Fake Folklore: An Introduction to Archaic Gaelic is the third in the series Decoding the Past.
*Chapter 1 The Last of the Dragons
*Chapter 2 Archaic Gaelic - To Edit
*Chapter 3 Sex and Violence
*Chapter 4 The history of Gaelic in Scotland - To Edit
*Chapter 5 Fake folklore - To Edit
*Chapter 6 More fake folklore - To Edit
*Chapter 7 Ghosties and ghoulies - To Edit
*Chapter 8 Fairy folk - To Edit
*Chapter 9 Death and the Maiden - To Edit
*Chapter 10 Irish fiction. To Edit
*Chapter 11 Mesolithic names in a drowned landscape. To Edit
*Chapter 12 English river-names: an experiment. To Edit
*Chapter 13 Glossary of Archaic Gaelic - To Edit
*Chapter 21 Text Dump
The Gaels were identified not only by their archaic hunting culture but by their equally archaic language. Many of the features of their hunting culture have a circumPolar distribution and must survive from the common culture of the Upper Palaeolithic or, at latest, the early Mesolithic. The same appears to be true of their language. The roots of Archaic Gaelic also evolved outside Scotland and were brought in by migrants. We can therefore propose that an earlier but perhaps quite similar language was spoken throughout Europe at the end of the Ice Age. Evidence to support is given in Fake Folklore.
It is not necessary to be a Gaelic speaker to understand the interpretations offered in the following pages for Archaic Gaelic is as dead as Classical Greek or Latin. Dwelly’s Gaelic dictionary is the best reference source but all the necessary help will be found in the glossary.
Archaic Gaelic (AG), was used by hunters in Scotland. Most words are still in use in modern Gaelic with evolved meanings. Reconstructed meanings are shown in brackets. The companion book in the series Decoding the Past, Mesolithic Survival in Scotland, argues for the survival of Mesolithic or earlier traits in this isolated population and the same argument applies to their language.
In this series ‘Gaelic’ is invariably Scottish Gaelic. The similar language of Ireland is referred to as Irish.
