Derick Smith Thomson (

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

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

Stornoway Stornoway (; gd, Steòrnabhagh; sco, Stornowa) is the main town of the Western Isles and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it by far the largest town in the Outer Hebrides, as well ...

– 21 March 2012,

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

) was a Scottish poet, publisher, lexicographer, academic and writer. He was originally from Lewis, but spent much of his life in

, where he was Professor of Celtic at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

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 and Anne Frater. His parents, James Thomson and Christina Smith, were both primary school teachers. Educated at the

Nicolson Institute The Nicolson Institute ( Gaelic: ''Àrd-sgoil MhicNeacail'') in Stornoway, is the largest school in the Western Isles, Scotland. The Nicolson is the only six-year secondary school in Lewis. With the Sir E. Scott School in Harris, they provide e ...

, he went on to the Universities of

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

;

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and

Bangor University , former_names = University College of North Wales (1884–1996) University of Wales, Bangor (1996–2007) , image = File:Arms_of_Bangor_University.svg , image_size = 250px , caption = Arms ...

. He would later teach at

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

. He became Professor of Celtic at Glasgow in 1963, and retired in 1991. He was Chairman of the

Gaelic Books Council Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

1968–91; President Scottish Gaelic Texts Society; former member of

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from th ...

and was the first recipient of the Ossian Prize in 1974. Professor Thomson was Chairman of the SNP'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 a number of 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 orc ...

/ clarsach) which shared the Scottish Book of the Year Award in 1983. He also edited ''

The Companion to Gaelic Scotland ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. His English-Gaelic dictionary came out in 1981, and was for many years the most practical reference of its kind. He has published seven collections of Gaelic poetry, with many English translations, including ''Meall Garbh/The Rugged Mountain'' (1995), ''Smeur an Dochais'', etc. His publications are many and varied, and include 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. No less important has been Professor Thomson's work for the promotion of Scottish Gaelic literature, not only, to take one example, as founder, editor and publisher of the quarterly Gairm since 1953. He was elected Fellow of the Academy in 1992 and gave last year's Rhys Lecture on Scottish Gaelic Traditional Songs from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth 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 * Professor of Celtic,

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

– 1963–1991 *Chairman of the

*Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh 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 established i ...

*Fellow of the

British Academy The British Academy 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 same year. It is now a fellowship of more than 1,000 leading scholars s ...

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 Jennifer Margaret Barker (born 6 May 1965 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish-American classical composer and pianist. Her compositional style is highly influenced by the landscape, culture and musical heritage of Scotland. She is Professor of Com ...

, 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 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 British translators 20th-century British male writers