Hebrides late 9th century

[polarstar at WEB.DE]

The recent question about a Pictish place name for a novel reminded me that I could maybe find some answers for some of my own current questions here. I would like to write a novel as well, set mainly in the Hebrides in the second half of the 9th century, as well as some other parts of Scotland and the wider North Atlantic realm, involving contacts between Gaels, Vikings etc. 
Although there is lots of material available for the general period, I have had some problems finding detailed information about the social and political situation of the Western Isles - most of the books I've browsed so far elegantly avoid clear statements about the population of this area. I am especially interested in questions of law and land ownership as well as anything that sheds light on the broader situation of social contacts among the various population groups in and around Scotland at that time, yet the focus is clearly on the Hebrides. I've already read quite a bit, but I still feel like a lot is missing.
If you know of any books or essays that could be of interest (apart from standard works like "Scandinavian Scotland", "Warlords and Holy Men", "The Picts and the Scots" etc.) I would be happy to receive some hints and advice.
I also wonder which source texts would be useful to read: is there much of interest to be found in the Annals of Ulster, or in Adomnan's Life of Columba, for example?
Thank you all,
Mona Striewe


> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: The Celtic Linguistics List <CELTLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG>
> Gesendet: 24.07.06 23:06:10
> An: CELTLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Betreff: Re: FW: Pict Language research question from Australia


> 
> 
> Aaah – I think it’s still very
> much open to debate whether Pictish was P-Celtic, or Celtic at all.
> 
> 
> I would say that NO guess can be made as
> to a Pictish name, all that the author could do is assume that Old Irish
> speaking Gaels had named the Bay, and go with Old Irish
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> Martin J.
> Ball, Ph.D., FRCSLT
> Doris B.
> Hawthorne-BORSF Endowed Professor II
> Head of Department of Communicative Disorders
> Director, Doris B. Hawthorne
>  Center for Special
> Education & Communicative Disorders,
> Honorary Professor, University of Wales Institute Cardiff
> Editor ‘Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics’
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> From: The Celtic
> Linguistics List [mailto:CELTLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG] On Behalf Of Muiris Mag Ualghairg
> Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 12:49
> PM
> To:
> CELTLING at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
> Subject: Re: FW: Pict Language
> research question from Australia
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> I would suggest two things - 
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 1)  one Pictish was probably a varient of Brythonic so something
> along the lines of Welsh 'Gwaed' would do the job.
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 2) She needs to do a lot more research if she needs us here to tell her
> that!
> 
> 
> 
>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Steve Harlow
> <sjh1 at YORK.AC.UK> wrote:
> 
> 
> Can anyone help with the inquiry below?
> 
> - Steve
> -- 
> SJ Harlow sjh1 at york dot ac dot uk Head of
> Department
> Department of Language & Linguistic Science, University of York
> Heslington, York YO1 5DD, UK
> Phone:+44 1904 432654 Messages:+44 1904 432650 Fax:+44 1904 432673
> 
> 
> ------ Forwarded Message
> From: "Evelyn Saunders" 
> Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2006 12:59:48 +1000
> To: 
> Subject: Pict Language research question from Australia
> 
> Dear Mr Harlow,
> 
> My name is Evelyn Saunders and I'm researching some details for a novel set
> in the Aberdeen to Inverness area of Scotland in the
> 850-1050 AD period,
> with the Picts and the Norwegian Vikings as characters. The author has asked
> me to find the translation for the word "blood" as used in a location
> name
> "Blood Bay". 
> 
> I'm approaching you because what seemed to be a relatively simple task at
> first, is now quite challenging. I've been in contact with person from
> Ullans dictionary and discovered that Ullans is post 14th Century, so
> "blude
> or bluid" is not likely to be correct. I looked at an online Gaelic -
> English dictionary and found the word "fuil" along with a lot of
> other words
> for blood - all of which seem to change when the context in which they're
> used is changed. 
> 
> If you could help me I'd be very grateful as I've only just realised how
> living in Australia
> I've had no real exposure to the development of language
> through history. All very eye-opening.
> 
> Yours sincerely,
> Evelyn Saunders
> 
> ------ End of Forwarded Message
> 
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> 
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