LL-L "Scots" 2002.03.28 (10) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 28.MAR.2002 (10) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian L=Limburgish
 LS=Low Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic Z=Zeelandic (Zeeuws)
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From: Sylvain Lavoie <elisabeth-sylvain at sympatico.ca>
Subject: Scots

Hi Colin

Please accept these two questions.
Do you believe the Scots were gaelic speakers ?
Do you think they arrived in Britain from the Rhine Lowlands ?

Sylvain Lavoie
(I will be away for the next four days)

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Scots

Sylvain,

Scotland was originally neither Gaelic-speaking nor Germanic-speaking.
As in the rest of the British Isles (and also in France, by the way),
Celtic languages were spoken that are long extinct and are virtually
unknown.  Most of Scotland and much of England was inhabited by tribes
that we now know from Roman sources (about 300 C.E.) as "Picts" (because
they used facial paint).  They were most probably Celtic-speaking but
did not speak an older form of what we now call "Gaelic" (a Celtic
language of the Goidhelic group to which also Irish and Manx belong).

Gaelic was introduced to Scotland, first in the area of Argyle, from
Ireland by an immigrating or invading tribe known as "Scoti."  They
called their kingdom Dalriada.  By 900 C.E., when they established the
kingdom of Alba, they had absorbed the local Pictish people whose
language died out but probably left traces in the newly developing local
dialects of Irish (Gaelic).  Soon thereafter, the predominantly
Germanic-speaking Northumbrian kingdom of Strathclyde came to be
included in Alba.  The Northumbrians were permitted to be linguistically
and legally independent in Alba.  Soon after the Norman invasion of the
British Isles (from France), the Northumbrian ancestor of the
Germanic-based Scots language began to gain power and to dominate in
large parts of Alba, whose borders pretty much coincide with those of
today's Scotland.  Scots came to dominate mostly the lowlands, while
over time the Gaelic language retreated to a large extent into the
highlands.

Thus, Scotland has two originally introduced local languages: one Celtic
(Gaelic) and one Germanic (Scots), both probably with more or less faint
substrates of the extinct Pictish language.  English came to overshadow
both of them as Scotland was overpowered by the English-based British
empire, and specifically Scottish dialects of English developed with
Gaelic and Scots substrates.  However, please note that Scottish English
and Scots are not the same thing.

Non-Scottish people in particular (and some ill-informed Scottish people
also) tend to naively assume that Gaelic language and culture represent
*the* "real" Scotland even today.  The fact is that ancient forms of
both Gaelic and Scots were originally introduced to Scotland, at about
the same time, and that both of them developed there and became
inherently and uniquely Scottish.  Thus, this stereotype of the poor
Gaels being overpowered and oppressed by the Germanic invaders is pure
fantasy based upon ignorance.  As Colin already explained, traditionally
Gaelic has been favored and officially supported as *the* Scottish
language, but the number of its speakers dwindles, mostly because Gaelic
speakers fail to pass on to their children their ancestral language, not
because of some evil Germanic conspiracy.  Scots, on the other hand,
spoken as a native language by the majority of Scottish inhabitants has
received virtually no recognition and support and keeps being portraited
as a vulgar and corrupt form of English, its closest relative.

I am by no stretch of the imagination a specialist in matters Scottish,
and I hope other, better informed Lowlanders will forgive the coarseness
of the brush I used to paint this picture.  However, like most
subscribers of Lowlands-L, I try to keep an open mind, listen to what
more educated people have to say, ask them questions, do additional
reading, thus educating myself beyond the level of shallow stereotypes
picked up from poorly informed sources.  On this list we have several
specialists of Scots who are also very well informed about Celtic and
about the language situations and history of the British Isles.  I
recommend listening to them and then to read up on the material before
making up your mind about things.  This is what Lowlands-L is primarily
about: sharing and educating, cherishing similarities and differences,
learning about and from history and going beyond preconceived ideas
instead of pointing blame and helping to perpetuate stereotypes.

To start with, I strongly recommend as introductory reading our own Andy
Eagle's brief history of Scots:
http://www.scots-online.org/grammar/whits.htm

I also suggest you check out some of the pages listed in our Scots
sources list:
http://www.geocities.com/sassisch/rhahn/lowlands/links_scots.htm

I appreciate and encourage your inquisitiveness.

Friendly regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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