Lexical influence of the 1767 Scottish Gaelic New Testament on the Manx Bible translation

Abstract

This article discusses two neologisms eaghtyrys ‘authority’ and clooisag ‘pillow’ introduced in the 1775 Manx New Testament, which incorporates a revision of the 1763 Gospels and Acts, adducing phonological, orthographical andcircumstantial evidence to show that the revisers adapted these items from Scottish Gaelic ùghdarras and cluasaig in the corresponding passages in the 1767 Scottish Gaelic New Testament. This provides further evidence for the seniorManx clergy’s interest in the other Gaelic languages, as seen also in their contact with James McLagan (Ó Muircheartaigh 2016) and John Kelly’s pan-Gaelic lexicographical enterprises (Thomson 1990).