Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 001.djvu/258

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258
Gaelic Dictionary.
[June

for I make not the least doubt but the thing will take in general. I beg also (and I think myself sure you will grant my request, and that is), that you will not reject any word that is of Celtic origin, however bad the dialect of the place wherein it is used; for it may be of vast use, as being the branch of a root, or the root of a branch, still retained in other dialects of the Celtic, though lost by us, and throwing light, when the whole is compared, the one word or dialect upon the other. When you compile your English-Galic dictionary, you may use what you reckon best first; but the Galic-English dictionary should contain every Celtic word that is or ever was used in Scotland, that can be procured, and even any words of other Celtic dialects you can meet with, if forgot by their best glossographers; only let them have the mark of their extraction, or the author from whom they are taken, as indeed they should have it in the different shires of Scotland.

As to the best helps I know in print, I have last year sent a catalogue of them to Mr M'Nicol in Lismore[1] (who first told me of your design), in order to be sent to you. The greatest part of them I took from Bullet's Celtic dictionary, which, if you have it, will save you the trouble of looking for many of the rest. I have added several books he does not mention, but have omitted the book already mentioned here, and Mr Robert Kirk's[2] version of the psalms. If Mr M'Nicol refuse to send you it, you shall have another copy, if necessary.

With respect to correspondents, it is absolutely necessary to have them wherever the language is spoke, as no small number of men can know the whole of it; and to this space the circle of my acquaintance is very small. Were I to tell you where the best Galic is spoke, I would perhaps mention Clan-Ranold's estate;[3] but to you, all that is real Galic must be good. Whether the clergy are all in the use of writing the language, or will choose to undertake any thing, you must try: some, I dare say, will, when properly applied to; and they may be met with at assemblies in Edinburgh from all parts. I have spoke of it to some of them. The abilities of Messrs M'Nicol and Mr Archibald M'Arthur, many of you know as well as I. On my last journey and voyage, I saw the ministers of Campbelton, Mr Niel M'Leod, Mull, three Mr M'Aulays, brothers, the eldest at Inverary, and the next in Ardnamorchan, all good hands; also Mr Donald M'Queen in Trotternish, Sky, Mr Charles Stewart (a writer), near Fort William, and heard of M'Intyre of Gleno,[4] all three excellent hands, as Mr Wodrow in Isla,[5] I suppose, would also be. I forgot also to mention Mr Martin M'Pherson, Slate,[6] who, with his own knowledge, may have some of his father's lucubrations that have not been published.

All the ministers in the Long Island have a fine opportunity, if they choose to apply. The only one I know in Lewis is Mr Wilson, who learned it grammatically, and is very obliging, as indeed I found also Mr Angus Beaton in Harris, Mr Allan M'Queen, North Uist, in whose neighbourhood is Mr Niel M'Aulay, master of the Schola, Illustris, the poet M'Codrum,[7] and a brother of his own writes it

  1. ↑ This gentleman died a few years ago. He rendered himself at one time conspicuous by a severe and somewhat rash attack upon the great English lexicographer.
  2. ↑ He was minister of Aberfoyle, and was a man of very considerable learning. He prepared for the press the Irish-Gaelic Bible known by the name of "Bishop Redel's Bible," which was printed in what is called the Irish character. A curious tract of Kirk's, on the superstitions of the Gael, has been lately printed from his MS. in the Advocates' Library.
  3. ↑ Clanranald's estate comprehends a considerable extent of the Mainland on the north-west part of Argyleshire, besides a large portion of that chain of isles called the Long Island, Isle of Canna, &c. This widely-extended property is said to contain a population of between 11,000 and 12,000 souls, most of whom are Papists.
  4. ↑ Gleno, the late chief of the clan MacIntyre, left behind him a curious collection of Gaelic poems, which, it is believed, is still extant.
  5. ↑ Mr Wodrow published, in 1769, some translations in English verse, of poems from M'Pherson's Ossian.
  6. ↑ Son of the well-known author of the Dissertation on Gaelic Antiquities.
  7. ↑ The poet M'Codrum was somewhat advanced in life before he discovered his poetic vein. In the report of the committee of the Highland Society of Scotland on the authenticity of Ossian's poems, (Append, p. 05.) is recorded a sarcastic reply of his to James M'Pherson, the celebrated translator of Ossian.
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