An Litir Bheag 991

Bidh sibh eòlach air an fhacal cathair. Seo na chanas am faclair Brìgh nam Facal: Cathair: Suidheachan, mar as trice le cùl; sèithear.

Thathar a’ smaoineachadh gun tàinig am facal cathair a-steach don Ghàidhlig bhon Laidinn cathedra. Tha am faclair Laidinn agam ag innse seo dhomh: Cathedra: armchair, sedan chair, teacher’s chair. Thàinig chair agus cathedral a-steach don Bheurla bho cathedra.

Tha seo ann am faclair Dwelly: Cathair: chair, seat, bench, throne. Tha ciall eile air an fhacal, ge-tà. A rèir Dwelly – town, city, fortified city. A bheil sin na iongnadh? Cha bu chòir a bhith. Oir tha ceangal ann eadar cathair agus baile-mòr. Bha cathair a’ seasamh airson cathedra – a’ chathair mhòr anns am biodh easbaig na shuidhe. Ann an cuid de dhùthchannan, b’ e ‘baile-mòr’ no city baile anns an robh easbaig suidhichte. Ann am Beurla, canaidh sinn cathedral ri eaglais dhen t-seòrsa sin. Agus dè a’ Ghàidhlig air cathedral? Tha – cathair-eaglais.

Mar sin, tha cathair leatha fhèin a’ ciallachadh ‘city’ cuideachd. Cathair no cathair-bhaile. Airson ‘the city centre’, canaidh sinn meadhan a’ bhaile, meadhan a’ chathair-bhaile no meadhan na cathrach.

Tha am facal cadair no cader ann an Cuimris a’ ciallachadh ‘chair’ ach cuideachd ‘stronghold, fort or mountain shaped like a chair’. Tha beinn ainmeil anns a’ Chuimrigh air a bheil Cader Idris. Tha sin a’ ciallachadh Cathair Idris. B’ e Idris an dàrna cuid famhair ann am beul-aithris no prionnsa Cuimreach anns na meadhan-aoisean – Idris ap Gwyddno. Tha cader no cadair ann an Cuimris car coltach ri cathair ann an Gàidhlig. Agus thàinig an dà fhacal bhon aon fhreumh – cathedra ann an Laidinn. 

Ach a bheil am facal cathair a’ nochdadh ann an co-cheangal ri cnuic no beanntan ann an ainmean-àite Gàidhlig mar a tha sa Chuimrigh? Uill, tha – agus bheir sinn sùil orra an-ath-sheachdain.

You’ll know the word cathair. Here’s what the dictionary Brìgh nam Facal says: Cathair: Suidheachan, mar as trice le cùl; sèithear.

It’s thought that the word cathair came into Gaelic from the Latin cathedra. My Latin dictionary tells me this: Cathedra: armchair, sedan chair, teacher’s chair. ‘Chair’ and ‘cathedral’ came into the English language from cathedra.

This is what is in Dwelly’s dictionary: Cathair: chair, seat, bench, throne. The word has another meaning, however. According to Dwelly – town, city, fortified city. Is that a surprise? It shouldn’t be. Because there is a connection between cathair and ‘city’. Cathair stands for cathedra – the throne on which a bishop would sit. In some countries a ‘city’ is a town in which a bishop is situated. In English, we call a church of that nature a ‘cathedral’. And what is the Gaelic for cathedral? Cathair-eaglais.

Thus, cathair on its own also means ‘city’. Cathair or cathair-bhaile. For ‘the city centre’, we say meadhan a’ bhaile, meadhan a’ chathair-bhaile or meadhan na cathrach.

The word cadair or cader in Welsh means ‘chair’ but also ‘stronghold, fort or mountain shaped like a chair’. There is a famous mountain in Wales called Cader Idris. That means Cathair Idris. Idris was either a giant in oral tradition or a Welsh prince in the middle ages – Idris ap Gwyddno. Cader or cadair in Welsh is rather like cathair in Gaelic. And both words came from the same root – cathedra in Latin.

But does the word cathair appear in connection with hills or mountains in Gaelic place names as it does in Wales? Well, yes – and we’ll have a look at them next week.