Gaelic Word of the Week – East Lothian – Lodainn an Ear

Each week publish our Gaelic Word of the Week podcast which you can listen to at the link above. Here on the blog we add some extra facts, figures and photos for Gaelic learners who want to learn a little about the language and about the Scottish Parliament – Pàrlamaid na h-Alba. This week we continue looking at the Parliamentary constituencies and regions, this week with East Lothian – Lodainn an Ear.

This week we continue with the our series on Scottish Parliament constituency names with a trip to East Lothain – Lodainn an Ear. 

Gaelic place-names are thinner on the ground in this area than they are in other parts of Scotland – Alba – but there are still more than enough for us to look at!  

Map of some Gaelic names in East Lothian published with permission of Ainmean-àite na h-Alba. NB – this is a map of the East Lothian council area with which the constituency is not identical.

People who regularly travel by train may well recognise the name of Drem station where the line to North Berwick – Bearaig a Tuath – splits from the east coast main line which goes on to such places as Newcastle – An Caisteal Nuadh, and London – Lunnainn. 

Did you know that Drem is a Gaelic name? It comes from the word Druim which means ridge or backbone. It also features in the name Drum in Kinrosshire, Drumnadrochit – Druim na Drochaid in Invernesshire (meaning “the ridge of the bridge”) and Taigh an Droma – Tyndrum in the Stirling council area which means “the house on the ridge”.   

Another Gaelic name is Gullane – A’ Ghualainn – meaning shoulder. If you look at the town on the map, the coastline certainly has a shoulderline shape!  

The Bass Rock, East Lothian – Lodainn an Ear

East Lothian – Lodainn an Ear – is famous for many things including castles – caistealan.  As it says on the boundary signs, it was also the birthplace of Scotland’s flag – bratach. In Gaelic the saltire, or St Andrews cross is called Crann na h-Alba. Crann means mast, cross, plough or beam and was also a word for tree in the past. This has led to the strange coincidence that the biblical word for olive tree – crann ola – is the same as the modern Gaelic for oil rig!  

Those who have studied history may know that an important battle was fought in Prestonpans during the 1745 Jacobite uprising – the Battle of Prestonpans or Battle of Gladsmuir which is known in Gaelic as Blàr Sliabh a’ Chlamhain (The battle of the buzzard’s slope). If you visit the site of the battle, you will see that the signs are bilingual, in recognition that many of the soldiers were Highlanders.  

Regular listeners will recognise the word “dùn” meaning fort and this is the basis of the name Dunbar – Dùn Bàrr– Barr’s fort. Another major town with a Gaelic name is Cockenzie – Cùil Choinnich – Coinneach’s neuk. Like many names and placenames, this would have once been pronounced more like the Gaelic but had a Z sound inserted where people mistook the old Scots letter yough which made a Y sound with the letter Z – the same thing that has changed MacCoinnich to MacKenzie, Menzies (“mingus”) to Menzies and Leanaidh to Lenzie! 

As well as towns with Gaelic names and English names, some of the settlements in East Lothian – Lodainn an Ear – have Brithonnic names such as Tranent and Pentaitland – from the old brythonnic language similar to Welsh which was once spoken in southern Scotland – Alba.  

This week’s Gaelic WoW was written by Alasdair MacCaluim, Gaelic Development Officer, who has a lifelong ambition to set foot on the Bass Rock! 

Gaelic Word of the Week – North East Fife – Fìobh an Ear Thuath

Each week publish our Gaelic Word of the Week podcast which you can listen to at the link above. Here on the blog we add some extra facts, figures and photos for Gaelic learners who want to learn a little about the language and about the Scottish Parliament – Pàrlamaid na h-Alba. This week we continue looking at the Parliamentary constituencies and regions, this week with North East Fife – Fìobh an Ear Thuath.

This week we’re going back to Fife – Fìobha, often known as the Kingdom of Fife – Rìoghachd Fhìobha.

The word rìoghachd is often used in Gaelic to mean “country” as well as kingdom and you will often hear native Gaelic speakers say “an rìoghachd” as well as “an dùthaich” to mean “the country”.

This week’s constituency is North East Fife – Fìobh an Ear Thuath.
The biggest town in the sgìre – constituency is St Andrews. In Gaelic, the name of the town isn’t related to St Andrew at all – it is Cill Rìmhinn. This means church of Rìmhinn. In fact, the original English name of the town, Kilrymont, was an anglicisation of this. The name changed after the relics of St Andrew – Naomh Anndras, were supposedly brought to the town and it gained the name we know and love today. In Gaelic, though, it is still Cill Rìmhinn!

View of St Andrews – Cill Rìmhinn, from top of St Rule’s tower

Also in the constituency, but famous for its fine name rather than for golf or an ancient university is Auchtermuchty. This means “Upland of the place of pigs”. The Auchter part – uachdar – meaning uplands or upper part can also be seen in placenames like Auchterarder. And uachdar can also mean cream in Gaelic, called this because it is what you find at the top of the milk.

The element meaning pig is muc. You might recognise this from the Isle of Muck – Eilean nam Muc. However, in this case the “pigs” in question are “mucan-mara” – literally sea-pigs, that’s to say whales.
And in Gaelic, unlike in English, you don’t say “as fat as a pig” but rather “as fat as a seal” – cho reamhar ri ròn.

On the coast in the East Neuk too are many beautiful fishing villages. Crail is Cair Ail – the settlement at the rock and Pittenweem is Peit na h-Uamha – the estate of the cave.

And if you visit St Andrews – Cill Rìmhinn – or the East Neuk, you might get the train to Luacharas – Leuchars. This means “the place of rushes or reeds”.

Leuchars – Leucharas

This week’s Gaelic Word of the Week is North East Fife – Fìobh an Ear-Thuath:

This week’s Gaelic Word of the Week was written and read by Alasdair MacCaluim, Gaelic Development Officer who spent all his childhood holidays in Cair Ail and whose granny lived in Ladybank!

If you are interested in learning more about Gaelic in Fife, you might be interested in the following new video about Gaelic in the Kingdom by Welcome to Fife.

Alasdair MacCaluim, alasdair.maccaluim@parliament.scot

Gaelic Word of the Week – Census #cleachdi #gàidlhig

Each week we publish the text of our Gaelic Word of the Week podcast here with added facts, figures and photos for Gaelic learners who want to learn a little about the language and about the Scottish Parliament – Pàrlamaid na h-Alba. This week our word is Census – Cunntas sluaigh.

You may recently have received a letter through the post abut Scotland’s Census.

You may have  noticed that the census logo also contains a bilingual strapline: Shaping our future/ A’ dealbhadh ar n-àm ri teachd.

The Gaelic for census is Cunntas-sluaigh. This comes from the words cunntas meaning a count or calculation and the word sluagh meaning people or population. Coming from the word cunntas also is the word cunntasachd – accountancy.

The Cunntas-sluaigh has a parliamentary connection. Under the Census Act 1920, each census – cunntas-sluaigh, requires further legislation to set matters such as the date it will take place, who must answer it and what the questions will be.

This happened through subordinate legislation – the Census (Scotland) Order which was considered in detail in Committee and then agreed by the Scottish Parliament – Pàrlamaid na h-Alba – on 4 March 2020.

Census day – latha a’ chunntas-sluaigh – will be 20th March but the questionnaire can be filled in by people as soon as the Census letter is received.

The Census – cunntas-sluaigh – is an important way of counting how many Gaelic speakers there and where they live. A question about Gaelic was first asked in 1881 and has continued to this day. The question currently asks four different things – if people can speak, read, write and understand Gaelic. The census may also be completed in Gaelic.

More recently, this has been joined by questions about Scots and BSL. 

Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the national Gaelic development agency are currently undertaking a publicity campaign to encourage those with Gaelic skills to make sure they enter this in the census. You can find out more by checking out Bòrd na Gàidhlig’s Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.

Bòrd na Gàidhlig advise:

“Question 14 asks you to tick boxes according to whether you can understand, speak, read or write Gaelic. Tick every box that applies to you and do the same for everyone else in your household.

• Have you spoken Gaelic all your life? Tick the box!

• Did you go through Gaelic medium education? Tick the box!

• Did you start learning Gaelic over Lockdown? Tick the box!

• Do you listen to Radio nan Gàidheal or watch BBC Alba every day? Tick the box!

It’s up to every member of the Gaelic community to represent that in our Census answers, so tick the box!”

Question 16 asks for your main language – if your main language is Gaelic, it’s important that you answer accordingly. If you speak Gaelic at home, at work, with family and friends – it may be your main language. Consider how much of your day is spent talking/listening/reading/writing in Gaelic.”

This week’s Gaelic word of the week is census: Cunntas-sluaigh.

Let’s practice: Cunntas-sluaigh.

This week’s Gaelic Word of the Week has been written and read by Alasdair MacCaluim, Gaelic Development Officer who has just filled in his census form in Gaelic!

Alasdair MacCaluim

gaidhlig@parliament.scot