Tuesday 20 November 2007

The Gaelic Adventure

Cameron has written a great piece entitled: "Let's preserve the Gaelic".  He was interviewed for Radio Scotland's "Out of Doors" programme (link). Frankly, I feel that preservation isn't enough, and that an audit needs to be carried out to check that placenames have their original meanings. If a place was mis-named by a surveyor, or renamed by the first climber, then should not their original names be used?  Was Sgurr Alasdair always called that? No, so why should that Gaelic name be preserved?

Position originally stated after watching "Tir is Teanga, 21.05.07" (link).

Drummond's book on "Scottish Hill & Mountain Names" is an excellent addition to the library. As Cameron writes:

The people who once lived in these remote parts were the people who gave the hills, the lochs, the glens, their names and if we were to lose those names we would be losing part of our culture.

Why not do it properly, so that the culture is preserved, the real culture. Is Sgurr Alasdair any better than "The Devil's Point"?

BBC Alba links to their Gaelic learners page. Air Splaoid's blog.

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