One of the most distinctive features of the Outer Hebrides is the prevalence of the Gaelic language. With the exception of the areas around Stornoway in Lewis, the majority of the population are native Gaelic speakers. More than anywhere else the Outer Hebrides remains the stronghold of this ancient Celtic language which shares a common linguistic root with Irish Gaelic and Manx (and to go further back into history, with Welsh, Cornish and Breton).The Celtic tribes, migrating from middle - Europe, were not the first inhabitants of the Outer Hebrides, but their influence has been pervasive, outlasting even the strong Norse culture.
Despite more than two hundred years of suppression, condemnation and official neglect, the Gaelic language is still vibrant in the modern world. Though it often appears to be under threat from the omnipresence of English language television and publications, Gaelic is still in everyday use as the first language for most of the islands' population. Since the establishment of Comhairle nan Eilean (the Western Isles Council) the encouragement given to Gaelic through the formal education system appears to have reversed the decline of recent years. The last decade has seen the strengthening of Gaelic literature, music, the arts and social studies most recently through the development of radio and television broadcasting activities. The richness of the Gaelic language and the culture which supports it has also led to a dramatic rise in the numbers of Gaelic learners so that Gaelic today is probably one of the fastest growing second languages in Europe.
10 Things You Might Not Know About Gaelic
Gaelic is spoken by around 70,000 of the 5 million inhabitants of Scotland or, in percentage terms, by just more than one per cent of the population.
In the Outer Hebrides, in the last census (1991) just under 70% of the population (of the local government area Na h-Eileanan an Iar) were Gaelic speakers. This is by far the highest proportion of Gaelic speakers per head of population. There are also substantial numbers of Gaelic speakers in Highland and Strathclyde regions: almost ten per cent of Gaelic speakers live in Glasgow (Glaschu), and there are smaller, but significant concentrations in Edinburgh (Dùn Eideann) and Inverness (Inbhir Nis.) For more info see www.cne-siar.gov.uk/w-isles/factfile/gaelic.htm
Gaelic was brought to Scotland by colonists from Ireland towards the end of the Roman Empire in Britain. By 500 A.D. these Gaels had established their Kingdom of Dàl Riada, centered on what is now Argyll in southwest Scotland; Argyll in Gaelic means Earra Ghàidheal, "the coastland of the Gael."
To Roman writers the Gaels were Scotti -- Scotia at this time denoted Ireland - although these names cannot be traced with certainty to an origin in Gaelic itself. But from these Latin forms came the name Scotland. In Gaelic, however, the country is Alba, as in Irish Gaelic, and Alban in Welsh.
A study of place names in the Outer Hebrides reveals that while the larger coastland settlements derive their names from Norse, the majority of smaller, inland hamlets and nearly all the natural features of the landscape have retained their Gaelic name, or at least have had their Norse name 're-Gaelicised'. Ultimately, the Norse made very little impact on the Gaelic language spoken in Scotland.
Traditionally, Celtic peoples kept their culture alive orally. Their ancient religion prevented them from writing their knowledge down.
The disproportionate casualties of Scottish soldiers in two World Wars emptied many islands and glens of their youth, and harsh economic structures dictated by a distant, unsympathetic government caused many communities in the Gàidhealtachd (the Gaelic speaking areas of the Highlands & Islands) to collapse. By 1961, only 80,978 people or 1.66% of Scotland's population said they spoke Gaelic.
Through the 1980s into the 1990s, Gaelic has enjoyed something of a revival, and in common with other Celtic countries, is pushing the use of Gaelic medium education from nursery school onward, with Comann nan Sgoiltean Araich set up in 1982 to do this. At present there are over 75 such schools in Scotland, from a starting figure of four. This is complemented by the growth of Gaelic Medium Units (GMUs) in schools across Scotland. The first opened in 1988 in Inverness and there are presently over 50 such units, as well as playgroups, in several major Scottish cities.
Names are extremely important in all traditional societies. A Gael is identified by his or her sloinneadh, an enumeration of ancestors (usually patrilineal descent) and by a home village. The first two questions that any native Gael would traditionally ask a Gaelic-speaking stranger are Có leisthu? and Có ás a tha thu? 'Who do you belong to' and 'Where do you come from', meaning not where your current residence is, but where you were born and raised. Typical phrases about locale are very interesting, as statements of origin translate in English, for example, as 'I belong to Glen Uig'. People are conceptualised as belonging to places, not the other way round.
There are Gaelic songs for all sorts of work activities and social occasions (some of which have gone out of common use): reaping, sowing, milking, waulking cloth, healing, battle, mourning the dead, praising the living, and so on. These were paralleled in instrumental adaptations.
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