Dictionaries

In 1707 Lhuyd’s Archæologia Britannica appeared. It contains a grammar of the Iberno-Scottish Gaelic, and a vocabulary which is in large measure a vocabulary of the Gaelic of Scotland. All that this learned writer did was done in a manner worthy of a scholar. His vocabulary, although defective, is accurate so far as it goes, and presents us with a very interesting and instructive view of the state of the language in his day. Lhuyd’s volume is one which should be carefully studied by every Celtic scholar.

In 1738 the Rev. David Malcolm, minister at Duddingstone, published an essay on the antiquities of Great Britain and Ireland, with the view of showing the affinity betwixt "the languages of the ancient Britons and the Americans of the Isthmus of Darien." In this essay there is a list of Gaelic words beginning with the letter A, extending to sixteen pages, and a list of English words with their Gaelic equivalents, extending to eight pages. Mr Malcolm brought the project of compiling a Gaelic dictionary before the gneeral Assembly of the Scottish Church, and he seems to have had many conferences with Highland ministers friendly to his object. The Assembly appointed a committee on the subject, and they reported most favourably of Mr Malcolm’s design. Still the work never seems to have gone father; and beyond the lists referred to, we have no fruits of Mr Malcolm’s labours. Mr Malcolm calls the language Irish, as was uniformly done by English writers at the time, and spells the words after the Irish manner.

Three years after the publication of Mr Malcolm’s essay in the year 1741, the first attempt at a complete vocabulary of the Gaelic language appeared. The compiler was Alexander M’Donald, at the time schoolmaster of Ardnamurchan, known throughout the Highlands as Mac Mhaighistir Alasdair, and a bard of high reputation. The compilation was made at the suggestion of the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, in whose service M’Donald was at the time. The Society submitted the matter to the Presbytery of Mull and the Presbytery committed the matter to M’Donald as the most likely man within their bounds to execute the work in a satisfactory manner. M’Donald’s book is dedicated to the Society, and he professes a zeal for Protestantism, although he turned over to the Church of Rome himself on the landing of Charles Edward in the Highlands in 1745. The vocabulary is arranged under the heads of subjects, and not according to the letters of the alphabet. It begins with words referring to God, and so on through every subject that might suggest itself. It is upon the whole well executed, seeing that the author was the pioneer of Gaelic lexicographers but the publishers found themselves obliged to insert a caveat in the an advertisement at the close of the volume, in which they say that "all or most of the verbs in this vocabulary from page 143 to page 162 are expressed in the Gaelic by single words, though our author generally expresses them by a needless circumlocution." M’Donald’s orthography is a near approach to that of modern Gaelic writing.

In 1780 the Rev. Mr Shaw, the author of the Gaelic grammar already referred to, published a dictionary of the Gaelic language in two volumes, the one volume being Gaelic-English, and the other English-Gaelic. this work did not assume a high place among scholars.

Following upon Shaw’s work was that of Robert M’Farlane in 1795. This vocabulary is of little value to the student.

Robert M’Farlane’s volume was followed in 1815 by that of Peter M’Farlane, a well known translator of religious works. The collection of words is pretty full, and the work upon the whole is a creditable one.

Notwithstanding all these efforts at providing a dictionary of the Gaelic language, it was felt by scholars that the want had not been really supplied. In those circumstances Mr R.A.Armstrong, parish schoolmaster of Kenmore, devoted his time and talents to the production of a work that might be satisfactory. The Gaelic language was not Mr Armstrong’s mother tongue, and he had the great labour to undergo of acquiring it. Indefatigable energy, with the genius of a true scholar, helped him over all his difficulties, and, after years of toil, he produced a work of the highest merit, and one whose authority is second to none as an exposition of the Scoto-Celtic tongue.

Mr Armstrong’s dictionary was succeeded by that of the Highland Society of Scotland, which was published in two quarto volumes in 1828. A portion of the labour of this great work was borne by Mr Ewen Maclachlan of Aberdeen, the most eminent Celtic scholar of his day. Mr Maclachlan brought the most ample accomplishments to the carrying out of the undertaking; a remarkable acquaintance with the classical languages, which he could write with facility, a very extensive knowledge of the Celtic tongues, and a mind of remarkable acuteness to discern distinctions and analogies in comparative philology. But he died ere the work was far advanced, and other scholars had to carry it through. The chief of these was the Rev. Dr M’Leod of Dundonald, aided by the Rev. Dr Irvine of Little Dunkeld, and the whole was completed and edited under the superintendence of the Rev. Dr Mackay, afterwards of Dunoon, to whose skill and care much of the value of the work is due.

In 1831 an octavo dictionary by the Rev. Dr Macleod of Glasgow, and the Rev. D. Dewar, afterwards Principal Dewar of Aberdeen, appeared. It is drawn largely from the dictionary of the Highland Society, and is an exceedingly good and useful book.

There is a still later dictionary by Mr Neil M’Alpine, schoolmaster in Islay. It is an excellent vocabulary of the Islay dialect, with some features peculiar to itself, especially directions as to the pronouncing of words, which, from the peculiar orthography of the Gaelic, the learner requires.

It will be seen from the above list that there is no lack of Gaelic dictionaries any more than of Gaelic grammars, and that some of the dictionaries are highly meritorious. And yet there is room for improvement still if competent hands could be found. The student of Scottish topography meets with innumerable words which he feels assured are of the Scoto-Celtic stock. He applies to his dictionaries, and he almost uniformly finds that the words which puzzle him are absent. There seems to have been an entire ignoring of this source for words on the part of all the Gaelic lexicographers, and from the number of obsolete words found in it, but which an acquaintance with ancient M.S. literature helps to explain, a large supply, and a supply of the deepest interest, might be found. Irish dictionaries afford considerable aid in searching this field, but Gaelic dictionaries furnish very little. At the same time it must be remembered that topography is itself a recent study, and that men’s minds have only latterly been more closely directed to these words.

We have thus given a general view of the literature of the Scottish Gael. It is not extensive, but it is full of interest. That the language was at one time subjected to cultivation cannot be doubted by any man acquainted with the literary history of the Celtic race. The MSS. which exist are enough to demonstrate the fact, of which no rational doubt can exist, that an immense number of such MSS. have perished. An old Gaelic MS. was once seen in the Hebrides cut down by a tailor to form measuring tapes for the persons of his customers. These MSS. treated of various subjects. Philology, theology, and science found a place among Celtic scholars, while poetry was largely cultivated. The order of bards ensured this, an order peculiar to the Celts. Johnson’s estimate of the extent of the ancient Celtic culture was an entirely mistaken one, and shows how far prejudice may operate towards the perversion of truth, even in the case of great and good men.