Gaelic Words and Phrases
Ăirigh (Sheiling): temporary pasture on higher ground away from the township used for grazing animals in spring and summer; equivalent to English sheiling.
Baile: a farm township.
BĂ rd: a poet most closely associated with the use of vernacular Gaelic (i.e. the ordinary spoken language, not the âclassicalâ literary language) and stressed metres (rather than the âclassicalâ syllabic metres). However, in Scotland we know of poets styled bard who could compose in the classical language and syllabic metres.
Beinn: mountain.
BĂŹrlinn: a wooden vessel powered by oars and sails. Used extensively in Scottish and Irish Gaelic society until the end of the seventeenth century.
Britheamh: judge or legal official.
Buannachan: the trained warrior elite retained on clan lands or billeted on the lands of others. They were often deployed as hired military forces in Ireland.
Creach: a cattle raid.
Ceann-cinnidh: literally, head of the kindred â a chief.
Ceilidh: a community form of entertainment, usually occurring in a designated house, with local people performing music, song, poems and storytelling.
Clann: Children. It also had a wider meaning relating to ideals of kindred.
ClĂ rsach: a harp.
Cragain [often spelt as crogain]: earthenware pots.
DĂ n: a form of classical poetic composition in Gaelic, using syllabic metres.
Daoine-uaisle: literally âThe noble peopleâ. The clan gentry.
DĂon: protection â usually meant in a material, physical and legal sense.
DĂšthchas: heritage, traditional and customary rights of âkindnessâ â in its material sense it meant secure access to territories, farms and their produce.
Earasaid: a checked/tartan loose dress and shawl-like garment worn by women
Fear-tacsa (or simply Fear): a tacksman. A leading or âsuperiorâ tenant, often a member of the daoine-uaisle, holding a township or several townships directly from the chief.
Fèileadh-mòr: the âgreatâ or large plaided kilt.
Filidh: a high-status poet skilled in dĂ n – the classical form of Irish and Scottish Gaelic verse. In Ireland, the filidh was considered socially superior to a bĂ rd.
Fine: the clan elite, comprising the chief, his family, and the daoine-uaisle.
Faoighde: the requesting or demanding of assistance in kind, typically food and accommodation – often linked to the maintenance of buannachan.
Galldachd: a non-Gaelic speaking area; the Scots-speaking Lowlands of Scotland.
GĂ idhealtachd: a Gaelic-speaking area; the Gaelic-speaking Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
Iorram: a form of high-status vernacular poetry using stressed metres, associated with the bĂ rd and distinct from dĂ n.
Machair: low lying arable land (a mixture of coastal sand and black earth).
Moladh: strictly speaking this Gaelic word simply means âpraiseâ or âpraisingâ, but could be used to refer specifically to a Gaelic praise poem or song.
Oighreachd: hereditary rights to title, property and lands defined by law rather than custom.
PĂŹobaireachd [anglicized as Pibroch]: PĂŹobaireachd means any music played on the Highland bagpipe. However, in English Pibroch is used more narrowly (and incorrectly) to refer to the classical form of pipe music which involved long compositions with many variables on the basic melody. In Gaelic the proper term for this is Ceòl Mòr – the Big or Great Music.
Roinn-ruithe: run-rig (a method of arable field organization).
Scalag: a landless labourer, farm-servant.
Sheiling: an English word; for the Gaelic term, and definition, see Ăirigh.
SĂŹol: literally âseedâ, meaning a line of direct genealogical relationship.
Sluagh: a âhostâ; the gathering of a clanâs fighting men.
Slige-chreachainn: literally a scallop-shell; a drinking horn.
TĂ naiste(ar): second to another; the heir to a chiefship.
Taigh-chèilidh: A place, usually a private residence or house, where cèilidhean or ceilidhs occurred. As chiefs increasingly ceased to support cultural and literary production inside their own households, the taigh-chèilidh was left as the main forum for the public performance and transmission of Gaelic poetry, song and prose narratives.
Triubhas: trousers or âtrewsâ (in Scots), generally made of tartan cloth.
Tuathanach: tenant-farmer.