Galwegian Gaelic

Galwegian Gaelic is an extinct Goidelic dialect formerly spoken in South West Scotland. It was spoken by the independent kings of Galloway in their time, and by the people of Galloway and Carrick until the early modern period. It was once spoken in Annandale and Strathnith. Little, in fact almost nothing, has survived of the dialect, so that its exact relationship with other Goidelic dialects is uncertain. It is also known as Gallovidian Gaelic, Galloway Gaelic etc.

It is not to be confused with forms of Irish Gaelic spoken in County Galway in Ireland, for which the adjectival form Galwegian is sometimes also used.

Celtic
Insular Celtic
Goidelic
Galwegian Gaelic

Dialect classification
Indo-European

History and extent

Gaelicization in Galloway and Carrick occurred at the expense of Old English and British. Old Irish can be traced in the Rhinns of Galloway from at least the fifth century. How it developed and spread is largely unknown. The Gaelicization of the land was complete probably by the eleventh century, although some have suggested a date as early as the beginning of the ninth century. The main problem is that this folk-movement is unrecorded in the historical sources, so it has to be reconstructed from things such as place-names. According to the placename studies of WFH Nicolaisen, formerly of the University of Edinburgh, the earliest layer is represented by placenames with the prefix Sliabh- (often anglicized Slew- or Sla(e-) and Carraig (= a fishing station; anglicized as Carrick). This would make the settlement roughly contemporary with what was then Dál Riata. The Gall-Gaidhel (the Gaelic Norse), who gave their name to the area appear to have settled in the ninth and tenth centuries. Many of the leading settlers would have been Norse speaking, but this would not appear to have been to the same extent as in other Norse-Gaelic regions, such as parts of the Hebrides and Sutherland-Caithness.

It is quite possible that even as late as the twelfth century, Cumbric (a Brythonic language related to Welsh) was still spoken in Annandale and lower Strathnith (where a man called Gille Cuithbrecht has the Gaelic nickname Bretnach ^*), but these areas seem to have been thoroughly Gaelicized by the end of that century. A couple of legal terms also survive in medieval documents. The demise of Cumbric in the region is even harder to date than Gaelic.

The likely eastern limit reached by the language was the Annan. The reason for that is that Gaelic placenames disappear quite rapidly after this boundary, although a handful of Gaelic names also appear in Cumbria. In the north it was possibly cut off from other Scottish dialects in the fourteenth, if not the thirteenth century.

Culture

Gaelic-speakers in medieval Galloway, whom Richard of Hexham erroneously called Picts, had a fearsome reputation. They were the barbarians par excellence of the northern English Chroniclers, said, amongst other things, to have ripped babies out of their mother's wombs. It was reported that by Walter of Guisborough in 1296, that during a raid on Hexham Priory, the Galwegians under William Wallace desecrated the shrine of St Andrew, cut off the head of the saint's statue, and threw relics into a fire.

It was perhaps the wild reputation that Galwegians had in England and Lothian which gave rise to the myth of Sawney Bean (note the Gaelic surname/nickname).

Although Galloway was peripheral to Scotland until 1234, in the aftermath of the rebellion of Gille Ruadh and the dissolution of the Lordship, Galloway and Galwegians became critical. In many ways, the Scottish Wars of independence were just a Galwegian civil war, with the Bruces the successors of Gilla Brigte mac Fergusa and the Balliols the successors of Uchtred mac Fergusa.

Under the post-1234 Franco-Gaelic lorship were several powerful kin-groups, or clans, for instance, the MacLellans, the MacDowalls and the Kennedys of Carrick. It was probably through these groups that Galwegian society operated for the remainder of the Middle Ages. Evidence for a clan system in the area can be found in medieval records - cineal (kindred) appears in such terms as "kenelman", and "kenkynol" (Ceann-cinneil); muinntir (household) appears in "Muntercasduff"; clan in "Clenafren", "Clanmacgowin" et al. A number of local surnames have Gaelic origins e.g. Landsburgh (originally McClambroch), MacClumpha, MacGuffock, Hannay, McKie, Kennedy and MacCulloch. The placenames Balmaclellan and Balmaghie may represent the site of chiefs' residences.

Evidence of a bardic class can be found in such placenames as Dervaird (Doire a' Bhaird) and Loch Recar (Loch an Reacaire).

Important information about local agriculture can be gleaned from placenames as well - shielings (àiridh) were in use e.g. Airies, Airieholland; manured infield from Talnotrie (talamh an otraigh) and Auchnotteroch. Gall-ghàidhil agriculture is indicated in the use of peighinn and its subdivisions (q.v.), e.g. Pinminnoch, Leffin Donald, Fardin; Daugh and quarterland (ceathramh) also appear, e.g. Doach, Kirriedarroch, Terraughty.

Relationships to other languages

It is thought that Galwegian Gaelic probably had more in common with the Manx and Ulster Irish than with Scottish Gaelic as spoken in the Highlands. This idea has in the past been used to disassociate Galwegian Gaelic from other Scottish dialects, for political purposes in fact.¹ However, the idea is very misleading. All medieval Goidelic languages were mutually comprehensible so far as we can tell. Perhaps the Gaelic dialect of the Isle of Arran parallels the Galwegian language most, but this is purely speculative.

Gallowegian Gaelic seems to have borrowed certain words from Old English. The influence of the Anglian Bishopric of Whithorn, with the Norse Gall-Gaidhel, probably explains why, uniquely amongst Goidelic dialects, Galwegian incorporated the word cirice (O.E.)/ Kirja (O.N.) (=Church): see kirk. It occurs in medieval placenames where, in the rest of Scotland, we would expect Cille. Examples are legion. They include Kirkcormac, Kirkmikbrick, Kirkinner, Kirkcolm, Kirkmabrick. In these names, the first word is Germanic and the second Gaelic. The word order is Celtic too, noun + adjective, rather than the Germanic adjective + noun (c/f Dùn Èideann and Edin-burgh). This is why we can be sure, for example, that Kirkcudbright, etymologically entirely Germanic, was in fact coined by a Celt.

English influence can also be inferred from the popularity of English saints. Kirkcudbright, mentioned above, means Church of St Cuthbert. Closeburn, earlier Killeosberne (Cille (Gd. Church) + of Osbern) is another. A plethora of personal names confirm the popularity of Anglo-Saxon culture. For example, the name Gille Cuithbrecht (= Manx, Giolla Cobraght) means devotee of St Cuthbert. Another historical example is Gille Aldan, the name of the first bishop of Galloway after the resurrection of that see by King Fergus.

1500 and after

An important source for the perception of Galwegian language is the poem known as The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedy. The poem, written somewhere between 1504 and 1508 portrays an ideological, historical and cultural conflict between William Dunbar (representing Lothian, and Anglian Scotland) and Walter Kennedy (representing Carrick and Gaelic Scotland). Dunbar ridicules Kennedy's Heland accent and Erische language, whilst Kennedy defends it, saying calling it "all trew Scottismennis leid" and telling Dunbar "in Ingland sowld be thy habitation."² The importance is that, from a Lothian perspective in the early sixteenth century, Carrick and Galloway still represented Gaelic Scotland, just as Lothian did Anglian Scotland. Note also that Kennedy is referred to as "Heland" (Highland).

Alexander Montgomerie (1545? - 1610?) was also a Gaelic speaker, and was termed the "Hielant Captain"; various Gaelic terms and phrases can be found in his works.

George Buchanan, himself a Gaelic speaker, writing in 1575, reports that Gaelic was still spoken in Galloway. In the middle of the century, 1563-1566, a report by an anonymous English military investigator informs us that the people of Carrick "for the most part specke erishe".³

After this, there is much ambiguous and indirect evidence that the language was spoken, if only fragmentedly, into the eighteenth century. Margaret McMurray is one of the last speakers we know of by name, although there are some suggestions that Alexander Murray, the linguist may have learnt it off his aged father who was a local upland shepherd.

It is safe to say, though, that the Galwegian language died out somewhere in the two-century period between 1600 and 1800, with the balance of evidence strongly indicating an effective disappearance in the seventeenth century. It is notable though, that nearby areas such as the Isle of Man, east Ulster and Arran all had native Gaelic speakers into the 20th century.

Modern influence

The language continues to be an inspiration to modern writers, such as William Neill a poet who writes in Scottish and Irish Gaelic, Lowland Scots and English. Another example of the modern legacy is the "Gall-Gael Trust" founded by Colin MacLeod.

References

1. Opposition Argument to Gaelic Language Bill, by Alastair Livingston

2. Lorimer, p. 116

3. ibid., p. 117

Bibliography

Alcock, Leslie, Kings & Warriors, Craftsmen & Priests In Northern Britain, AD 550-850, (Edinburgh, 2003)
Driscoll, Steven, Alba: The Gaelic Kingdom of Scotland, AD 800-1124, (Edinburgh, 2002)
Lorimer, W.L., The Persistence of Gaelic in Galloway and Carrick, in Scottish Gaelic Studies, VI.2 (1949), pp. 114-36
MacQueen, John, Welsh and Gaelic in Galloway in Transactions of the Dumfries-shire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society #32 (1953-4)
MacQueen, John, Pennyland and Doach in South Western Scotland: A Preliminary Note in Scottish Studies #23, (1979)
Nicolaisen, W.F.H., Scottish Placenames: Their Study and Significance (London, 1976)
Oram, Richard, The Lordship of Galloway, (Edinburgh, 2000)
Thomas, C., Britain and Ireland in Early Christian Times AD 400-800 (London, 1971)
Thomas, C., The Irish Settlements in post-Roman Western Britain: a Survey of the Evidence in Journal of the Royal Institute of Cornwall #6, (1972)
Watson, W.J., Celtic Placenames of Scotland, (Edinburgh, 1926)

External link

Lingua Celticae

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