The simple answer is that Gaelic has not stood still as a language and been through a series of reforms and standardisations, old books and maps show that the Latin alphabet was used in a fairly random manner at times. There have been a number of changes to the spellings in the 20th century. I began learning Gàidhlig in 1970, when I was 10, at the Aberdeen Academy. At that time a form of standardisation had already happened, and my teacher, who was from Lewis, had to teach us the Skye and Western Highland manner, which was not natural to him.
We were initially taught phonetically, as it was thought that the spelling would be too complicated. This was in Scotland, a native language being deemed too difficult for the natives by "authorities" who did not have a grasp of it!
However, not long after this, spellings changed again, so it was all academic anyway. There have been further changes in the 21st century.
However, back to the badges.
Creagan is simply the plural of creag.
I'd say that the newer badge is the more accurate one, as Creag an Fhitich more or less translates as the Raven's Rock or Raven's Crag, although I would use the spelling fhithich, (although fitheach is probably more commonly used nowadays).
The fhitich spelling does turn up in texts from the 1800's, (Tha gliocas an ceann an fhitich-There is wisdom in a raven's head ) so is acceptable to me, considering the source.
Creagan an Fhithich is often given in books and online as meaning the raven's rock, but it's more precisely the raven's rocks, not that it's a big difference. That's my understanding of it anyway.
To add further to the spelling, a book that once belonged to a MacDonnell of Glengarry chief in 1757 (Confession of Faith, currently in the NLS) has an armorial plate bearing the slogan
Craggan an fhithich. From time to time this spelling surfaces on items too. This silver badge from 1921 was on Ebay just last week.
Originally Posted by MacSpadger
The simple answer is that Gaelic has not stood still as a language and been through a series of reforms and standardisations, old books and maps show that the Latin alphabet was used in a fairly random manner at times. There have been a number of changes to the spellings in the 20th century. I began learning Gàidhlig in 1970, when I was 10, at the Aberdeen Academy. At that time a form of standardisation had already happened, and my teacher, who was from Lewis, had to teach us the Skye and Western Highland manner, which was not natural to him.
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