Gaelic In Your Gob

"This book combines Michael's scholarship with humour. It showcases a delightfully gung-ho attitude to rabbit-hole dives into finer detail whilst retaining total intelligibility and reading pleasure for the person discovering the Scottish Gaelic language for the very first time or simply looking for a good old wander onto a less-beaten etymological track ... If your sights have been set on acquiring Scottish Gaelic, you couldn't make a better start than this little book, showing that for all its seeming exotic remoteness to the modern English speaker, a surprising number of our Gaelic words have in fact been in your gob all along."

- dhamh " Broin, Gaelic Consultant for Outlander

"His careful scholarship and characteristically engaging style are on full display. While the etymological notes the book offers are thoughtful and intriguing, they serve most notably as a vehicle for the author's illuminating insights into the cultural, historical, and linguistic interplay between Gaelic-, Scots-, and English-speaking communities."

- Dr. Ian Clayton, Associate Professor of Linguistics, University of Nevada, Reno

"Michael Newton's study of the Gaelic element in modern English and Scots is a book with impact. He gives a masterly account of the history of Scottish Gaelic, a language of inspired poets and songwriters, before going on to previous discussion (some of it enthusiastic but eccentric) of the Celtic element in English. The main part of his book provides analysis of nearly fifty important borrowings, word by word. Some of them (banshee, coronach, loch, slogan, whisky) are familiar. Others (dulse, ingle, jilt) will come as a surprise even to professional linguists. Clearly written, and yet underpinned by reference to the latest research, Michael Newton's survey will be essential not only to academic researchers, but to anyone with a love of Scotland's Highland heritage and the languages of Scotland and beyond."

- Dr. Andrew Breeze, Professor of Linguistics, University of Navarra