A wander tae kintra o the Scots!....A trip to the land of the Scots!

This week we are beuk-lair (learning) aboot Scotland!

An educational vaige (journey) to lear (learn) aboot it's fowk (people), it's kintra (country), it's farin (food) and its history.

The offeecial langage or leid (language) of Scotland is English however there is a remnant of about 1% that still speak Scots Gaelic...sadly the statistics show that there are more Scot Gaelic speakers in Canada than there are in Scotland itself! Scottish Gaelic or Scot is spoken mainly in the Highlands and Western Isles as well as Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness. There are actually small Gaelic speaking communities in Canada, especially in Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island as well as Australia, New Zealand and the USA.

Scottish Gaelic is closely related to Manx and irish and was brought to Scotland around the fourth century A.D. by Scots from Ireland. Scottish Gaelic was spoken throughout Scotland between the ninth and eleventh centuries A.D. but began to retreat north form the eleventh century A.D. onwards. All Scottish Gaelic dialects are mutually intelligible.

The Scottish Gaelic Alphabet:

A a ailm (elm)

B b Beith (birch)

C c Coll (hazel)

D d Dair (oak)

E e Eadha (Aspen)

F f Fearn (Alder)

G g Gort (Ivy)

H h Uath (Hawthorn)

I i Iogh (Yew)

L l Luis (Rowan)

M m Muin (vine)

N n Nuin (Ash)

O o Oir/Onn (Gorse)

P p Peithe (Guelder Rose)

R r Ruis (Elder)

S s Suil (Willow)

T t Teine (Furze)

U u Ur (Heather)

Scottish Gaelic has 18 letters, each named after a tree or shrub!

Vowels are included amongst the letters of the alphabet and can sometimes have written accents on them:

Grave Accents

à, è, ì, ò, ù

They indicate a longer version of the vowel but are not considered separate letters. The use of the grave accents can change the very meaning of the words.

Ex:
bàta (a boat) versus bata (a stick):

Acute Accents

á, é, ó

Scottish Gaelic Phrases:

I've been playing roond aboot with a Scots online translator in a gawky touristy effort to lear a wee bit of Scot!

We looked at some maps of Scotland to familiarize ourselves a wee bit with the main towns and locations.