Fascinating Gaelic Gravestone Inscription

[Calgacus]

I did wonder if 'MAIDHGHEADH' was the same as 'Meagaidh', as in the mountain 'Creag Meagaidh', which means 'crag of the bog land'. I wasn't at all sure how that fitted in with the inscription however if Monzie (Maigh Eadh) means 'bog land' that would explain it!

A few things stand out. Firstly, the clan motto takes pride of place at the head of the inscription. It's the late 18th century and the clan system has been destroyed, but this person clearly identifies strongly with his clan.

Secondly, Monzie is not the world's biggest place, but there was enough of a community to support a (wheel?)wright/carpenter, and he made enough of a living to afford to commission a fairly impressive headstone for his departed loved ones.

Thirdly, his daughter was born when his wife was aged nearly 40. It's a fair guess that this was not their first child, and there were probably a fair few older siblings.

Fourthly, his wife died aged 53. By modern standards this is young, but in pre-industrial Scotland it was probably a fair innings.

Lastly, and most sadly, his daughter did not fare so well, living a mere four years on this earth. This brings home the high infant & child mortality of the time, before modern medicine.

The headstone gives a fascinating glimpse into life in Perthshire at the edge of the Highland Line at the end of the 18th century. It is in some ways idyllic, Monzie is a beautiful fertile place, and it appears that Donald McGregor and his family did OK for themselves. On the other hand, life could be arbitrary and brutal at times, hence the warning 'MEMENTO MORI'- REMEMBER DEATH! Urging us to consider the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all worldly goods and pursuits.

On the other hand you could reflect upon another old Scottish saying- 'Ye're a lang time deid!'

[figheadair]

I did wonder if 'MAIDHGHEADH' was the same as 'Meagaidh', as in the mountain 'Creag Meagaidh', which means 'crag of the bog land'. I wasn't at all sure how that fitted in with the inscription however if Monzie (Maigh Eadh) means 'bog land' that would explain it!

Monzie is translated elsewhere as being from Moighidh but in the inscription it is spelt Maidhgheadh, perhaps a local variation or an attempt to spell the Gaelic pronunciation, and is presumably from the root ‘magh’, a field or level plane and ‘Eadh’, the meaning of which I can’t fit with 'magh'. Watson, in his Celtic Place-names of Scotland got Magh-iodh and Magh-eadh from Gaelic speakers. He also collected Magh Bhàrd for Monzievaird. If one follows Watson's alternative spelling of iodh then we have 'corn' or more generally 'food' so perhaps the original meaning was something like the field or plane of corn.

[Calgacus]

Monzie is translated elsewhere as being from Moighidh but in the inscription it is spelt Maidhgheadh, perhaps a local variation or an attempt to spell the Gaelic pronunciation, and is presumably from the root ‘magh’, a field or level plane and ‘Eadh’, the meaning of which I can’t fit with 'magh'. Watson, in his Celtic Place-names of Scotland got Magh-iodh and Magh-eadh from Gaelic speakers. He also collected Magh Bhàrd for Monzievaird. If one follows Watson's alternative spelling of iodh then we have 'corn' or more generally 'food' so perhaps the original meaning was something like the field or plane of corn.

That makes much more sense, as the land around Monzie is better described as 'field of corn' than 'bog land'.

[creagdhubh]

I did wonder if 'MAIDHGHEADH' was the same as 'Meagaidh', as in the mountain 'Creag Meagaidh', which means 'crag of the bog land'. I wasn't at all sure how that fitted in with the inscription however if Monzie (Maigh Eadh) means 'bog land' that would explain it!

A few things stand out. Firstly, the clan motto takes pride of place at the head of the inscription. It's the late 18th century and the clan system has been destroyed, but this person clearly identifies strongly with his clan.

Secondly, Monzie is not the world's biggest place, but there was enough of a community to support a (wheel?)wright/carpenter, and he made enough of a living to afford to commission a fairly impressive headstone for his departed loved ones.

Thirdly, his daughter was born when his wife was aged nearly 40. It's a fair guess that this was not their first child, and there were probably a fair few older siblings.

Fourthly, his wife died aged 53. By modern standards this is young, but in pre-industrial Scotland it was probably a fair innings.

Lastly, and most sadly, his daughter did not fare so well, living a mere four years on this earth. This brings home the high infant & child mortality of the time, before modern medicine.

The headstone gives a fascinating glimpse into life in Perthshire at the edge of the Highland Line at the end of the 18th century. It is in some ways idyllic, Monzie is a beautiful fertile place, and it appears that Donald McGregor and his family did OK for themselves. On the other hand, life could be arbitrary and brutal at times, hence the warning 'MEMENTO MORI'- REMEMBER DEATH! Urging us to consider the vanity of earthly life and the transient nature of all worldly goods and pursuits.

On the other hand you could reflect upon another old Scottish saying- 'Ye're a lang time deid!'

Well stated, Calgacus.

[Nathan]

Interestingly, the Gaelic name for Myaugh in C. Wexford is also Maigh Eadh, which threw me off the carpenter meaning and made me think the man found religion in Ireland. Just a coincidence that Monzie was rendered this way, I suppose.

The clan system had been destroyed, but only a few decades earlier. I can tell you that clan mottos are on old and new gravestones in Nova Scotia so the pride didn't die nearly as quickly as the system.

[Calgacus]

Indeed, his wife would have been about five years old in 1745, and he himself would probably have been a young lad of similar age, maybe a few years older. I wonder what impression it left on him?

[figheadair]

A number of things about this stone interest me:

1. To find a fully bi-lingual inscription front and back is extremely rare - I know of no other examples. This double inscription would have been an expensive outlay for a carpenter. His son also pre-deceased Donald but his gravestone (early 1800s) in only in English.

2. The Gaelic has a number of spelling errors that suggest that Donald MacGregor whilst a native speaker was not fully literate in Gaelic and so presumably wrote out his approximation based on being literate in English.

3. The Gaelic inscription contains some interesting insights into the structure of female patronymics. Normally these are written Nic from nighean mhicbut on this stone they are written Nich, a variation that I've never seen before and perhaps a local dialectal version.

4. The names of the month are in English - surprised that no-one's picked that up. Whilst there are Gaelic equivalents for all the months including June (An t-Òg-mhìos) and September (An t-Sultaine) it may be that because of the links with some to pre-Christian religious beliefs that the Gaelic church always use the Latin based names for the months of the year.

5. In translation the Anglicised form of the female forenames and surnames are used: Anna becomes Ann, NichCaura - McAra, Catrina - Catherine and NichGregair - McGregor.

6. The Gaelic version of the motto contains an extra word from the standard Eadhon dean agus na caomhain and is rendered Eadhon dean agus na caomhain idir. Idir means 'at all'. Perhaps this is a local version or perhaps this was the original form. Given that the English (Scots) version is on the reverse it is evident that both forms were current at the end of the 18th century. It would be interesting to find the earliest records of both which in turn would be a good indication of which was probably the original form.

7. Cuimhne Am Bas is an unusual Gaelic term and was probably a deliberate translation of the traditional 'Memento Mori'.

For simplicity, if one assumes that Donald was the same age as his wife then they were born in 1740 and so grew up in a time or turmoil and change as the clan system was dismantled. The next task is to try and track Donald's family and determine whether he was local or moved to the area from further west.

This stone is extremely unusual and ultimately the aim must be to preserve it for future generations.

[Calgacus]

2. The Gaelic has a number of spelling errors that suggest that Donald MacGregor whilst a native speaker was not fully literate in Gaelic and so presumably wrote out his approximation based on being literate in English.

It's equally, or indeed more likely that Donald was illiterate. The mason was presumably literate in English, and either had a working knowledge of Gaelic, or there was a third party involved who was literate enough in Gaelic to produce the translation we now see. Someone such as the local minister, perhaps?

[Nathan]

Very interesting.

I'm not so sure he'd be illiterate. My ancestor was a native Gaelic speaker who was literate in English when he arrived in Nova Scotia from Lewis shortly after this stone was erected in 1804. My ancestor's Bible and prayer book were in English. The Gaelic spelling issues make sense because Gaelic education had been proscribed. It would make sense for the man to be a native Gaelic speaker but with no formal education in the tongue of his home. Add that lack of Gaelic education to the fact that Gaelic orthography wasn't as standardized as it is today.

Due to the influence of English on the Gaels, the use of English months does not surprise me as Gaels freely throw in English words once they are bilingual. By way of an example, there is a Gaelic name for Nova Scotia - Alba Nuadh. That fact not withstanding, in the song "'Illean bithibh sunndach", written by Gaelic emigrants leaving for the colony, it was rendered as "Eilean Nobha Scotia".

If one used English in School and when dealing with government and Gaelic was a folk language of the home, it would make sense that borrowings would be common.

We have records of songs, and letters back and forth to Scotland by working class Gaels encouraging their relatives to make the journey and avoid the hardships back home. By this time in history, common Gaels were far more literate than many give them credit for.

[Calgacus]

All good points, Nathan. I am not actually aware of literacy levels in Scotland during that period, I was making assumptions and am most likely wrong.