Gaelscéal : Should Scottish place-names be translated into English?
âAistrigh na logainmneacha go BĂ©arlaâ
Eric Joyce MP, a ciontaĂodh as ionsaithe a dhĂ©anamh ar MPs eile, ag teacht amach in aghaidh na Gaeilge!
Anton Mac CĂĄba
TĂĄ an dearg-ĂĄdh ar Ghaeil na hAlban agus an saghas namhaid atĂĄ ag teanga sâacu.
TĂĄ an Feisire Eric Joyce acu. Thug sĂ© an masla is dĂ©anaĂ do GhaeilgeoirĂ na hAlban agus Ă© ag tuĂteĂĄil: âWhy not try English? Weâll all understand you that way, not just your neighbour. Alternatively, just shout across the fence.â
Gaelscéal na seachtaine seo
Le coicĂs anuas, dĂșirt sĂ© go raibh logainmneacha Gaeilge âinane and meaninglessâ: nach raibh san fhilĂocht Ghaeilge ach âbasically doggerelâ: agus gur âBig Brummâ an Ghaeilge ar chairr in Alban.
Toghadh Joyce mar fheisire de chuid an Lucht Oibre do toghcheantar na hEaglaise Breac in 2000. I mĂ Feabhra na bliana seo, ciontaĂodh Ă© as ionsaĂ a dhĂ©anamh ar fheisire de chuid na gCaomhach, ar fheisire Ăłna phĂĄirtĂ fĂ©in, agus ar beirt fhear eile.
BhĂ sĂ© an-Ăłlta i mbeĂĄr i Westminster ag an am. DâĂ©irigh sĂ© as an Lucht Oibre ina dhiaidh sin.
BhĂ sĂ© ar an gcĂ©ad fheisire Westminster a chuir isteach ar bhreis agus ÂŁ1milliĂșn (âŹ1.25milliĂșn) de chostais. BhĂ dhĂĄ olaphictiĂșr i measc na gcostas sin. DĂșirt sĂ© gur cheannaigh sĂ© iad âmar go raibh cuma dheas orthu.â
ach mĂĄ tĂĄ an t-ĂĄdh le Gaeil na hAlban, tĂĄ mĂ-ĂĄdh ar Ceiltigh GlaschĂș as an tacaĂocht a fhaigheann siad uaidh.âCeltic are the gods of football,â a tuĂteĂĄil sĂ© tar Ă©is dĂłibh buachaint ar Bharcelona.
Gaeil na hAlban : Scottish Gaels
Lucht Oibre : LabourÂ
An Eaglais Bhreac : Falkirk
Ceiltigh GlaschĂș : Glasgow Celtic (a Scottish Soccer Club)
“Ceiltigh GlaschĂș : Glasgow Celtic (a Scottish Soccer Club)”
Is that a hard or a soft “C” at the beginning of Ceiltigh?
Yes of course they should….
but also no they never should…
Does it apply vice versa?
Obviously it also applies here. Many if not most placenames are actually neither, they are derived from Gaelic, Norse, Scots, English or other languages, all of which have regional variations and continually evolve, as have the names often in different directions.
Names are an extremely inportant thing, they shouldn’t really be messed with.
Reader,
/kÊČ/ is the sound, as a person in rural Ulster pronounces the word ‘car’.
DR,
Obviously, it is not a serious story. It is light relief.
What about Caithness? At least three names apply here: ‘Caitnes’ in the Scots and ‘Gallaibh’ in the Gaelic. The last of those is telling: ‘land of the Galls’. In other words, this was never a Gaelic-speaking territory, nor even (for any extended period) Scots-speaking. Until the language was extinguished (15th-century?) the language was Norn (and the dialect is still nearer to Orkney than Inverness).
The wikipedia references lead to a nice spat, reported in The Scotsman:
I’d love to homogenise a diktat or dictate.
SamhlaĂm dom fĂ©in ar uaire a ĂĄille is a bheadh ĂĄr n-oileĂĄnra breĂĄ ar chĂłsta thiar na hEorpa mura mbeadh na haineolaigh glĂłrach uile ann!
Ein frommer Wunsch!
Online attacks on Gaelic language ‘just a bit of fun’:
The criticism began on October 22, when he questioned why Scottish mountains have âdaft, undescriptive (sic)â Gaelic names, later describing them as âinane and meaninglessâ.
He cannot be serious
I can just see a wandering tourist in Fife asking for directions to the ‘Uplands of the Wild Boar ‘ instead of Auchtermuchty .
Uachtar means ‘upper ‘in Irish and Scots Gaelic . Thus in Connemara there is Camus Uachtar and a Camus Iochtar (lower) and then you have the McWilliams Upper (MacLiam Uachtar and the MacLiam’s Iochtar ) Lower McWilliams .
This is topographically different from say Baggot St Upper and Lower Baggot St . In the case of the latter there are no mountains or hills involved unless one is inebriatyed following a session in O’Donoughue’s of Merrion Row .
Taken to a linguistic extreme and moving on from place names to people’s surnames would cause much more confusion and indeed some hilarity .
Mr Cameron would be known as Mr Twisty Nose – Former Lib Dem leader Charles Kennedy would go by the name of Charles Broadhead . Campbells would be called ‘wry mouths ‘ and Kilbrides as Bridgid’s Wood . Meanwhile MacIntoshes would revel in the name of Son of the Leader while all the Gils- Gilchrist , Gillespie, Gilmore , would be reduced to servant status as in Servant of Christ , Bishops’servant and Big Servant .
And so to Auchtermuchty’s connection with Dublin ?
The foundeer of Arnott’s Sir John Arnott MP hailed from the uplands of the wild boars as did the famous accordeonist Sir Jimmy Shand .
You can go to Auchtermuchty and to Drumnadrochit too, but you’ll never find a Nessie in the zoo”.
For more on Auchtermuchty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auchtermuchty
As a rule the anglicisation of Gaelic placenames be they in Ireland or Scotland was usually compressed in English to the shortest possible combination of syllables which came closet to the original gaelic . However I can imagine that many of these place names are given a Gaelic remake or an English literal translation then the Highlands and other areas of Scotland will have the world’s largest signposts directing travellers to some of the bleakest and most barren but beautiful places on the planet .
Leave well enough alone ?