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Despite long being a multilingual country, most records used in Scottish research are in English, with older ones in the closely related Scots language. They may, however, be difficult to read because of unique Scottish words, [[Latin_Genealogical_Word_List|Latin words]], or different handwriting styles. | |||
Occasionally records will also contain Gaelic, often written in English phonetics. In the medieval documents about Orkney and Shetland, you may also encounter Norn, an early form of Norwegian. | Occasionally records will also contain Gaelic, often written in English phonetics. In the medieval documents about Orkney and Shetland, you may also encounter Norn, an early form of Norwegian. | ||
==Scottish Gaelic== | |||
Gaelic (Gaidhlig) is the Celtic language of Scotland. It is closely related to [[Wales Language and Languages|Irish]] and Manx, and more distantly to Welsh, Cornish and Breton. | |||
The Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 gives some degree of recognition to Scotland's Celtic language. However, unlike [[Wales Language and Languages|Welsh]], Scottish Gaelic has been written down far less frequently, and is not taught in many schools. The language is generally associated with the Highlands, but was historically spoken in most of the Lowlands as well. It was not spoken in Orkney and Shetland | |||
Scottish Gaelic gives rise to many Scottish surnames, including any beginning with Mac or Mac, as well as names such as Campbell, Dewar, Menzies etc. Some of these were written down in English phonetics, e.g. MacDonald or McWhannel for MacDhomhnaill and/or were later translated e.g. Smith can translate Mac a' Ghobhainn, which is also anglicized as Gow or MacGowan. The old Scottish Gaelic naming system is extremely complex, and exists mainly in oral tradition. | |||
Many personal names such as Iain (John), Malcolm, Duncan, Fiona and Morag all ultimately derive from the language too. | |||
==Scots language== | |||
The Scots language is the language of the Scottish Lowlands, Caithness, and the Northern Isles (Orkney and Shetland). It is closely related to standard English, and there is a long running, heated debate as to whether it is a dialect or a language in its own right. It is not to be confused with Gaelic, although there has been some mutual influence. | |||
The Scots language goes by many different names. It is often called Broad/Braid Scots or Lowland Scots to distinguish it from Gaelic. In the north east especially, it is often referred to as Doric. In Buchan, it is known as the Claik, and in Glasgow as the Patter. In older writings it is often referred to as Scottis, or as Scotch, although the term "Scotch" is not liked by many Scots today. | |||
Many Scots words can be found in older documents, as it was written down more frequently than Gaelic. It is common for Scots to use the dimunitive, e.g. James frequently becomes Jamie, Robert becomes Rab or Rabbie etc. This is done more often than in standard English and is not frowned upon. | |||
Scots has no legal status, and there are no reliable figures for how many people speak it. However, it is much more common to hear it in Scotland than Gaelic. Due to its similarity with English, there is considerable debate as to what constitutes Scots as well. | |||
=== Unique Scottish Words === | === Unique Scottish Words === | ||