Scottish GENES

Thursday, 20 July 2023

UPDATED: Basic Scottish Gaelic terms for genealogists

Time to present a 'handy guide' for any Gaelic learners out there who happen to dabble into family history, because I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone else do it...!

Regular readers will know I have a huge interest in the Gaelic languages, in particular Scottish Gaelic, or 'Gàidhlig', as it is known in its own tongue (as opposed to 'Gaeilge', the Irish language, and 'Gailck' or 'Gaelg', being Manx Gaelic). I'm a couple of weeks away from receiving the result of my SQA Gaelic Higher for learners, and at the end of next month start the Advanced Higher in Gaelic for learners, taught through eSgoil (https://www.e-sgoil.com). Just for the craic, in between those, I am also doing a short online course through the Skye based Gaelic college, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig (https://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/)!

There are lots of words in Scots and English derived from Gaelic – whisky (uisge beatha – water of life), clan (clann – children), galore (gu leòr – enough, plenty), sporran (sporan – purse), smashing! ('s math sin – that's good), and slogan (sluagh goirm – battle cry) being just a few examples.

But that's tourist stuff - instead, I thought you might be interested in a few words connected with genealogy and family history!

Here goes, hoping I have them all correct! And you can find the pronunciation for most of these via the LearnGaelic dictionary at https://learngaelic.net/dictionary/:

eachdraidh teaghlaich – family history
sloinntearach – genealogy
sloinntear – genealogist
dualchas – heritage
eachdraidh – history

breith – birth
co-là breith – birthday
baiste – baptised
banais – wedding
a' posadh – marrying
mìos nam pòg - honeymoon ('the month of kisses'!)
a' bàsachadh – dying
tiodhlacadh – funeral
dìleab – legacy, inheritance
oighreachd – estate
tiomnachd – will, testament

teisteanas breithe – birth certificate
teisteanas pòsaidh – marriage certificate
teisteanas bàis – death certificate

rannsachadh - research
aithris - a report
oraid - a lecture
iris - a magazine
artagail - an article
leabhar - a book
leabhraichean - books

tasglann – archive
Clàran Nàiseanta na h-Alba – National Records of Scotland
leabharlann – library
Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba – National Library of Scotland

ainm – name
ciad ainm – first name
sloinne – surname

sinnsear – ancestor
sinnsearan – ancestors
sliochd – descendant
sliochdan – descendants
clann – children

cinneadh – clan
cinnidhean – clans
ceann-cinnidh – clan chief
cinn-cinnidh – clan chiefs

màthair – mother
athair – father
mac – son
mhic – sons
nighean – daughter
nigheannan - daughters

piuthar – sister
peathraichean – sisters
bràthair – brother
bràithrean – brothers
leth-leanabh – twin
leth-aonan co-ionann – identical twins

leas-mhàthair - stepmother
leas-athair - stepfather
leas-phiuthar - stepsister
leas-bhràthair - stepbrother
uchd-mhac - adopted son
uchd-nighean - adopted daughter
uchd-leanbh - adopted child
co-dhalta - foster sibling/foster brother
ban-dalta or nighean-dalta - foster daughter
dalta - foster son
muime - foster mother
oid' altraim - foster father

co-ogha – first cousin
co-oghaichean – first cousins
dà-ghlùn or iar-ogha sinn-seanar – second cousin
fionn-ogha sinn-sinn-seanair – third cousin

seanmhair – grandmother
sinn-seanmhair – great grandmother
sinn-sinn-seanmhair – great great grandmother
seanair – grandfather
sinn-seanair – great grandfather
sinn-sinn-seanair – great great grandfather
ogha – grandchild/grandson
iar-ogha – great grandchild/grandson
ion-ogha or gar-ogha – great great grandchild/grandson
ban-ogha or ian-bhan-ogha – great granddaughter
ban-fhionn-ogha – great great granddaughter

uncail – uncle
brathair m' athair – paternal uncle / brother of my father
brathair mo mhàthair – maternal uncle / brother of my mother
antaidh - aunt
piuthar m' athair – paternal aunt / sister of my father
piuthar mo mhàthair – maternal aunt / sister of my mother

eaglais – church
Caitligeach – Catholic
Pròstanach – Protestant
Clèireach – Presbyterian

Don't forget Duolingo is free to access at https://www.duolingo.com if you fancy learning some of the basics!

UPDATE: OK, so this has turned out to way more popular a post than I was expecting - so much so that I have now created a permanent page on the blog called Genealogy Terms for Gaelic Learners, at http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/p/gaelic-genealogy.html (and via the top menu on this blog). I have added considerably more words to it since this inital blog post, and will continue to do so - so do please take a look at the new page if interested!

(And if anyone can tell me if there is a Gaelic word for 'sasine', I will be very impressed and grateful!!!)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Return to Oz - the 18th Unlock the Past genealogy cruise, Dec 2024

I'm absolutely delighted to announce that I will be returning to Australia next year as lead speaker for the 18th Unlock the Past history and genealogy cruise!

This will be my fourth cruise with Unlock the Past, the last one being the Baltic cruise in 2015 (I unfortunately had to withdraw from the 2018 Alaska cruise), and this will be my first trip down under since 2017, when I did a talks tour for the company across many Australian cities, with fellow genie Dirk Weissleder. As well as the cruise itself, there will be some shore-based events in Australia itself, and I really, REALLY hope that you can join us!

The following is the official announcement from Unlock the Past:

ANNOUNCING

18th Unlock the Past cruise - Southern Australia December 2024

We are pleased to announce our 18th Unlock the Past history genealogy cruise.

Date: 1–10 December 2024 (9 nights). This is a great time to join us for an early summer cruise - before the rush of Christmas / new year holidays.

Departs/Returns: Sydney.

Ports of call: Hobart, Kangaroo Island, Adelaide, Melbourne.

Ship: Celebrity Edge.

The conference: over 30 conference sessions over the four days at sea and every evening. Plus, one on one help from experts.

Speakers: the program will be headed by Chris Paton, one of the most sought after speakers in Australia and internationally.

We have a limited number of places for those with recognised expertise and presentation skills who come on the cruise as fully paid cruisers. Click here for more information.

More information: visit the cruise website

click links above the cruise page image for more details.

If you have never been on a genealogy cruise before, they provide the best of both worlds - a genealogy conference and a holiday combined. Unlock the Past cruises have been run since 2011 by Adelaide based Alan Phillips and his team, including the superb Rosemary Kopittke and Helen Smith (both great speakers!). The talks are given by presenters when the boat is at sea, and when in port you can then visit all sorts of wonderful shore based attractions - and incidentally, the cruise company is billing this as a 'wine cruise', so I'm guessing that might mean a vineyard visit or two, but don't quite me on that! I've been to Adelaide and Hobart once before, and to Sydney and Melbourne a few times (I have family in Melbourne), all wonderful places, and this will be my first trip to Kangaroo Island, which sounds fun!

To give a flavour of previous Unlock the Past cruises that I have been on before, you can read the following blog posts, which should provide a flavour of the craic enjoyed along the way, and a sense of how they work:

Unlock the Past's 2nd genealogy cruise - review (Australia and New Zealand)

https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2011/12/unlock-pasts-2nd-genealogy-cruise.html

Unlock the Past cruise and talks tour now over (4th Unlock the Past cruise, with Thomas Macentee - includes some video diaries on board!)

https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2014/02/unlock-past-cruise-and-talks-tour-now.html

Unlock the Past Baltic genealogy cruise - Days 12-14: Copenhagen and homeward bound (8th Unlock the Past cruise)

https://britishgenes.blogspot.com/2015/07/unlock-past-baltic-genealogy-cruise_30.html

Good talks, good food, good accommodation, good fun, and great craic - I hope you can join us!

For information on all of Unlock the Past's previous cruises visit https://www.unlockthepastcruises.com/cruises/previous-cruises/.

hris

Wednesday, 19 July 2023

Ancestry adds Asia, Directories and Chronicles Relating to Government Agencies and Foreign Nationals, 1917-1941

Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk) has added an interesting collection from records digitised at the National Library of Scotland, which may be of help if your ancestors moved to an Asian country in the mid-20th century:

Asia, Directories and Chronicles Relating to Government Agencies and Foreign Nationals, 1917-1941
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62492/
Source: Asian Directories and Chronicles. Edinburgh, Scotland: National Library of Scotland, 2019 https://doi.org/10.34812/thgt-1y03.

About Asia, Directories and Chronicles Relating to Government Agencies and Foreign Nationals, 1917-1941

General collection information

This collection includes digital images of the Directories and Chronicles Relating to Government Agencies and Foreign Nationals. The books were published annually by the Hong Kong Daily Press between 1863 and 1941, but this collection only has editions published between 1917 and 1941. They were usually published in English, but some of the records may be in French.

The directory section includes the addresses of corporations, institutions, and consulates. Most notably for family research, the directories also have alphabetised lists of the names of all foreign residents living in the Asian countries covered in each book along with their occupations, employers, and addresses. The chronicle section includes articles about important changes in politics, government, and economics during the previous year. They also include information about public holidays, festivals, and traditions of Asian countries.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

Name
Occupation
Employment country
Employment city

The information in these records can be used to verify that your ancestor lived and worked in an Asian country during a specific year. The directories were published annually, which may provide the opportunity to trace your ancestor's place of residence and occupation over several years.

Collection in context

The directories were published by the Hong Kong Daily Press. The original documents are housed at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The purpose of these publications was to provide an informational resource for Western governments and foreign nationals living in Asia. The first edition of the directory in 1863 was focused on China, Japan, and the Philippines, but other Asian countries were added over time, including Borneo, Indo-China (modern Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia), Korea, Straits Settlements, Malaya, Siam (modern Thailand), and Netherlands India. Each year, the directories and chronicles expanded their scope as the foreign population of Asian countries became more diverse. The books were published under a variety of titles that changed slightly to reflect the changes in their geographical and informational focuses. The first directory was a small booklet. By 1937, it had grown to more than 2,000 pages.

Chris

Bun is Bàrr - Intergenerational Gaelic learning on Nova Scotia

I posted a short video last week that I found on YouTube about the efforts of the youth in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, to preserve the Gaelic language of their forebears. You can find that film - Dòchas - at https://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2023/07/dochas-gaelic-in-nova-scotia.html.

I've had a few responses from folk saying how much they appreciated that, so as a follow up, here's another video that I watched earlier on a similar theme, entitled Bun is Bàrr - Root and Branch Intergenerational Learning in Gaelic Nova Scotia. The title is a bit wordy, but the film is great, interviewing some people with Gaelic who have taken on 'apprentices' to pass on their language. It can be found at https://youtu.be/6tu8KfJV4KE, or presented here below:

An interesting point is the pronunciation of the English word 'Gaelic'. In Scotland, it is usually pronounced as 'Gallic', from the Scottish Gaelic word 'Gàidhlig' to describe the language. In Ireland, it is pronounced 'Gaylic', from the Irish word 'Gaeilge' to describe its flavour of the language, although most people over the water would prefer that it is referred to as 'Irish' rather than 'Gaelic' or 'Irish Gaelic'. You'll note in the film, however, that it is pronounced as 'Gaylic' rather than 'Gallic', even though they are discussing Gàidhlig. It is not wrong to do so - it's just how the Canadians pronounce it, and vive la difference!

Enjoy!

Chris

Discover Your Scottish Ancestors study afternoon

I'm delighted to announce that on October 21st 2023 I will be doing an event online for the UK's Family Tree and History Scotland magazines, entitled the Discover Your Scottish Ancestors study afternoon. The event will include three lectures given online by myself, with ample times for questions and answers between each, and at the end.

The following is the programme for the afternoon, with talks at various levels of expertise:

Discover Your Scottish Ancestors study afternoon, 21 October

Join us for an afternoon of three Scottish family history masterclasses with genealogist Chris Paton.

History Scotland and Family Tree present a live Zoom event with genealogy expert Chris Paton. Join us on 21 October for three masterclasses, with a Q&A after each.

What's included?

* Discover Your Scottish ancestors

In this session Chris will provide a broad overview on the main record sets to help you get under way with your Scottish family history research, including civil records for births, marriages and deaths, censuses, parish and kirk session records, wills, and more. In addition, he will show how such records can be located and accessed both offline and online. Starts 1pm *

* Instantly Buckled for Life: Scottish Marriage Records

The law on marriage in Scotland has differed extensively in comparison to the rest of the United Kingdom, with many types of records available for research, whether those marriages were 'regular' or 'irregular'. Chris will discuss the legal history of Scottish marriage, provide case studies to illustrate the various situations in which they were created, and dispel some myths along the way! (PS: This is not a marriage guidance session!) Starts 2.30pm *

* Understanding Scottish Land Records

One of the richest sources of research material for Scottish genealogists is that documenting the very land itself. Chris will start by exploring basic records of occupancy in the country, including censuses, directories, valuation records and rentals, before doing a deeper dive into the nature of Scottish feudalism (and udal tenure), exploring how land was both conveyed in the country, and inherited across time. Starts 4pm *

Your ticket includes:

Access to all three masterclasses and Q&A sessions on Zoom
The chance to ask Chris Paton your Scottish family history question at the end of each talk (subject to timings and demand)
A copy of the recording to watch on-demand for 7 days

How to book

Tickets for the study afternoon are £25 (£20 for magazine subscribers)

To sign up, please visit https://www.historyscotland.com/store/downloads/history-scotland/discover-your-scottish-ancestors-first-edition-issue-1/ (I'll update with the Family Tree link when it becomes available)

Chris

University of Galway's Landed Estates database expands into Ulster

Some great news courtesy of Claire Santry's Irish Genealogy News - the University of Galway's Landed Estates database at https://landedestates.ie, which previously covered the provinces of Connacht and Munster, from 1700-1914, has now expanded its coverage to include three of Ulster's counties - Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan, the three counties within the province that are today within the Republic of Ireland (the other six now constituting Northern Ireland).

I have ancestry in all three counties, so am looking forward to exploring this in more depth! As Claire advises, access to the information is best gained via the interactive maps. Each of the pins is for the various baronies in a county - clicking on a pin leads to information on the main houses of the landed gentry within each.

Whether Northern Ireland ever becomes included to complete the province is unknown, but one thing is for certain - Leinster is looking very lonely on this map just now. Fingers crossed that it gets a look-in also!

For more on Irish land records, don't forget my book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is available from Pen and Sword in the UK at https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Tracing-Your-Irish-Ancestors-Through-Land-Records-Paperback/p/19283 and in the USA via https://www.penandswordbooks.com/9781526780218/tracing-your-irish-ancestors-through-land-records/.

(With thanks to Claire at https://www.irishgenealogynews.com/2023/07/landedestatesie-database-expands-into.html)

Chris

HMS Unicorn, Scotland's oldest ship, receives £1.1 million for restoration

Scotland's oldest vessel, HMS Unicorn, has received £1.1 million in funding for its restoration from the National Heritage Memorial Fund. Launched in 1824 as a 40 gun frigate for the Royal Naval Reserves, the ship continued in use until the 1960s. It is today based in Dundee, where it is in the care of the Unicorn Preservation Society (https://www.frigateunicorn.org).

For more on the story visit https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-66202473.

Creative Commons: CC BY-SA 2.0
File:HMS Frigate Unicorn - geograph.org.uk - 1169196.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Unicorn_(1824)#/media/File:HMS_Frigate_Unicorn_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1169196.jpg

Chris

Sunday, 16 July 2023

Dòchas - Gaelic in Nova Scotia

Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is not only heard as a language in Scotland, you'll also hear it spoken by communities in Canada, specifically in Nova Scotia. The following short film, Dòchas (meaning 'hope'), is a great wee watch that I found on YouTube a few days ago, giving a flavour of its use there amongst the youth of the community, and its efforts to survive as a community transmitted langauge (also available at https://youtu.be/WDQt9x2sgaA).

If interested in learning Gaelic, you can do for free at Duolingo (www.duolingo.com), which also includes sections on Nova Scotian Gaelic - whilst the BBC's Speak Gaelic series can be viewed worldwide on YouTube (with subttiled episodes available), and with the course itself freely available at https://speakgaelic.scot. LearnGaelic is another great, free platform at https://learngaelic.scot, with many useful resources including a dictioonary and subtitled TV programme clips, including the Speaking Our Language series from the 1990s.

Suas leis a' Ghàidhlig!

Chris

Update on Threads

The new social media platform from Meta, entitled Threads (www.threads.net), has become the fastest growing app of all time, with over 100 million new sign-ups in the first week.

I have previously announced that I will be permanently moving to Threads once it has become more viable as a replacement for Twitter (http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2023/07/scottish-genes-is-now-on-threads.html), and have already deleted my longest running account there, @chrismpaton, which I had for 14 years. According to the Washington Post, Twitter is now paying right wing 'influencers' to post on its platform, degrading the brand even further (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/13/twitter-creators-payments-right-wing/), whilst Reuters is reporting that Twitter's new seemingly toxic strategy seems to be putting off the advertisers, with a huge drop in revenue against what Musk was projecting (https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musk-says-twitters-cash-flow-still-negative-ad-revenue-drops-2023-07-15/). It's a far cry from the environment surrounding Twitter as a platform just a year ago - every day now I have to block right wing followers, bitcoin pushers, and a whole range of other folk clearly not in it for the genealogy! It's tiring, it's tedious, and it was never asked for.

Threads is shaping up to be a great replacement, but it is worth flagging up what Threads cannot do just yet, because it still has some way to go as a new-born. You can't use hashtags yet to focus on a topic, there's no chronological feed, and you can't view posts ('threads') from only those who are your followers. Accessibility features also need more priority. These are some of the more important projects that Meta says is on its to-do list, and the sooner they arrive, the better. What is great about the platform is that posts can be 500 characters in length, and video clips can be added up to 5 minutes in length, which I will exploit at some stage soon! The first update has just been announced for the app (https://www.imore.com/apps/meta-brings-out-the-first-of-many-updates-for-threads-on-your-iphone-whats-been-fixed), there will be plenty more along the way.

I am delighted to see 185 followers already on @scottishgenesblog, and hope you will switch from Twitter to join me there, or at least as well as there! And if Threads is not quite your cup of tea, you can also find me on Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Time to move on!

Chris

Ancestry adds Fife police records 1858-1947

Just added to Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk):

Fife, Scotland, Police Records, 1858-1947
https://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/collections/62559/
Original data: Fife Police Records. Fife, Scotland: Fife Collections Centre.

General collection information

This collection includes police employment records from Fife, Scotland, between 1858 and 1947. The records include employment histories of individual officers, applications from aspiring officers, and applications for enrollment in the police department's women's auxiliary. The applications from aspiring officers include information about the applicant's family, religion, occupation, and a physical description. The collection includes images of the original documents.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

Name
Maiden Name
Birth date
City, parish, and county of birth
Age
Gender
Occupation
Parish of residence
Employment date
Station name
Resignation date
Death date
Marriage date
Spouse's name
Parents' names
Names and birth dates of up to five children

The records in this collection can provide a wealth of information about your ancestor's family members that could be used to expand your family tree. The records also can be used to confirm that your ancestor was a member of the Fife Police Department during a specific period of time.

Further details via the link.

Chris

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Thursday, 20 July 2023

Wednesday, 19 July 2023

Sunday, 16 July 2023