Derick Smith Thomson (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

: ''Ruaraidh MacThòmais''; 5 August 1921,

Stornoway Stornoway (; ) is the main town, and by far the largest, of the Outer Hebrides (or Western Isles), and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it the third-largest island town in Scotlan ...

– 21 March 2012,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

) was a Scottish poet, publisher,

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

, academic and writer. He was originally from

Lewis Lewis may refer to: Names * Lewis (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Lewis (surname), including a list of people with the surname Music * Lewis (musician), Canadian singer * " Lewis (Mistreated)", a song by Radiohe ...

, but spent much of his life in

, where he was Professor of Celtic at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

from 1963 to 1991. He is best known for setting up the publishing house

Gairm ''Gairm'' was a Scottish Gaelic quarterly magazine founded in 1951 by Derick Thomson, and Finlay J. MacDonald (Fionnlagh Domhnallach). Its first issue was published in Autumn 1952. MacDonald served as an editor until 1964; Thomson remained prese ...

, along with its magazine, which was the longest-running periodical ever to be written entirely in Gaelic, running for over fifty years under his editorship. Gairm has since ceased, and was replaced by '' Gath'' and then STEALL. He was an Honorary President of the Scottish Poetry Library, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the British Academy. In June 2007, he received an honorary degree from Glasgow University.

Life

Thomson was originally from Upper Bayble (''Pabail Uarach'') on Lewis, the same village that produced two other Gaelic writers of note,

Iain Crichton Smith Iain Crichton Smith, (Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn''; 1 January 1928 – 15 October 1998) was a Scottish people, Scottish poet and novelist, who wrote in both English and Gaelic. He was born in Glasgow, but moved to the Isl ...

and

Anne Frater Anne Frater (born 1967) is a Scottish poet. She was born in Stornoway ( Steòrnabhagh), in Lewis on the Western Isles (na h-Eileanan Siar). She was brought up in the village of Upper Bayble (Pabail Uarach) in the district of Point, a small commu ...

. His parents, James Thomson and Christina Smith, were both primary school teachers. Educated at the Nicolson Institute in

, he went on to the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen (abbreviated ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; ) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was founded in 1495 when William Elphinstone, Bis ...

, where he studied Celtic and English, University College of North Wales, Bangor (now

Bangor University Bangor University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 ...

), and finally

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mo ...

, where he took a second degree in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic (ASNaC) in 1948. He would later teach at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and

. He became Professor of Celtic at Glasgow in 1963, and retired in 1991. He was Chairman of the Gaelic Books Council 1968–91; President Scottish Gaelic Texts Society; former member of

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council (), was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the Scottish Government as well as National Lottery funds ...

and was the first recipient of the Ossian Prize in 1974. Professor Thomson was Chairman of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

's Gaelic Committee in the Seventies. He is the author of numerous books including ''An Introduction to Gaelic Poetry'', ''The Companion to Gaelic Poetry'', ''European Poetry in Gaelic'', and collections of Gaelic poetry, including his collected poems ''Creachadh na Clàrsaich'' (Plundering of the

Harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

clarsach The Celtic harp is a triangular frame harp traditional to the Celtic nations of northwest Europe. It is known as in Irish, in Scottish Gaelic, in Breton and in Welsh. In Ireland and Scotland, it was a wire-strung instrument requiring gre ...

) which shared the Scottish Book of the Year Award in 1983. He also edited '' The Companion to Gaelic Scotland''. His English-Gaelic dictionary came out in 1981, and was for many years the most practical reference of its kind. He published seven collections of Gaelic poetry, with many English translations, including ''Meall Garbh/The Rugged Mountain'' (1995), ''Smeur an Dochais'', etc. His publications included such seminal works as the ''Gaelic Sources of Macpherson's Ossian'', ''An Introduction to Gaelic Poetry'', ''The Companion to Gaelic Scotland'' (edited by him) and ''Gaelic Poetry in the Eighteenth Century''; his contributions to Welsh studies are also noteworthy. He worked to promote Scottish Gaelic literature, to take one example, as founder, editor and publisher of the quarterly "Gairm" since 1953. He was elected Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...

in 1992 and gave the 1999 Sir John Rhys Memorial Lecture on "Scottish Gaelic Traditional Songs from the 16th to the 18th Century". Thomson was also tireless in his support of other writers in Gaelic and helped bring to publications works such as 'Gaelic Verbs' by Colin B.D. Mark. Derick Thomson died in 2012, at the age of 90.

Positions held

*Honorary President,

Scottish Poetry Library The Scottish Poetry Library is a public library with charitable status specialising in contemporary Scottish writing in English, Scots and Scottish Gaelic. The library, which is free to join for UK residents, celebrated its 40th anniversary in ...

* Professor of Celtic,

– 1963–1991 *Chairman of the Gaelic Books Council *Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

*Fellow of the

Publications

Poetry (own work): *''An Dealbh Briste / The Broken Picture'' (1951) *''Eadar Samhradh is Foghar / Between Summer and Autumn'' (1967) *''An Rathad Cian / Far Road'' (1970) – *''Saora agus an Iolaire / Freedom and the Eagle'' (1977) – *''Creachadh na Clàrsaich: Collected Poems'', 1940–80 (1982) – *''Meall Garbh: Rugged Mountain'' (1985) – *''Bàrdachd na Roinn Eòrpa an Gàidhlig'' (1990) – *''Smeur an Dòchais: The Bramble of Hope'' (1992) – *''Sùil air Fàire (Surveying the Horizon)'' (2007) – Poetry (anthologies): *''An Introduction to Gaelic Poetry'' (1990) – *''Gaelic Poetry in the Eighteenth Century: A Bilingual Anthology'' (1993) – *''Alasdair MacMhaighstir Alasdair: Selected Poems'' (1996) – Various: *''The Gaelic sources of Macpherson's "Ossian" (Aberdeen University studies series;no.130)'' (1952) *''Branwen Uerch Lyr: The Second of the Four Branches of the Mabinogi (Mediaeval & Modern Welsh)'' (1961) – *''Gaelic Learner's Handbook'' (1973) – *''Bith-Eòlas (Biology Textbook) (''1976) – *''Gàidhlig ann an Albainn/ Gaelic in Scotland: Bilingual Examination of the Place of Gaelic in Scottish Life'' (1976) – *''New English-Gaelic Dictionary'' (1981) – *''Why Gaelic Matters'' (1984) – *''The Companion to Gaelic Scotland'' (1987) – *''Languages of Scotland: International Conference Proceedings: Gaelic and Scots in Harmony 2nd, 1988'' (1990) – Co-author: *''Edward Lhuyd in the Scottish Highlands'' (1963) 1699–1700 – *''Future of the Highlands'' (1968) – *''Combined Gaelic-English, English-Gaelic Dictionary ''(1982) – *''Minority Languages Today'' (1990) – *''MacDiarmid MS Anthology'' (1992) – *''Scotland O Gael an Lawlander ''(1996) – Recordings: *''Nyvaigs'' (2000) Jennifer Margaret Barker, Composer's Recording Inc./New World Records, CRI862, NWCR862''Nyvaigs'' CD liner notes, Retrieved 25 October 2018. (recitation of his own poem ''Geodha Air Chùl Na Grèine'')

References

Academic articles and lectures available in open access

*Black, Ronald
“Sorley MacLean, Derick Thomson, and the Women Most Dangerous to Men,”
''The Bottle Imp'' 21: June 2017. *Dymock, Emma
"The Gaelic Poetry of Derick Thomson,"
video lecture (Association for Scottish Literary Studies, 2020), YouTube. *Meek, Donald E

''Passages from Tiree'' (blog post). *Poncarová, Petra Johana
"Derick Thomson and Ireland,"
''Litteraria Pragensia'' 33:65 (2023). *Poncarová, Petra Johana
"Derick Thomson and the Ossian Controversy,"
''Anglica'' 29:3 (2020). *Poncarová, Petra Johana
"Eadar Canaan is Garrabost (Between Canaan and Garrabost): Religion in Derick Thomson’s Lewis Poetry,"
''Studies in Scottish Literature'' 46:1 (2020).

External links

Scottish Poetry Library entry
(bio, poems in English and Gaelic, bibliography)
BBC Bio – Làrach nam Bàrd
(bio, poems in Gaelic with commentary, recordings)
Derick Thomson website (in Gaelic)

Audio clip: obituary and tributes to Thomson (in Gaelic)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomson, Derick 1921 births Celtic studies scholars 2012 deaths People from the Isle of Lewis 20th-century Scottish Gaelic poets 20th-century Scottish historians Alumni of the University of Aberdeen Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Academics of the University of Glasgow Scottish Renaissance Fellows of the British Academy Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Translators from Scottish Gaelic People educated at the Nicolson Institute Scottish male poets 20th-century Scottish translators 20th-century Scottish male writers