106-574: Seil ( / ˈ s iː l / ; Scottish Gaelic : Saoil , Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [ˈs̪ɯːl] ) is one of the Slate Islands , located on the east side of the Firth of Lorn , 7 miles (11 kilometres) southwest of Oban , in Scotland . Seil has been linked to the mainland by bridge since the late 18th century. The origins of the island's name are unclear and probably pre-Gaelic. It
212-468: A chain and cog wheels designed by John Whyte in the mid 19th century. Seil is associated with the 6th century saint Brendan of Clonfert who established a monastery on the Garvellachs and at a later date a cell on the site of Kilbrandon Church to which he gave his name. The modern church, located between Balvicar and Cuan, has five stained glass windows by Douglas Strachan illustrating scenes from
318-597: A "seep or passage of water". This, he proposes, could have been a Norse interpretation of Hinba/Inbhir. However, Mac an Tàilleir notes that Kilninver or Cill an Inbhir "appears to mean 'church by the river mouth', and an older form of Cill Fhionnbhair , 'Finbar's church' appears". It has also been suggested that Seil may be the Innisibsolian referred to in the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba , which records
424-442: A 19% fall in bilingual speakers between the 1911 and 1921 Censuses. Michelle MacLeod of Aberdeen University has said that there was no other period with such a high fall in the number of monolingual Gaelic speakers: "Gaelic speakers became increasingly the exception from that point forward with bilingualism replacing monolingualism as the norm for Gaelic speakers." The Linguistic Survey of Scotland (1949–1997) surveyed both
530-489: A 21.3 m (70 ft) span and has an arch 12.2 m (40 ft) above the sea bed in order to allow small craft of up to 40.6 t (40.0 long tons) to pass under it. Ferries sail from Ellenabeich to Easdale , and from Cuan to Luing across the Cuan Sound . This stretch of water is only 200 m (660 ft) wide but the spring tides race through it at up to 14.4 km/h (7.8 kn). The Easdale ferry uses
636-564: A Pictish substrate. In 1018, after the conquest of Lothian (theretofore part of England and inhabited predominantly by speakers of Northumbrian Old English ) by the Kingdom of Scotland , Gaelic reached its social, cultural, political, and geographic zenith. Colloquial speech in Scotland had been developing independently of that in Ireland since the eighth century. For the first time,
742-488: A Scottish laird . It is the first known atlas of Scotland, and is praised for its quality and its importance; cartobibliographer Jeffrey Stone said in 1972 that for a century after its publication nothing notable happened in the cartography of Scotland. A translated version, including additional documentation, was published in association with the National Library of Scotland in 2006. Blaeu's Atlas of Scotland
848-524: A central feature of court life there. The semi-independent Lordship of the Isles in the Hebrides and western coastal mainland remained thoroughly Gaelic since the language's recovery there in the 12th century, providing a political foundation for cultural prestige down to the end of the 15th century. By the mid-14th century what eventually came to be called Scots (at that time termed Inglis ) emerged as
954-823: A challenge to revitalization efforts which occur outside the home. Positive engagements between language learners and native speakers of Gaelic through mentorship has proven to be productive in socializing new learners into fluency. In the 2022 census, 3,551 people claimed Gaelic as their 'main language.' Of these, 1,761 (49.6%) were in Na h-Eileanan Siar, 682 (19.2%) were in Highland, 369 were in Glasgow City and 120 were in City of Edinburgh; no other council area had as many as 80 such respondents. Gaelic has long suffered from its lack of use in educational and administrative contexts and
1060-558: A crag and tail, not unlike Edinburgh Castle rock. In 1915, it was still fairly well preserved, with the walls standing to some height and two round corner towers". However, by 1971 only the remains of the southwest round tower survived. Seil then became part of the Netherlorn estates of the Breadalbane family (a branch of Clan Campbell ) until the 20th century when their land was sold off as smaller farms and individual houses. In
1166-551: A dialect known as Canadian Gaelic has been spoken in Canada since the 18th century. In the 2021 census , 2,170 Canadian residents claimed knowledge of Scottish Gaelic, a decline from 3,980 speakers in the 2016 census . There exists a particular concentration of speakers in Nova Scotia , with historic communities in other parts of Canada having largely disappeared. Scottish Gaelic is classed as an indigenous language under
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#17327723402831272-489: A full range of language skills: speaking, understanding, reading and writing Gaelic. 40.2% of Scotland's Gaelic speakers said that they used Gaelic at home. To put this in context, the most common language spoken at home in Scotland after English and Scots is Polish, with about 1.1% of the population, or 54,000 people. The 2011 UK Census showed a total of 57,375 Gaelic speakers in Scotland (1.1% of population over three years old), of whom only 32,400 could also read and write
1378-586: A language ideology at odds with revitalization efforts on behalf of new speakers, state policies (such as the Gaelic Language Act), and family members reclaiming their lost mother tongue. New learners of Gaelic often have a positive affective stance to their language learning, and connect this learning journey towards Gaelic language revitalization. The mismatch of these language ideologies, and differences in affective stance, has led to fewer speaking opportunities for adult language learners and therefore
1484-805: A national centre for Gaelic Language and Culture, based in Sleat , on the Isle of Skye . This institution is the only source for higher education which is conducted entirely in Scottish Gaelic. They offer courses for Gaelic learners from beginners into fluency. They also offer regular bachelors and graduate programs delivered entirely in Gaelic. Concerns have been raised around the fluency achieved by learners within these language programs because they are disconnected from vernacular speech communities. In regard to language revitalization planning efforts, many feel that
1590-580: A new trove of documents was discovered, with seven letters by Willem Blaeu and eight by his son, Joan Blaeu , from between 1626 and 1657 and addressed to John Scot, Lord Scotstarvit , who played an important role in the production and preparation of the atlas. The documents showed that just after 1630 Scot had received maps made by Timothy Pont between 1583 and 1596; Pont signed 36 of the maps that Blaeu engraved. Some of those maps Scot had sent to Amsterdam for Blaeu to see, and some were to be edited by cartographer Robert and James Gordon. They edited and revised
1696-549: A process of Gaelicisation (which may have begun generations earlier) was clearly under way during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, and Pictish identity was forgotten. Bilingualism in Pictish and Gaelic, prior to the former's extinction, led to the presence of Pictish loanwords in Gaelic and syntactic influence which could be considered to constitute
1802-610: A proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 65% (the highest value is in Barvas , Lewis , with 64.1%). In addition, no civil parish on mainland Scotland has a proportion of Gaelic speakers greater than 20% (the highest is in Ardnamurchan , Highland , with 19.3%). Out of a total of 871 civil parishes in Scotland, the proportion of Gaelic speakers exceeds 50% in seven parishes, 25% in 14 parishes, and 10% in 35 parishes. Decline in traditional areas has recently been balanced by growth in
1908-536: A situation where new learners struggle to find opportunities to speak Gaelic with fluent speakers. Affect is the way people feel about something, or the emotional response to a particular situation or experience. For Gaelic speakers, there is a conditioned and socialized negative affect through a long history of negative Scottish media portrayal and public disrespect, state mandated restrictions on Gaelic usage, and highland clearances . This negative affect towards speaking openly with non-native Gaelic speakers has led to
2014-625: A translation of the New Testament. In 1798, four tracts in Gaelic were published by the Society for Propagating the Gospel at Home, with 5,000 copies of each printed. Other publications followed, with a full Gaelic Bible in 1801. The influential and effective Gaelic Schools Society was founded in 1811. Their purpose was to teach Gaels to read the Bible in their own language. In the first quarter of
2120-516: A victory of the Scots over a Viking force during the time of Donald II in the 9th century. The name used in the 12th century Book of Leinster is Sóil . The earliest comprehensive written list of Hebridean island names was undertaken by Donald Monro in his Description of the Western Isles of Scotland of 1549 in which Seil is listed. The modern spelling of "Seil" also appears in
2226-719: Is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family ) native to the Gaels of Scotland . As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as both Irish and Manx , developed out of Old Irish . It became a distinct spoken language sometime in the 13th century in the Middle Irish period, although a common literary language was shared by the Gaels of both Ireland and Scotland until well into
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#17327723402832332-490: Is a significant step forward for the recognition of Gaelic both at home and abroad and I look forward to addressing the council in Gaelic very soon. Seeing Gaelic spoken in such a forum raises the profile of the language as we drive forward our commitment to creating a new generation of Gaelic speakers in Scotland." Bilingual road signs, street names, business and advertisement signage (in both Gaelic and English) are gradually being introduced throughout Gaelic-speaking regions in
2438-411: Is no evidence that Gaelic was ever widely spoken. Many historians mark the reign of King Malcolm Canmore ( Malcolm III ) between 1058 and 1093 as the beginning of Gaelic's eclipse in Scotland. His wife Margaret of Wessex spoke no Gaelic, gave her children Anglo-Saxon rather than Gaelic names, and brought many English bishops, priests, and monastics to Scotland. When Malcolm and Margaret died in 1093,
2544-453: Is probably a pre-Gaelic name, although a case has been made for a Norse derivation. It has also been argued that Seil could be the location of Hinba , an island associated with St Columba . Reasons include the island's association with St Brendan , its location on an inshore trade route from Antrim to the north and its suitability for a substantial settlement. The Muirbolcmar (great sea bag) referred to in texts about Hinba could refer to
2650-666: Is run by the Slate Islands Heritage Trust . Located in a former slate quarry-worker's cottage, the centre has displays about life in the 19th century, slate quarrying and the local flora, fauna and geology. Seil has been linked to the Scottish mainland since 1792/3 when the Clachan Bridge was built by engineer Robert Mylne . Also known as the "Bridge Over the Atlantic", the bridge was constructed with
2756-522: Is to the south-west with the Garvellachs beyond, with Insh to the north west. Seil forms part of Nether Lorn , a region of Argyll between Loch Awe and Loch Melfort that includes the offshore islands located in the modern council area of Argyll and Bute . The highest point on the island is the summit of Meall Chaise at 146 m (479 ft) above sea level. Seil is some 7 miles (11 kilometres) miles from Oban, travelling north by road along
2862-577: Is today known as Lorn in the kingdom of Dalriada . The 7th-century Míniugud senchasa fher nAlban separates the Cenél Loairn into three subsidiary groups, of which the Cenél Salaich may have controlled Nether Lorn. In the mid-16th century Monro wrote of Seil: " Narrest this iyle layes Seill, thre myle of lenthe, ane half myle breidth, leyand from the southwest to the northeast, inhabit and manurit, guid for store and corne, pertaining to
2968-409: Is ultimately based on the work of Scottish cartographer Timothy Pont , who likely did the fieldwork on which his maps were based in the 1580s and 1590s. Pont never finished the work; he did ask King James VI and I for financial support for an atlas in the 1610s, but he died in 1615 and the project came to naught. Sir James Balfour, 1st Baronet, of Denmilne and Kinnaird , came across Pont's work toward
3074-569: The Clyde puffer Hafton en route from Toboronochy on Luing to Mull sprung a leak and foundered about 14 km (9 mi) into the journey. The crew of five took to a small boat and reached Ellanabeich safely. A wreck of unknown provenance has been recorded .5 km (0.3 mi) east of Rubha Garbh Airde at the northern end of Seil. In early summer the Clachan Bridge is covered in fairy foxgloves ( Erinus alpinus ). The narrows that
3180-837: The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , which the UK Government has ratified, and the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 established a language-development body, Bòrd na Gàidhlig . The Scottish Parliament is considering a Scottish Languages Bill which proposes to give the Gaelic and Scots languages official status in Scotland. Aside from "Scottish Gaelic", the language may also be referred to simply as "Gaelic", pronounced / ˈ ɡ æ l ɪ k / GAL -ik in English . However, "Gaelic" / ˈ ɡ eɪ l ɪ k / GAY -lik also refers to
3286-555: The Outer Hebrides , accommodation ethics exist amongst native or local Gaelic speakers when engaging with new learners or non-locals. Accommodation ethics, or ethics of accommodation, is a social practice where local or native speakers of Gaelic shift to speaking English when in the presence of non-Gaelic speakers out of a sense of courtesy or politeness. This accommodation ethic persists even in situations where new learners attempt to speak Gaelic with native speakers. This creates
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3392-688: The Scottish Lowlands . Between the 2001 and 2011 censuses, the number of Gaelic speakers rose in nineteen of the country's 32 council areas. The largest absolute gains were in Aberdeenshire (+526), North Lanarkshire (+305), the Aberdeen City council area (+216), and East Ayrshire (+208). The largest relative gains were in Aberdeenshire (+0.19%), East Ayrshire (+0.18%), Moray (+0.16%), and Orkney (+0.13%). In 2018,
3498-544: The Sea of Galilee . The central window depicts a ship in distress and "the portrayal in glowing colour of the storm's sweep, the crew's terror, and Christ's self-possession, has a lively drama unique in Highland stained glass". The well-known pub Tigh an Truish (Gaelic for 'house of the trousers') at Clachan Seil is said to have obtained its name in the wake of the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion . Supposedly, shore-going islanders swapped their kilts for trousers here after Highland dress
3604-786: The significant increase in pupils in Gaelic-medium education since that time is unknown. Gaelic Medium Education is one of the primary ways that the Scottish Government is addressing Gaelic language shift. Along with the Bòrd na Gàidhlig policies, preschool and daycare environments are also being used to create more opportunities for intergenerational language transmission in the Outer Hebrides. However, revitalization efforts are not unified within Scotland or Nova Scotia, Canada. One can attend Sabhal Mòr Ostaig ,
3710-575: The 1654 Blaeu Atlas of Scotland . Seil is separated from mainland Scotland by the Clachan Sound, which is only about 21.3 metres (70 ft) at its narrowest point. To the west lies the sea-lane of the Firth of Lorn . The island of Luing lies across the Cuan Sound to the south and beyond are Lunga and Scarba . Smaller islands surrounding Seil are its companion Slate Islands of Easdale , Torsa , Belnahua and Shuna . Eilean Dubh Mòr
3816-421: The 17th century. Most of modern Scotland was once Gaelic-speaking, as evidenced especially by Gaelic-language place names. In the 2011 census of Scotland , 57,375 people (1.1% of the Scottish population aged over three years old) reported being able to speak Gaelic, 1,275 fewer than in 2001. The highest percentages of Gaelic speakers were in the Outer Hebrides . Nevertheless, there is a language revival , and
3922-601: The 19th century, the SSPCK (despite their anti-Gaelic attitude in prior years) and the British and Foreign Bible Society distributed 60,000 Gaelic Bibles and 80,000 New Testaments. It is estimated that this overall schooling and publishing effort gave about 300,000 people in the Highlands some basic literacy. Very few European languages have made the transition to a modern literary language without an early modern translation of
4028-404: The 2011 Census. The 2011 total population figure comes from table KS101SC. The numbers of Gaelic speakers relate to the numbers aged 3 and over, and the percentages are calculated using those and the number of the total population aged 3 and over. Across the whole of Scotland, the 2011 census showed that 25,000 people (0.49% of the population) used Gaelic at home. Of these, 63.3% said that they had
4134-407: The 4th–5th centuries CE, by settlers from Ireland who founded the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata on Scotland's west coast in present-day Argyll . An alternative view has been voiced by archaeologist Ewan Campbell , who has argued that the putative migration or takeover is not reflected in archaeological or placename data (as pointed out earlier by Leslie Alcock ). Campbell has also questioned
4240-492: The B844 and A 816 . Balvicar , in the centre of the island, is the main settlement and has a harbour with commercial fishing boats, the island shop, and a golf club. On the west side of the island lies the former slate-mining village of Ellenabeich . This village, known for its white slate worker's cottages, has attracted an "artist's colony" and has a number of holiday cottages. There are three other small settlements; Cuan at
4346-569: The Bible; the lack of a well known translation may have contributed to the decline of Scottish Gaelic. Counterintuitively, access to schooling in Gaelic increased knowledge of English. In 1829, the Gaelic Schools Society reported that parents were unconcerned about their children learning Gaelic, but were anxious to have them taught English. The SSPCK also found Highlanders to have significant prejudice against Gaelic. T. M. Devine attributes this to an association between English and
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4452-436: The Clachan Bridge "Bridge Over The Atlantic" sold nearly a million copies. Frances Shand Kydd , the mother of Diana, Princess of Wales , lived on the island for many years until her death in 2004. The Firth of Lorn is the seaway used by vessels going to and from Oban and Fort William from points south and the seas around Seil contain the sites of various shipwrecks. The wooden sailing ship Norval ran aground in fog near
4558-594: The EU's institutions. The Scottish government had to pay for the translation from Gaelic to other European languages . The deal was received positively in Scotland; Secretary of State for Scotland Jim Murphy said the move was a strong sign of the UK government's support for Gaelic. He said; "Allowing Gaelic speakers to communicate with European institutions in their mother tongue is a progressive step forward and one which should be welcomed". Culture Minister Mike Russell said; "this
4664-500: The Easdale Marble and Slate Company in order to place extractions from the area on a more commercial basis. At that point Easdale was producing 1 million slates per annum; when Thomas Pennant visited two years later production had increased by 250% and as further quarries were opened this further increased the company's production to 5 million per annum by 1800. The little island of Eilean-a-beithich between Seil and Easdale
4770-628: The Erl of Ergyle. " Ardfad Castle is a ruin in the northwest of Seil. It was the home of the Macdougalls of Ardencaple, but following the failure of King James VII to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland in the late 17th century the Macdougalls lost much of their lands to the Duke of Argyll . The castle was "a well-built structure of stone and lime, occupying a prominent situation on
4876-538: The Forth–Clyde line and along the northeastern coastal plain as far north as Moray. Norman French completely displaced Gaelic at court. The establishment of royal burghs throughout the same area, particularly under David I , attracted large numbers of foreigners speaking Old English. This was the beginning of Gaelic's status as a predominantly rural language in Scotland. Clan chiefs in the northern and western parts of Scotland continued to support Gaelic bards who remained
4982-684: The Gaelic Act falls so far short of the status accorded to Welsh that one would be foolish or naïve to believe that any substantial change will occur in the fortunes of the language as a result of Bòrd na Gàidhlig 's efforts. On 10 December 2008, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the Scottish Human Rights Commission had the UDHR translated into Gaelic for
5088-762: The Gaelic aristocracy rejected their anglicised sons and instead backed Malcolm's brother Domnall Bán ( Donald III ). Donald had spent 17 years in Gaelic Ireland and his power base was in the thoroughly Gaelic west of Scotland. He was the last Scottish monarch to be buried on Iona , the traditional burial place of the Gaelic Kings of Dàl Riada and the Kingdom of Alba. However, during the reigns of Malcolm Canmore's sons, Edgar, Alexander I and David I (their successive reigns lasting 1097–1153), Anglo-Norman names and practices spread throughout Scotland south of
5194-619: The Highland and Island region. In 1616, the Privy Council proclaimed that schools teaching in English should be established. Gaelic was seen, at this time, as one of the causes of the instability of the region. It was also associated with Catholicism. The Society in Scotland for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SSPCK) was founded in 1709. They met in 1716, immediately after the failed Jacobite rising of 1715 , to consider
5300-416: The Highlands and Islands, including Argyll. In many cases, this has simply meant re-adopting the traditional spelling of a name (such as Ràtagan or Loch Ailleart rather than the anglicised forms Ratagan or Lochailort respectively). Some monolingual Gaelic road signs, particularly direction signs, are used on the Outer Hebrides , where a majority of the population can have a working knowledge of
5406-726: The Inner Hebridean dialects of Tiree and Islay, and even a few native speakers from Western Highland areas including Wester Ross , northwest Sutherland , Lochaber and Argyll . Dialects on both sides of the Straits of Moyle (the North Channel ) linking Scottish Gaelic with Irish are now extinct, though native speakers were still to be found on the Mull of Kintyre , on Rathlin and in North East Ireland as late as
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#17327723402835512-631: The Irish language ( Gaeilge ) and the Manx language ( Gaelg ). Scottish Gaelic is distinct from Scots , the Middle English -derived language which had come to be spoken in most of the Lowlands of Scotland by the early modern era . Prior to the 15th century, this language was known as Inglis ("English") by its own speakers, with Gaelic being called Scottis ("Scottish"). Beginning in
5618-492: The Irish maps indicate that Blaeu wasn't interested in an atlas of Scotland per se , and the slow production development (nearly twenty-five years passed between the first communications regarding Scottish maps and the publication of the book) suggests that it was not of great commercial significance to the firm either. The atlas is notable for being the first of its kind, but also for its quality. According to historian and cartobibliographer Jeffrey C. Stone, "Blaeu's portrayal of
5724-489: The Lorn Plateau Lava Formation dominate the west of the island. Seil is cut by numerous NW-SE aligned basalt and micro gabbro dykes which form a part of the ‘Mull Swarm’ which is of early Palaeogene age. Raised marine deposits of sand and gravel occur widely around the margins of the island, a legacy of late Quaternary changes in relative sea-level. The Cenél Loairn kindred controlled what
5830-434: The Scottish landscape far exceeded, in both accuracy and content, anything previously published, or indeed anything to follow for more than a hundred years"; Stone argues that the century following its publication saw nothing of importance or quality happen, not until William Roy's military survey of Scotland (1747-1755). Relatively little scholarship was done in connection to the atlas, and nothing of much value happened until
5936-594: The Seil Sound and narrows at Clachan Bridge where the "bag" captures the rapidly flowing water that floods under the bridge. Rae, equating "Hinba" with the Gaelic Inbhir , notes that the adjacent mainland parish of Kilninver means "church of Inbhir" and suggests that the derivation of "Seil" may be of Scandinavian origin with similarities to the East Frisian place name Zijl or Syl meaning
6042-428: The UK Government as Welsh . With the advent of devolution , however, Scottish matters have begun to receive greater attention, and it achieved a degree of official recognition when the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act was enacted by the Scottish Parliament on 21 April 2005. The key provisions of the Act are: After its creation, Bòrd na Gàidhlig required a Gaelic Language Plan from the Scottish Government. This plan
6148-416: The Volume IV in the series announced it already in 1645 but it was not published until 1654, in Latin, French, and German (earlier volumes of Blaeu's Atlas Maior were published separately in various languages). A Spanish edition was published probably in 1659. The atlas has 49 maps of Scotland and, despite its common name ("Blaeu Atlas of Scotland"), 6 maps of Ireland. For cartobibliographer Van der Krogt,
6254-581: The Western Isles (−1,745), Argyll & Bute (−694), and Highland (−634). The drop in Stornoway , the largest parish in the Western Isles by population, was especially acute, from 57.5% of the population in 1991 to 43.4% in 2011. The only parish outside the Western Isles over 40% Gaelic-speaking is Kilmuir in Northern Skye at 46%. The islands in the Inner Hebrides with significant percentages of Gaelic speakers are Tiree (38.3%), Raasay (30.4%), Skye (29.4%), Lismore (26.9%), Colonsay (20.2%), and Islay (19.0%). Today, no civil parish in Scotland has
6360-589: The Western Isles. The Scottish Qualifications Authority offer two streams of Gaelic examination across all levels of the syllabus: Gaelic for learners (equivalent to the modern foreign languages syllabus) and Gaelic for native speakers (equivalent to the English syllabus). An Comunn Gàidhealach performs assessment of spoken Gaelic, resulting in the issue of a Bronze Card, Silver Card or Gold Card. Syllabus details are available on An Comunn's website. These are not widely recognised as qualifications, but are required for those taking part in certain competitions at
6466-466: The age and reliability of the medieval historical sources speaking of a conquest. Instead, he has inferred that Argyll formed part of a common Q-Celtic -speaking area with Ireland, connected rather than divided by the sea, since the Iron Age. These arguments have been opposed by some scholars defending the early dating of the traditional accounts and arguing for other interpretations of the archaeological evidence. Regardless of how it came to be spoken in
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#17327723402836572-408: The annual mods . In October 2009, a new agreement allowed Scottish Gaelic to be formally used between Scottish Government ministers and European Union officials. The deal was signed by Britain's representative to the EU, Sir Kim Darroch , and the Scottish government . This did not give Scottish Gaelic official status in the EU but gave it the right to be a means of formal communications in
6678-413: The bill be strengthened, a revised bill was published; the main alteration was that the guidance of the Bòrd is now statutory (rather than advisory). In the committee stages in the Scottish Parliament, there was much debate over whether Gaelic should be given 'equal validity' with English. Due to executive concerns about resourcing implications if this wording was used, the Education Committee settled on
6784-455: The bridge spans trapped a 23.8 m (78 ft) whale with a 6.4 m (21 ft) long lower jaw in 1835 and no fewer than 192 pilot whales in 1837, the largest of which was 8 m (26 ft) long. According to wildlife experts the entire badger population of the island may have been deliberately exterminated in 2007. Forty of the animals, whose setts were believed to be long established, may have been gassed to death, according to
6890-625: The census of pupils in Scotland showed 520 students in publicly funded schools had Gaelic as the main language at home, an increase of 5% from 497 in 2014. During the same period, Gaelic medium education in Scotland has grown, with 4,343 pupils (6.3 per 1000) being educated in a Gaelic-immersion environment in 2018, up from 3,583 pupils (5.3 per 1000) in 2014. Data collected in 2007–2008 indicated that even among pupils enrolled in Gaelic medium schools, 81% of primary students and 74% of secondary students report using English more often than Gaelic when speaking with their mothers at home. The effect on this of
6996-419: The cities and professors of Celtic from universities who sought to preserve the language. The Education (Scotland) Act 1872 provided universal education in Scotland, but completely ignored Gaelic in its plans. The mechanism for supporting Gaelic through the Education Codes issued by the Scottish Education Department were steadily used to overcome this omission, with many concessions in place by 1918. However,
7102-450: The concept of 'equal respect'. It is not clear what the legal force of this wording is. The Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament unanimously, with support from all sectors of the Scottish political spectrum, on 21 April 2005. Under the provisions of the Act, it will ultimately fall to BnG to secure the status of the Gaelic language as an official language of Scotland. Some commentators, such as Éamonn Ó Gribín (2006) argue that
7208-444: The dialect of the Scottish Gaelic language, and also mixed use of English and Gaelic across the Highlands and Islands. Dialects of Lowland Gaelic have been defunct since the 18th century. Gaelic in the Eastern and Southern Scottish Highlands, although alive until the mid-20th century, is now largely defunct. Although modern Scottish Gaelic is dominated by the dialects of the Outer Hebrides and Isle of Skye, there remain some speakers of
7314-400: The early 16th century Muriel, daughter of the Thane of Calder, married Sir John Campbell, son of the Earl of Argyll at Inverary and so Clan Campbell of Cawdor was founded. "Many renowned and some infamous" clan members are buried at Kilbrandon churchyard on Seil. From the late 17th century the Dukes of Argyll began to lease land on a competitive basis rather than as a means of strengthening
7420-436: The end of the 1620s and rescued them; he, in turn, passed them on to John Scot, Lord Scotstarvit , from whom Joan Blaeu , working in Amsterdam, received them in the early 1630s. Blaeu had shown interest in mapping Scotland in 1626 in correspondence with Scot, and so Balfour's find proved timely. Around 35 of the Scottish maps came from Pont; others came from Robert Gordon of Straloch and his son James. Joan Blaeu explains in
7526-415: The entire region of modern-day Scotland was called Scotia in Latin, and Gaelic was the lingua Scotica . In southern Scotland , Gaelic was strong in Galloway , adjoining areas to the north and west, West Lothian , and parts of western Midlothian . It was spoken to a lesser degree in north Ayrshire , Renfrewshire , the Clyde Valley and eastern Dumfriesshire . In south-eastern Scotland, there
7632-576: The fifth volume of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum Sive Atlas Novus , is the first known atlas of Scotland and Ireland . It was compiled by Joan Blaeu , and contains 49 engraved maps and 154 pages of descriptive text written in Latin ; it was first published in 1654. Most of the maps were made by Timothy Pont , a Scottish cartographer. Those maps, made between 1583 and 1596, were collected, edited, and augmented with other maps (made by Robert Gordon of Straloch and his son James) by John Scot, Lord Scotstarvit ,
7738-560: The first time. However, given there are no longer any monolingual Gaelic speakers, following an appeal in the court case of Taylor v Haughney (1982), involving the status of Gaelic in judicial proceedings, the High Court ruled against a general right to use Gaelic in court proceedings. While the goal of the Gaelic Language Act was to aid in revitalization efforts through government mandated official language status,
7844-432: The industry than his predecessors although during the time of the 7th Earl a new quarry was opened at Ardencaple. However, disaster struck in 1881. In the early morning of 22 November a severe gale from the south-west wind and an exceptionally high tide flooded the quarries on Easdale and at Eilean-a-beithich "a large rocky buttress which supported a sea wall gave way under the excessive pressure of water". Eilean-a-beithich
7950-479: The initiatives must come from within Gaelic speaking communities, be led by Gaelic speakers, and be designed to serve and increase fluency within the vernacular communities as the first and most viable resistance to total language shift from Gaelic to English. Currently, language policies are focused on creating new language speakers through education, instead of focused on how to strengthen intergenerational transmission within existing Gaelic speaking communities. In
8056-502: The language. Compared with the 2001 Census, there has been a diminution of about 1300 people. This is the smallest drop between censuses since the Gaelic-language question was first asked in 1881. The Scottish government's language minister and Bòrd na Gàidhlig took this as evidence that Gaelic's long decline has slowed. The main stronghold of the language continues to be the Outer Hebrides ( Na h-Eileanan Siar ), where
8162-520: The language. These omit the English translation entirely. Bilingual railway station signs are now more frequent than they used to be. Practically all the stations in the Highland area use both English and Gaelic, and the use of bilingual station signs has become more frequent in the Lowlands of Scotland, including areas where Gaelic has not been spoken for a long time. Blaeu Atlas of Scotland The book commonly known as Blaeu Atlas of Scotland ,
8268-575: The larger islands surrounding Scotland. However, the derivations of many of these names are obscure "suggesting that they were coined very early on, some perhaps by the earliest settlers after the Ice Age." Even when names used both in the historic past and the present have some apparent meaning this may indicate a phonetic resemblance to an older name, but one that may be "so old and so linguistically and lexically opaque that we do not have any plausible referents for them." The Ravenna Cosmography , which
8374-532: The late 15th century, it became increasingly common for such speakers to refer to Scottish Gaelic as Erse ("Irish") and the Lowland vernacular as Scottis . Today, Scottish Gaelic is recognised as a separate language from Irish, so the word Erse in reference to Scottish Gaelic is no longer used. Based on medieval traditional accounts and the apparent evidence from linguistic geography, Gaelic has been commonly believed to have been brought to Scotland, in
8480-505: The maps in the 1630s and 1640s, half a century after Pont made the maps, which meant that many corrections may have had to be made and that it is difficult to assess who was responsible for which maps. The atlas was reprinted in 2006, edited by I. G. Cunningham and published with the assistance of the National Library of Scotland Cunningham also provided commentary on the texts. All the maps and texts are translated into English, and it has an introduction by Charles W. J. Withers , as well as
8586-459: The members of Highland school boards tended to have anti-Gaelic attitudes and served as an obstacle to Gaelic education in the late 19th and early 20th century. Loss of life due to World War I and the 1919 sinking of the HMY Iolaire , combined with emigration, resulted in the 1910s seeing unprecedented damage to the use of Scottish Gaelic, with a 46% fall in monolingual speakers and
8692-734: The mid-20th century. Records of their speech show that Irish and Scottish Gaelic existed in a dialect chain with no clear language boundary. Some features of moribund dialects have been preserved in Nova Scotia, including the pronunciation of the broad or velarised l ( l̪ˠ ) as [w] , as in the Lochaber dialect. The Endangered Languages Project lists Gaelic's status as "threatened", with "20,000 to 30,000 active users". UNESCO classifies Gaelic as " definitely endangered ". The 1755–2001 figures are census data quoted by MacAulay. The 2011 Gaelic speakers figures come from table KS206SC of
8798-532: The modern era. Some of this was driven by policy decisions by government or other organisations, while some originated from social changes. In the last quarter of the 20th century, efforts began to encourage use of the language. The Statutes of Iona , enacted by James VI in 1609, was one piece of legislation that addressed, among other things, the Gaelic language. It required the heirs of clan chiefs to be educated in lowland, Protestant, English-speaking schools. James VI took several such measures to impose his rule on
8904-460: The next two centuries. Today, the economy is largely dependent on agriculture and tourism . The "dangerous seas" of the Firth of Lorn have claimed many lives and there are several shipwrecks in the vicinity of Seil. Kilbrandon Church has fine examples of stained glass windows and an association with St Brendan . There is some linguistic continuity between the earliest and modern names for many of
9010-434: The number of speakers of the language under age 20 did not decrease between the 2001 and 2011 censuses. In the 2022 census of Scotland , it was found that 2.5% of the Scottish population had some skills in Gaelic, or 130,161 persons. Of these, 69,701 people reported speaking the language, with a further 46,404 people reporting that they understood the language, but did not speak, read, or write in it. Outside of Scotland,
9116-643: The official language of government and law. Scotland's emergent nationalism in the era following the conclusion of the Wars of Scottish Independence was organized using Scots as well. For example, the nation's great patriotic literature including John Barbour's The Brus (1375) and Blind Harry's The Wallace (before 1488) was written in Scots, not Gaelic. By the end of the 15th century, English/Scots speakers referred to Gaelic instead as 'Yrisch' or 'Erse', i.e. Irish and their own language as 'Scottis'. A steady shift away from Scottish Gaelic continued into and through
9222-459: The outcome of the act is distanced from the actual minority language communities. It helps to create visibility of the minority language in civil structures, but does not impact or address the lived experiences of the Gaelic speaker communities wherein the revitalization efforts may have a higher return of new Gaelic speakers. Efforts are being made to concentrate resources, language planning, and revitalization efforts towards vernacular communities in
9328-560: The overall proportion of speakers is 52.2%. Important pockets of the language also exist in the Highlands (5.4%) and in Argyll and Bute (4.0%) and Inverness (4.9%). The locality with the largest absolute number is Glasgow with 5,878 such persons, who make up over 10% of all of Scotland's Gaelic speakers. Gaelic continues to decline in its traditional heartland. Between 2001 and 2011, the absolute number of Gaelic speakers fell sharply in
9434-527: The police. The police also expressed concerns that two golden eagles and one white-tailed sea eagle have been found poisoned near Seil in recent years, involving use of the banned substance carbofuran . 56°18′0″N 5°37′12″W / 56.30000°N 5.62000°W / 56.30000; -5.62000 Scottish Gaelic language Scottish Gaelic ( / ˈ ɡ æ l ɪ k / , GAL -ik ; endonym : Gàidhlig [ˈkaːlɪkʲ] ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic ,
9540-535: The preface that the maps of Scotland depended on the work of Pont and that John Scot had been instrumental in transferring those maps ("but much torn and deformed") to Amsterdam. Blaeu organized the maps, and "finishing touches" (corrections and some descriptions) were applied by Robert and James Gordon. Descriptions for Orkney and Shetland were written by someone from Orkney; all others are derived from George Buchanan and an Englishman named Camden (whose descriptions were often corrected by John Scot). The preface of
9646-415: The printed work. Apparently he did such an exhaustive job that for the next fifty years nothing of importance was added. The 1960s and 1970s saw a resurgence of interest in the atlas, with half a dozen scholars active in publishing on the maps and the associated manuscripts; by that time, facsimiles of some of the maps had been printed by John Bartholomew and Son , of Edinburgh. During that period, in 1967,
9752-466: The prosperity of employment: the Highland economy relied greatly on seasonal migrant workers travelling outside the Gàidhealtachd . In 1863, an observer sympathetic to Gaelic stated that "knowledge of English is indispensable to any poor islander who wishes to learn a trade or to earn his bread beyond the limits of his native Isle". Generally, rather than Gaelic speakers, it was Celtic societies in
9858-618: The publication in 1841 and 1858 of two sets of manuscripts and correspondence pertaining to the original publication of the atlas, a publication that saved those materials from oblivion. Important work in preserving, cataloguing, and researching the atlas was carried out by Caleb George Cash , an English-born mountaineer and antiquarian who lived and taught in Scotland for most of his life. The manuscript maps had "fallen into disarray", and Cash began by preserving them. Then, he described and catalogued them, and collected and reviewed everything that had been written on them, and any material connected to
9964-460: The reform and civilisation of the Highlands, which they sought to achieve by teaching English and the Protestant religion. Initially, their teaching was entirely in English, but soon the impracticality of educating Gaelic-speaking children in this way gave rise to a modest concession: in 1723, teachers were allowed to translate English words in the Bible into Gaelic to aid comprehension, but there
10070-535: The region, Gaelic in Scotland was mostly confined to Dál Riata until the eighth century, when it began expanding into Pictish areas north of the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde. During the reign of Caustantín mac Áeda (Constantine II, 900–943), outsiders began to refer to the region as the kingdom of Alba rather than as the kingdom of the Picts. However, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly,
10176-410: The southern tip of Insh on 20 September 1870. The wreckage was still visible in 1995. On 15 August 1900 the 310 t (305 long tons) iron steamship Apollo ran aground on Bono Reef 2.4 km (1.5 mi) south west of Seil. She was carrying a cargo of granite cobble stones from Aberdeen to Newport . The wreck lies in a gully some 10 m (33 ft) down amidst thick kelp . In February 1933
10282-632: The southern tip, Oban Seil north of Balvicar and Clachan Seil, which is closest to the Clachan Bridge. The larger part of the bedrock of Seil is provided by the Neoproterozoic age Easdale Slate Formation, a pyritic , graphitic pelite belonging to the Easdale Subgroup of the Dalradian Argyll Group . Zones of metamorphosed intrusive igneous rocks occur within the southeast of the island. Andesitic lavas of
10388-600: The welfare of their senior clansmen. This resulted in mass evictions from Seil and the surrounding area in 1669, long before the clearances as such. In 1730 Colin Campbell of Carwhin was appointed as the Captain of Ardmaddy and tasked with exploiting the area's natural resources. At this time Easdale slate had been used from as early as the 12th century using seasonal labour from the Ardmaddy estate. In 1745 Campbell created
10494-408: Was a part of the kingdom of Dalriada in the 7th century but by the 16th century, Seil seemed to have been primarily agricultural in nature. It became part of the estates of the Breadalbane family and in the early 18th century they began to exploit the rich potential of the Neoproterozoic slate beds. The excavations from the island's quarries were exported all over the world during the course of
10600-399: Was accepted in 2008, and some of its main commitments were: identity (signs, corporate identity); communications (reception, telephone, mailings, public meetings, complaint procedures); publications (PR and media, websites); staffing (language learning, training, recruitment). Following a consultation period, in which the government received many submissions, the majority of which asked that
10706-516: Was banned. Parts of Ring of Bright Water were filmed on Seil. Alexander Beith , Free Church Moderator, spent about 4 years in this parish. Arthur Murray, 3rd Viscount Elibank and his wife, the actress Faith Celli , purchased property on Seil in the 1930s. They converted a row of derelict cottages into a substantial dwelling and created the 2 ha (5 acres) garden at An Cala, near Ellanabeich. The artist C. John Taylor lived at Ellanabeich for many years until his death in 1998. His painting of
10812-466: Was compiled by an anonymous cleric in Ravenna around AD 700, mentions various Scottish island names. This document frequently used maps as a source of information and it has been possible to speculate about their modern equivalents based on assumptions about voyages made by early travellers 300–400 years prior to its creation. The island of Saponis mentioned in this list may refer to Seil. Seil
10918-554: Was long suppressed. The UK government has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of Gaelic. Gaelic, along with Irish and Welsh, is designated under Part III of the Charter, which requires the UK Government to take a range of concrete measures in the fields of education, justice, public administration, broadcasting and culture. It has not received the same degree of official recognition from
11024-568: Was never re-opened although production did continue at Easdale, Luing and Balvicar. Changes in demand - clay tiles were rapidly replacing slate as the roofing material of choice - led to commercial production ceasing by 1911. Balvicar quarry re-opened from the late 1940s until the early 1960s but slate is no longer mined anywhere in the Slate Islands. Today, the island's commerce is largely dependent on agriculture, tourism and lobster fishing. The Ellenabeich Heritage Centre which opened in 2000,
11130-510: Was no further permitted use. Other less prominent schools worked in the Highlands at the same time, also teaching in English. This process of anglicisation paused when evangelical preachers arrived in the Highlands, convinced that people should be able to read religious texts in their own language. The first well known translation of the Bible into Scottish Gaelic was made in 1767, when James Stuart of Killin and Dugald Buchanan of Rannoch produced
11236-537: Was quarried down to a depth of 80 m (260 ft) and other slate quarries were opened on Luing and at Balvicar. Railway lines were laid to take the rock from the quarries to nearby harbours. Peak production was reached in the 1860s at 9 million slates per annum, with export destinations including England, Nova Scotia , the West Indies , the US, Norway and New Zealand. The 6th Earl of Breadalbane had less interest in
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