The Fernaig manuscript ( or ''Làmh-sgrìobhainn MhicRath'') is a document containing approximately 4,200 lines of verse consisting largely of political and religious themes. The manuscript was composed between 1688 and 1693 by Donnchadh MacRath in

Wester Ross Wester Ross () is an area of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland in the council area of Highland. The area is loosely defined, and has never been used as a formal administrative region in its own right, but is generally regarded as lying to th ...

() and is notable for the author's unique

orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

which is, like the more famous

Book of the Dean of Lismore The ''Book of the Dean of Lismore'' () is a Scottish manuscript, compiled in eastern Perthshire in the first half of the 16th century. The chief compiler, after whom it is named, was James MacGregor (''Seumas MacGriogair''), vicar of Fortinga ...

, based upon English, rather than

Classical Gaelic Early Modern Irish () represented a transition between Middle Irish and Irish language, Modern Irish. Its literary form, Classical Gaelic, was used in Ireland and Scotland from the 13th to the 18th century. Classical Gaelic Classical Gaelic or C ...

phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

. Although the manuscript has been studied, "translated" in accordance with correct Gaelic orthography and republished – for the first time in 1923 by Calum MacPhàrlainn – it has been said that it has yet to be reliably interpreted.School of Celtic Studies – 50th Anniversary Report – The State of the Art
/ref> In addition to the unusual spelling system used the manuscript is notable for several other reasons. It is the only record of Scottish Gaelic verse which is similar in form and nature to that practised by the

Munster Irish Munster Irish (, ) is the dialect of the Irish language spoken in the province of Munster. Gaeltacht regions in Munster are found in the Gaeltachtaí of the Dingle Peninsula in west County Kerry, in the Iveragh Peninsula in south Kerry, in ...

poets at the start of the 17th century. It also contains

Christian poetry Christian poetry is any poetry that contains Christian teachings, themes, or references. The influence of Christianity on poetry has been great in any area that Christianity has taken hold. Christian poems often directly reference the Bible, whil ...

which predate the composition of the manuscript by several centuries and have been described as the only extant examples of religious verse from that period as equivalent examples recorded following Culloden are very sparse. All other remaining records of 17th century Gaelic verse were committed to paper only after surviving for a hundred years or more as

oral literature Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used v ...

. The manuscript contains 59 pieces with 10 being of unknown authorship, 12 attributed to MacRath himself with a further 17 authors named as responsible for the rest. The manuscript, in the form of two books, is currently held by 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 ...

library. Prior to the university gaining possession the manuscript was held by a Matheson of Fernaig, and was thus named the Fernaig manuscript. It then passed through the hands of Dr Mackintosh-Mackay, Dr W.F. Skene and the Reverend John Kennedy of Arran who finally bequeathed it to

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 ...

.Thomson, The Companion to Gaelic Scotland pp71 The dialect used in the text varies and seems to vary between the formal, literary style and that of the local vernacular. While it is possible that MacRath had some knowledge of Gaelic (both Scottish and Irish) manuscripts written in the literary form, the almost total lack of

eclipses An eclipse is an astronomical event which occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ...

present in the text – which are a feature of

Irish Gaelic Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigeno ...

and the main distinction between Scottish and Irish dialectsMacPharlain ''Lamh-Sgrìobhainn Mhic Rath'', (pp290) – suggest that the author did not commit anything to paper dictated by an Irish speaker. However the anthology does include pieces by two Irish poets who lived generations before the time of the author and this does point to some degree of familiarity by MacRath with that class of literature. The two books of the manuscript can basically be divided by the general theme of the verse found within them. The first contains mostly religious works of a literary style while the second is more political and colloquial in nature. A considerable number of the words used throughout cannot be found in modern

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 ...

dictionaries but many can be found in

dictionaries and Shaw's "pan-Gaelic" dictionary.

Notes

References

*MacPharlain, Calum ''Lamh-Sgrìobhainn Mhic Rath'', (Dundee) *Thomson, Derick S. ''The Companion to Gaelic Scotland'', (Blackwell Reference) {{authority control 1693 in Scotland 1693 poetry books 17th-century manuscripts 17th-century Scottish literature Scottish Gaelic manuscripts Orthography Scottish poetry University of Glasgow Library collection Christian manuscripts Christian poetry Political literature Ross and Cromarty Political history of Scotland History of Christianity in Scotland Manuscripts about Scotland

See also

Notes

References