What defines a Scottish Clan? w/ Dr. Murray Pittock

[@jamesmonoghan1281]

Kin is everything.

[@IrishMedievalHistory]

Exciting stuff! I would love to ask more questions. I have a very poor understanding of Scotland's history, but it’s very interesting that there are so many similarities between the Gaelic world in the north and west of Ireland and the Anglo-Irish in the east and south of the island, similar to the relationship between the Highlands and Lowlands in Scotland.

[@thescottishclans]

First of all, huge fan of your channel! Thanks for your perspective. I never considered that parallel but I believe there's some real substance to it.

[@IrishMedievalHistory]

@@thescottishclans thank you so much. Ya so do I!!

[@threezerol944t]

This was a fascinating conversation. The original vid was pretty lengthy. So much i want to comment on, but where to begin. Hope you will continue to break it down into segments. Still trying to prove(or disprove) my lineage to clan MacNicol through Nixon. Im R-L21. Its looking more, and more like they may not have been Strathclyde, but Dal Riada. Which depending on the time period Skye was part of. The oldest record i have is 1509. Nicks marriage record to Murphy. This lines up exactly with Henry 8 conquest of Eire.

[@threezerol944t]

I think of the border clans adopting english so early much like the Southern US border. It just makes sense to adopt Spanish, and be multilingual. Most of them wouldnt have had much need for gaelic on the border. It would at would at least seem there must have been some Gaelic speakers amongst them tho, to at least be able to communicate with other kindreds back on Skye still at Scorrybreac. For Nixon's at least, they may have never spoke Gaelic if they were from Strathclyde. They would've been Brithonic Celts. Which doesn't seem to mesh with me being P-312/ R-L21. I believe this is also in partly why the Crozier-Nixon-Elliot had the loyalties to kindred, and not crown or govt. It also seems Nixons were sent to the borderlands by the chief from Scorrybreac in the 1300 as warriors to give the English trouble. Which is exactly what they did. Nixons are describe as a"loose band". Never became their own clan, and never a sept of any other border clan. Seems this is because their loyalties were to Scorrybreac/kindred. Like you said, sorting the academic stuff, and what Google says is complex. I may never reach the bottom of this rabbit hole. Nicolson is also MacNicol. Seems there are two lines of Nicolson. Scottush, and Irish. Once again, this would also seem to circle back to Dal Riada..

[@williamleath2798]

Hi, my surname is Leath, 5 generations before was "Leith" Question #1. Do you know if Leith was a clan? Google says some places no, and other places yes. Question #2. Theres many versions on google to tje ancestry of the Leith, some say Flemish, French, Celtic, etc. Do you know any?

[@TheEggmaniac]

I live near Leith, in Scotland. Its a port that is part of the city of Edinburgh. It was once a separate town. It has a long maritime history. I believe the origin of name is Gaelic for 'broad river.' Which would make sense as its situated on the Firth of Forth, which a is very broad estuary. So I m guessing that the name Leith could mean one of your ancestors came from the town of Leith. They may not have been part of clan called Leith, but took the place name, as their surname. Which often happened in the middle ages. Gaelic place names appear around the area of Edinburgh. But Gaelic was only spoken in that area for a relatively short time, of about 200 hundred years in the 9th and 10th century. After this Scots became the dominant language there.

[@williamleath2798]

@TheEggmaniac i appreciate the info. Sounds great you live near Leith.