TheGàidhealtachd (Scottish Gaelic pronunciation:[ˈkɛːəl̪ˠt̪əxk]ⓘ;English:Gaeldom[1]) usually refers to theHighlands and Islands ofScotland and especially theScottish Gaelic-speaking culture of the area. The similarIrish language wordGaeltacht refers, however, solely to Irish-speaking areas.
The term is also used to apply to areas ofNova Scotia andGlengarry County, Ontario where the distinctiveCanadian dialects of Scottish Gaelic were or are still spoken.
"TheGàidhealtachd" is not interchangeable with "Scottish Highlands" as it refers to the language and not to the geography. Also, many parts of the Highlands no longer have substantial Gaelic-speaking populations, and some parts of what is now thought of as the Highlands have long beenScots-speaking or English-speaking areas such asCromarty,Grantown-on-Spey, etc. Conversely, several Gaelic-speaking communities lie outwith theHighland,Argyll and Bute andOuter Hebrides council areas, for example theIsle of Arran and parts ofPerth and Kinross, not to mentionNova Scotia,North Carolina, and other areas to which there was significant migration.Gàidhealtachd also increasingly refers to any region where Scottish Gaelic is spoken as afirst language by much of the population.[citation needed]. However,Gàidhealtachd is sometimes used to refer to the Scottish Highlands, by organisations such asHighlands and Islands Enterprise (Iomairt na Gàidhealtachd 's nan Eilean) andthe Highland Council (Comhairle na Gàidhealtachd).
Galldachd ('Gall-dom',Gall referring to a non-Gael) is often used for theLowlands, although it is also notable that theHebrides are known asInnse Gall due to the historical presence ofNorsemen.
Until a few centuries ago, theGàidhealtachd would have included much of modern-day Scotland north of theFirth of Forth andGalloway (up until the 18th century, and maybe later), excepting theNorthern Isles, as evidenced by the prevalence of Gaelic-derived place names throughout most of Scotland and contemporary accounts.[citation needed] These includeDundee from the GaelicDùn Deagh,Inverness fromInbhir Nis,Argyll fromEarra-Ghàidheal,Galloway fromGall-Ghaidhealaibh, and possiblyStirling fromSruighlea (though the etymology is uncertain). Gaelic speakers from what would be considered traditionally English-speaking/non-Gaelic regions today includedGeorge Buchanan (from Stirlingshire),Robert the Bruce (from Galloway), andMargaret McMurray (from Ayrshire).[citation needed]
For historical reasons, including the influence of aScots-speakingcourt inEdinburgh and theplantation ofmerchantburghs in much of the south and east, theGàidhealtachd has been reduced massively to the present region of the Outer Hebrides, theNorthwest Highlands,Skye andLoch Alsh, andArgyll and Bute, with small Gaelic populations existing inGlasgow andEdinburgh. TheHighland Clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries also contributed to the decline of the language, as they reduced the population of the Scottish Highlands, which were predominantly Gaelic-speaking at the time.[citation needed]
InCanada, at one time Scottish Gaelic was the third most spoken language after English and French; in 1901, there were 50,000 speakers inNova Scotia alone.[2]
It has survived as aminority language among communities descended from Scottish immigrants[3] in parts ofNova Scotia (especiallyCape Breton Island),Glengarry County in present-dayOntario,Prince Edward Island, andNewfoundland and Labrador.[citation needed]) TheCodroy Valley on theisland of Newfoundland had a Gaelic-speaking minority until the 1960s.[4]
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