Galwegian Gaelic
Little (except numerous placenames) and a song collected in North Uist have survived, so that its exact relationship with other Scottish Gaelic dialects is uncertain.
Gaelicisation in Galloway and Carrick occurred at the expense of Northumbrian Old English and Cumbric, a Brittonic Celtic dialect related to Welsh.
The likely eastern limit reached by the language was the River Annan, for the reason that Gaelic placenames disappear quite rapidly beyond this boundary.
It was reported by Walter of Guisborough in 1296 that during a raid on Hexham Priory, the Galwegians under William Wallace desecrated the shrine of St Andrew, cut off the head of the saint's statue, and threw relics into a fire.
Important information about local agriculture can be gleaned from placenames as well: shielings (àiridh) were in use e.g. Airies, Airieholland; manured infield from Talnotrie (talamh an otraigh) and Auchnotteroch.
Gall-Ghàidheil agriculture is indicated in the use of peighinn and its subdivisions, e.g. Pinminnoch, Leffin Donald, Fardin; Daugh and quarterland (ceathramh) also appear, e.g. Doach, Kirriedarroch, Terraughty.
However, medieval Goidelic was a single language, spoken from Munster to Sutherland, with a universal educated standard and many regional dialects, which might have been mutually comprehensible.
In the Flyting, for instance, Dunbar makes big play of Kennedy's Carrick roots (albeit in the rankly insulting terms that are part of the genre) and strongly associates him with Erschry, 'Irishry', which meant in other words the Gaelic and bardic tradition; the term Irish in Scotland (and often England) signified Gaelic generally: Sic eloquence as thay in Erschry use, In sic is sett thy thraward appetyte.
I tak on me, ane pair of Lowthiane hippis Sall fairar Inglis mak and mair perfyte Than thow can blabbar with thy Carrik lippis.
I'll wager, a pair of Lothian hips Shall fairer English make and more perfect Than thou can blabber with thy Carrick lips.
Margaret McMurray (died 1760) is one of the last speakers we know of by name, although there are some suggestions that linguist Alexander Murray (1775–1813) may have learnt it from his aged father, a local upland shepherd.
[dubious – discuss] Nearby areas such as the Isle of Man, east Ulster (especially Rathlin Island and the Glens of Antrim), and Arran all had native Gaelic speakers into the 20th century.
The song contains numerous examples of linguistic features associated with known Southern dialects (such as unlenited tu "you" and dom "to me" (usually thu and dhomh).
The retention of the verbal particle in the last stanza do bhi is also highly unusual for a Scottish Gaelic dialect, as is the form inn san "in the" (usually anns an).
[8] Efforts are also ongoing by the Dumfries and Galloway County Council to promote both heritage language learning and the Scottish Gaelic Renaissance in the region.
