interesting gaelic story of an arran placename

Mon, Mar 19, 2007

I came across an old book on Arran Gaelic and found this interesting story about a place in Arran, near Beinn Riabhach, Creag na h-Iolaire (Crag of the Eagle). Read on to find out why. I’ll give the Gaelic first, then a translation.

Màiri na h-Iolarach

Bithidh dlùth air dà cheud bliadhna ’na bha Màiri a’còmhnuidh anns a’Bheinn Riabhach. Agus bha i buain coirce, agus bhan am pàisde aice. Agus Thàinig an iolair. Thug i leithe am pàisde air son biadh bhith aice air son nan eòin. Agus chaidh daoine air falbh le fàradh agus ròpan, agus chroch iad sìos thar a’chreag (iad). Fhuair iad am pàisde slàn, fallain gun bite aiste. Bha i beò gus an robh i ’na sean bhean. Agus se sin mar a thug iad an t-ainm air a’chreag. That an t-ainm sin air a’chreag gus an latha an duigh

Eagle Màiri

It’s close to two hundred years since Màiri lived at Beinn Riabhach. She was reaping oats and she had the child with her. And the eagle came. She (the eagle) took the child with her for food for her little ones. And the men went away with ladders and ropes and they hung them down across the crag. They got the child safe and sound without a bite* out of her. She lived until she was an old woman. And that’s how they gave the name to the crag. That’s the name of the crag to this day.

• gun bite aiste. I translated “bite” (pronounced beecheh) as “bite” although I couldn’t find it in the dictionary. I thought it might mean a bite as it fits with the story and also, apparently, mainland Gaelic speakers of the time liked to point out that Gaelic speakers on Arran were fond of overusing English words in their everyday speech.