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Gaelic Proverbs

by Alexander Nicolson

ISBN: 9781841589831
Imprint: Birlinn
Publication Date: Jan 1996
Format: Paperback
Price: £12.99
Stock Status: in stock

Alexander Nicolson, one of the best scholars of his day, has gathered together a wide-ranging collection covering such diverse topics as women and marriage, wise men and fools, friendship and courage, and poverty and wealth. The proverbs appear in Gaelic along with the English translation, carefully preserving the pith of the original.

These sayings, which as Nicolson remarks in his Preface, ’come from thatched cottages and not baronial and academic halls’, reflect keen intelligence and a distinct sense of humour. This is a comprehensive and important collection, with a foreword by Ian MacDonald of the Gaelic Books Council.

Alexander Nicolson, later known as Sheriff Nicolson, was born on 27th September, 1827 in Husabost on the Isle of Skye. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh where he abandoned his calling to the ministry of the Free Church of Scotland and worked as a journalist before turning to the law. He was called to the Scottish Bar in 1860. In 1865 he was appointed Assistant Commissioner by the Scottish Education Commission, which took him around the schools of the islands inspecting them, before becoming Sheriff-Substitute of Kirkcudbright in 1872. Later he took up a similar position in Greenock and he acted as a commissioner in the Crofting Commission of 1883. Nicolson died on 13th January 1893 in Edinburgh. His book, originally called A Collection of Gaelic Proverbs and Familiar Phrases was published in 1881.

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