"Ailein duinn" ("Dark-haired Alan") is a traditional

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well as ...

song for solo female voice, a lament that was written for Ailean Moireasdan ("Alan Morrison") by his fiancée, Annag Chaimbeul ("Annie Campbell"). Ailean Moireasdan was a sea captain from the isle of

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. In the spring of 1788, he left

Stornoway Stornoway (; gd, Steòrnabhagh; sco, Stornowa) is the main town of the Western Isles and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland. The town's population is around 6,953, making it by far the largest town in the Outer Hebrides, as well a ...

to go to Scalpay,

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, where he was to be engaged to Annag Chaimbeul ("Annie Campbell"). Unfortunately, they sailed into a storm and all the crew sank with the vessel, off the coast of the

Shiant Islands The Shiant Islands (; gd, Na h-Eileanan Mòra or ) or Shiant Isles are a privately owned island group in the Minch, east of Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. They are southeast of the Isle of Lewis.Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) ''Collins ...

. The broken-hearted Annag wasted away through grief and composed this lament for her lost love. Annag lost her will to live and died a few months afterwards. Because there was not enough soil on the barren island of Scalpay, her father took her in her coffin by boat to a cemetery on the main island of Harris. However, a storm caused the coffin to be blown off her father's boat and it washed up on the same island her fiancé's body had been found.

Lyrics

There are many versions of the lyrics and of the melody; the following version was used in the film '' Rob Roy'' (the untranslated words are

vocables In the broadest sense of the word, a vocable is any meaningful sound uttered by people, such as a word or term, that is fixed by their language and culture. Use of the words in the broad sense is archaic and the term is instead used for utterances ...

): :Rob Roy version :Gura mise tha fo éislean :Moch sa mhaduinn is mi 'g éirigh :Sèist: :Ò hì shiùbhlainn leat :Hì ri bhò hò ru bhì :Hì ri bhò hò rinn o ho :Ailein Duinn, ò hì shiubhlainn leat :Ma 's e 'n cluasag dhut a' ghaineamh :Ma 's e leabaidh dhut an fheamainn :Ma 's e 'n t-iasg do choinnlean geala :Ma 's e na ròin do luchd-faire :Dh'òlainn deoch ge b' oil le càch e :De dh'fhuil do choim 's tu 'n déidh do bhathadh :English translation :How sorrowful I am :When I rise early in the morning :Chorus (after each verse): :Ò hì, I would go with you :Hì ri bhò hò ru bhì :Hì ri bhò hò rinn o ho :Brown-haired Alan, ò hì, I would go with you :If the sand be your pillow :If the seaweed be your bed :If the fish are your candles bright :If the seals are your watchmen :I would drink, though all would abhor :Of your heart's blood after you were drowned

References

"Sea Room. An Island Life in the Hebrides" by Adam Nicholson.

External links

* *
Background story, words and translation, School of Scottish Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ailein Duinn Harris, Outer Hebrides Songs released posthumously Scottish folk songs Scottish Gaelic music Scottish Gaelic poems