Gaelic guide for learners

Eagal no Feagal

The ordinary word for ‘fear’ in Gaelic is eagal, or in some areas feagal .Itisusedinanumberof ways. Ghabh mi eagal means ‘I took fright’ and implies that something in particular has scared you. For a general feeling of being afraid, use Tha an t-eagal orm ‘I’m afraid’. If somebody has a particular fear in the sense of a phobia, we use eagal with the preposition ro ‘before’: Gabhaidh Iain eagal ro dhealanach ‘Iain is afraid of lightning’. Eagal can be intensified with dearg ‘red’. Tha an dearg-eagal air Scoobydoo! ‘Scooby-doo is extremely scared!’ One nice idiom using eagal is Chaidh mi à cochall mo chridhe leis an eagal! ‘I went out of my heart’s shell with fear!’ This signifies genuine terror!

Other words for fear include geilt ‘terror’, uabhas ‘dread’, oillt ‘horror’ or - a personal favourite - gairiseachadh ‘the heebie-jeebies’! All are used in much the same way as eagal. Some adjectives we have are eagalach ‘frightening’, uamhalta ‘eerie/creepy’ and oillteil ‘horrible’. Clisgeadh means ‘starting’, as with fright. Chlisg i le ulfhart nan con ‘she started at the dogs’ howling.’

Don’t be scared to try these! lsabhal Mòr Ostaig offers Gaelic learning opportunities on site and by distance-learning www.smo.uhi.ac.uk