Language

Old signpost showing Highland place names

Why the North Highlands speaks in so many voices

Picts, Gaels, Vikings, Scots and English speakers have all left their words across the North Highlands. The result is a landscape filled with names that look unpronounceable, change their sound from one glen to the next and rarely mean what visitors expect. Understanding why becomes one of the most fascinating parts of travelling here.

Five well-thumbed Gaelic learning books on a wooden table beside reading glasses and a pencil.

Gaelic : I murder the pronunciation. But at least I try.

Gaelic place names regularly start conversations on our tours. Behind the unfamiliar spellings lies a story about belonging, ambition and what happens when your own language is treated as a disadvantage.

Six well-worn books about Old Norse language, literature and beliefs on a wooden table beside reading glasses and a pencil.

Old Norse in the North Highlands

A professor joined me on tour to explore the north’s Nordic heritage, and suddenly I was teaching somebody whose expertise I admired. The settlers’ language gave us plenty to talk about.

Three fictional Pictish language books with Welsh titles and Pictish symbols resting on a weathered stone above a Highland loch.

Welsh? Up here in the Highlands?

The Picts usually come as a revelation to our guests, but their language produces an even better reaction. Its connection with Welsh also brings back memories of my grandmother, whose native tongue could be distinctly intimidating.