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Help[Facts] Gaelic, gaelic... and perhaps a side of gaelic
Well, I suspect this thread to be long, but I will address a few questions at a time to keep this post less than the length of a small country.
1) I have noticed on the site some names are listed as Gaelic, some as Irish Gaelic and some as Scottish Gaelic. How much difference is there? Are they all the same language with different pronunciations or accents, or is there multiple dialects.
For example, I noted that 'torin' is chief in Irish Gaelic and 'conn' is chief in gaelic, according to the site. This also continues into question 2.
2) The following english words have more than one gaelic word given. I wanted to know if they are synonyms, or if there are not english equivalents of the words, so the english approximation is given.
river = ABHANN & GLAIS
poet = FILE, BARD & TADHG
dark = Ciardha, dorcha & dubh
slender = SEANG & CAOL
man = FEAR & VIR
wolf = cú & faol
That's all for now. I need the answer to #1 before I can ask more. Why I am asking all this is I have Scottish heritage. My last name is Cameron, and I have been the first girl in out particular line for quite a while. My fiance is German and Dutch, and I will be taking his German last name, so I want to name any impending children with Gaelic names. Growing up with an extremely common (9 girls out of ~100 in my graduating class), I felt I lacked a sense of identity. I got a lot of odd nicknames by teachers and class mates to try and differentiate us 9 girls, and very few people, including my own family call me by my first name, or any name for that matter. When people do say my name, it doesn't catch my attention, doesn't really feel like it belongs to me.
Anyways, long story not so short, I want to give my children unique and meaningful names. In addition, I have no English background, but my parents gave me an English name... So I want to take Gaelic words and create a name. The example I gave in a former post about something else was Daesloch, from the words 'deas'=south and 'loch'=lake --> 'from the south lake'. I didn't create it, I met someone with the name whose parents created the name from the Gaelic elements.
So I need to get pronunciations correct and as I am Scottish-Gael, I want to not use Irish words.
Thanks, and sorry I ramble ^_^
~SD
Ps. I hope u enjoyed my life story, lol
1) I have noticed on the site some names are listed as Gaelic, some as Irish Gaelic and some as Scottish Gaelic. How much difference is there? Are they all the same language with different pronunciations or accents, or is there multiple dialects.
For example, I noted that 'torin' is chief in Irish Gaelic and 'conn' is chief in gaelic, according to the site. This also continues into question 2.
2) The following english words have more than one gaelic word given. I wanted to know if they are synonyms, or if there are not english equivalents of the words, so the english approximation is given.
river = ABHANN & GLAIS
poet = FILE, BARD & TADHG
dark = Ciardha, dorcha & dubh
slender = SEANG & CAOL
man = FEAR & VIR
wolf = cú & faol
That's all for now. I need the answer to #1 before I can ask more. Why I am asking all this is I have Scottish heritage. My last name is Cameron, and I have been the first girl in out particular line for quite a while. My fiance is German and Dutch, and I will be taking his German last name, so I want to name any impending children with Gaelic names. Growing up with an extremely common (9 girls out of ~100 in my graduating class), I felt I lacked a sense of identity. I got a lot of odd nicknames by teachers and class mates to try and differentiate us 9 girls, and very few people, including my own family call me by my first name, or any name for that matter. When people do say my name, it doesn't catch my attention, doesn't really feel like it belongs to me.
Anyways, long story not so short, I want to give my children unique and meaningful names. In addition, I have no English background, but my parents gave me an English name... So I want to take Gaelic words and create a name. The example I gave in a former post about something else was Daesloch, from the words 'deas'=south and 'loch'=lake --> 'from the south lake'. I didn't create it, I met someone with the name whose parents created the name from the Gaelic elements.
So I need to get pronunciations correct and as I am Scottish-Gael, I want to not use Irish words.
Thanks, and sorry I ramble ^_^
~SD
Ps. I hope u enjoyed my life story, lol
1
Replies
Maybe this will help you...
I looked up Gaelic on www.answers.com and the answers were rather lenthy but if you're really interested it's very neat. They give examples of pronounciation as well as history of the language and what Celtic / Gaelic includes.
Scottish Gaelic: http://www.answers.com/topic/scottish-gaelic-language
Irish language: http://www.answers.com/Irish%20language
Celtic Languages: http://www.answers.com/Celtic%20languages
I hope this helps to explain it a bit better. Scottish Gaelic doesn't seem to be used that much any more where as Irish Gaelic is more commonly taught in schools and so forth. I don't know this for certain though! :)
Have yourself a buggy little Christmas! I've adopted 26 ! and 4 @, see my profile
I looked up Gaelic on www.answers.com and the answers were rather lenthy but if you're really interested it's very neat. They give examples of pronounciation as well as history of the language and what Celtic / Gaelic includes.
Scottish Gaelic: http://www.answers.com/topic/scottish-gaelic-language
Irish language: http://www.answers.com/Irish%20language
Celtic Languages: http://www.answers.com/Celtic%20languages
I hope this helps to explain it a bit better. Scottish Gaelic doesn't seem to be used that much any more where as Irish Gaelic is more commonly taught in schools and so forth. I don't know this for certain though! :)
Have yourself a buggy little Christmas! I've adopted 26 ! and 4 @, see my profile
1
There is mostly a differance of pronounciation between the Irish & Scottish Gaelic that originated a long time ago and is fairly settled. They used a lot of the same names and a lot of the same words so it is sometimes hard to tell if a name is strictly Irish or strictly Scottish. Also in the mix are names (like Owen) that are actually Welsh.
I took a look at the names you mentioned and here's what I think:
river = ABHANN (Irish) & GLAIS (sounds Scottish)
poet = FILE, BARD (sounds Scottish) & TADHG (Irish)
dark = Ciardha (Irish), dorcha & dubh (Scottish sound)
slender = SEANG (Irish) & CAOL (Scottish)
man = FEAR (Irish) & VIR (Scottish)
wolf = cú (Irish) & faol (Scottish)
There is rather a distinct sound in the way their names are pronounced, Irish Gaelic names seem to have a more smooth sound to them where as Scottish Gaelic names are a bit more strong sounding, to me at least! :) I hope I helped a little bit.
Examples of their strong, sturdy names:
Douglas
Malcolm
Tavish
Hamish
Ian
Alistair
Angus
Archibald
Bruce
Duncan
Daesloch sounds like Scottish Gaelic (the loch part at least)
Elspeth
Fiona
Isla
Lillias
Lorna
Mairead
Have yourself a buggy little Christmas! I've adopted 26 ! and 4 @, see my profile
I took a look at the names you mentioned and here's what I think:
river = ABHANN (Irish) & GLAIS (sounds Scottish)
poet = FILE, BARD (sounds Scottish) & TADHG (Irish)
dark = Ciardha (Irish), dorcha & dubh (Scottish sound)
slender = SEANG (Irish) & CAOL (Scottish)
man = FEAR (Irish) & VIR (Scottish)
wolf = cú (Irish) & faol (Scottish)
There is rather a distinct sound in the way their names are pronounced, Irish Gaelic names seem to have a more smooth sound to them where as Scottish Gaelic names are a bit more strong sounding, to me at least! :) I hope I helped a little bit.
Examples of their strong, sturdy names:
Douglas
Malcolm
Tavish
Hamish
Ian
Alistair
Angus
Archibald
Bruce
Duncan
Daesloch sounds like Scottish Gaelic (the loch part at least)
Elspeth
Fiona
Isla
Lillias
Lorna
Mairead
Have yourself a buggy little Christmas! I've adopted 26 ! and 4 @, see my profile
This message was edited 12/26/2005, 9:55 PM
1
One correction
On this topic, I don't know nearly as much as LadyBug, but I'm fairly certain that dubh is Irish Gaelic. It means "dark," while ciardha means the color black.
On this topic, I don't know nearly as much as LadyBug, but I'm fairly certain that dubh is Irish Gaelic. It means "dark," while ciardha means the color black.
1
Thank you very much for your input. I agree that the Scottish Gaelic names tend to have a bit of a 'hard' sound to English ears.
I am continuing to try and find deffinitive answers to weither the words listed above are Irish, Scottish, or simply Gaelic synonyms.
So is Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic the same language, Gaelic, but with differences. For example, Canadian English, Australian English, Brittish English, Jamacian English, United States English, etc. are all English, and for the most part we can understand each other, but some words are very common in one area, but not in another. Like how the English use lift and torch for an elevator and a flashlight, respectively. In Canadian English, we have the words lift and torch, but they are not necicarily used in that form.
Another good example is aluminium. In American and Canadian English it is pronounced ah-loo-MIN-uhm, whereas in Brittish English it is pronounced ahl-yoo-MIN-ee-uhm; an entire extra syllable.
This is what I need to know for Irish and Scottish Gaelic. If I find a word that is listed as Irish Gaelic on the website, eg. 'ailill' meaning elf, does it mean 'elf' to those who speak Gaelic in Scotland? Does the word 'ailill' exist in Scottish Gaelic? If so, does it have the same meaning? Etc etc.
Thanks again,
~ SD
I am continuing to try and find deffinitive answers to weither the words listed above are Irish, Scottish, or simply Gaelic synonyms.
So is Irish Gaelic and Scottish Gaelic the same language, Gaelic, but with differences. For example, Canadian English, Australian English, Brittish English, Jamacian English, United States English, etc. are all English, and for the most part we can understand each other, but some words are very common in one area, but not in another. Like how the English use lift and torch for an elevator and a flashlight, respectively. In Canadian English, we have the words lift and torch, but they are not necicarily used in that form.
Another good example is aluminium. In American and Canadian English it is pronounced ah-loo-MIN-uhm, whereas in Brittish English it is pronounced ahl-yoo-MIN-ee-uhm; an entire extra syllable.
This is what I need to know for Irish and Scottish Gaelic. If I find a word that is listed as Irish Gaelic on the website, eg. 'ailill' meaning elf, does it mean 'elf' to those who speak Gaelic in Scotland? Does the word 'ailill' exist in Scottish Gaelic? If so, does it have the same meaning? Etc etc.
Thanks again,
~ SD
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