Gaelic Map of Scotland and Gaelic Place Names

Gaelic Map of Scotland and Gaelic Place Names

To understand the occurrence of Gaelic in place names in Scotland we thought it would be good to show a map and a breakdown of places and their gaelic equivalent or the gaelic the modern name is derived from. We hope you find this interesting: Scotland/Alba Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City English Scottish Gaelic Meaning or […]

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Doing Something Good For Gaelic: The Scottish Gaelic Foundation of the U.S.A. is underway!

Doing Something Good For Gaelic: The Scottish Gaelic Foundation of the U.S.A. is underway!

Scottish Gaelic in the United States truly is a marginalized language and culture, and it has been largely subsumed and reinvented on a very different Anglo-Scottish model. Thus, much of the discussion necessary to set the stage for expanded efforts at Gaelic culture and language recovery and revitalization tends to be a bit dark and more than a little uncomfortable. Such […]

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“Our children are bred for emigration”

“Our children are bred for emigration”

Yesterday was the birthday of a great Gael. One of the greatest in fact. Poet, story teller and Gaelic cultural warrior Somhairle MacGill-Eain (Sorely MacLean) was born on Raasay on October 26th in 1911. Somhairle died in 1996. Had the Gaelic people, culture and kingdom not been overtaken and marginalized (i.e. stolen) by Anglo aggression, ethnic cleansing and forced […]

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Gaelic, Not Gaelic: Two Scotlands two Diasporas

Gaelic, Not Gaelic: Two Scotlands two Diasporas

If one looks at Scotland from a certain perspective, it is completely possible to identify two distinct worlds co-existing under one Alban sky. A close reading of north Britain human history reveals about 1,300 post-Roman years of a multi-cultural, multi-lingual, dynamic melting pot of Gaelic, Pict, Norse, Briton and finally Anglo Saxons and Normans. Rich, […]

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You might be a Gael if …

You might be a Gael if …

I wrote a Not Your Father’s Gaelic blog post a few weeks ago wherein I expressed how nice it would be to have neighbors who are aware of and interested in their Scottish Gaelic heritage. Perhaps even neighbors with whom I could joke around in Gaelic! As it is, even my own (Italian American) mother’s eyes […]

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Gaelic Music Needs Your Help!

Gaelic Music Needs Your Help!

Just as the descendents of Scottish emigrants can be found in every corner of the globe, so too can their language. Scottish Gaelic is the focus of a new musical project celebrating the languages spread throughout the world, highlighting the importance of indigenous language to the concept of home and belonging. Now the team behind […]

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Move Over Breaking Bad, Here Comes Bannan

Move Over Breaking Bad, Here Comes Bannan

Here’s some great news for my fellow small-screen junkies – a new Scottish series will soon be hitting our screens, filmed entirely in Gaelic and influenced by cult-hit Breaking Bad. Filming of Bannan (trans. The Ties That Bind) has recently begun on the Isle of Skye, with three pilot episodes commissioned by BBC Alba. Bannan […]

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Òrain Gàidhlig – Scottish Gaelic Song

Òrain Gàidhlig – Scottish Gaelic Song

One of the experiences that stood out the most on my Highland adventure a few months back was the amount of Scottish Gaelic I encountered. From road and railway station signs, to the greeting displayed on the entrance to McDonalds in Inverness, this was my first encounter with Scotland’s oldest surviving spoken language. It’s something […]

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