Wild Land News no 70, Autumn 2007

Perils of the Gaelic Letter

Meall Corranaich from the slopes of Ben Lawers. Its name is the subject of debate.
Photo: John Digney

Dear Editor,

With respect to the Gaelic names of flowers I would like to say that it is not unusual for there to be two or three different names for the one flower. It depends on which part of the Gaidhealtachd you hail from. I did a little research on "tormentil" and I got the word "leamhnach" in addition to "cara-mhil a' choin" and "cairt-lair".

A classic example is the word for a spider. In Wester Ross and parts of Lewis it is "poca-salainn" (bag of salt) while the more commonly used word is "damhan-allaidh". For hoody crow some say "feannag", others say "starrag"; for eiderduck some say "lach mhòr" (big duck) and others "lach lochlannach" (Norwegian/Viking duck).

With reference to Meall Corranaich "raineach" can mean fern(s) as well as bracken. There's not much of the former and none of the latter (unless they existed there in the past) so we need to look for another interpretation. The adjective "corranach" means notched, sharp, barbed or prickly as well as pertaining to a sickle or hooked. In this case the hill would be called "Meall Corranach". However, the noun "corranach" means loud weeping, mourning. I tend to favour this as grammatically it is correct. You can say "Meall Corranaich" or "Meall na Corranaich". The arguments will no doubt rage on.

On the topic of hyphens, i.e. too many as in "cara-mhil-a-choin", this is an error I have frequently noticed. It is either a slip-up at the printer's or the writer knows only a little Gaelic. Hyphens frequently appear where there should be an apostrophe and where they should not be found at all.

Yours sincerely,
Liz Patterson
Gargunnock,
Stirling