Lost Gaelic words revived by writer

A collection of lost Gaelic words is being revived in a new book almost 130 years after they were first recorded.

Artist and writer Catriona Black has revisited works by Father Allan Macdonald, a 19th century priest, poet, and folklorist, who recorded the words and phrases used in homes on Eriskay and South Uist in the 1890s. They were later edited into a dictionary, published in 1958, which is now out of print.

Earlier this year, Ms Black returned to Eriskay to chart how a sample of the words were used – and found less than half of them were still spoken.

Ms Black will now launch her new illustrated book, Sly Cooking: 42 Irresistible Gaelic Words, at Faclan, the Heb- ridean book festival, later this month.

Ms Black said the words contained much humour and that she hoped they could help expand use of the language once again. She said: “I love the words. They are really beautiful and refer to really specific incidents.

“They can be quite daft – there is a sense of humour there. They often gently mock people.”