Fòram na Gàidhlig

Following on from the remarks in the 'Heron' thread in the bi-lingual section, these are my thoughts.

Dè ur beachdan-sa?

Ann an Alba (no article) BUT Pàrlamaid na h-Alba (with article)

'Alba' is a bit of an anomaly. This is what I understand and have deduced from observation over time.

In its nominative/accusative and dative forms today it has no article and remains 'Alba'; only the genitive changes in certain contexts.

In its historical form, it had a genitive case 'na h-Albann' and a Dative case (ann an) 'Albainn'.

You still see these occasionally, even in relatively modern documents, though I think they are probably non-GOC.

The 'na h-Alba' leftover which you see today is used a lot in titles and fixed official expressions, but less so elsewhere.

Banca na h-Alba, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, Riaghaltas na h-Alba

but

Sgioba Alba
An sgioba Albannach

You do of course see crossovers like

An sgioba nàiseanta criogaid na h-Alba (a higher register official name again).


This does work similarly in English.
The Bank/Church of England/Scotland, but the England /Scotland football team, or English/Scottish.

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