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The Gaelic Element in the spoken Language of the South 

 of Scotland. By Miss Russell, Ashiesteel. 



It is generally recognised, on the whole, that there is a 

 large Gaelic element in the names of places in the south of 

 Scotland ; that is, Scotland south of the Firths of Forth and 

 Clyde; in fact, the doubts as to the nationality of the Picts, 

 who are the only people that can well have left them there, 

 must apparently have originated in the north of Scotland. 



But it is certainly not generally known, not it is evident 

 without some study, how large a proportion of what are 

 called Scotch words in common use, are Gaelic ; that is to 

 say, they are used, or known to have been used, in Gaelic, and 

 they do not occur in German or Anglo-Saxon. 



The same thing applies, in a less degree, in English : it 

 has many words which can only be derived from the Celtic 

 languages ; while it should be remarked that the Scotch 

 words, which are not Gaelic, are generally to be found in 

 some English dialect. 



The following list contains a number of the commonest and 

 best known words used in Scotland, particularly for all sorts 

 of country business, which are either exactly the same as in 

 Gaelic, or have not varied much, and which cannot have been 

 borrowed by the Gaelic, as there is nowhere they could be 

 borrowed from. A few words, in common use, were common 

 to Anglo-Saxon and Gaelic, so that it is hard to say whether 

 they were borrowed by either, or not ; though such as gair, 

 spear, and ath, and ford have dropped out of both English 

 and Scotch. 



Plaid : plaide, plaidie, means blanket in modern Gaelic. The 

 word for plaid is breacan, meaning spotted or variegated ; it is 

 used for tartan in general. Plaid is used for a woman's 

 shawl in Scotch. 



Maud: the regular word for the shepherd's plaid, made of 

 wool, from which the natural oil has not been washed, must 

 be the old Gaelic maudal or maundal, mantle in fact, now only 

 used in poetical Gaelic. 



Ingle : meaning hearth, is evidently from ainyeal, tire. 

 V 



