Gaelic Coastal Culture -Cultar Gàidhlig a’ Chladaic
Highland Gaelic
The northeast Highlands was predominantly Gaelic speaking with strong cultural connections embedded in local tradition and folklore. The 19th century fishing and farming communities of Easter Ross had their own varieties of the Gaelic language with specific words and phrases for the places people lived and worked and the tools and implements they used. There was a distinct division between English-speaking landlords (Tighearna) and Gaelic-speaking tenants (Tuath). It thrived in the close knit communities of the Seaboard long after it had fallen into decline elsewhere in the Highlands.
Although Gaelic was John Ross’s first language he also had a good grasp of English, which he learnt from his parents at home before attending school.
Placenames
In the 1790s, the writer of the Old Statistical Account of Scotland for the Parish of Fearn wrote that “The common people speak the Gaelic language, though many of them now understand English. The names for places seem to be wholly derived from the Gaelic, and the expressions of their situations, occupation of the inhabitants and quality of the place and soil.”
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Fearn |
Fearna |
“Place of the Alder tree” |
|
Hilton |
Baile a’ Chnuic |
“Town of the hill” |
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Balintore |
Baile an Todhair |
“Bleaching town” |
|
Nigg |
Neig or Nig |
“The notch place” |
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Clashnamuiach |
Clais nam Maigheach |
“Hollow of the hares” |
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Balnagore |
Baile nan Gobhar |
“Goats’ town” |
|
Rhynie |
Ràth |
“Circular enclosure or fort” |
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Rarichie |
Ràth-riachaidh |
“Fort of scratching” |
Decline
By the 1880s, the teaching of Gaelic in schools was strongly discouraged and there was a general opinion that the “the best teachers confine their instructions to English and allow no Gaelic to be spoken in school”. A counter argument from the crofters commission in 1883, recommended that “all children whose mother tongue is Gaelic should be taught to read in that language”.
One of the final bastions for the language was the Gaelic-speaking church congregations of the Highlands, where the Gaelic Bible had been a feature of religious family life since the early eighteen hundreds. By the second half of the 19th century, there was a rapid decline and by the 1891 census most people were bilingual.
Revival
A recent revival in Gaelic learning in the Highlands has gone some way to ensuring its survival as new generations are introduced to the language, which can still be found in many local place names, e.g. Balintore (Baile an Todhair) meaning “The Bleaching Town”, and is a reminder of the days when flax was grown and woven into cloth spread on the ground to be purified and whitened by the action of the sun.
As a native Gaelic speaker, John Ross was well equipped to preach to Highland congregations during his time as a missionary probationer.
“The majority of the population in the Parishes of Fearn and Nigg were reliant on the provision of Gaelic bibles and sermons in their native tongue.”
The Celtic Magazine, 1894
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