| Reference Number | 250 |
| Title | Clann-nighean an Sgadain |
| Author | Dòmhnallach, Tormod Calum |
| Editor | N/A |
| Date Of Edition | 1987 |
| Date Of Language | late 20c |
| Date Of Language Ed | 1950-1999 |
| DateMacro | Late 20th c. |
| Date Of Language Notes | |
| Publisher | Acair |
| Place Published | Stornoway |
| Volume | N/A |
| Location | National, academic, and local libraries |
| Geographical Origins | Lewis |
| Geographical Origins Ed | Lewis |
| GeoMacro | Lewis |
| GeoX | -6.9155 |
| GeoY | 58.2131 |
| Geographical Origins Notes | |
| Register | Literature, Prose (History) |
| Register Ed | Literature, Prose |
| Genre | Information |
| Medium | Prose |
| Rating | B (TBC)
One of a very few Gaelic texts that deal with social history and the fishing industry.
A social history of the herring girls.
Includes technical and vocabulary in connection with fishing and curing.
Includes Gaelic translations from English historical texts. |
| Alternative Author Name | Norman Malcolm MacDonald |
| Manuscript Or Edition | Ed. |
| Size And Condition | 21.4cm x 21.3cm |
| Short Title | Clann-nighean an Sgadain |
| Reference Details | NLS: HP3.88.626 |
| Number Of Pages | iii, 120 |
| Gaelic Text By | N/A |
| Illustrator | Leslie Davenport |
| Social Context | Norman Malcolm MacDonald (Tormod Calum Dòmhnallach) (1927–2000) was born on 24 July 1927 in Thunder Bay, on the shores of Lake Superior, Canada, the eldest child of four other brothers and a sister to Finlay Macdonald, civil servant, from Aignish (Fionnlagh Chaluim Mhurchaidh Phortair, 1897–1959), and his wife Mary Ann MacLeod, from Tong (Màiri Anna Thormoid Chaluim Dhòmhnaill Glais, 1900–1994). His parents emigrated to Canada in 1920 and 1923 and were married in 1925 but due to the Great Depression had to return home to Lewis in 1930 when he was only three years of age. He was brought up on his grandfather’s croft in Tong and attended the local Tong School and thereafter the Nicolson Institute.
He left Lewis and spent some time in New Zealand and worked as a labourer, clerk and journalist. Having later taken up study as a mature student at Newbattle Abbey College, he became an administrator and writer for Fir Chlis, a touring Gaelic theatre company. Following in the footstep of Sorley Maclean, he spent a four year spell as Writer in Residence at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Isle of Skye, and he subsequently took on the role as Dramatist in Residence with the National Gaelic Arts Project and An Comunn Gaidhealach. He married Màiri MacDonald in 1983.
Throughout his writing career he produced many works, both drama and fiction, including the novels Calum Tod (1976) and An Sgàineadh (1993), and posthumously Portrona (2000), the 26 poems in Fàd (1978), and three illustrated non-fiction accounts: Creach Mhór nam Fiadh (1973) (see Text 37), on the Park Deer Raid of 1887; Call na h-Iolaire (1978), on the tragic loss of the Iolaire; and Clann-Nighean an Sgadain (1987), on the herring-girls. He also wrote many plays in Gaelic and in English. Tormod Calum Dòmhnallach passed away in 2000. |
| Contents | The text does not contain a preface or a foreword. After the title page, followed by a photographic portrait, appears Ruaraidh MacThòmais’s poem ‘Clann-nighean an Sgadain’ (p. 5) from which presumably the volume took its title. The main bulk of the text then follows, divided into 6 chapters: ‘Scotch Cure’ (pp. 9-11), ‘Pailteas is Bochdainn’ (pp. 13-23), then a poem by Alasdair Moireach entitled ‘Dh’fhalbh Clann-nighean…’ (p. 24), ‘Is fhiach a Chlann-nighean’ (pp. 27-45), ‘Falbh chun an sgadain’ (pp. 47-67), ‘Comh-strì’ (pp. 69-79), ‘“Sin a Bha Suigeartach”’ (pp. 81-115), and finally, acknowledgements (p. 119). The text is liberally illustrated throughout by attractive contemporary photographic images and portraits. |
| Sources | |
| Language | The language is fairly simple and direct, and offers a free-flowing narrative of the herring industry, which is also complemented by personal accounts by women from the Western Isles who worked there and in other parts of the mainland Highlands, as well as in England in such places as Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. The narrative details the working and living conditions of these women, describing their time as herring-girls. We may also note the occasional appearance of Gaelic translations from English texts.
There appear many idiomatic phrases such as, Bhiodh na cutairean ri cutadh aig peileir am beatha (p. 16).
The copula is realised somewhat inconsistently as follows: gur h-ann (p. 9), ’S e (p. 9), mas e (p. 16), gur e (p. 16), gur ann (p. 21), gur h-e (p. 32), ged as e (p 103).
The passive voice is occasionally used, e.g., Faodar (p. 9), Fhuaireadh (p. 10), gheibhear (p. 9), gheibhte (p. 15), Thathas (p. 21), bhathas (p. 28), chan urrainnear (p. 29), faodte (p. 39), bhite (p. 91).
There are quite a lot of loan-words, e.g., planctan (p. 9), spànadh (p. 9), seusanan (p. 9).
Other spellings of note include: bitheadh (p. 37), bheilear (p. 37), fa-near (p. 40), thubhairt (p. 41), dàrna (p. 71).
Occasional appearance of English words, e.g., compensation (p. 108), postcard (p. 110), rough (p. 113).
The language reflects the Gaelic dialect of the Isle of Lewis, as follows: am muir (p. 9) instead of a’ mhuir; farasd (p. 14); gham instead of dham (p. 14); gha insteadh of dha (15); ghan instead of dhan (p. 21); bucais (p. 40); ciùraigeadh (p. 41); amhranan (p. 59); Sabaisd (p. 71); dà-reug (p. 84). |
| Orthography | The spelling conforms generally to the orthography of the late twentieth century. Only grave accents are used. No accents appear on capital letters. |
| Edition | First edition. |
| Other Sources | |
| Further Reading | Black, Ronald I. M. (ed.), An Tuil: Anthology of 20th Century Scottish Gaelic Verse (Edinburgh, 2002: Birlinn), 512-15, 792-93.
Dòmhnallach, Tormod Calum, Calum Tod (Inverness, 1976: Club Leabhar).
Dòmhnallach, Tormod Calum, Fàd: Poems and Songs in English and Gaelic (Stornoway, 1978: Buideann-foillseachaidh nan Eilean an Iar).
Dòmhnallach, Tormod Calum, Creach Mhór nam Fiadh (Stornoway, 1973: Stornoway Gazette Ltd.,).
Dòmhnallach, Tormod Calum, An Sgàineadh (Steòrnabhagh, 1993: Acair).
Dòmhnallach, Tormod Calum, Portrona (Edinburgh, 2000: Birlinn).
Gifford, Douglas, ‘A Retrospect Calum Tod and The Villager’, Lines Review, vol. 62 (1977), 24-30.
MacLeod, Michelle, ‘The Gaelic Plays of Tormod Calum Dòmhnallach’, Scottish Gaelic Studies [= Caindel Alban: Fèill-Sgrìobhainn do Dhòmhnall E. Meek], vol. XXIV (2008), 405-18.
Silver, Fred, The Herring Girls in Stornoway (Stornoway, 2003: Stornoway Amenity Trust).
Smylie, Mike, Herring: A History of the Silver Darlings (Stroud, 2011: History Press).
Unsworth, Christopher, The British Herring Industry: The Steam Drifter Years, 1900-1960 (Stroud, 2013: Amberley).
Thomson, Frank, ‘A Gael in the Modern World: Norman Malcolm MacDonald’, Books in Scotland (1978), 27-28. |
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| NumWords | 24967 |
