Did your Scottish ancestors speak English?
You'll often hear talk of the Scots language and Gàidhlig (Gaelic) as Scotland's main local languages after English, but there are others, in particular The Cant used by Scottish Travellers before, and Beurla Reagaird, the hybrid Gaelic and Cant language used by Travellers in the Western Isles, which is now almost extinct.
According to a Wikipedia entry on the subject (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beurla_Reagaird), although Beurla is used in Gaelic to mean the English language today, it actually originally meant 'speech' or 'jargon' (from Old Irish bél, meaning mouth, +re suffix - se). The following link on Facebook shows a fascinating video on TikTok from a Scottish member of the Gypsy community, called Samantha, who explains the background to both languages, where they were spoken, and their origins. See https://www.facebook.com/groups/ScottishGaelicDuo/permalink/1257966891559245/?app=fbl
I've also found a video in three parts on YouTube, recorded in 2009, providing some beginners' Beurla Reagaird! The vocab discussed is listed in the description below the video. The video also includes a brief bit of chat about Travellers use of Gaelic in the Western Isles, and differences with 'standard' Gaelic (examples given include alternatives in pronunciation for 'latha math' and 'mathair'). See embedded below, and also at https://youtu.be/iI_kDvPCmwk?si=1Ha8vAdfF04lbZVo
This is the first part, with the two further parts as linked to below:
I'm not aware of any local projects in Scotland dealing with local Traveller family history, but there is the Romany and Traveller Family History Society (http://rtfhs.org.uk) which may be able to assist.
And I would of course be interested to know of any projects or groups in Scotland!
Update: After a Gaelic class in Partick yesterday I went for a few drinks with some of my fellow learners, and in discussing Beurla Reagaird one of them told me about a relative of his who had married a 'ceàrd' in Lewis. It looks like 'ceàrd' and 'ceàrdan' (also 'ceàrdannan) colloquially means 'traveller' and 'travellers' in Gaelic, also translated by the Essential Gaelic Dictionary as 'tinker', but apparently they were separate to gypsy travellers, and were itinerant metal workers until the earlier 20th century. The Gaelic word 'ceàrdach' also means a craftshop, workshop, forge, smithy or smiddy. I've found a bit more about it at https://strathnaver.wixsite.com/back-to-the-future/ceardannan.
Another friend from Lewis has since indicated to me that many of the community are now settled, and historically had made their way as hawkers in the community selling items such as pales.
Scotland has many communities, all of them equally worthy of remembrance in our family histories.
Chris
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