Scotland Languages

Despite long being a multilingual country, most records used in Scottish research are in English, with older ones in the closely related Scots language. They may, however, be difficult to read because of unique Scottish words, Latin words, or different handwriting styles.

Occasionally records will also contain Gaelic, often written in English phonetics. In the medieval documents about Orkney and Shetland, you may also encounter Norn, an early form of Norwegian.

Scottish Gaelic
Gaelic (Gaidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic language of Scotland. It is closely related to Irish and Manx, and more distantly to Welsh, Cornish and Breton.

The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 gives some degree of recognition to Scotland's Celtic language. However, unlike Welsh, Scottish Gaelic has been written down far less frequently, and is not taught in many schools. The language is generally associated with the Highlands, but was historically spoken in most of the Lowlands as well. It was not spoken in Orkney and Shetland

Scottish Gaelic gives rise to many Scottish surnames, including any beginning with Mac or Mac, as well as names such as Campbell, Dewar, Menzies etc. Some of these were written down in English phonetics, e.g. MacDonald or McWhannel for MacDhomhnaill and/or were later translated e.g. Smith can translate Mac a' Ghobhainn, which is also anglicized as Gow or MacGowan. The old Scottish Gaelic naming system is extremely complex, and exists mainly in oral tradition.

Many personal names such as Iain (John), Malcolm, Duncan, Fiona and Morag all ultimately derive from the language too. There are other, traditional, Gaelic names which have no direct equivalents in English: Oighrig, which is normally rendered as Euphemia (Effie) or Henrietta (Etta) (formerly also as Henny or even as Harriet), or, Diorbhal, which is "matched" with Dorothy, simply on the basis of a certain similarity in spelling; Gormul, for which there is nothing similar in English, and it is rendered as 'Gormelia' or even 'Dorothy'; Beathag, which is "matched" with Becky (> Rebecca) and even Betsy, or Sophie.

The most common class of Gaelic surnames are, of course, those beginning with mac (Gaelic for son), such as MacGillEathain (MacLean). The female form is nic (Gaelic for daughter), so Catherine MacPhee is properly called in Gaelic, Caitrìona Nic a' Phì. [Strictly, "nic" is a contraction of the Gaelic phrase "nighean mhic", meaning "daughter of the son", thus Nic Dhomhnuill, really means "daughter of MacDonald" rather than "daughter of Donald".] Although there is a common misconception that "mac" means "son of", the "of" part actually comes from the genitive form of the patronymic that follows the prefix "Mac", e.g., in the case of MacNéill, Néill (of Neil) is the genitive form of Niall (Neil).

Several colours give rise to common Scottish surnames: bàn (Bain – white), ruadh (Roy – red), dubh (Dow – black), donn (Dunn – brown), buidhe (Bowie – yellow).

Alphabet and pronunciation
Though the Scottish Gaelic and English alphabets are very similar, each has some letters not used in the other. The letters j, k, q, v, w, y, x and z are not used in the Gaelic language except in some 'adopted' words. Gaelic also uses the grave accent above vowels, and until recently used the acute accent over some of them as well.

Spelling is similar to Irish, although some combinations such as "ae" and "bhf" will not be found in modern Scottish Gaelic. Older documents will use a spelling more similar to Irish, or are often in English phonetics.

Scots language
The Scots language is the language of the Scottish Lowlands, Caithness, and the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland). It is closely related to standard English, and there is a long running, heated debate as to whether it is a dialect or a language in its own right. It is not to be confused with Gaelic, although there has been some mutual influence.

The Scots language goes by many different names. It is often called Broad/Braid Scots or Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Gaelic. In the north east especially, it is often referred to as Doric. In Buchan, it is known as the Claik, and in Glasgow as the Patter. In older writings it is often referred to as Scottis, or as Scotch, although the term "Scotch" is not liked by many Scots today.

Many Scots words can be found in older documents, as it was written down more frequently than Gaelic. It is common for Scots to use the dimunitive, e.g. James frequently becomes Jamie, Robert becomes Rab or Rabbie etc. This is done more often than in standard English and is not frowned upon.

Scots has no legal status, and there are no reliable figures for how many people speak it. However, it is much more common to hear it in Scotland than Gaelic. Due to its similarity with English, there is considerable debate as to what constitutes Scots as well.

Unique Scottish Words
Some words you will see in Scottish records are not used in English.

The English past participle -ed, is usually represented by -it in Scots. Older documents may also form the plural or possessive in -is. The English "wh" is often rendered as "quh" in old Scots.

The following list contains some Scottish words more commonly used in documents:

Latin
Some Scottish records may contain Latin. Knowing some Latin will help you read these records. For help with Latin words, see the Latin Genealogical Word List (34077).

Handwriting
Handwriting styles have changed over time. In early records, the handwriting is quite different from what it is today. Visit Scotland Handwriting in Research Topics.

Abbreviations
Abbreviations are common in early handwriting. When recorders left letters out of a word, they indicated the fact by using various marks, such as a period, a colon, a tail on the last letter of the word, a curvy line over the word, or a raised letter at the end of the word. Abbreviations can be indicated in many ways, and it is important to study individual writers to see how they made abbreviations.

In Scottish church records, ministers often used only the first letter of the words, for example:

L.S. = lawful son

L.D. = lawful daughter

N.S. = natural son

N.D. = natural daughter

ch. = child

Ch. N. = child named

N. = named

Instead of writing the words father, mother, witness, son, or daughter, the minister may have used f, m, w, s, or other letters.

Dates
Dates, instead of being numerical, are sometimes referred to by the name of the feast day or by one of the terms listed below:

Scottish Dictionaries
To find definitions for other words that are unfamiliar to you, you can use one of several Scottish dictionaries:

Craigie, Sir William A. A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue, from the Twelfth Century to the End of the Seventeenth. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, 1937-. (Family History Librarybook 403.41 Sco87c.)

Graham, William. The Scots Word Book. 3rd rev. ed. Edinburgh, Scotland: Ramsey Head Press, 1980. (Family History Library book 427.9411 G76s 1980.)

Jamieson, John. A Dictionary of the Scottish Language. Edinburgh, Scotland: William Tait, 1866. (Family History Library book 427.941 J242j.)

Warrack, Alexander. A Scots Dialect Dictionary. London, England: W. &amp; R. Chambers, 1911. (Family History Library book 427.9411 W25s.)

Robinson, Mairi, ed. The Concise Scots Dictionary. Oxford, England: Aberdeen University Press, 1985. (Family Hhistory Library book 427.9411 C748c.)

Courses

 * Cùrsaichean - Gaelic Courses

Dictionaries

 * Dictionary of the Scots language
 * Dwelly's Dictionary (Gaelic)
 * Stor Data Briathrachas

Online resources

 * Cli Gaidhlig, the learners' organization.
 * List of Gaelic resources
 * Scots language Society