The expansion and contraction of Gaelic in medieval Scotland: the onomastic evidence

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The project investigates the evidence of names, primarily place-names, for Gaelic in medieval Scotland, focusing on areas of eastern and southern Scotland, between the high and low tide-marks of Gaelic's medieval expansion and contraction. It does this through the comprehensive analysis of the place-names of a region, Fife, where Gaelic ceased to be the dominant language in the 13th century. The methodology employed there will then be used to produce a comparative examination of the whole study-zone with regard to social context, regional variation and linguistic contacts in a remote and text-poor period.