An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Deo-gréine > Volume 1, October 1905-September 1906

AN DEO-GHREINIl.
slums, cho breagha, boillsgeach’s a dh’ fhaod-
adh i bhi, tha fios gu’m bheil gaothan nan
uamhan ’nan duisg’s a’ borbnachadh ; is ma
dh’ eireas gu’m bruchd iad a mach, co their
nach cuir iad mar sgaoil na neoil a tha eadar
sinne is ar grian.
Co iad na nebil so tha cur dall-bhrait air an
t-solus, is a tha cumail air ais fas is toradh is
abuchadh an treabhachas nan Gaidheal ? So
iad na neoil : aineolas air eachdraidh is ealain
is litreachas an cinnidh fein ; deigh air abh-
aistean—gu h-araidh droch abhaistean—nan
coigreach; tograidhean baotha tha lagachadh
spionnadh cuim, dealas cridhe is geiread innt-
inn ; foill-labhairt nan coimheach ; bbilich na
muinntir dhuthchasaich ; doilleireachd air a
siol-chur leis an dream a fhuair foghlum;
traillealachd air altrum leis na maithean. Co
iad na gaothan is urrainn an dall-bhrat so a
dh’ fhuadachadh ? So iad na gaothan : eolas
air eachdraidh is air ealain is air litreachas
a’ chinnidh d’ am buin iad ; deigh air deagh
abhaistean an sinnsir ; measarrachd an cainnt
’s an cleachdadh ; faicill roimh ’n mhiodalaiche
liomhaidh a tha ’g iarraidh an ribeadh is an
cumail ’na gharadh cail fein ; spiorad na
saorsa is na neo-eismeileachd ; diongmhaltas,
fosgarrachd is fiughantas. Sud iad na subh-
ailcean a bheir fo mheas a rithis sluagh na
Gaidhealtachd, an da chuid ’nam beachd fein
is am beachd a’ choigrich.
Roimh theachd nan gaothan ud thog sinn
ar crann, an duil gu’m faicear an aithghearr
iad a’ cleasachd mu ’n t-srbl againne—an
Deo-ghreine—’s i a’ taladh suilean ar cinnidh
o amaideachd gu gliocas.
5INN FHE1N—OURSELVES.
Throughout the numerous folk ballads which
have been collected in Scottish Gaeldom during
the last century, and half, frequent references
are made to the banner of Fionn, one of the
principal heroes of those ballads. In general,
although not always, the name given to Fionn’s
banner is “ An Deo-ghreine,” which, when
rendered freely into English, is “The Sunbeam.”
The Comunn Gaidhealach have adopted that
name for this their official organ. It is remin¬
iscent of a glorious, though perhaps fanciful,
past and is suggestive of the purpose of this
organ’s being, namely : to spread light on
subjects of interest to the Gaelic people.
To quote from the ballads referred to :
“ Thog sinn an Deo-ghreine ri crann ”—“ We
have raised ‘ the Sunbeam ’ aloft.” And there
it waves, inviting the friends of the Gaelic
Language Cause to rally around it and carry
it forward to success.
We have no apology to offer for this attempt
to establish a magazine to represent the Gaelic
Cause in Scotland. All that need be said is,
that we are acting according to our instincts,
which are the same as those of every self-
respecting people having a language of their
own. Those instincts make for the prevention
of the decay and the promotion of the growth
of the native speech. If we had not those
instincts, we would not be a self-respecting
people.
The language which we have in view to
preserve and promote is one which, we believe,
at one time possessed a comparatively high
culture and which, although it has ceased to
expand, by reason of its having failed to
assimilate modern ideas, has not lost the
capacity for expansion. Its possibilities, in
that respect, are greater than those of some of
the languages which have undergone regenera¬
tion. Whether or not the facts are so, it has
still a service to render to humanity, and
especially that section of humanity which has
not ceased to speak it.
The arrest of the expansion of the language
was due, firstly, to weakening caused by
political disturbances and, secondly, not as is
commonly assumed, to Anglo-Saxon influence,
but to the competition of Latin culture. The
Angle and the Saxon did not, as far as we are
aware, bring into these islands a culture so
much higher than that embodied in the Gaelic
language that it could successfully compete
with it. Nor, at the present day, is the extent
and character of the culture manifested by the
Anglo-Saxon ingredients of the English lan¬
guage so much superior to those of the culture
possessed by the Gaelic language, as to cause
the former to be regarded as a formidable rival
to the latter. It is not the Anglo-Saxon
elements, but the Latin elements, which give
superiority to the English language as a
language of culture.
Latin, coming by way of France, was
imposed on the majority of the people of
South Britain, first, when a Celtic language
prevailed, and later, when a Teutonic language
was dominant. During the earlier Latin
supremacy in South Britain and the later
Teutonic supremacy in the same area, Gaelic
was not only able to hold its own but, with
Erin as its headquarters, to assume the aggres¬
sive. Indeed, there are evidences that it was
looked upon as the language of culture in the
British Isles during portion of the time of
Teutonic ascendancy in England. But, at the ■
second advent of Latin in the eleventh century,
Gaelic began to recede. For some centuries
after that time, in Ireland and the northern half
of Scotland, it was capable of submerging the
languages of such foreigners as invaded its