Cànan agus an Tìr – Language and the Land

Tha còrr air sia fichead facal aig Leòdhasaich airson cunntas a thoirt air mòinteach liath-bhuidhe taobh a-staigh an eilein. Thàinig na faclan sin bho dìreach trì bailtean. Faodaidh tu na faclan sin a leughadh ann an Rathad an Isein: The Bird’s Road: A Lewis moorland glossary.

People from the Isle of Lewis have more than 120 words to describe the tawny moorland of the interior of the island. These words come from only three villages. You can read them in Rathad an Isein: The Bird’s Road: A Lewis moorland glossary.

Mòine dubh is the heavier and darker peats that lie deeper and older into the moor. Lèig-chruthaich is quivering bog with water trapped beneath it, and an intact surface.

Anns an leabhar aige, Landmarks, sgrìobh Raibeart MacPhàrlain, “Is e a bhith a’ faighinn na faclan a bhith nas lèirsinneach, nas furachail – agus, chan urrainn dhuinn ach a bhith an dòchas, nas comasaiche air aibhnichean a ghabhail . . .”

In his book, Landmarks, Robert MacFarlane writes, “To have the words is to become more perceptive, more attentive – and, we can only hope, more capable of caring for rivers . . .”

Feumaidh sinn eòlas cho dlùth air an fhearann, ach chan ann a-mhàin airson bàrdachd. Anns an ath-bhreithneachadh aige air Landmarks, tha John Burnside a ’sgrìobhadh gu bheil“ feum againn air na faclan gus eag-eòlas iom-fhillte a thuigsinn ”.

We need such an intimate knowledge of the land, but not just for poetry. In his review of Landmarks, John Burnside writes that “we need the words to understand complex ecologies”.