Glenshee Ski Centre, along with The Lecht, Glen Coe and Nevis Range, began to use bilingual signage in Gaelic and English during the winter of 2008-2009. This is part of the national initiative to support the usage and acquisition of Gaelic in Scotland and delivered by Comunn na Gàidhlig with funding from Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the Scottish Government’s Gaelic development organisation.
A considerable amount of work took place with regards to Gaelic orthography, new Gaelic terms for snow sports equipment and research into place-names. In partnership with Glenshee, we hope that people will learn about Gaelic and it’s relevance to the landscape and culture of the area. We have also provided sound files so that you can hear the pronunciation of the sign texts. The following notes provide additional information on various aspects of the project.
We are indebted to Peadar Morgan of Bòrd na Gàidhlig and Dr Adam Watson for supporting us in this exercise.
![]() |
“Butchart’s Corrie was named after Col Butchart who was the Secretary to the University of Aberdeen in the late 1940s and early 1950s and was an enthusiastic downhill and cross-country skier. He discovered that the corrie was a good snow-holding hollow, before the Glenshee Chairlift Company was formed. He was Harry J. Butchart.” |
|
![]() |
“T-Bàr” was chosen as the Gaelic for “T-bar” |
|
![]() |
![]() |
The established Gaelic for The Cairnwell is An Càrn Bhalg meaning “hill of bags”. |
![]() |
The established Gaelic for Caenlochan is Cadha an Lochain meaning “pass of the lochan”. |
|
![]() |
Dr Adam Watson: |
|
![]() |
The established Gaelic for Clayboke is Cladh a’ Bhocaidh meaning “Mound of the Spectre”. |
|
![]() |
Cluanaidh is the accepted Gaelic form of several representations in English such as “Cluny” and “Clunie” |
|
![]() |
The original Gaelic form of this was An Fhionn-Choire meaning The Pale Corrie but through a process of incorrect recording of the name and subsequent developments building upon this, the newer form is An Coire Fionn, the same name but a different representation.To get “poma of the pale corrie” we used the genitive of the Coire Fionn form giving Poma an Fhionn Choire. |
|
![]() |
Using the accepted form of Glas Maol, to get “poma of the green lump” we get Poma a’ Ghlas-Mheall |
|
![]() |
The genitive form of “Meall Odhar” is a’ Mhill Odhair. Dr Adam Watson: |
|
![]() |
![]() |
A new Gaelic version. Having thought about the meaning of the name, a slope catching a lot of sun, we used “Deiseal” which usually means having a southerly aspect, which Sunnyside does not, but can mean also to have a sunwards aspect. |
![]() |
An Tom Dearg – The Red Hillock. Dr Adam Watson: “Tom Dearg just red hillock, named by Dave Patterson the former manager, not because it was a local place name on people’s lips or old records, but because it was a heathery hillock and the heather had a reddish hue at times.” |
The new Glenshee Piste Map was produced in partnership with Comunn na Gàidhlig and VisitScotland. We were aware that some of the place-names appearing on OS maps were not considered to be 100% reliable but that these had in come cases now become accepted and/or appeared in publications. Some features of the ski area are named after nearby topographical features, some after people and some after places further away. We were also keen to make it as easy as possible for non-Gaelic speakers to understand the Gaelic on the signs. The genitive case sometimes caused debate. In all cases we attempted to keep the Gaelic versions as concise as the English.
Where we give “correct Gaelic” forms of existing place-name we refer to the established Gaelic of place-names which sometimes have changed into quasi-English/Gaelic drawing on references from both languages. We give the meanings of the Gaelic forms.