Talk:Alba

Latest comment: 3 years ago by DeCausa in topic Pronunciation

Untitled edit

Re "the ancient and modern Gaelic name (pronounced Al-a-pah) for Scotland": I believe the name is also Irish. Gaelic refers only to Scottish Gaelic. Laurel Bush 09:57, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC).

Please see the Gaelic article. bogdan ʤjuʃkə | Talk 10:37, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

In the Alba article should it be "Gaelic", "Gaelic", "Scottish Gaelic and Irish" or what? Laurel Bush 11:03, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC).

Gaelic refers to Scottish, Irish and Manx. As for the merge with "Albion", no thanks. The etymologies are the same, but the histories are quite different.--MacRusgail (talk) 18:37, 23 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
It's an annoying one. In British usage, Gaelic /galɪk/ normally refers to Scots Gaelic; Gaelic /geɪlɪk/ normally to Irish Gaelic but that's commonly called "Irish" only. Manx Gaelic is usually just "Manx". Believe me, I live in the Gaelic "scene" ;)
It's definitely Scots Gaelic here; the spelling may be the same but in Scots Gaelic the word is /alˠ̪apə/ whereas in Irish it's /al̪əbə/. Manx is totally different, it has fused the def article and has Nalbin /nalbɪn/. Akerbeltz (talk) 15:41, 24 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Alba and Albion edit

The article says "hence Albion", suggesting Albion is the derived form. But the aticle on Albion suggests Albion is borrowed from Latin, and Alba is later derived from Albion. Maybe this could be clarified? --Doric Loon (talk) 08:46, 5 November 2009 (UTC)Reply

Well spotted. Tell me if this makes more sense now. Akerbeltz (talk) 10:47, 5 November 2009 (UTC)Reply

hmmm! Alba = white white cliffs of Dover are white Dover and it's hinterland route of Roman invasion. Perhaps, sometimes we look too hard for answers to simple questions! 89.243.48.150 (talk) 23:47, 9 May 2015 (UTC)Reply

Read the etymology section please. Akerbeltz (talk) 14:08, 10 May 2015 (UTC)Reply

Pronunciation edit

What is this "English" pronunciation we have at the beginning? This is a Gaelic word, not an English word, so only the Gaelic pronunciation should appear in the head. Of course, if English speakers are regularly pronouncing it wrongly, that could be mentioned briefly further down, but only if it realls is as thing. Until now I would have thought the word was never used in English, but Salmond's new party will change that. --Doric Loon (talk) 09:53, 29 March 2021 (UTC)Reply

Pronunciations will be mostly OR as they naturally depend on one's accent and voice. If this is a significant shibboleth then what's needed is a reliable source and a comprehensible description or recording. IPA won't do as that's gibberish to myself and most readers. Andrew🐉(talk) 10:48, 29 March 2021 (UTC)Reply

I’ve added a reliable source (Collins English Dictionary) for both. It gives the IPA for Gaelic and English. Alba is used in English, for example historians use Kingdom of Alba, to refer to Scots’ history in the High Middle Ages (we even have an article on it). IPA is standard throughout Wikipedia. If you click on the IPA representation of the pronunciation it goes through to a help page that explains it. DeCausa (talk) 16:32, 21 April 2021 (UTC)Reply