Aims and principles of this edition
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The first priority of this edition is to make accessible, by means of diplomatic representation and analysis of the MS, the body of Gaelic ballads found in BDL. Toward this end, the following are provided: (i) accurate diplomatic transcriptions of the original BDL texts; (ii) transliterations of the BDL texts into conventional Gaelic orthography (restored texts); (iii) translations of the restored texts. This digital edition allows the reader to view the texts in two different ways. Each individual poem can be read in Standard view, with the material displayed vertically, beginning at the top with a transcription of the poem, followed by a transliteration into Gaelic orthography, and then a translation into English. Alternatively, using a device with sufficient screen space, the reader may employ Side-by-side view, in which the transcription, the transliteration, and the translation can be read vertically in parallel from left to right. In both layouts, primacy is afforded to the texts in their original BDL orthography; the transliterated texts are essential as an aid to understanding each item, but they should not be regarded as a substitute for the texts as originally written in the MS. To view the latter, the reader can consult BDL itself via the Links button at the bottom of the Contents list. Notes to each poem can be found at the foot of the relevant presentation. The edition also provides a Search facility which allows the reader to search for different kinds of information in the texts and also in the Notes to each poem. The transliteration of the texts to conventional Gaelic orthography deliberately avoids the insertion of classical morphological and syntactic features which are not represented in the actual MS. Such insertions are made only insofar as they are absolutely essential to the understanding of the texts. This policy is consistent with the language, style and metre of the ballad texts themselves, which endured gradual weathering and reshaping across time and dialectal boundaries, as outlined in 'Scottish Gaelic Features'. Although it provided a useful general key to the poems, the earlier edition by Neil Ross (HP) emended the texts towards a classical norm, and for this reason it obscured the complexion of the texts as they stand in the MS. The present edition may be regarded as an attempt at textual transparency and elucidation which aims to rescue the texts from potentially misleading editing of that kind. In order to place the manuscript and the poems in their broader literary and linguistic contexts, the edited texts are preceded by a wide-ranging general introduction, which discusses, among other things, the use by the scribes of a Scots-based orthography for the writing of Gaelic. As part of the annotation, each poem is also given its own preface, commenting on aspects of its scribal complexion, literary features and relationship to other versions in Scotland and Ireland. These prefaces are followed by notes elucidating cruces and points of linguistic, grammatical, syntactic and literary interest. Variant versions of lines and words are given only when they elucidate, or point up distinctive features of, words and lines in the individual poems. Line variants are listed comprehensively in the thesis on which this book is based, but in the interest of reducing bulk, these lists have been excluded from this edition. It is hoped that the edition will open up new ways of seeing the Gaelic ballad corpus of Scotland and Ireland. It is anticipated that it will also provide a fresh view of Gaelic language and culture in Scotland on the eve of the Reformation, particularly in relation to the ‘rival’ language called Scots. Not least is it hoped that it will furnish a vivid picture of a time when the designations ‘Gael’ and ‘Lowlander’, so firmly defined in our minds today, were not mutually exclusive, and when Scots and Gaelic interacted strongly and harmoniously with one another. At the very least, it will bear witness to many centuries of Gaelic cultural homogeneity, when, despite differences in dialect, there was no sharp distinction between the Gaelic-speaking communities of Ireland and Scotland within the greater Gàidhealtachd extending from Cape Wrath to Cape Clear, and from Sligo to Fortingall, the home of our BDL scribes. KEY TO SYMBOLS USED IN THE TRANSCRIPTION AND THE RESTORED TEXTTranscription
Restored Text
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