Blair Collection > Celtic monthly > Volume 6, 1898

THE CELTIC MONTHLY.
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fearless to a fault. The Moors — a brave lace -
constantly talk among themselves of Kaid
Maclean's brave deeds. His duties with the
army lead hitu under fire sonietinies two or
three times a year. He has had many marvel-
lous escapes, but has never been hit.
He married in 1875, and has had (eleven
children ; seven died during their iufancy in
Morocco. Three daughters and one son, Andrew
de Vere, survive. He was born 1 Ttli October,
1882, and is studying at Wellington College for
the army.
the Gaelic duis, a blockhead. So also Gaelic rahlid
(from roud), applied to signify a foolish fellow, may
come from rii:lii, a whale. It is well known that
most of our vituperative vocabulary has been picked
up from our Norwegian neighbours.
It is, however, in the sphere of place-names that
the work will prove of most value to the Celtic
student, and no one can read the lecture on this
subject without receiving a good deal of side-light
on Scottish coast-names. For three years (1893-
95) the learned Norwegian doctor investigated the
Norse remains in Shetland, and the result of hia
labours, other than contained in this book, is to be
found in an essay entitled " Det Norunne Sprog
paa Shetland."
Durness Al)AM GuNN.
Old Shetl.^nd Dialect, anh Place-names
OF Shetland.
Thi.s is the the title of a book recently published
by Messrs. T. A J. Manson, Lerwick, consisting of
two lectures by Di-. .lakobsen of the Copenhagen
University. The work cannot fail to be of interest
to Celtic students. The place-names of Shetland
are practically the place-names of North Sutherland
and the Western Isles. The name Shetland itself
f Hjaltland) has not yielded to the Doctor's research,
nor indeed has the writer contributed much to our
previous knowledge of the occupation of the islands
prior to the Norse invasion. He has also left the
question of the real builders of the hrm'lis an open
one, although he inclines to the belief of their
Pictish origin. Still, the book is one which the
future writer on Scottish topography and Scottish
Gaelic dialects cannot ignore. He claims that
about 10,000 words, derived from the old Norse,
still linger in the dialect of Shetland. Of course
he is able to discuss only a few of that number,
and from the instances given it is clear that the
larger portion is by no means confined to Shetland.
They are well known in Caithness, and other Norse
districts in Scotland. Some of them again survive
in the Gaelic dialects of Lewis and the Reay
country. For instance in the fireside language of
the Shetlander no work is oftener used than di'
l.cssliie, the common basket made from straw, or
dried docken-stems (from Norse kass-i, a basket).
This is the Scotch cassie, a straw-basket, which may
be large enough to contain a boll of meal ; the same
is used in Orkney for a corn-riddle. The Reay
country Gaelic has it as iviw'mWi, now nearly obsolete,
but retained in the miv " ith moll a casaidh," eat
chaff out of a cussie ; and in Lewis it is found as
l.isseaii, the basket for the meal. Similarly, Shet-
land skepp (Norse skeppa, a dry measure equal to
one-eighth of a barrel) is applied to a large basket
for rubbing corn in, and in the provincial Gaelic of
Lewis as the bag for carrying grain s;/ef(/>.
Tndlijet is the Shetlandic for a trowy-like, silly
creature. The Ayrshire dialect has trnlHoii for a
foolish fellow ; and the Reay country Gaelic is
troUan, an awkward creature, and trail, a blockhead
(N. troll, a goblin).
A. toosl is another Shetland word for a goblin :
O. N. thusi). This may very well lie the origin of
THE BULRUSH.
Clan Mackav's Uahoe
HERE Hope and Clebrig raise their heads
;l. Toward the northern .sky.
And in the svmimer sunshine smiles
The country of Mackay,
In every breath of wind that blows
O'er river, lake and rill,
The bonnie bulrush waves its fronds
By waters clear and still.
Its rustle speaks of vanished days
When clansmen stout and true
Were wont with badges green and gay
To deck their bonnets blue.
Of brawny arms to wield the sword
And draw the shafted bow,
Of springy feet to tread the sward
And scale the mountain's brow.