Gaelic Speakers

[Graham]

A Ghréamaigh (Graham),

Is the book and CD set called "Teach Yourself Gaelic"? Someone gave me "Teach Yourself Irish" for Xmas one year and it's a pretty good series.

Is mise le meas,

Seán Liosliath Ó hAirt

Sean, I'm ashamed to say that the set you mention is the very one I bought, I plan to start with it.
Is that MY name?? sounds great, can you tell me how it is pronounced?

[slohairt]

Dia Dhuit!

Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I was out of town yesterday and wasn't able to get my X fix.
Wow, what a response! Thanks for giving me all the hard ones right away!

OK, here it goes:

1) WAGES. Hmm, that a tricky one. As for its origins in Wallace, who knows? Wallace itself, however, is not a Gaelic name. The Lowland surname Wallace comes from the Anglo-Saxon Wealisc meaning "foreign". (Incidentally, this is where the word Wales comes from!) The surname indicates the ethnic origin of its bearer. The early Anglo-Saxon settlers in the Lowlands would have used it to refer to the ancient Strathclyde Britons. The Gaelic equivalent would be Breathnach (pronounced BRAN-AKH) meaning Briton.

2) DAVIS. Davis (also Davies) is one of the most common names in Wales. (McClef could testify to this for sure!) It means "son of David" and would be "Ap Dafydd" (pronounced AP DAV-ITH) in Welsh. (Ap corresponds to Mac) So, the Gaelic version would be "Mac Daibhidh" (pronounced MAC DAV-EE), which is the Gaelic form of the Scottish surname Davidson, though of course, no connection. "Mac Daibh" as you wrote was probably a mispelling somewhere of "Mac Daidh" = Daidh (pronounced DAY or DYE) is a pet form of Daibhidh.
P.S. Gordon is "Gòrdanach" (pronounced GORD-AN-AKH)

3) BUNT. Hmm. Could be Cornish (that's a little out of my area, though). A Gaelic rendering would be this: "de Bunnt" (Irish) or Bunnd (Scottish Gaelic). You might want to look up Bond, too. They're probably the same name.

4) GRAHAM. Ah, this is my paternal grandmother's maiden name! It's origins are widely disputed. Some say its Pictish, some say it's from the Anglo-Saxon Grantham...who knows? Whatever the origin, the Gaelic form is Gréamach (Irish) and Greumach (Scottish Gaelic). Both are pronounced GRAEM-AKH.

"A Ghréamaigh" (Irish) or "A Ghreumaich" (Scottish Gaelic) is the way you address someone in Gaelic. Basically, it goes like this: "A" is placed before the name and if the name begins with the letters B, C, D, F, G, M, P, S, or T, then an "h" is placed after, thus changing the sound. This is called lenition. Lastly, the name is put into the possessive form (often by adding an "i" before the lact consonant)

Examples:
Seán (John)=A Sheáin (pronounced A HyAWN)
Séamas (James)=A Shéamais (pronounced A HAMISH)
Tomás (Thomas)=A Thomáis (pronounced A HOM-ISH)
Mícheál (Michael)=A Mhíchíl (pronounced A VEE-HyILL)

Keep 'em coming!

[N. Campbell]

Thanks slohairt for the name info. I will look up Bond.

[McClef]

The Lowland surname Wallace comes from the Anglo-Saxon Wealisc meaning "foreign". (Incidentally, this is where the word Wales comes from!)

2) DAVIS. Davis (also Davies) is one of the most common names in Wales. (McClef could testify to this for sure!) It means "son of David" and would be "Ap Dafydd" (pronounced AP DAV-ITH) in Welsh. (Ap corresponds to Mac)

Yes indeed - Wales means "land of the stranger" and probably refers to what once was an all-encompassing tongue which was unintelligible to English speakers Only the educated Welsh would have spoken English, such as Brother Cadfael.

Cymru (Kumree) is its Welsh name The name Cymru is thought to derive from an old Brythonic word "combroges", meaning "compatriots", and derives from the struggle with the Anglo-Saxons.

Davis/Davies is a common surname (not as much as Jones or Evans though). You sometimes see Davieson as a variant also.

Many cultures have used "son of" as a surname. "Mac/Mc" in Gaelic, "Ben" in Hebrew, "Bin/Ibn" in Arabic, "Son/sson" in Scandinavian cultures etc.

[slohairt]

Of course only the educated would speak English!:rolleyes:
Ah, Brother Cadfael...

Cymru probably did encompass all of Britain (or at least southern britain). I believe Cornwall was once called West Wales, was it not?

I took Celtic Studies in university and many courses did cover Wales and the other Celtic nations. Unfortunately, most of the emphasis was on Ireland and Scotland. In fact, I've noticed that many Celtic festivals here in North America seem to be Irish-Scottish festivals in actuality. You couldn't even call them Gaelic festivals because they forget the poor little Manxman! Wales, Brittany, Cornwall, and of course, the Isle of Man often seem to be neglected.
I do recall one exception. I was at a Celtic festival in a small town called Goderich and they actualy had a Breton band! Later, I heard people say "Breton?" I thought that was a cracker?

[Kiltedfirepiper]

radio nan gaidheal on BBC radio has plenty of Gaelic programs to listen to http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/radios...shtml?pipeline
click on listen again, when the player comes up click on browse, and find radio nan gaidheal then browse through what channel you want to listen to
they have music, news , pretty much everything on the radio...and its all in Gaelic so that would help out as far as hearing words ect.

Scott

[Deasan]

Uill, a luchd-leubhaidh,tha moran Gaidhlig agam fhein co-dhiu.
I have a degree in Celtic Studies (Scottish Gaelic) with advanced major from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia. For those interested in the language, music, news, and views, do log on to BBC Radio Alba. They even have free lessons for those seeking a taste of the language called Beag air Bheag and some games, etc.. 'S e spors a th' ann gu dearbh!
Mise le meas,
Deasan

[Deasan]

Uill, a luchd leubhaidh, tha Gaidhlig glan,blasda gu leor agam agus 's e moran spors a th' ann gu dearbh. I speak Scottish Gaelic and have a degree in Celtic Studies with an adv. major from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.

[McClef]

Of course only the educated would speak English!:rolleyes:
Ah, Brother Cadfael...

Cymru probably did encompass all of Britain (or at least southern britain). I believe Cornwall was once called West Wales, was it not?

Perhaps I phrased it badly :rolleyes: Welsh was predominant and there wasnt much need to learn English given how far many people travelled in their lifetimes. Rich and powerful families who had connections outside of Wales would know and use English as would those who travelled outside of Wales as Cadfael did with his Crusader history before he became a monk.

I haven't heard of Cornwall being called that I'm afraid and google was no help.