Fascinating Gaelic Gravestone Inscription

[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.

[figheadair]

Whilst Gaelic suffered from a long period of hostility and was actively discouraged it was not 'proscribed' in law, unlike Irish Gaelic, and was not (as some believe) included in the Act of Prosciption on the wearing of Highland Dress.

In this particular case the records show that Monzie, Monievaird, Comrie etc were regarded as Gaelic speaking parishes until the ealry 1800s whilst Crieff was noted as Scots speaking but where many people were bilingual.

[Nathan]

Whilst Gaelic suffered from a long period of hostility and was actively discouraged it was not 'proscribed' in law, unlike Irish Gaelic, and was not (as some believe) included in the Act of Prosciption on the wearing of Highland Dress.

In this particular case the records show that Monzie, Monievaird, Comrie etc were regarded as Gaelic speaking parishes until the ealry 1800s whilst Crieff was noted as Scots speaking but where many people were bilingual.

Gaelic education, not usage was what was proscribed - at least for the children of the chiefs. I think there was also a push to build roads and English schools in the Highlands after the '45.

[figheadair]

Gaelic education, not usage was what was proscribed - at least for the children of the chiefs. I think there was also a push to build roads and English schools in the Highlands after the '45.

The wording of the last section of the Act of Proscription is possibly the background to this practice.

.....That from and after the first day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forth six, it shall not be lawful for any person in Scotland to keep a private school for teaching English, Latin, Greek, or any part of literature, or to officiate as a master or teacher in such school; or any school for literature, other than those in universities, or established in the respectively royal burghs, by publick authority, or the parochial schools settled according to law, or the schools maintained by the society in Scotland for propogating christian knowledge, or by the general assemblies of the church of Scotland, or committees thereof, upon the bounty granted by his Majesty......

And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any parent or guardian shall put a child or children under his care to any private school that shall not be registered according to the directions of this act, or whereof the principal master or teacher shall not have registered the certificate of his having qualified himself as herein directed, every such parent or guardian so offending, and being thereof lawfully convicted before any two or more justices of the peace, or before any other judge competent of the place summarily, shall, for the space of three months.