Re: Gaelic spelling
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In reply to:
Gaelic spelling
7/24/01
I guess in the first place, it has to be recognized that standardizations in spelling are fairly recent. For English, the early 17th century was the key era, with the printing press making Shakespeare and the King James' Version of the Bible both becoming 'bestsellers'. Even so, if you have seen documents of the 17th and 18th centuries, you will realize that spelling was often a matter of personal preference, and even one person would use different variations within the same document. Even today, there are differences between English-speaking nations.
This is probably why you find so many variations of Murray. While the 'English' version has been standardized, the Gaelic versions would not have widespread use, and would not be subject to standardization.
Having said that, the Duke of Atholl is known, in Gaelic, as something like 'Am Mhuireadch Mor': The Great Murray. I am not certain of the spelling, and I tried searching for an example, but it is my feeling that whatever spelling His Grace chooses for that particular title would be the 'correct' one. It's like the belt and buckle badge. There are three for Murray. The mermaid from the Tullibardines, the semi-savage from the Stewarts of Atholl, and the peacock's head from older times. The badge used by the clan is that favoured by the Duke of Atholl, and in the past decades has changed with each succession, with the mermaid being most recently accepted.
So, if you can find out which spelling the new Duke uses, you should have what is nominally the correct version.
Thomas A. Murray