Here’s a quick lesson on Scotland’s culture and Scottish Gaelic translation. More specifically, about the historic divide and differences between mainland Scotland culture and history knowledge and the more remote Scottish Highland and Hebrides Islands where things like Scottish Gaelic language has remained woven into daily life and regional culture. This travel podcast episode is a is a rare treat that combines a personal story and also a brief audio lesson in Scottish Gaelic translation… good background if you’re planning a trip to Scotland for vacation, or just love hearing someone speak in Scottish Gaelic!
Listen to “Remembering Gaelic in Scotland’s Modern Culture” on Spreaker.
QUOTES:
“So, I do worry about the loss of certain things within the language.”
“As the language changes, people just think it’s the name of something rather than having a meaning.”
“Inver, in the Gaelic language means, at the end of water.”
“So, it was a way of not just naming places, but giving them a description so that when people were traveling they could see it and they would find it.”
“I worry that, through that, we’ll lose, forget, why things were named and what they were called.”
“Portree… it’s called Port, as in harbor, and Ree as in the old Gaelic for king.”
“I don’t want them to be forgotten for that.”
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IMAGES OF INVERNESS, SCOTLAND
SCOTLAND PODCAST SHOW NOTES:
For the Scottish Gaelic audio lesson, you’ll hear specific examples going back to city names in Scotland that were named originally in Gaelic and have certain meaning, but in today’s English speaking world we just think of that as the name of that city, without realizing the Gaelic roots and significance of why the city has that name.
For the personal story, you will hear in James voice his concern over the loss of Gaelic in Scotland over time, coming from a person who grew up speaking Scottish Gaelic. Today, James humorously refers to his Scottish language ability as speaking all three languages of Scotland; Scottish Gaelic, Scottish English, and BBC English (as he is speaking in this podcast, which is how he shares stories with tourists when guiding in Scotland).
As a boy, James grew up in the island highland area, which is steeped in clan tradition and things like wearing the kilt, bagpipe music, the seriousness of Gathering of the Clans, and of course speaking Gaelic. When he was young, his family moved to the mainland of Scotland, and it wasn’t until then that he realized how differently he grew up, starting with the language that he spoke. Through James’s voice you will learn about some Scottish Gaelic that lives on today through things like city names, whether or not modern Scotsmen and visitors realize the Gaelic translation of the city names they speak.
The cultural difference was more obvious to James because he wasn’t prepared as a child that the culture was going to be different on the mainland. He didn’t know that other children wouldn’t know his language… so this woke him up to hold on more to the culture of what the Scots culture once was.
PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION EXCERPTS
James: “I’m not saying there’s not a Scottish culture on the mainland today, but it’s a new culture for Scottish history. It’s only been that type of culture since the 1745. The Scottish history goes so much further back than that. So I do worry about the loss of certain things within the language, mainly because they have a more deeper meaning or description of perhaps what happens somewhere or perhaps the lay of the land.And as the language changes, people just … They just think it’s the name of something rather than it actually having a meaning.”
Laura: “Like what?”
James: “Like Inverness. So Inver, in the Gaelic language means, at the end of water. An Inver. So you’ll see all through Scotland, places called Invergarry, Invermorriston, Inverness, so on and so forth. And beside all these towns, there’ll be big body of water, and that town will be at the headland. So Inver, at the end of water, and Ness is a strip of arable fertile farmland, that is in between the sea and fresh water. So Inverness, the strip of land between the sea at the end of the loch…”
Laura: ” …at the end of Loch Ness.”
James: “Loch Ness, exactly. So because it was before the time of maps, so ‘Oh you should go here. Where is that? How do I get there? Oh, right, well it’s at an Inverness. It’s the strip of land at the end of the loch. So, it was a way of not just naming places but giving them a description so that when people were traveling, they could see it and they would find it. Whereas now, most people you would ask Why is it called Inverness? And they would just say because that’s its name.”
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