Note that this publication is available online only. There is no printed edition available.
Introduction
le Roy G Wentworth
2005. xxix + 967 pp.
Instructions
This publication is available for download in PDF format. You will need a viewer, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, to view it. Follow the links on the contents listing below. We would appreciate any feedback you may have on this online version.
Although this online version is available free of charge, copyright (as detailed below in the copyright statement) is retained in its entirety by the publisher. You may, of course, print out the downloaded copy for personal use.
Copyright in the whole and every part of this publication belongs to the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (School of Celtic Studies), and it may not be used, sold, licensed, transferred, copied, rented or reproduced in whole or in part in any manner or form or in or on any medium by any person other than with the prior written consent of the publisher.
Preface
Roy Graham Wentworth (1946-2003) was born in Tooting in London and came to Scotland first in 1963, on holiday in Gairloch, Wester Ross. In succeeding years he returned, making closer contact with the local people and the Gaelic language of the area, and becoming especially friendly with a local crofter, ’An Peigi (Iain MacKenzie): this friendship helped to deepen both his involvement in Gairloch life and his competence in spoken Gaelic. In 1966 he enrolled for a degree in Forestry at the University of Aberdeen, but in 1969 changed direction to work for the Honours degree of MA in Celtic Studies at Aberdeen, the Department of Celtic then being under the leadership of Donald MacAulay. A deeply motivated student, he had no difficulty in obtaining an excellent degree: among the variety of Celtic subjects he studied were Gaelic dialectology and the Old and Middle forms of Gaelic, and his undergraduate dissertation for the degree was an assessment of four early tales in the light of the theories of Claude Lévi-Strauss.
When he left the university with his Honours degree in 1973 he settled in Gairloch. When ’An Peigi died in 1983 Roy became the crofter, and as curator of the local museum was able to continue his study of the Gaelic of Gairloch, its oral literature and songs and especially its placenames and place-lore; for many years he contributed placename and other traditional material to the archives of the School of Scottish Studies in the University of Edinburgh. His place in the Gairloch community was confirmed by his marriage in 1985 to Magaidh, a native of the area, and by the birth of their son and daughter. He devoted himself to the serious study of Gaelic metrics and of linguistic theory and practical phonetics, collecting from the dwindling number of Gairloch Gaelic speakers the last remnants of the dialect.
When the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) Project offered funding in 1998 for postgraduate research, Roy applied and was awarded a PhD scholarship to produce a detailed study of the dialect, under the direction of Dr Meg Bateman, with Donald MacAulay as his principal external supervisor. The project was wholly successful, involving regular serious and constructive discussion and revision: his original intention had been to include study of the morphology as well as the phonology, but in the end the dissertation was found to be bulky enough with the phonology alone. It was completed efficiently in the summer of 2002, and it was serious blow for Roy to find at this point that the dissertation, being written in Gaelic, was not acceptable to the Open University, who validate the degrees awarded by the UHI Millennium Institute. He therefore turned again to the University of Aberdeen, which agreed to accept and assess the dissertation on condition that he be a registered student of the university for one year. This had the effect of delaying submission for a year, and Roy took the opportunity to make minor additions and adjustments.
When he died suddenly on 19 October 2003 the University acceded to a request for the posthumous submission of the dissertation. It was assessed by Professor Máirtín Ó Murchú of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies as External Examiner and by Dr Seumas Grant as Internal Examiner, and the degree of PhD was awarded at a graduation ceremony in Aberdeen on 5 July 2004, where it was received by his widow. It was arranged thereafter that the work be published on the website of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
The ogham inscription has suffered some damage, with loss of vowels in particular (letters between square brackets supplied): MAQI COR[A]B[I]R M[A]QI TANB?... N[E]T[A] S[A]L[A]GI[A] MAQ[I] M[U]C[OI] but the first name is probably Mac-Coirpri
ogham.celt.dias.ie/stone.php?lang…Retweeted by
DIAS_SCS Library
#oghamoftheweek from Ballybarrack, Co. Louth. Discovered in a souterrain during excavation in 1977. Used as a lintel at the junction of 2 passages in 1 of 3 souterrains within an enclosure. On display in the County Musuem Dundalk @dundalkmuseum@louthcoco@louthheritageRetweeted by
DIAS_SCS Library
A key priority of the @SCSLibrary is the provision of reliable editions of hitherto unpublished material and texts, previously accessible only to scholars consulting the manuscripts. Learn more about the @DIAS_ISOS project at isos.dias.ie#DIASdiscoversRetweeted by
DIAS_SCS Library
Happy #ValentinesDay to you all. Here we have an Introduction to Irish Bardic Poetry and you can also enjoy 20% off all our publications for the week. Enjoy
youtu.be/_7aFv-TBd0k
SAVE THE DATE: Our 2018 AGM will take place on 5th March 2019 in @NLIreland from 5.30pm. Don't miss our exciting keynote speaker and refreshments will be provided. Fáilte roimh chách! bit.ly/2GhjPAjRetweeted by
DIAS_SCS Library
Since 1946, the School of Celtic Studies at DIAS, has published its own peer reviewed journal, Celtica, with work on linguistics, literature, manuscript studies, textual criticism, history, law, dialect studies and onomastics. More at: bit.ly/2E6ipqj@SCSLibraryRetweeted by
DIAS_SCS Library
Ogham stones are among Ireland's most remarkable national treasures, with inscriptions in the uniquely Irish Ogham alphabet. Our #OghamIn3D project, digitises and records as many as possible of the approx. 400 surviving Ogham stones. More at bit.ly/2Tz1sKn#DIASdiscoversRetweeted by
DIAS_SCS Library
@DIAS_Dublin Approx. 150 of the 400 have been digitised thanks to funding from @DeptAHG (2012-2015). Unfortunately without further funding the digital corpus will never be completed. @josephamadigan surely one for the Cultural Digitisation Scheme? Retweeted by
DIAS_SCS Library
Today's new addition to go live from National Library of Scotland @DIAS_ISOS@natlibscot MS 14966. Autograph notebook, 1943, of poems by Sorley MacLean (a Scottish Gaelic poet, described by the Scottish Poetry Library as "one of the major Scottish poets of the modern era") Retweeted by
DIAS_SCS Library
A ‘rare and special’ #manuscript Dr Elizabeth Boyle in the Sunday Independent today talking about the Book of Ballycummin & upcoming conference. Tickets available - ria.ie/little-remnant…Retweeted by
DIAS_SCS Library
A medical manuscript from the mythical Island of Hy Brasil, so the story goes🤔Like the phantom island this manuscript is on view for a short time only - pop in today for a look! bit.ly/1nSotqX#ManuscriptMondayRetweeted by
DIAS_SCS Library
Very happy that @Real_Deniscasey & I have been successful in our application for a SPUR project @MaynoothUni - we shall be recruiting 2 undergraduates to work as paid researchers on 6-week summer project to produce an index to the Annals of Ulster @EarlyIrishMU! Retweeted by
DIAS_SCS Library
Gàidhlig Gheàrrloch
Roy G. Wentworth
Note that this publication is available online only. There is no printed edition available.
Introduction
le Roy G Wentworth
2005. xxix + 967 pp.
Instructions
This publication is available for download in PDF format. You will need a viewer, such as Adobe Acrobat Reader, to view it. Follow the links on the contents listing below. We would appreciate any feedback you may have on this online version.
Although this online version is available free of charge, copyright (as detailed below in the copyright statement) is retained in its entirety by the publisher. You may, of course, print out the downloaded copy for personal use.
Preface
Roy Graham Wentworth (1946-2003) was born in Tooting in London and came to Scotland first in 1963, on holiday in Gairloch, Wester Ross. In succeeding years he returned, making closer contact with the local people and the Gaelic language of the area, and becoming especially friendly with a local crofter, ’An Peigi (Iain MacKenzie): this friendship helped to deepen both his involvement in Gairloch life and his competence in spoken Gaelic. In 1966 he enrolled for a degree in Forestry at the University of Aberdeen, but in 1969 changed direction to work for the Honours degree of MA in Celtic Studies at Aberdeen, the Department of Celtic then being under the leadership of Donald MacAulay. A deeply motivated student, he had no difficulty in obtaining an excellent degree: among the variety of Celtic subjects he studied were Gaelic dialectology and the Old and Middle forms of Gaelic, and his undergraduate dissertation for the degree was an assessment of four early tales in the light of the theories of Claude Lévi-Strauss.
When he left the university with his Honours degree in 1973 he settled in Gairloch. When ’An Peigi died in 1983 Roy became the crofter, and as curator of the local museum was able to continue his study of the Gaelic of Gairloch, its oral literature and songs and especially its placenames and place-lore; for many years he contributed placename and other traditional material to the archives of the School of Scottish Studies in the University of Edinburgh. His place in the Gairloch community was confirmed by his marriage in 1985 to Magaidh, a native of the area, and by the birth of their son and daughter. He devoted himself to the serious study of Gaelic metrics and of linguistic theory and practical phonetics, collecting from the dwindling number of Gairloch Gaelic speakers the last remnants of the dialect.
When the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) Project offered funding in 1998 for postgraduate research, Roy applied and was awarded a PhD scholarship to produce a detailed study of the dialect, under the direction of Dr Meg Bateman, with Donald MacAulay as his principal external supervisor. The project was wholly successful, involving regular serious and constructive discussion and revision: his original intention had been to include study of the morphology as well as the phonology, but in the end the dissertation was found to be bulky enough with the phonology alone. It was completed efficiently in the summer of 2002, and it was serious blow for Roy to find at this point that the dissertation, being written in Gaelic, was not acceptable to the Open University, who validate the degrees awarded by the UHI Millennium Institute. He therefore turned again to the University of Aberdeen, which agreed to accept and assess the dissertation on condition that he be a registered student of the university for one year. This had the effect of delaying submission for a year, and Roy took the opportunity to make minor additions and adjustments.
When he died suddenly on 19 October 2003 the University acceded to a request for the posthumous submission of the dissertation. It was assessed by Professor Máirtín Ó Murchú of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies as External Examiner and by Dr Seumas Grant as Internal Examiner, and the degree of PhD was awarded at a graduation ceremony in Aberdeen on 5 July 2004, where it was received by his widow. It was arranged thereafter that the work be published on the website of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
Contents
Download the entire publication as a single file (9.5MB), or as smaller, individual sections below.
Note: this is an abbreviated contents listing. The full table of contents can be found in the first download, “Clàr-innse”.
School of Celtic Studies
#ThrowbackThursday to Professor Liam Breatnach’s Statutory Public Lecture for 2018, “Poetry on the edge: marginal verses in mediaeval Irish manuscripts youtu.be/1SXlSfxNV3g #SCSTIONOL2018 #DIASdiscovers
Today's new addition to go live from National Library of Scotland @DIAS_ISOS @natlibscot @nlsarchives MS 14850. Journal, 1809-1813, of Dugald MacNicol. Unusal to find Watercolour landscapes in the endnotes! "isos.dias.ie/libraries/NLS/… … #ISOS Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
The ogham inscription has suffered some damage, with loss of vowels in particular (letters between square brackets supplied): MAQI COR[A]B[I]R M[A]QI TANB?... N[E]T[A] S[A]L[A]GI[A] MAQ[I] M[U]C[OI] but the first name is probably Mac-Coirpri ogham.celt.dias.ie/stone.php?lang… Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
#oghamoftheweek from Ballybarrack, Co. Louth. Discovered in a souterrain during excavation in 1977. Used as a lintel at the junction of 2 passages in 1 of 3 souterrains within an enclosure. On display in the County Musuem Dundalk @dundalkmuseum @louthcoco @louthheritage Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
A key priority of the @SCSLibrary is the provision of reliable editions of hitherto unpublished material and texts, previously accessible only to scholars consulting the manuscripts. Learn more about the @DIAS_ISOS project at isos.dias.ie #DIASdiscovers Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
Forthcoming conference on Irish tales & anecdotes @tcddublin with several speakers from @SCSLibrary @DIAS_Dublin 16th and 17th May 2019 twitter.com/TLRH_Conf_2019… Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
Happy #ValentinesDay to you all. Here we have an Introduction to Irish Bardic Poetry and you can also enjoy 20% off all our publications for the week. Enjoy youtu.be/_7aFv-TBd0k
SAVE THE DATE: Our 2018 AGM will take place on 5th March 2019 in @NLIreland from 5.30pm. Don't miss our exciting keynote speaker and refreshments will be provided. Fáilte roimh chách! bit.ly/2GhjPAj Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
.@conulireland has issued a response to Plan S. It can be found on our website conul.ie/wp-content/upl… Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
Since 1946, the School of Celtic Studies at DIAS, has published its own peer reviewed journal, Celtica, with work on linguistics, literature, manuscript studies, textual criticism, history, law, dialect studies and onomastics. More at: bit.ly/2E6ipqj @SCSLibrary Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
Ogham stones are among Ireland's most remarkable national treasures, with inscriptions in the uniquely Irish Ogham alphabet. Our #OghamIn3D project, digitises and records as many as possible of the approx. 400 surviving Ogham stones. More at bit.ly/2Tz1sKn #DIASdiscovers Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
@DIAS_Dublin Approx. 150 of the 400 have been digitised thanks to funding from @DeptAHG (2012-2015). Unfortunately without further funding the digital corpus will never be completed. @josephamadigan surely one for the Cultural Digitisation Scheme? Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
The Clóliosta - hosted online by @SCSLibrary @DIAS_Dublin Printing in the Irish language, 1571–1871. What an interesting speaker for @LAICMG AGM. dias.ie/celt/celt-publ… twitter.com/nimhaoldomnaig…
We think you'll love our 25% discount on all books for the entire week, 11th to 17th February to celebrate #ValentinesDay books.dias.ie #DIASdiscovers #books
Today's new addition to go live from National Library of Scotland @DIAS_ISOS @natlibscot MS 14966. Autograph notebook, 1943, of poems by Sorley MacLean (a Scottish Gaelic poet, described by the Scottish Poetry Library as "one of the major Scottish poets of the modern era") Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
The library of the School of Celtic Studies at DIAS, @SCSLibrary, aims to provide the best facilities and materials for the purpose of advanced research in the area of #CelticStudies. You can access the catalogue at library.celt.dias.ie. #DIASdiscovers Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
A ‘rare and special’ #manuscript Dr Elizabeth Boyle in the Sunday Independent today talking about the Book of Ballycummin & upcoming conference. Tickets available - ria.ie/little-remnant… Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
A medical manuscript from the mythical Island of Hy Brasil, so the story goes🤔Like the phantom island this manuscript is on view for a short time only - pop in today for a look! bit.ly/1nSotqX #ManuscriptMonday Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library
Very happy that @Real_Deniscasey & I have been successful in our application for a SPUR project @MaynoothUni - we shall be recruiting 2 undergraduates to work as paid researchers on 6-week summer project to produce an index to the Annals of Ulster @EarlyIrishMU! Retweeted by DIAS_SCS Library