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Scottish Culture/The real meaning of a word...

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Expert: Kaye McAlpine - 5/27/2008


Question
I recently found the word Gallach under the synonym for priest.  However, outside of the word Gallach being Scottish, I haven't been able to find any actual definition of the word.  Could you tell me what a Gallach is/was?  I'd appreciate any help you can give.

Answer
Hi Cat

Now here's a thing. Gallach wasn't a word I've come across, so I went to the best place - the online DSL - dictionary of the Scots Language, which incorporates The Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue and the Scottish National Dictionary - both respected and notable sources, and huge tomes if you're approaching them in the flesh (or should that be paper) so to speak.

No joy there, either.
Then I got to thinking. Was this in a poem or in a textual reference? I'm asking this, as I think this might be a form of insult within the text. I'm wondering if gallach is a variant of golloch, golluch, gollach, gullaky etc - all of which are one and the same for various ground beetles, but most commonly the earwig; In Ulster Scots the word is gallack.

If it is from a poem or a book, I'm wondering if the priest - dressed in black, and perhaps scrawny, thin or with dark clothing gone shiny with wear was being  ridiculed. Gollach can also be used for a bow legged person, as their legs represent the forked tail of the earwig. I wonder this as golloch / gollach etc etc is  also used as a form of insult, as in 'you great gollach'  - apparently esp. from folk in Sutherland to those in Caithness in Scotland (that was in the DSL)

I hope this might be of help - if not, do let me know

Best wishes

Kaye

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Kaye McAlpine

Expertise

Lifecycle (birth, marriage, death) customs in Scotland, Early Modern Scottish social customs, modern Scottish social customs, Border March laws and procedures, criminal processes and judicial execution practices, social history in Early Modern Scotland, ephemera printing in Scotland. While I have some knowledge of the clan system and function of the clan society (Highland and Lowland), I am not a an expert in clan genealogy. Having traced back my own family over a couple of centuries, and traced others due to academic research, I do know how the system works, however. This doesn't mean that I'm a genealogist. Please note that I do not speak Gaelic.

Experience

Research Fellow (University of Edinburgh). Contributer to various books and journals on ballads, including Scottish Life and Society: A Compendium of Scottish Ethnology, The Ballad and History and The Harris Repertoire. Freelance tutor in outreach courses from Edinburgh University on Scottish Culture and Tradition, including lifecycle customs, broadsheet ballads in Scotland, the traditional ballad and history. Freelance writer, guest presenter on Ch4 History Hunters programme, contributor to BBC Radio Scotland's 'Songlines' series on 'The Dowie Dens of Yarrow'. Currently co-director of a media production company

Publications
Books: Forthcoming: The Gallows and The Stake Published: Compendium of Scottish Ethnology, vol. 10, chapter on The Traditional and the Border Ballad; The Harris Repertoire (2000, Scottish Text Society, co-editor), The Ballad in History (chapter on Border ballads). Journals include Folklore, The Review of Scottish Culture,Sottish Studies, and The Scottish Literary Journal

Education/Credentials
Ph D, M. Phil, BA (hons)

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