Primary Sources
C1 Hiharin hodarodo hiharin hihodrõdin C1.14: 33
G Mac, Vic Horomoid, alias McLeod Gesto’s Gathering G.4: 8
R Cruimeachadh Mich Chille Chaluim / Mac Leod of Raasay’s Gathering R.31: 23v
KB Failte na’n Gordanaich / The Gordons’ Salute KB.18: 45
SC Hi anana hi ó baróbó SC.27
Notes on Gaelic Titles
Cruinneachadh Mhic Gille Chaluim Cruimeachadh Mich Chille Chaluim / Mac Leod of Raasay’s Gathering R. MacLeod of Raasay’s Gathering. The spelling cruimeachadh is assumed to be a mistake for cruinneachadh derived from a printing error in D1: Cruimeachadh Chlaun Raonuill (PS 174).
Cruinneachadh Mhic ’ic Thormoid Mac, Vic Horomoid / McLeod Gesto’s Gathering G; Mac, Vic Tormodes Gathering GN. The MacLeods’ Gathering. By claiming the patronymic Mac Mhic Thormoid for himself, Gesto is fusing two individuals: his sixteenth-century ancestor, Tormod Coìl, the 2nd MacLeod of Gesto, and Tormod son of Leod, the thirteenth-century progenitor of the whole clan. Angus MacKay avoids this ambiguity – and Gesto’s contentious claim to the chieftainship – in his title Fàilte Fear Ghesto, ‘The Laird of Gesto’s Salute’ (PS 17). In traditional accounts, Clan MacLeod has two main branches, Sìol Thormoid, ‘the seed of Norman’ including the families of Dunvegan and Gesto, and Sìol Thoircuil, ‘the seed of Torquil’, those of Lewis and Raasay. Reid’s informant claimed this gathering for the head of Sìol Thoircuil, MacLeod of Raasay. The English title The MacLeods’ Gathering was introduced on this webpage in 2016 in order to accommodate all three competing claims, something impossible in Gaelic. MacLeod of Gesto delineates the territory of Sìol Thormoid precisely as: ‘that part of the Isle of Sky which then and still goes under the name of Shiel Toromod, alias the descendants of Toromode, being the western part of Skye consisting of the parishes of Bracadale and Minginish, Durinish and Waternish, and one half of the Parish of Snisort’ (GN.4). He does not add any Gaelic word for ‘gathering’: the addition of cruinneachadh here is conjectural. See also Cumha Mhic ’ic Thormoid (PS 136).
Fàilte nan Gòrdanach Failte na’n Gordanaich / The Gordons’ Salute KB. The Gordons’ Salute. A ‘clan’ name with ‘Gordons’ in the plural. The tune was played in competitions in 1824 and 1835, and it has been suggested that this was in honour of two brothers Lewis and Charles Gordon, who were successive secretaries of the Highland Society of Scotland which organised the competitions (PS Book 10, p. 311). It was not unknown for tunes to be renamed for a particular occasion.
Roderick Cannon (2009), rev. Barnaby Brown 2016
Other Materials
2014 Barnaby Brown: score in Campbell notation and commentary
2015 Barnaby Brown: performance on Ur silver pipes (2450 BC)