More about Lismore Gaelic, publ. on the 07/07/2026

I recently, in July 2026, took a trip to the island of Lismore, and so here I will write a little more about the Gaelic dialect of Lismore and about the island’s landscapes. I had never stepped foot on Lismore before, and it did "feel" like a nice island. I saw hardly anyone, but a girl who waved at me from a car as she drove, and a cyclist, obviously not from the island, who I was tempted to ask randomly "excuse me... erm, this is the Isle of Mull isn't it?" to perplex them out of some heyoka-like sense of humour I possess, but I didn't have the chance to in the end. Something about Lismore reminded me a little of Eigg, a similar "vibe" in a sense, even though I do not think that this has any historical basis and comes down merely to my own experience, I guess. 

The trees on the island I liked in particular, hawthorns, ashes, many others. Lismore felt much more a part of the Argyll Gaelic world, Barra and Tiree for example for me feel much more orientated towards the maritime cultures of the west, including the later Vikings. Lismore not so much. The views from the island are beautiful too, particularly towards the west and northwest, where mountains rise out of Loch Linnhe, with Lismore itself of course being situated within Loch Linnhe, albeit the outer part of it. 

Other examples of the broad velarised L becoming [v] in medial positions can be seen for example in deavag - “thorn”, favadh - “empty”, eava - “swan”, eagavais - “church”, eʊnvaidh - “birds”, the standard spelling words for which are: dealg, falamh, eala, eaglais and eunlaith. An example of broad velarised L becoming [ʊ] in a medial position can be seen in the word eʊuas - “knowledge”, the standard spelling form of which is eolas. In one word at least, the broad velarised L becomes [f], in the word falt - "hair", which in Lismore Gaelic is fafd.