The Little Letter for Gaelic Learners

The Scot Gregor MacGregor was involved in deceit. He created an imaginary country. That was Poyais. It was in the Gulf of Honduras in Central America. MacGregor was saying that he was His Serene Highness Gregor I, Prince of Poyais. Was he out of his mind. No. But he was dishonest. Find out more in this week’s podcast. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag.

More about Neil MacLeod of Lewis. He was a murderer. But he stood against the Fifers who were trying to take Lewis over. To some he was a hero. In the government’s opinion he was a criminal. Learn more in this week’s podcast. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag.

At the beginning of the seventeenth century, a group of Lowlanders from Fife went to Stornoway. They were the Fife Adventurers. They were going to set up a colony in Lewis. They had support from the King, James VI. Neil MacLeod, and other MacLeods, stood against them. The MacLeods destroyed the Fifers’ stronghold. Learn more this in this week’s podcast. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag.

In the nineteenth century, there was a Procurator Fiscal in Stornoway called Thomas Drummond. He tried to change the name of the town. He wasn't pleased with Stornoway. Find out more with Ruairidh in this week's little letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Ruairidh likes the place name Steòrnabhagh. What is your opinion of it? Ruairidh reckons that it’s attractive in English as well. Stornoway. It’s a Norse name. It was Stjórnarvágr. That means the bay of the rudder or the bay of the steering – in English, rudder bay or steering bay. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag.

Here is the story An Nios agus an Sionnach. The Weasel and the Fox. An Nios agus an Sionnach. It’s from Loch Lomondside. Foxes are very crafty. But this weasel was craftier. Listen to this story in this week’s podcast. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Last week Ruairidh was talking about the word samh. That’s the Gaelic for the common sorrel or sourock, Rumex acetosa. He was saying that perhaps the name came from Polish to Yiddish to English to Gaelic. This week, Ruairidh has a story about sorrel depicting its healing properties.

The plant Rumex acetosa is called samh in Gaelic. People call it common sorrel in English. The English name came from the taste of the leaf. It’s sour. In Scots its name is sourock. It’s not too clear where the Gaelic name came from. Does the plant have a strong smell? Find out more in this week's podcast. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

At the end of the last podcast, Ruairidh posed a question. I asked what Oidhche nan Seachd Suipearan (The Night of the Seven Suppers) is. Find out what it is in this week’s podcast! Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Ruairidh was speaking last week about Seachd Cadalaichean an t-Saoghail. They are The Seven Sleepers of the Earth – creatures that were spending the winter at home, hibernating. They weren’t leaving for a foreign land in the winter.Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Have you ever heard about Seachd Cadalaichean an t-Saoghail? That's The Seven Sleepers of the Earth. Ruairidh was reading a book about the Cairngorms and tells you more in this week's little letter. Accompanying text is available in both English and Gaelic at bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

The Rev Alexander Pope was a minister in Reay in Caithness. That was in the eighteenth century. He collected Gaelic oral tradition in Caithness. That was around 1739. Learn one of these tales in this week’s podcast. Accompanying text in both English and Gaelic can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

The Rev Alexander Pope was a minister in Reay in Caithness. That was in the eighteenth century. He was a strong man. He had a stick. He was using the stick to “encourage” people to go to church. Accompanying text in both English and Gaelic can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Rev Alexander Pope was a minister in Reay (parish) in the eighteenth century. Reay is in Caithness. Mr Pope spoke Gaelic. It was a Gaelic congregation he had. He was a strong man. He had a stick. He was using the stick on the people of the congregation. Learn more about him in this week’s podcast! Accompanying text in both English and Gaelic can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/litirbheag

Sandy MacDonald was a gamekeeper. That was in the Cairngorms early in the twentieth century. Sandy found something on the hill. That was after the First [World] War. He was thinking that it was a bomb. But it wasn’t. It was a flare. How did it get there? Well, it came from an aircraft in the war – a German aircraft. It wasn’t a plane, however, but a Zeppelin. The flare came from Zeppelin L20 in May 1916. But why was that aircraft above the Cairngorms? Accompanying text in both English and Gaelic can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/litirbheag