Taic do Deirdre air Caithness.org

[Gràisg]

http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?t=99518


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[IainDonnchaidh]

As an American, I have no say in all of this. Worse yet, I am an extreme libertarian / small government type, who doesn't think much of taxes and govt spending.

But I have to say that all this fuss against Gaelic education and road signs is just more blatant racism. "They" spent hundreds of years trying to kill Gaelic culture, and now they want to put a bullet in the back of its head.

If they want to save money, they could try stopping the bloody foreign wars (and the US cuideachd!). Alba and the UK probably make more on taxes from tourism in na Gaidhealtachd than they spend on restoring the Gaelic language.

Tha mi duillich - chan urrainn dhomh a ràdh sin uile ann an Gàidhlig

[Neas Olc]

Wasn't looking to thrash the Gaelic community

I have no objection to the Gaelic language and I don't think it should be lost, but

...mar às abhaist.

[deardron]

This is a debatable issue in Caithness, because there's a big number of Norse placenames in the area and Gaelic is a newcomer to this place no less than English:

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/War-o ... 3854359.jp

P.S. I would disagree with Roy Pedersen on 2 issues:

1. Picts most likely were NOT Gaelic speaking, he must be confusing 'Gaelic' and Celtic'. What language(s) Picts spoke we don't know for sure, most probably they had a Celtic language close to Welsh/Brittish or even some non-Celtic/non-Indo-European language.

2. Gaelic was never spoken in Orkney, except 2 lines of Orkney yarls who were Gaelic and ruled there in the 1200s, however the native population has always been Gaelic-free. Even though there might have been Irish/Gaelic-speaking people among the Norse invaders (like probably Sigurd the Mighty Pedersen mentions), the low number of Gaelic loanwords in the language of the islands makes us believe Norse was absolutely prominent there in the vikings time.

[Seonaidh]

Iomadh puing an seo, tha mi creidsinn.

1. Arcaibh/Sealtainn: 's e an fhìrinn a th' ann nach do bhruidheadh Gàidhlig an siud. Ach a bheil mòran ainmean Chruithneach ann? Chan eil, ged a bhruidheadh seòrsa "Cruithnis" an siud mus an tàinig na Lochlannaich. Mar sin, chan ann co-dhùinte a tha fianais nan ainmean-àite.

2. "Cruithnis": chan eil fios aig neach air a' chànan a b' àbhaist do na Cruithnich. Tha fianais a mhothaicheas gum b'e seòrsa P-Cheiltis a bh' ann - ach cha lorgar seo air feadh na Gàidhealtachd. 'S math a dh'fhaodte gum b' e iomadach cànain - fiù 's seòrsa cànain - ann aig na Cruithnich. 'S fheudar dhuinn cuimhneachadh, cuideachd, nach eil Gàidhlig na h-Alba ach seòrsa Gàidhlig na h-Èireann le trom bhuaidh na "Cruithnis" - no nan Cruithnis.

3. Inbhe na Gàidhlig: 'S e cànan oifigeil na h-Alba a th' ann an Gàidhlig agus, turas mu dheireadh a sheall mi, bha Gallaibh (Caithness) na roinn de dh'Alba. Dè an deasbad?

[deardron]

1.-2. Tha sin ceart na tha thu ag ràdh, ach chan eil e ag àicheadh aon rud: cha robh na Cruithnich agus na Gaidheil na h-Èire a ghluais a dh'Alba an aon rud idir.

3. Carson nach tèid soidhneachan Gàidhlig an togail ann an Arcaibh is Sealtainn ma-tha? 'S e roinnean na h-Alba a th' annta cuideachd
(Co-dhiù, thoisich na Shealtainnich ri togail soidhneachan seann Lochlannaich ann an cuid de h-àiteachan).

[Seonaidh]

Tha mi air a bhith ann an Sealtainn (Hjaltland) - chan eil iad a' togail sanasan Lochlannais - ach "Norn".

[deardron]

Chan eil càil ann an Norn air a sgrìobadh "air dòigh ceart-litreachaidh" a-riamh ach amhàin chaidh cuid dè òran is thòimhseachain is beagan sheanfhacal èile an clàrachadh, agus b'e srainnsearan (Albanach is Faronach) a bha iad a rinn sin. Mu dheidhinn nan soidhneachan ann an Sealtainn, 'se Seann-Lochlannais (Old Norse) gu cinnteach ann a tha iad air an sgrìobadh:

[Seonaidh]

Uill, chan eil mi air sin fhaicinn roimhe - tha cuimhne agam air soidhneachan sràid ann an Leirvìk a bha dà-chànanach agus gun mhìneachadh air an ainm eile.

[An Gobaire]

Tha an cunntas-sluaigh ann an 1891 far an robh ceist a thaobh na Gàidhlig ann airson a' chiad uair riamh a' sealltainn gun robh Gàidhlig gu math làidir ann an Gallaibh dhan àm sin.

The census of 1891, where a Gaelic question was included for the first time, shows that Gaelic was strong in Caithness right up until that time.

A scholar has been kind enough to supply me with details from the census about the number of Gaelic speaking residents in Latheron, Lybster and other small towns, hamlets and places around the south-west of Caithness. Gaelic-speaking ranges from 30% - 40% of the areas concerned, and some have even higher percentages. The younger generation didn't usually have Gaelic, so this kept the percentages down.

Amongst older residents born before then, there were still monolingual Gaelic speakers returned in one hamlet, and the percentage of Gaelic speaking was much higher amongst residents over 50 years old - such as 70%. This a bit like the situation in Skye, the Inner Hebrides and the Western Isles as it stands now.

So the south-west, and probably the north-west of Caithness in 1891 were almost as Gaelic as the Western Isles are today, and certainly just as Gaelic as Skye and other islands such as Tiree/Islay are now! The older generation were the most comfortable in the language and were all locals with very few exceptions. Most incidents of non-Gaelic speaking were recorded in the younger generaton, and in people who were not usually resident, or came from other parts of the UK.

My own grandparents were from Lybster which was still a partially Gaelic -speaking village and area about 20 years before they were born. - my grandmother was born just after the First World War, and my grandfather during it. I have yet to ask my mother if her parents' parents were Gaelic-speakers, but judging by my grandparents' occupation - shepherding and crofting - and there Gaelic mannerisms coming through in their ENglish, it seems possible they had some Gaelic -particularly in view of the fact, that the communities in the south-west of Caithness would have been wholly Gaelic-speaking before 1825.

[An Gobaire]

In my last message, I stated that my grandparents on my mother's side were from Lybster in the south-west of Caithness. I was wrong....I meant to say Shebster in the north-west of Caithness near Rheay, which is where my grandmother was from. My Grandfather was from some place called "Farrasdale"(spelling as my mother said it) which apparently wasn't far from Shebster. Either way, Shebster was west of the line between traditionally Scots Gaelic-speaking west and Scots English-speaking East Caithness. Census results from 1891 from Rheay, near Shebster, show 34.6% of the population speaking Gaelic.