[MR] BBC: Scotland’s Official Languages

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, especially fellow Scots:

On 1 December 2025, Saint Andrew's Day, a new law recognized Scots Gaelic
and Scots as official languages in Scotland. "Big deal," you might think,
as this was pretty much already established fact. However, this makes both
languages open to funding official support to keep those tongues alive,
saving them from the oblivion of several other languages once used in
Scotland.

Here is the BBC article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c9891455007o .

According to a Wikipedia article (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Scotland ), English (often
liberally salted with borrow-words from Scots and Gaelic) is spoken by
98.6% of the population. Scots is spoken by 30.1%, and 1.1% speak Gaelic.
Obviously there is quite a bit of overlap among these three tongues.
Scots-only or Gaelic-only speakers are pretty rare.

The history of Scotland's languages is complicated by a lack of written
documentation, but to some extent follows migration/invasion patterns.
Several languages have gone extinct, and are chiefly known through place
names, plus a few of their words imported into the surviving tongues.

Pictish is among the earliest Scottish languages, in recorded historic
times spoken mostly north of the Firth of Forth. It was largely extinct by
the late first millennium, and is chiefly known from place names and a few
words teased from carved stones. Oh, for a Rosetta Stone!

Another loser was Brithonic/Cumbric, a Welsh tongue. This language was
known during the Roman occupation, and was spoken in the mostly Lowland
dark ages kingdom of Alt Clute, later rebranded as Strathclyde after
Vikings trashed their chief city on the Rock of Dumbarton. Cumbric
disappeared about the same time Strathclyde was incorporated into the
growing Kingdom of Alba/Scotland early in the 11th century.

Gaelic came from Ireland when an Irish tribe known to Romans as the Scoti,
migrated into western  Scotland, eventually forming the Scottish-Irish
kingdom of Dalriada. Scots Gaelic is derived from Middle Irish. Scots
Gaelic became the most common language in the Hebrides, Highlands and the
western coast, and is still spoken in the outer islands and in some pockets
of the Highlands. Scots Gaelic now has a standard form for spelling.

Norn is an extinct derivative of Norse brought by the Vikings. Once common
in the Hebrides, Orkney and the Shetland Islands, Norn was largely replaced
by Lowland Scots after the latter two Island groups were incorporated into
Scotland proper in the 15th century.

Scots is a descendant of Middle English, and was introduced by Anglo-Saxon
invaders, particularly south of the Firth of Forth and to a lesser extent
in Fife and the northeastern parts of Scotland. It became the most common
Scottish language during the later middle ages. Curiously, unlike Scots
Gaelic there is no standard spelling for Scots, and my dictionaries often
give two or more spellings for words. Go figure (literally!).

Business and governance brought Standard English to Scotland, particularly
after the official union with England in 1707 (Boo! Hiss!). The influence
of radio and television in the 20th century cemented English as the de
facto *lingua franca* for Scotland, though special broadcast channels were
established for Scots Gaelic and Scots programs.

During our visit to Scotland in 2017 (mostly around modern Edinburgh and
Glasgow, with a side trip to Iona), Lady Sarah and I did not encounter
anyone speaking Gaelic. I did meet an older gentleman (in a kilt and a
classic Scottish formal jacket with medals) at Edinburgh Castle who spoke
to me in Scots. I was only able to understand about half of what he said,
mostly questions and comments about then-president Trump.

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Continuing a crusade to keep the original Merry Rose relevant and in
business.