GLOSSARY
Gaelic Cape Breton
“Céilidh air Cheap Breatunn.” - A Visit to Cape Breton.
Celts - A linguistic and cultural group which originated in central Europe around 2,500 years ago. Celtic society
was an heroic, warrior society made up of separate tribes/kingdoms which never united politically. Celtic languages
and culture spread at one time from what is now Turkey to the west of Ireland. Before the time of Christ, Julius
Caesar conquered the Celts known as Gauls in what is today France. The Greeks called our Celtic ancestors ‘Keltoi’
and the Romans referred to them as ‘Celtae’. It was the language spoken by the Celts which distinguished them as
Celtic peoples and that holds true today (see Celtic Languages).
Celtic Languages - Although at the time of the greatest expansion of Celtic civilization there were many different
‘dialects’ of Celtic spoken, six Celtic languages remain today. There are two linguistic branches of Celtic languages
remaining today: the Brythonic branch is comprised of Welsh in Wales, Cornish which is being revived in Cornwall,
England, and Breton in Brittany, France; the Goidelic branch is comprised of Scottish Gaelic, Irish Gaelic and Manx
Gaelic from the Isle of Man.
Gaels - “Na Gàidheil” - Celts whose origins are in pre-Christian Ireland. Speakers of Gaelic. To the Roman chroniclers, the Celts of Ireland were known as the ‘Scotti’. In the fifth century A.D., a tribe/kingdom of Gaels expanded
their kingdom of Dàl Riada from Antrim in the northeast of Ireland to the coast of Argyll in what is now Scotland.
It is from the Dàl Riada, these Irish Gaels also known as ‘Scotti’, that the nation of Scotland got its name in the
English language. The Gaels displaced a previous Pictish community (Picts were a group of Brythonic-speaking
Celts) and in the process of expansion the entire Pictish kingdom was eventually taken over in the ninth century to
create the united kingdom of Alba that became Scotland.
Dàl Riada - A tribe/kingdom of Gaels who, in the fifth century A.D., expanded their kingdom from what is now
Antrim, in the northeast of Scotland, to what is now Argyllshire in Scotland. “Argyll” actually comes from, “Oir-thìr
nan Gàidheal” - The Coastline of the Gaels.
Oral Tradition and Transmission - Cultural forms, such as songs, rhymes, stories, tales, legends, stories of witchcraft and second sight, fairy-lore, charms, genealogies, proverbs, weather-lore, local history, humourous repartee,
etc., were passed on and learned from generation to generation by word of mouth. This traditional cultural knowledge had been honed by countless previous generations of tradition-bearers.
Céilidh - a house visit; often the opportunity for the sharing of cultural traditions. See “What is a Céilidh?”.
A’ Ghàidhealtachd - literally, ‘The Highlands’, but a ‘Gàidhealtachd’ has come to mean a geographical area where a
considerable amount of Gaelic is spoken by the natives of that place.
Seanachas - traditional learning passed on effortlessly by older tradition-bearers. Transmitted orally. Could include: rhymes, stories, tales, legends, stories of witchcraft and second sight, fairy-lore, charms, genealogies, proverbs, weather-lore, local history, humourous repartee, and discussion of songs, dance and music.
Fairy-Lore - Tales of ‘Na Sìthichean’- the little people, the people of peace. One had to always be careful and
knowledgeable when dealing with them as they could be malicious. Some traditions had it that they were fallen
angels who were trapped between heaven and hell when the gates of both were shut. They are destined to live under the ground. They make the sweetest music and allure innocent individuals into their ‘sìthean’ or fairy-mound
where they can make them slaves.
Cultural Forms - tunes, dances, songs, rhymes, stories, tales, legends, stories of witchcraft and second sight, fairylore, charms, genealogies, proverbs, weather-lore, local history, humourous repartee, etc..
Song
Bard - literally a poet, a maker of songs. Hundreds of years ago, the bard was the lowest class of those who composed verse. The first class was the ‘Ollamh’, followed by the ‘Filidh’, and then the ‘Bàrd’. Often a hereditary position which followed in certain families.
Bardic Tradition - Ollamhs, Filidhs and Bàrds received training orally for years in how to compose extremely complex, heroic verse. They received the patronage of the Gaelic aristocracy. Their job was to uphold the values of
Gaelic society, praise those who did, and satirize those who didn’t. As with other disciplines such as law, metalwork, stone-cutting, medicine and music, certain families specialized in their fields and their expertise was handed
on through the family from generation to generation. The Ó Dàlaighs in Ireland are an example of one of the
hereditary bardic families and an extension of their family, the MacMhuirichs, were a famous bardic family in Gaelic
Scotland.
Gaelic Aristocracy - the nobles of Gaelic society. In Gaelic Scotland, this included Chiefs, Chieftains and Tacksmen.
Gaeldom - a cultural sphere; a collective term which covers all areas where Gaelic society existed. Today it refers
especially to Gaelic Scotland, Gaelic Ireland and Gaelic Cape Breton.
Tuath - the common people, the folk. It does not have the negative connotation that ‘peasantry’ has. It more so
implies the feeling of ‘the salt of the earth’, ‘the people of the land.’
Dàn Dìreach - extremely complex, syllabic verse which followed strict rules and structures and was composed and
retained from memory and transmitted, primarily, orally. Poems would usually be extremely long (by our standards) and followed the rules of composition to the letter.
Eulogy - praise poetry; panegyric; paid tribute usually to members of the Gaelic aristocracy.
Elegy - a pensive or reflective poem expressing sorrow or lamentation especially for one who is dead.
Satires - slanderous verse or poetry which dispraises individuals or groups. By the use of praise poetry or of satire
the bard upheld the values of Gaelic society. The bard could ruin a man’s reputation through song and thus his
cutting satire was feared and often a threatened tool which called for an individual’s proper conduct in the eye’s of
Gaelic society.
Laoidhean - Fenian lays - archaic, heroic ballads which paralleled Gaelic hero tales. The long tales could often be
interspersed with these ‘chants’ which gave the audience additional information about the action or individuals in
the tales. They had almost a religious quality to them.
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Storytelling
Seanachas - traditional learning passed on effortlessly by older tradition-bearers. Transmitted orally. Could include: rhymes, stories, tales, legends, stories of witchcraft and second sight, fairy-lore, charms, genealogies, proverbs, weather-lore, local history, humourous repartee, and discussion of songs, dance and music.
Tradition-bearers - those individuals in Gaelic society who were specialized in and passed on various cultural forms
- tunes, dances, songs, rhymes, stories, tales, legends, stories of witchcraft and second sight, fairy-lore, charms,
genealogies, proverbs, weather-lore, local history, humourous repartee, etc.
Taigh-Céilidh - a céilidh-house. Communal gathering places (residences) where Gaelic cultural forms and practices
would be shared, especially in the evenings and nights. In some céilidh-houses you would find more of an emphasis on dance or music or singing or storytelling, etc., depending on the interests of the individual(s) residing there
and who would be visiting. A type of informal education took place in the céilidh-house where the young learned,
through entertainment, from the old.
Sgeulaiche - a storyteller, but particularly a specialist in the longer, more involved tales known as ‘sgeulachdan.’
Sgeulachdan - full length, elaborate tales which could take several hours or evenings to tell. Often, these were
hero tales and were the domain of the specialist storytellers, the ‘sgeulaichean.’
Fenian Tales - The Fenians were the hunter/warrior band of Fionn mac Cumhail. Tales of these heroes are some of
the oldest still to be heard in Gaeldom. The setting of these tales is in pre-Christian Ireland (before the 400s A.D.).
These tales could still be heard in Gaelic Cape Breton at the beginning of the 21st century.
Each-Uisge - a water-horse. Often inhabited desolate places, always near water. It would take the form of a handsome, young man and allure young maidens to the waters edge where they would be killed or drowned.
Na Sìthichean - the little people, the people of peace. One had to always be careful and knowledgeable when dealing with them as they could be malicious. Some traditions had it that they were fallen angels who were trapped
between heaven and hell when the gates of both were shut. They are destined to live under the ground. They
make the sweetest music and allure innocent individuals into their ‘sìthean’ or fairy-mound where they can make
them slaves.
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Music
Droning - the bagpipes have three pipes called ‘drones’ which produce a harmony to the melody played on the
‘chanter’. By playing over a second string and still playing the melody on the first string, a fiddler can imitate the
sound of the pipes. It makes for a lot fuller and richer sound in Gaelic fiddling.
High-bass - (An Gleus Àrd) an alternate tuning in fiddling (AEAE) which produces a louder, fuller, more ringing
sound.
Cuts - short, quick, alternating bow strokes which make the Gaelic Cape Breton fiddling style highly distinctive.
Lift - the lively pulse/rhythm of the music which, to an ear attuned to traditional Cape Breton music, makes the
urge to dance irresistible.
Swing - the lively timing and rhythm of traditional Cape Breton music.
March - one of the slower tunes. Only ‘slow airs’ are slower.
Strathspey - a faster tune than the march. Distinctly of the Scottish Gaelic musical tradition. Step dancers dance
solo to these, and dance to them in the ‘Scotch Four’.
Reel - faster than a strathspey. Step dancers dance to these as well in solo performance, in the old Gaelic group
dances and in the modern ‘square-sets’.
Jig - a lilting tune which came originally from the Irish Gaelic musical tradition. Cape Breton Gaels began adopting jigs into their repertoires at the end of the 1800s as they came in contact with them, especially in ‘The Boston
States.’
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Dance
Prince Charles Edward Stuart - (1720-1788) - also known as ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’. He was the grandson of King
James VII, the son of James Francis Stuart, ‘The Old Pretender’, who was recognized by the Jacobites (supporters
of the Royal House of Stuart) as the rightful heir to the throne of Great Britain. Prince Charles came to western
Scotland in the summer of 1745 to begin a rising in the hopes of regaining the throne for his family. The ‘Rising
of the ‘45’ was a failure and ended with the massacre of ‘The Battle of Culloden’ on 16 April, 1746. This sounded
the death-knell for what remained of Gaelic society and the independent Gaelic way of life in the Highlands. As a
result of the suffering and abuses after Culloden and ‘The ‘45’, and the severe decline of the Gaelic aristocracy in
the years following them, many Gaels left their homeland and settled throughout the world. Thus did many Gaels
come to mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island.
Clanranald - one of the branches of the once mighty Clan Donald, the MacDonalds. The house of Clanranald is
descended from Ranald, the youngest son of John MacDonald, Lord of the Isles and Amy NicRuairi (around the
1300s). The Clanranald were strongly Catholic and Jacobite. Their clan territories of Moidart, Arisaig, Morar, Eigg,
and South Uist are not so heavily populated today as many, many of their descendents are in Antigonish and Guys-
borough Counties on Mainland Nova Scotia and throughout Cape Breton Island.
Moidart - a district on the west coast of Scotland. The clan territory of the strongly Catholic and Jacobite Clanranald. Now one of the least populated areas of Europe. Many descendents of Moidart’s people are to be found in
Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.
Puirt á Bial - ‘Tunes from the Mouth’ - mouth music. Gaelic poetry set to the airs of instrumental music. Often
the words are nonsensical or form comic rhymes. They were sung to accompany either solo or group dancing when
there was no fiddler or piper present to play.
Dancing Masters - expert dancers who made all or some of their living by traveling through districts and instructing the best local students in the finest of steps. They would most often stay with a family and their board was
considered part or all of the family’s payment for dance instruction.
Gaelic Reels - such as ‘Ruidhle Thulachain’ (The Reel of Tulloch), ‘An Ruidhle Ceathrar’ (The Scotch Four), and ‘Ruidhle na h-Ochdnar’ (The Eight Hand Reel) were lively group dances in which the participants step danced throughout. They went out of fashion after the first quarter of the twentieth century and their role was largely filled by the
newer ‘Quadrilles’ which Cape Breton Gaels seem to have picked up in New England. You can still see ‘The Scotch
Four’ danced in Cape Breton but now it’s for display rather than its traditional role as a social dance. In the 20s,
there was the phenomenon of the younger generation swishing, not dancing, through the newer quadrilles and
the older people calling out for ‘Fours’, the older type reels, because they wanted to see the step dancing tradition
continue.
Quadrilles - a more genteel form of dance which originated in continental Europe. Cape Breton Gaels adopted
these dances and took them home from the United States and introduced them to Gaelic Cape Breton. You originally did not step dance through the figures of these dances. Today we refer to them as ‘Square-Sets’ and, in many
areas of Cape Breton, dancers step dance through all figures of the square-set.