known Gaelic text from Scotland, here seen in the margins of a page from the Gospel of Matthew. |
Scottish Gaelic is an inflected language. Nouns indicate their relationships with a number of grammatical cases (nominative, vocative, genitive, and 'dative', so-termed in traditional grammars [better - 'post-prepositional' case]), and verbs are conjugated to indicate tense (simple tenses are past and future; compound tenses are continuous present, past, and future), mood (indicative, imperative, subjunctive), and voice (active, passive).
Gaelic shares with other Celtic languages a number of interesting grammatical features:
* Verb Subject Object word order; a relatively uncommon typology among the world's languages
* Prepositional pronouns: pronouns and most prepositions are fused into compound forms, such as agam (at me), agad (at you), ris (to him).
* The absence of a verb to have: instead, possession is expressed prepositionally, with aig (that is, by saying that something is at or on a person, cf. Russian у):tha taigh agam " I have a house (lit. a house is at me)an cat aig Iain " John's cat (lit. the cat at John)
* Similarly, the absence of a verb "to own": ownership is expressed also prepositionally with "le" (that is, by saying something is "with" a person):: "Tha taigh leam" -- I own a house (lit., "Is house with me.): "Tha an cat sin le Iain." - Iain owns that cat (lit., "Is the cat [*that*] with Iain.")
* Emphatic pronouns: A distinction is made between the ordinary pronouns, like mi and thu, and their emphatic counterparts, mise, thusa, and so forth, which express a contrast to other persons. For example:tha i bòidheach " she's beautifultha ise bòidheach " she's beautiful (as opposed to somebody else)
Grammatical emphasis carries over into other situations:an taigh aicese " her housechuirinn-sa " I would putna mo bheachd-sa " in my opinion
* Copula: Gaelic has two verbs that both mean "to be" (though some grammar books treat them as two parts of a single suppletive verb): tha is used to ascribe a property to a noun or pronoun, whereas in general usage is is used to identify a noun or pronoun as a complement. ('Is' can be used to ascribe a description to a noun or pronoun, but generally this usage is restricted to fixed expressions, for example: 'Is beag an t-iongnadh' lit. 'Is small the surprise' or 'Is e Gàidheal a th'annam' lit. 'It is a Gael that is in me'.: tha mise sgìth " I am tired: is mise Eòghann " I am Ewan.
It is, however, possible to use tha to say that one thing is another thing by turning it into aproperty:: tha mi nam Albannach " I am a Scot (lit. I am in my Scot): Is e Albannach a th' annam " I am a Scot (lit. it's a Scot that's in me).
Another way to think of the difference between tha and is is that tha describes temporary states:: "Tha mi sgith" -- I am tired. (or, lit. "Am I tired."): "Tha an duine reamhair" -- The man is fat. (or, lit., "Is the man fat.")Whereas, is describes more permanent conditions -- that is, states of being that are intrinsic:: 'S e taigh beag a' th'ann. -- It's a small house. (or lit., "Is it house small that is in it.")
;TENSETense (past, present, future) is marked in Gaelic by a number of ways.
Simple past tense in regular verbs is indicated by lenition of the initial consonant:: The verb bruidhinn (pronounced means "speak", but bhruidhinn mi (pronounced ) means "I spoke."For the English speaker learning Gaelic, it is sometimes difficult to learn to listen to the beginning of a word for its time indicator rather than the end (in English, the end of a verb is marked with an -ed to indicate past tense). Unlike English, Gaelic allows for the inflexion of a verb to indicate future tense independent of a helping verb.: Bruidhinnidh mi = I will speak.Gaelic also as an alternate form of the future tense that uses a helping verb, the future tense of the verb "to be":: Bidh mi a' bruidhinn = I will speak
;POSSESSIVE PRONOUNSGaelic uses possessive pronouns (my, your, their, etc.) differently than English. In Gaelic, possessive pronouns are used mostly to indicate "ownership" or "possession" of body parts or family -- that is, things or relationships that are permanent. Thus, one would say: mo chas = my leg: do cheann = your head: a màthair = her motherBut to refer to non-permanent "possession," one uses the preposition "aig," as described above:: an taigh aige = his house (the house at him): an leabhar agam = my book (the book at me)ArticlesGaelic has a definite article but no indefinite article:an taigh " 'the house'taigh " '(a) house'
The form of the (definite) article depends on the number, gender, case, and initial sound of the noun.
(i). an, am, and an t- are used with masculine singular nominative nouns:an cat " 'the cat' (also for nouns which cannot be lenited)am balach " 'the boy' (nouns which begin with labial consonants)an t-òran " 'the song' (nouns which begin with vowels)
(ii). a' is used before a lenited consonant; there are two cases:a' chaileag " 'the girl' (feminine nominative and dative)leis a' bhalach " 'with the boy' (masculine dative and genitive)
(iii). na and na h- (before a vowel) are used in the feminine genitive singular:na mara " 'of the sea'na h-Alba " 'of [the] Scotland'
(iv). na and na h- (before a vowel) are used in the nominative and dative plural of both genders:na cait " 'the cats'na h-àireamhan " 'the numbers'
(v). nan or nam (before a labial) are used in the genitive plural:nan cat " 'of the cats'nam balach " 'of the boys' | Bilingual signs in English and Gaelic are now part of the architecture in the Scottish Parliament building completed in 2004. |
After centuries of persecution, prejudice and neglect, Gaelic has now achieved a degree of official recognition with the passage of the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005.
As well as being taught in schools, including some in which it is the medium of instruction, it is also used by the local council in the Western Isles, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. The BBC also operates a Gaelic language radio station Radio nan Gàidheal (which regularly transmits joint broadcasts with its Republic of Ireland counterpart Raidió na Gaeltachta), and there are also television programmes in the language on the BBC and on the , usually subtitled in English. The ITV franchisee in the north of Scotland, Grampian Television, has a studio in Stornoway. Viewers of Freeview a non-subscription digital TV service can receive channel, TeleG, which broadcasts for an hour every evening.
A full Gaelic language TV service, however, similar to S4C in Wales and TG4 in Ireland, has been under consideration. As in Wales, the showing of programmes in the language as opt-outs on the main channels has been regarded as inadequate for the 58,552 who speak it, and as an annoyance to some of the English or Scots speaking 5,003,459 who do not. In fact, this annoyance may be largely assumed: the evidence is that at least one Gaelic television programme produced by the BBC attains viewing figures in excess of the number of Gaelic speakers that could view it in Scotland. No complaints are being received by the BBC about Gaelic-language television programmes on BBC TV channels, perhaps because subtitling them in English makes them equally accessible to non-Gaelic speakers.
Bilingual road signs (in both Gaelic and English) are gradually being introduced throughout the Gaelic-speaking regions in the Highlands and elsewhere across the nation. In many cases, this has simply meant re-adopting the traditional spelling of a name.
The Ordnance Survey has acted in recent years to correct many of the mistakes that appear on maps. They announced in 2004 that they intended to make amends for a century of Gaelic ignorance and set up a committee to determine the correct forms of Gaelic place names for their maps.
Historically, Gaelic has not received the same degree of official recognition from the UK Government as Welsh. With the advent of devolution, however, Scottish matters have finally begun to receive greater attention, and the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act was confirmed by the Scottish Parliament on 21 April 2005.
The key provisions of the Act are:
* Recognising in legislation Gaelic as an official language of Scotland with 'equal respect' to English.
* Establishing the Gaelic development body, Bòrd na Gàidhlig, on a statutory basis to promote the use and understanding of Gaelic.
* Requiring Bòrd na Gàidhlig to prepare a National Gaelic Language Plan for approval by Scottish Ministers.
* Requiring Bòrd na Gàidhlig to produce guidance on Gaelic Education for education authorities.
* Requiring public bodies in Scotland, both Scottish public bodies and cross border public bodies insofar as they carry out devolved functions, to consider the need for a Gaelic language plan in relation to the services they offer. | An electronic noticeboard displaying
Fàilte gu stèisean Dùn Èideann
("Welcome to Edinburgh station") |
Following a consultation period, in which the government received many submissions, the majority of which asked that the bill be strengthened, a revised bill was published with the main improvement that the guidance of the Bòrd is now statutory (rather than advisory).
In the committee stages in the Scottish Parliament, there was much debate over whether Gaelic should be given 'equal validity' with English. Due to Executive concerns about resourcing implications if this wording was used, the Education Committee settled on the concept of equal respect. It is still not clear if the ambiguity of this wording will provide sufficient legal force to backup the demands of Gaelic speakers against the whims of local councils.
The Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament unanimously, with support from all sectors of the Scottish political spectrum on the 21st of April 2005.
The Education Act of 1872, which completely ignored Gaelic, and led to generations of Gaels being forbidden to speak their native language in the classroom, is now recognised as having dealt a major blow to the language. People still living can recall being beaten for speaking Gaelic in school.
The first solely Gaelic-medium secondary school, Sgoil Ghàidhlig Ghlaschu, was opened in Glasgow in 2005 (several Gaelic-medium primary schools and partially Gaelic-medium secondary schools also exist). | The new face of Gaelic music. Seattle based Gaelic punk band, Mill a h-Uile Rud write and sing entirely in Gaelic and use the language on their website |
In Nova Scotia, there are somewhere between 500 and 1,000 native speakers, most of them now elderly. In May 2004, the Provincial government announced the funding of an initiative to support the language and its culture within the province.
The UK government has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Gaelic.
The Columba Initiative, also known as Iomairt Cholm Cille, is a body that seeks to promote links between speakers of Scottish Gaelic and Irish.In the Western Isles, the isles of Lewis, Harris and North Uist have a Presbyterian majority (largely Church of Scotland - Eaglais na h-Alba in Gaelic, Free Church of Scotland and Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland.) The isles of South Uist and Barra have a Catholic majority. All these churches have Gaelic-speaking congregations throughout the Western Isles.
There are Gaelic-speaking congregations in the Church of Scotland, mainly in the Highlands and Islands, but also in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Notable city congregations with regular services in Gaelic are St Columba's Church, Glasgow and Greyfriars Tolbooth & Highland Kirk, Edinburgh. Leabhar Sheirbheisean - a shorter Gaelic version of the English-language Book of Common Order - was published in 1996 by the Church of Scotland, ISBN 090762412X.
The relationship between the Church and Gaelic has not always been an easy one. The widespread use of English in worship has often been suggested as one of the historic reasons for Gaelic's decline. Whilst the Church of Scotland is supportive today, there is, however, an increasing difficulty in being able to find Gaelic-speaking ministers.The following are names of either Gaelic origin or of other origin with their Gaelic translation:
Aberdeen " Obar Dheathain:Aviemore - an Aghaidh Mòr:Ayr - Inbhair Air:Brechin - Breichin:Cumbernauld - Cumar nan Alt:Dingwall - Inbhir Pheofharain:Dornoch - Dòrnach:Dumfries " Dùn Phris:Dunblane - Dùn Bhlàthain:Dundee " Dùn Dèagh:Dunfermline - Dùn Phàrlain:Dunkeld - Dùn Chailleann:Dumbarton - Dùn Breatann:Edinburgh " Dùn Èideann:Elgin - Eilginn:Forres - Farrais :Fortrose - A' Chananaich:Fort William " An Gearasdan:Glasgow " Glaschu:Gleneagles - Gleann na h-Eaglais:Inverness " Inbhir Nis:Kilmarnock - Cill Mhearnaig:Lismore - Liosmòr:Paisley " Pàislig:Perth " Peairt:Rosemarkie - Ros Maircnidh :St Andrews - Cill Rìmhinn:Scone - Sgàin:Stirling " Sruighlea:Stornoway " Steòrnabhagh:Whithorn - Taigh Mhàrtainn (also, formerly, Rosnat and Futarna)Gaelic has a number of personal names, such as Aonghas, Dòmhnall, Donnchadh, Coinneach, Murchadh, for which there are traditional forms in English (Angus, Donald, Duncan, Kenneth, Murdo). There are also distinctly Scottish Gaelic forms of names that belong to the common European stock of given names, such as: Iain (John), Alasdair (Alexander), Uilleam (William), Caitrìona (Catherine), Cairistìona (Christina), Anna (Ann), Màiri (Mary), Seamus (James). Some names have come into Gaelic from Old Norse, for example: Somhairle ( < Somarliðr), Tormod (< Þórmóðr), Torcuil (< Þórkell, Þórketill), Ìomhair (Ívarr). These are conventionally rendered in English as Sorley (or, historically, Somerled), Norman, Torquil, and Iver (or Evander). There are other, traditional, Gaelic names which have no direct equivalents in English: Oighrig, which is normally rendered as Euphemia (Effie) or Henrietta (Etta) (formerly also as Henny or even as Harriet), or, Diorbhal, which is "matched" with Dorothy, simply on the basis of a certain similarity in spelling; Gormul, for which there is nothing similar in English, and it is rendered as 'Gormelia' or even 'Dorothy'!; Beathag, which is "matched" with Becky (> Rebecca) and even Betsy!, or Sophie.
Many of these are now regarded as old-fashioned, and are no longer used (which is, of course, a feature common to many cultures: names go out of fashion). As there is only a relatively small pool of traditional Gaelic names from which to choose, some families within the Gaelic-speaking communities have in recent years made a conscious decision when naming their children to seek out names that are used within the wider English-speaking world. These names do not, of course, have an equivalent in Gaelic. What effect that practice (if it becomes popular) might have on the language remains to be seen. At this stage (2005), it is clear that some native Gaelic-speakers are willing to break with tradition. Opinion on this practice is divided; whilst some would argue that they are thereby weakening their link with their linguistic and cultural heritage, others take the opposing view that Gaelic, as with any other language, must retain a degree of flexibility and adaptability if it is to survive in the modern world at all.
The well-known name Hamish, and the recently established Mhairi (pronounced ) come from the Gaelic for, respectively, James, and Mary, but derive from the form of the names as they appear in the vocative case: Seumas (James) (nom.) ' Sheumais (voc.), and, Màiri (Mary) (nom.) ' Mhàiri (voc.).
The most common class of Gaelic surnames are, of course, those beginning with mac (Gaelic for son), such as MacGillEathain (MacLean). The female form is nic, so Catherine MacPhee is properly called in Gaelic, Caitrìona Nic a' Phì.
Several colours give rise to common Scottish surnames: bàn (Bain - white), ruadh (Roy - red), dubh (Dow - black), donn (Dunn - brown), buidhe (Bowie - yellow).The majority of Scottish Gaelic's vocabulary is native Celtic. There are a large number of borrowings from Latin, (muinntir, Didòmhnaich), ancient Greek, especially in the religious domain (eaglais, Bìoball from Ekklesia and Biblia), Norse (eilean, sgeir), Hebrew (Sàbaid, Aba) and Lowland Scots (briogais, aidh).
In common with other Indo-European languages, the neologisms which are coined for modern concepts are typically based on Greek or Latin, although writtenin Gaelic orthography; television, for instance, becomes telebhisean (cian-dhealbh could also be used), and computer becomes coimpiùtar (aireamhadair, bocsa-fiosa or bocsa-sgrìobhaidh could also be used). Although native speakers frequently use an English word for which there is a perfectly good Gaelic equivalent, they will, without thinking, simply adopt the English word and use it, applying the rules of Gaelic grammar, as the situation requires. With verbs, for instance, they will simply add the verbal suffix (-eadh, or, in Lewis, -igeadh, as in, Tha mi a' watcheadh (Lewis, watchigeadh) an telly (I am watching the television) (instead of "Tha mi a' coimhead air a' chian-dhealbh"). This was remarked upon by the minister who compiled the account covering the parish of Stornoway in the New Statistical Account of Scotland, published over 170 years ago. However,as Gaelic medium education grows in popularity, a newer generation of literate Gaels is becoming more familiar with modern Gaelic vocabulary.
Going in the other direction, Scottish Gaelic has influenced the Scots language (gob) and English, particularly Scottish Standard English. Loanwords include: whisky, slogan, brogue, jilt, clan, strontium (from Strontian), trousers, as well as familiar elements of Scottish geography like ben (beinn), glen (gleann) and loch. Irish Gaelic has also influenced Lowland Scots and English in Scotland, but it is not always easy to distinguish its influence from that of the Scottish variety. See List of English words of Scottish Gaelic origin
Source: An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Alexander MacBain.*Fàilte [] "Welcome!''
*Halò [] "Hello!"
*Ciamar a tha thu? [] "How are you?" (singular, informal)
*Ciamar a tha sibh? [] "How are you?" (plural, singular, formal)
*Tha mi gu math [] "I'm fine"
*Ciamar a tha thu fhèin? [] "How are you yourself?" (singular, informal)
*Ciamar a tha sibh fhèin? [] "How are you yourself?" (plural; singular, formal)
*Tapadh leat [] "Thank you" (singular, informal)
*Tapadh leibh [] "Thank you" (plural; singular, formal)
*Dè an t-ainm a tha ort? [] "What is your name?" (singular informal)
*Dè an t-ainm a tha oirbh [] "What is your name?" (plural; singular, formal)
*Is mise ... [] "I am ... " (i.e. "my name is ...")
*Mar sin leat [] "Goodbye!" (singular, informal)
*Mar sin leibh [] "Goodbye" (plural, singular, formal)
*Slàinte [] Literally "health", used as toast (cf. English "cheers") when drinking* Book of Deer
* Bungee language
* Scottish Gaelic in Canada
* Differences between Scottish Gaelic and Irish
* Gaelicization
* Gàidhealtachd
* Galwegian Gaelic
* Greyfriars Tolbooth & Highland Kirk - the only Church of Scotland congregation in the east of Scotland with regular services in Gaelic
* Languages in the United Kingdom
* Lowland Scots, a Germanic language spoken in some parts of Lowland Scotland, often confused with Gaelic
* Middle Irish
* The Mòd, the preeminent Scottish Gaelic cultural festival.
* St Columba's Church, Glasgow - Church of Scotland congregation in St Vincent Street, Glasgow with regular services in Gaelic
* William J. Watson, Gaelic scholar
* Swadesh list of Scottish Gaelic words
* Affection (linguistics)
* Learn Gaelic - Classes and Courses across the World
* Scottish Parliament
* Scottish Gaelic Broadcasting Committee
* BBC Scotland - Scottish Gaelic homepage
* BBC Scotland - Beag air Bheag Scottish Gaelic for beginners
*CLI Gàidhlig - Gaelic supporters and learners organisationwhich produces the bilingual 'Cothrom' magazine.
* Comunn na Gàidhlig
* Iomairt Cholm Cille/The Columba Initiative
* Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
* Scottish Gaelic - English Dictionary
* Goidelic Dictionaries
* AmBaile.org - Home of Highland Gaelic culture With some nice online games for Scottish Gaelic learners
* [1] Gaelic Resources (grammar, pronunciation, rhymes, names ...)
* Scottish Gaelic at Omniglot
* Learners' material online
*Census 2001 Scotland: Gaelic Language : first results, by Prof. Kenneth MacKinnon (2003) which quotes the official figure of 58652 speakers and, if we include people professing an ability to understand/read/write Gaelic then that becomes 92396. - Website valid at 25 March 2005
*The Registrar General for Scotland's Report to Parliament (2003)
*Language studies about the local distribution of Gaelic speakers in North-West Scotland from 1881 until today (27 volumes covering Hebrides and Highlands including Perthshire, Caithness and Arran)
* Gaelic in Scotland information and links from the Scottish FAQ.
* Save Gaelic Gaelic supporters portal. Includes news links to most current press stories concerning Gaelic.
* Ethnologue report on "Hiberno-Scottish"
* Tìr nam Blòg A focus point of the Gàidhlig blogging community. Founded 16th December 2005.
* Oi Polloi Gaelic punk music from Edinburgh/ Dun Eideann.
*Mill a h-Uile Rud Gaelic punk music from Seattle.
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