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Ruairidh MacLeòid's avatar

What a fascinating introduction to the cultural life of mediaeval Gaeldom: tapadh leat a Mhìcheil! It raises many questions: were poets in Scotland and Cornwall able to communicate across the barrier imposed by their diverging dialects of Gaelic? Was poetry produced in the Isle of Man and Brittany and who patronised its exponents? Did bagpiping feature in the cultural life of Linn an Àigh or was it confined to the Linn nan Creach which followed?

Michael Newton's avatar

Tapadh leibh!

Gaelic and Cornish are opposite sides of the P-Q / Goidelic-Brythonic divide, and therefore haven’t been mutually intelligible since about the end of Antiquity. See https://gaelicmichael.substack.com/p/exploring-celtic-civilizations-linguistic

Bagpipes were new arrivals at the outset of Linn nan Creach, so bagpipes as a musical instrument only matured into its own Gaelic musical tradition at a fairly late stage.

See https://www.academia.edu/284031/The_Keening_of_Women_and_the_Roar_of_the_Pipe_From_Clàrsach_to_Bagpipe_1600_1782