Vocabulary Variations
'Beartach' is used for 'rich' in a crescent from Argyll, through Perthshire, Speyside and north into Sutherland, although there is a wide area near Inverness and easter Ross where both 'beartach' and 'saoibhir' are used. This crescent is similar to that seen for the traditional use of Lomg E (see above), though it does not include Islay, Arran and perhaps southern Kintyre. It is seen to a greater extent with the use of 'bruadar' (dream) instead of 'aisling', the word most commonly used in the islands and mainland north of the Great Glen. Since the outer area for long E was thought by Kenneth Jackson to be the more conservative use, it may be that 'bruadar' and 'beartach' are more traditional words than the more innovative 'saoibhir' and 'aisling'.
The 'Inverness' maps show that the most widespread pronunciation of the town's name sounds like 'innerneesh'. The Outer Hebrides show the biggest exception to this, with 'eraneesh' being found in Lewis, with an extension over Minch into north Sutherland. The form used in Harris, the Uists and Benbecula with Glendale in Skye, directly across the Little Minch from Uist, is 'elaneesh'. However, Barra and southern South Uist conform to the mainland norm. In Easter Ross, the Black Isle and near Inverness itself, both the 'n' and 'v' are absent, giving a pronunciation something like 'eeorneesh' There are two small areas where 'inverneesh' is found - both remote from the town itself viz., Arran and northern Sutherland - perhaps including Gaelic areas of Caithness (there is, however, only one sample from Caithness in the Survey).
Move the cursor onto the map to see the second word: click and hold to see the third word
cow/liver/otter
rich/dream/wick
It can be seen from four of the maps in this section that 'beartach' (rich), 'bruadar' (dream), 'buaic' (wick) and 'mart' (cow) form a crescent on the east of the Gaelic speaking area of the Survey. In the case of 'beartach' this word is used along with 'saoibhir' in a large area adjacent to Inverness, thus completing to the crescent. One anomaly is found in Arran where 'saoibhir' and 'aisling' are the preferred words for 'rich' and 'dream' respectively, seemingly against the trend of the peripheral crescent. In the case of 'liver', there is a distinct north/south division, with 'àdha' being used on Lewis and north of a line from Kyle of Loch Alsh to Inverness, and with 'grùthan' being used in the rest of the Hebrides and south of this line.
In the section on 'Long -E' (above) it was noted that Kenneth Jackson (see refs) suggested an outer periphery for innovation starting from a central core, in Ross-shire. It could be that the crescent seen with the above words could also represent a zone where conservative use of a word has persisted. It seems unlikely that change could have have been initiated from the periphery to work inwards.
For 'otter' the Survey shows many blank spaces, especially in the eastern Highlands. This will be due, firstly to the relative lack of Gaelic speakers in the eastern Highlands at the time of the Survey (1950-1963) but also to the probability these Gaelic speakers living remote from the sea will possibly have been less familiar with the otter (though, of course, there are river otters!) The most common name for the animal is 'biasd-dubh', particularly in the north-west Highlands and outer Hebrides. A reverse form of the lack of entries in the Survey is found with the word for 'rowan' (not illustrated) - there are many blanks this time on the outer islands where the species is fairly uncommon, but widespread in the eastern Highlands.