REVIEW BY CH
‘Linn gu linn, bho ainm gu ainm – “from one generation to the next, from one name to another” – people make this story what it is.’ So writes Alistair Moffat in the introduction to this energetic and imaginative history. The theme has recurring resonance over the more than 400 pages that follow; he later shares another Gaelic phrase, sometimes asked of strangers: ‘Cò às a tha thu?’ – not ‘where do you come from’, but ‘who are the people you are from?’ – and subsequently describes Highlanders at Culloden reciting the names of their forefathers as part of their battle cries. Threads of identity and human experiences are woven throughout this narrative, making even distant prehistory deeply personal.
This personal feel is not surprising; Moffatt is a writer and journalist born in the Borders, who is keenly interested in, and has published widely on, Scotland’s history and culture. His appreciation of language permeates the book – to Moffat, Gaelic-derived placenames are ‘not part of a wide scatter of wild and rainswept words few people now understand or can pronounce’, but meaningful insights into how past communities related to their landscape – and poetry, sagas, and snatches of Shakespeare frequently appear.
Landscapes are another key theme. ‘In the Highlands and Islands, geography made history’, Moffat writes, delving into how the region’s topography and weather have shaped settlement patterns, lifestyles, and migration. His interdisciplinary account draws together stories not only of antiquarians and experimental archaeologists, but also of meteorologists, geologists, and palaeoclimatologists, complemented by anecdotes from his own travels.
Language, a heritage asset