Wednesday 20 January 2010

A is for...

Alba

As you can see from the photo, Alba means Scotland. There are three languages in Scotland: English, Scottish and Gaelic. Alba is the gaelic word.

Gaelic is a language (and a people) that originated in Ireland and spread to the Isle of Man and Scotland. The three languages are different from each other now, but they do have the same roots and a practised speaker of either of the three should not have too many problems with any of the other. The language spoken in Wales originated in France probably and has therefore much more in common with the Gallic languages spoken in France. So, anybody speaking Scottish Gaelic would not be able to understand Welsh, unless he learned the language!

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10 comments:

  1. Thank you again for an interesting lesson in history.

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  2. You learn something new everyday. Great choice for A.

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  3. Interesting, I`v never heard about this before..
    Great post:-)

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  4. I used to share an office with a Scottish man. He tried to teach me the language. I still know some of the words he taught me, but I've never tried to say them in Scotland for the fear of them (the words) being really really bad ones. Because they are so different from 'normal' English. I could think I'd be saying 'hello, how are you' but actually I could be saying 'fuck you, bastard!'
    Better safe than sorry.

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  5. Its like talking in toungs
    so many languages

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  6. Very complicated. I learned a new word today. Thanks Mara.

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  7. Interesting post! Thanks for the A.

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  8. Alba is Scotland - i didn't know that...

    On behalf of the ABC Wednesday team, which I just joined, thank you!

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  9. Great post! Interesting about the Welsh gaelic being different from the other three, too!

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  10. I understood the Scottish/Irish connection but didn't realize that Welsh had very different origins. I also didn't realize that Scottish and Gaelic were two different languages.

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Any weighty (and not so weighty) comments are welcome!