Phrase (if revised): mo mhaise
Phonetic transcription: /mo VASHə/
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 241
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “My beauty”: maise means “ornament, great beauty, elegance.” Iain Mac an Tàilleir notes that common usage is more likely mo nighean mhaiseach/mo NYEEən VASHəch/“my beautiful girl”/.
Phrase (as printed): mo mhaorine
Phrase (if revised): mo mhúirnín
Phonetic transcription: /mo voorNYEEN/
Book: FC
pb: 208
hc: 140
Language: Gaelic (Gaeilge)
Translation: “My darling.”
Phrase (as printed): mo muirninn
Phrase (if revised): mo mhúirnín
Phonetic transcription: /mo voorNYEEN/
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 244
Language: Gaelic (Gaeilge)
Translation: “My darling.”
Phrase (as printed): mo nighean
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription: /mo NYEEin/
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 245
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “My daughter, girl.”
Phrase (as printed): mo nighean donn
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription: /mo NYEEin doo/
Book: ABOSA
pb: 348
hc: 240
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “My black(-haired) girl”: another classic Jamie-to-Claire nickname, now heard so often delivered between Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe in Outlander the TV show.
Phrase (as printed): mo nighean donn bhoideach
Phrase (if revised): mo nighean donn bhòidheach
Phonetic transcription: /mo NYEEin down VOYəch/
Book: EITB
pb: 790
hc: 559
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “My beautiful brown-haired maiden”: it is almost impossible to count the number of songs which have mo nighean donn in them, and this phrase must constitute part of the chorus of at least two of the most famous ones!
Phrase (as printed): mo nighean dubh
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription: /mo NYEEin doo/
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 246
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “My black-haired lass.”
Phrase (as printed): moil
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 245
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: “Difficulty, trouble.”
Phrase (as printed): moran taing
Phrase (if revised): móran taing dhut
Phonetic transcription: /MOrən tang ɣoocht/
Book: EITB
pb: 166
hc: 119
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Many thanks”: I would always include use of dhut here, as it was in days gone by. An interesting point of note is that God is addressed using the likes of u, dhut, and leat, rather than sibh, dhuibh, or leibh; in other words, in the informal, something that surprised me when I first learned of it. I had thought that since Christians regard God as the Father, formal use might apply to Gaels, as it would when speaking with their own fathers. Instead, there is a sense of intimacy conveyed by use of the informal, which is not unknown in other languages and is seen in English in the King James Version of the Bible, with “thou” as in most Latin languages as well some others. Diana has her characters discussing just this on page 801 of MOBY!
Phrase (as printed): mozie auld poutworm
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 244
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: Overripe old grub.
Phrase (as printed): mumper
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 244
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: One who chews without teeth; one who gums his food.
Phrase (as printed): my jo
Phrase (if revised): ma jo
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 244
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: My close friend; my dear companion. As evidenced in Burns’s famous verse “John Anderson, my jo, John.”
Phrase (as printed): na tuit
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription: /na tootch/
Book: ABOSA
pb: 287
hc: 199
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Don’t fall.”
Phrase (as printed): nach e sin an rud as brèagha a chunnaic thu riamh
Phrase (if revised): nach e sin an rud as briagh a chunnaig u riamh
Phonetic transcription: /nachAY SHEEN ən root əs BREEa ə choonik oo REEəv/
Book: EITB
pb: 637
hc: 451
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Isn’t that the loveliest thing you ever saw?”: I spell briagh the way I do because it has ceased to be pronounced /BREa/ anywhere and is now universally pronounced /BREEa/, just as ceud/kate/“one hundred”/ is now ciad/keeət/. With a language that is more and more reliant with every passing day on its learner community, every effort must be made to put Gaelic’s very regular spelling system to use and, where there is no conceivable reason not to, to spell the words accordingly. If the sound is /EEa/, let’s spell it ia. You can look up briagh in Dwelly’s great Gaelic dictionary!
Phrase (as printed): nàmhaid
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription: /NAvitch/
Book: EITB
pb: 437
hc: 309
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Enemy.”
Phrase (as printed): nay bother
Phrase (if revised): nae bother
Phonetic transcription:
Book: FC
pb: 46
hc: 32
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: No problem. This is a cracker to know if you ever visit my current hometown of Glasgow. Prepare to ingratiate yourself with the locals if you inform them that something is “nae bother.” Do it, they’ll love it!
Phrase (as printed): neb
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 246
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: Nose.
Phrase (as printed): neffit qurd
Phrase (if revised): neffit quird
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 245
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: Little shit.
Phrase (as printed): nettercap
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 244
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: Spider.
Phrase (as printed): nighean na galladh
Phrase (if revised): nighean na galla
Phonetic transcription: /NYEE in nə GAlə
Book: ABOSA
pb: 588
hc: 403
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Daughter of the bitch.”
Phrase (as printed): nighean nan geug
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription: /NEEin nən GAYg/
Book: MOBY
pb: 102
hc: 74
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: Gaelic lullaby; pronounced Nighean nan Giag/geeəg/ in the north.
Phrase (as printed): o thoir a-nall am Botul
Phrase (if revised): o thoir a-nall am botal
Phonetic transcription: /oh hawr ə-naowl um BOTəl/
Book: EITB
pb: 53
hc: 39
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Oh, pass over the bottle”: this reminds me of a nice Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve) verse from my homeland of Cowal: a bhean an taighe, a chuibheil an fhòrtain, aiseig a-nuas am botal ud. Gabhaidh sinn deoch dheth ‘s cuiridh sinn a’ bhochdainn ás nar cuimhne (lady of the house, wheel of fortune, ferry down that bottle there. We shall take a drink of it so as to kill off the memory of poverty from our minds). It leaves you in no uncertain knowledge of how difficult life was back in those days.
Phrase (as printed): oidhche mhath
Phrase (if revised): oidhche mhath leat/leibh
Phonetic transcription: /öichə va lecht/löi/
Book: MOBY
pb: 457
hc: 332
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Good night (with you)”: leat/leibh (singular/plural, polite) are normally employed when departing someone’s company.
Phrase (as printed): parritch
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription:
Book: FC
pb: 19
hc: 14
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: Porridge. In Gaelic, we call porridge brochan/brawchən/ or in some places lite/LEEtchə/. The staple breakfast this side of the Loch! My father used to ask me of a morning, “Huv ye hud yer parritches yit?” (“Have you had your porridge yet?”)
Phrase (as printed): pibroch
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 244
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Pipe music”: see piobreachd.
Phrase (as printed): piobreachd
Phrase (if revised): pìobaireachd
Phonetic transcription: /PEEbərəchk/
Book: ABOSA
pb: 685
hc: 469
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Piping”: pìobaireachd is rather different from the jigs and reels heard at ceilidhs, even those played on the uileann/oolən/“elbow or Highland pipes”. It is a slow, sonorous style of playing. They say that it takes seven years to learn the pipes to a decent degree and another seven to learn pìobaireachd!
Phrase (as printed): pog mo thon!
Phrase (if revised): pog mo thòn!
Phonetic transcription: /poke mo HONN/
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 249
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Kiss my ass!”
Phrase (as printed): pooch nane
Phrase (if revised): pouch nane
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 239
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: Pouch none. Put nothing in one’s sporran; don’t take anything away from the table. I have here erred on original Scots orthography, with use of ou/oo/ rather than the modern English language phonetic oo.
Phrase (as printed): poolie
Phrase (if revised): poulie
Phonetic transcription: /pooli/
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 245
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: A louse.
Phrase (as printed): proddle
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 244
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: To prick, goad, stab.
Phrase (as printed): rach a h-Irt
Phrase (if revised): rach a Hiort
Phonetic transcription: /rach ə heersht/
Book: MOBY
pb: 1099
hc: 801
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Go to St. Kilda”: in other words, “Sod off!”
Phrase (as printed): ratten
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 245
Language: Lowland Scots
Translation: A rat; also a small person or animal, and a term of endearment.
Phrase (as printed): ravens
Phrase (if revised): fithich
Phonetic transcription: /FEEeech/
Book: FC
pb: 37
hc: 26
Language:
Translation: “Live with Highlanders long enough and every damn rock and tree meant something!”—Claire Fraser. This is not at all far off the truth. If you imagine a land without Internet and phone, where even newspapers would have been few and far between, then what had you to predict your fortune in any given year but the direction of the wind, the portent of rain in far-off clouds, or the movements of birds. Ravens, as in this case, were thought to come in threes for the souls of the wicked, to carry them off to the bad place. In a story from my own home county of Argyll, three dark strangers passed a night traveler on the road close to Loch Awe in silence; having then been seen taking themselves off up the road to a local man’s house, they were never encountered again. The man was found dead the next day, and the men were generally accepted by Loch Awe folks to have been ravens in human form. In fact, there is a standing stone—rather conveniently named Clach an t-Seasaidh/clachən TCHASEY/“the Standing Stone”—near Muir of Ord, west of Inverness, where it is reputed that three ravens will soon gather to “drink their three fulls, for three successive days, of the blood of the MacKenzies!” Descendants of Dougal beware!
Phrase (as printed): ruaidh
Phrase (if revised): ruadh
Phonetic transcription: /ROOa/
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 241
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Rusty colored” : as autumn leaves or ginger hair.
Phrase (as printed): Rugadh e do Sheumas Immanuel Hayes agus Louisa N’ic a Liallainn an am baile Chill-Mhartainn, ann an sgire Dhun Domhnuill, anns a bhliadhna seachd ceud deug agus a haon!
Phrase (if revised): Rugadh e do Sheumas Immanuel Hayes agas Louisa NicIllFhaolain ann am Baile Chille-Mhàrtainn, ann an sgìre Dhùin Dhòmhaill, anns a’ bhliana seachd ciad diag agas a h-aon!
Phonetic transcription: (see translation)
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 249
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “He was born of James Emmanuel Hayes and of Louisa MacLellan, in the village of Kilmartin in the parish of Dundonnel, in the year of Our Lord seventeen hundred and one!” I have chosen not to include a pronunciation guide here, as it’s just too long and many people will get to the end having forgotten how in the heck to pronounce the beginning! Interestingly, Killmartin is a village within my home dialect area, and although I have not heard of a parish called Dundonnel, it is close to Kilmartin in Argyll, where Queen Scota is said to have arrived from Egypt in our national origin myth and named the land she found after herself! It is said that the marks where her horse’s hooves met the rock are still to be seen. Unsurprisingly perhaps, I am yet to track them down!
Phrase (as printed): ruith
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription: /rui/
Book: EITB
pb: 857
hc: 607
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translatio
n: “Run.”
Phrase (as printed): ‘s beag ‘tha fhios aig fear a bhaile mar ‘tha fear na mara bèo
Phrase (if revised): s beag a tha fios aig fear a’ bhaile mar a tha fear na mara beò
Phonetic transcription: /SPAKE ha FEESS ek fair ə VALə mərə ha fair nə marə BYAW/
Book: FC
pb: 1410
hc: 956
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Little does the landsman know how the seaman lives”: and this is too true. When she and her family were cleared from their land in the early 19th century, my four-times-great-grandmother Janet Gunn left her croft in Braemore, Caithness, in a herring creel atop her father’s shoulders. He carried her twenty miles like this to the coast, but the creel would have been about all he knew of fishing. These people were left to fend for themselves in Latheron, a coastal village where life was dominated by the mood of the sea and your living depended on braving it—without any prior knowledge of fishing, boats, or nets. They survived, of course, and my grandmother spoke often of their Gaelic language and old ways, which had unfortunately become lost to us by that time. I am happy to say that I have righted that particular wrong!
Phrase (as printed): saft
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription:
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 240
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Soft”: figuratively, a light drizzle, as in “saft weather,” or foolishness/mental deficiency, as in “saft in the heid.”
Phrase (as printed): Samhain
Phrase (if revised): Samhainn
Phonetic transcription: /SAwain/
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 245
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Halloween”: the ancient Scottish equivalent to the Feast of All Hallows, October 31. There are many variant pronunciations for this, but I have stuck to the one we used in Outlander the TV show, for consistency’s sake!
Phrase (as printed): saorsa
Phrase (if revised):
Phonetic transcription: /SÖRsə/
Book: OLC Vol. I
pb:
hc: 251
Language: Gaelic (Gàidhlig)
Translation: “Freedom”: my youngest daughter’s name. When she was born, we realized very quickly that we had chosen the correct name. She was free by name and free by nature and continues to be a force to be reckoned with! Her twin brother is Lachann (in Argyll, there is no second L), while her older sisters are Caoimhe (hospitable one) and Eilidh (Helen). All speak our local Gaelic dialect with great pride!
The Companion to the Fiery Cross, a Breath of Snow and Ashes, an Echo in the Bone, and Written in My Own Heart's Blood Page 78