The Lynx (1)
When was the lynx last alive in
Scotland? It’s not known for certain.
People were thinking that it became
extinct thousands of years ago. But
it appears that is not correct.
There are caves in Assynt near
Inchnadamph. A skull of a lynx was
found in one of the caves. That was
in 1927. The experts were thinking
that the skull was four thousand
years old. They were thinking that
the lynx became extinct at about that
time in Britain. They were saying
that it was the wet weather that did
that.
But a correct assessment was
made of the age of the skull. They
used radiocarbon technology. And it
wasn’t that old. It was one thousand
eight hundred years old. The
weather had become wet long before
that.
A lynx bone was found in
England. Its age was assessed. The
animal died between 425 and 600
AD. And there is an old song from
the north of England in old Welsh.
They say that the poem names the
lynx.
The creature is called the
“lioncs” today. That came from
English. In old Gaelic, it was “lug”
or “lugh” that people said. The
Gaels were familiar with those
animals in olden times.
After the year 1200 AD the
word lugh does not appear in Gaelic
manuscripts. We don’t have old
stories of the lynx like we do of the
boar. We have many stories of the
wild boar.
But there is a report in English
that “lions” were at one time
plentiful in the north of Scotland.
There were no lions in Scotland,
however. Now, the Welsh for “lion”
is llew. The word is related to lugh
in Gaelic. When people were reporting that there were “lions” in
Scotland, were they meaning lynxes?
An Lioncs (1)
Cuin a bha an lioncs beò mu dheireadh
ann an Alba? Chan eil fios le cinnt. Bha
daoine a’ smaoineachadh gun deach e à
bith mìltean bhliadhnaichean air ais. Ach
tha e coltach nach eil sin fìor.
Tha uamhan ann an Asainte faisg
air Innis nan Damh. Chaidh claigeann
lioncs a lorg ann an tè de na h-uamhan.
Bha sin ann an naoi ceud deug, fichead
’s a seachd (1927). Bha na h-eòlaichean
a’ smaoineachadh gun robh an claigeann
ceithir mìle bliadhna a dh’aois. Bha iad
a’ smaoineachadh gun deach an lioncs à
bith mun àm sin ann am Breatainn. Bha
iad ag ràdh gur e an aimsir fhliuch a rinn
sin.
Ach chaidh tomhas ceart a dhèanamh air aois a’ chlaiginn. Chleachd iad
teicneòlas rèidio-charboin. Agus cha
robh e cho sean sin. Bha e mìle is ochd
ceud bliadhna a dh’aois. Bha an aimsir
air a dhol fliuch fada roimhe sin.
Chaidh cnàmh lioncs a lorg ann
an Sasainn. Chaidh aois a sgrùdadh.
Fhuair am beathach bàs eadar ceithir
cheud, fichead ’s a còig (425) agus sia
ceud (600) AC. Agus tha seann dàn à
ceann a tuath Shasainn ann an seann
Chuimris. Tha iad ag ràdh gu bheil an
dàn ag ainmeachadh an lioncs.
’S e lioncs an t-ainm air a’
chreutair an-diugh. Thàinig sin bhon
Bheurla. Anns an t-seann Ghàidhlig, ’s e
lug no lugh a bha na daoine ag ràdh. Bha
na Gàidheil eòlach air na beathaichean
sin o shean.
Às dèidh na bliadhna dà cheud
dheug (1200) chan eil am facal lugh ann
an làmh-sgrìobhainnean Gàidhlig. Chan
eil seann sgeulachdan againn dhen lugh
no lioncs mar a tha againn dhen torc.
Tha iomadh stòiridh againn dhen torc
nimhe.
Ach tha aithris ann am Beurla
gun robh “lions” uaireigin pailt ann an
ceann a tuath na h-Alba. Cha robh
leòmhainn ann an Alba, ge-tà. Nise, ’s e
a’ Chuimris air “leomhann” llew. Tha
am facal càirdeach do lugh ann an
Gàidhlig. Nuair a bha daoine ag aithris
gun robh “lions” ann an Alba, an robh
iad a’ ciallachadh lioncsaichean?
