The Gala Water ( Lowland Scots: Gala Watter;

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 ...

An Geal Ath) is a river in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

area of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...

. It is sometimes known as the "Gala", which nickname is also shared with

Galashiels Galashiels (; , ) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive history in the textile in ...

, which it flows through. The "Braw Lads O Gala Watter" is a song about people from Galashiels. Heriot Water is a tributary coming in from the west, and is larger than Gala Water before their confluence.

Etymology

The name ''Gala'' may be from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''galga'' meaning "gallows" ( Scots ''galwe''), perhaps by back-formation from Galashiels. Or else, ''Gala'' may originally be from Brittonic, and derived from ''*gāl'' meaning "enmity, hatred" ( Welsh ''gâl''), or cognate to the Welsh verb ''galw'', "call" ( Cornish ''galow'', "a call"). The river may share an etymology with Gala Lane in

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

, which flows into Loch Doon.

Levels

At Galashiels the depth of the water is between and , although was as deep at on one occasion in 2002.

Gallery

Image:GalaWaterFountainhall1.jpg, Gala Water at Fountainhall Bridge Image:GalaBridge1.jpg, Gala Bridge at Fountainhall Image:GalaWaterTorquhan.jpg, Gala Water near Torquhan Image:GalaStowBridge1.jpg, Bridge over Gala Water at Stow

References

Rivers of the Scottish Borders 1Gala {{Scotland-river-stub

Etymology

Levels

See also

Gallery

References