Scottish Culture and Heritage: Languages

During Roman times two main languages were documented in Scotland. In the south the language was British or Cumbric which is P-Celtic probably close to Welsh. In the north Pictish which was also P-Celtic appears more related to continental Gaulish possibly brought by refugees of early Roman expansion. There is also the suggestion that this P-Celtic Pictish was only the language of the ruling classes among the Picts and that another much more ancient pre-Celtic tongue was used by the ordinary Picts. The 5-6thC saw the arrival of the more ancient Q-Celtic Gaelic Scots from Ireland to the West of Scotland. The 7-8thC saw the influx of Germanic Angles who brought Anglian, ancestor of modern Scots, into the south east. In the 9thC Scandinavians speaking Norse settled in the Northern Isles and Caithness. At this time all five languages must have been in use. First to suffer were the P-Celtic languages under pressure from all sides. When Scots King Kenneth gained the Pictish throne in 843, Pictish culture and language didn't last long. British disappeared as Strathclyde was united with Scotland . Around 1000AD Gaelic was the language of all Scotland except in the fringes where Norse or Anglian were used. Gaelic has a long and rich literary history - it has been suggested that the Bible was translated into Gaelic a 1000 years before an English translation appeared. Malcolm III (1031-93) spent time in Northumbria after Macbeth deposed his father. When he came to the throne, he and his Anglo Saxon Queen Margaret replaced Gaelic with English as the court language. When Normans invaded and captured England in 1066, Scotland became a haven for Anglo-Saxon nobles. Anglisation of the Scottish 'ruling classes' had begun. David I (1124-53) thought his kingdom could best be ruled in the Norman Feudal manner. To this end he established a feudal system and invited a relatively small number of Norman families to administer the various sections of his kingdom. With these Normans came larger numbers of Northern English servants spreading their northern Anglian tongue further. Also created with the intention of promoting trade and industry were the Royal Burghs. To these many more English craftsmen flocked. The influence of English monks also increased. The 800 year decline of Gaelic among the populace begun. Scots (evolving from Anglian) soon became the language of the lowlands while Gaelic became that of the Highlands. Literature in Scots dates from the late 14thC. 15 & 16thCs saw the height of Scots as National language in both usage and literature. All languages evolve and Scots borrowed many words from Old French, Dutch and German through trading links. Formal English with it's roots in southern England made it's first inroads into Scotland with the mid 16thC Reformation when English Bibles were introduced into the new Protestant Church. From this beginning English was eventually to replace Scots as the written language for most Scots. The Union of the Crowns (1603) and Parliaments (1707) further accelerated this rift whereby Scots speak Scots but write English. Gaelic in 17thC Galloway and then Norn (Norse) in the 18thC Northern Isles were replaced by this spoken Scots / written English culture. The 18thC also saw the Jacobite Wars which were to be disastrous for Highland Gaelic culture. In the late 20thC all Scots can speak, read and write English. Both Gaelic and Scots have suffered from centuries of education in formal English. English is the language of the Law, the Government and the most of the media (include these web pages!) Around 3.5Million can understand pure Scots but many do not use it as their first language. Most use a mix of Scots and English in daily speech. About 70,000 understand Gaelic but it is now a first language in the Western Isles of about 30,000 speakers. Is Scots now a full language rather than an English dialect? Linguists say Scots at it's height was as different from English as Spanish from Portuguese or Swedish from Danish. The status and future of both Scots and Gaelic will be dictated by the future of Scotland with regard to the United Kingdom. Few doubt that the Nation of Scotland has a future - however there are many who believe the United Kingdom, as it is currently exists, "is well past it's sell-by date". Jim Murdoch

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