Sòmhairlidh or Somerled?

Why does it matter?  Because our view of our ancestors' way of life, their cultural values, and their view of themselves is clear in our ancestors' language, unclouded by the mistranslations & misinterpretations of 19th century historians.  The Internet provides access to ancient Gaelic manuscripts,  multiple translations, & Gaelic dictionaries not previously available to the public.  It allows us to take another look at the originals.

Is Somerled a Viking name and is this an indication he was of Viking lineage?   One of the first historians to address this question was Sir David Dalrymple of Hailes in his 1819 publication "The Annals of Scotland".  He wrote, "The word Somerled, say a correspondent learned in the Gaelic language, is formed by a double translation and corruption from Samuel, which the Caledonians express by Sòmherle, from which the Latins formed Sumerledus, rendered by our modern critics Somerled (It seems that the error of our modern critics consists in writing Somerled instead of Sòmherle)."  Even though this error in translation was noted by a distinguished author in 1819 the error has been repeated in virtually every modern history of the Highlands.  This is an all too common example of the 19th century attitude that the Gaelic language was not of ancient origin, but merely a corruption of English, Norse , & Latin words spoken in Ireland & the Scottish Highlands.  Many 19th century works actually referred to the Gaelic spoken in the Highlands as Irish.   Modern etymologists  have established Gaelic to be one of Europe's oldest languages contemporary with Greek & Latin.  Gaelic is older than most of the Germanic languages, and much older than English.   Like any ancient language, words from other languages have been incorporated into Gaelic as cultures collided.   There are, in fact, many Gaelic sounds & words commonly used in English.  The silent "gh" after a vowel is an example of Gaelic in English that has puzzled many a young English student.   Sòmhairlidh, also spelled  Sòmherle, is a Gaelic name, Somerled is not. 

The name Samuel is an Anglicized form of the Hebrew name שְׁמוּאֵל  (Shmul) that became a common name among British Puritans during the reformation (500 years after Sòmherle lived).  Sòmherle is an ancient Gaelic name in which the "mh" in the middle of a word is almost silent and not the "m" sound as in other languages.  In Gaelic it is pronounced "Sorley".  The ò in Gaelic indicates a very long vowel as in the English word "soar".   Because the original spelling  Sòmhairlidh ended with another silent consonant sound "dh",  it is common to see it spelled Sòmherle.   Gaelic speaking people frequently write the name as "Sorley".  That is how it is pronounced  no matter which spelling is used.  Only someone unfamiliar with Gaelic pronunciation would equate Sòmherle (Sorley) with Samuel.  They sound nothing alike.  Perhaps the "m" sound came from the addition of the Gaelic term for senior (mhòr).  Sòmhairlidh mhòr  is properly pronounced "Sorley mor" which was the most frequent way of refering to our ancestor in the Gaelic texts to diferentiate him from his son, Sòmhairlidh mac Sòmhairlidh.   Although the Samuel connection in this 1819 "Annals of Scotland" is disputable,  the explanation that "the error of our modern critics consists in writing Somerled instead of Sòmherle" is a valid criticism of a mistranslation of the Gaelic name.  A valid criticism that has been ignored for almost 200 years.

The old histories of Scotland (John of Fordun 1360, the 12th century Chronicles of Mann, Hector Boece 1527,  & George Buchanan 1579) were all written in Latin.  These histories were written for the instruction of royalty and usually twisted history to justify the politics of their royal ancestors and malign their opponents.  Each historian only briefly mentioned  Sumerledus (Latin) as a rebelious leader of Argyle who invaded Scotland in 1164.   According to an Analytic Dictionary of English Etymology the Latin suffix ledus in Sumerledus indicates a stature not quite a freeman, but just above a serf.  So the Scottish historians used  a Latin form of the name that made it clear to those reading in Latin that Sumerledus was a commoner, not of any royal pedegree.  The 1536 translation of Boece's work into Scots rendered the name "The Lord of Argyle wes callit Symmerleid."  This "Scots" version of the name literally compounds the errors of the mistranslation into Latin by doubling the "m" that was originally a silent "mh" and substituting a "y" for the Latin "u" which was originally a Gaelic "ò" thereby drastically changing the pronuciation.  The 1858 Duncan M'Callan "History of the Ancient Scots from the Shenachies" is characteristic of the evolution of the mistransition.  He began with a version of the Latin, "A young man who was a volunteer, tall in stature, and magnanimous in fight, was adopted by them. His name was Summerled" with a footnote clarifying this was Sòmharle-mor  Macghillebride.  His next reference is to Sòmharle-mor  with a footnote denoting this is Somerled and the remainder of his history uses Somerled without even a footnote.  The suffix mor or mhòr is Gaelic for senior or "the elder" as opposed to òg which means the younger or junior.  The Celts usually named their sons after their fathers or their grandparents.  Sòmharle did have a son named Sòmharle and mor or mhòr  was used to distinguish the father from his son just as we use Senior & Junior.  If someone unfamiliar with Gaelic heard a Gaelic speaker say Sòmharle mor (Sorley mor, the m in mor is pronounced as written)) it may have been confused with the Norse name Sumar liði commonly used in areas such as the Shetland Islands where Norse culture prevailed.

Fifteen years later the 1873 History of the "MacDonnells of Antrim" went into a detailed explanation that the name Somerled is composed of two Norse words, Sumar and liði, denoting "Summer soldier" not even mentioning the original Gaelic name in a footnote.  This break down of the name Somerled into two Norse words has been universally excepted and restated in almost every modern work that mentions the name Somerled.  The Norse words Sumar and liði do mean Summer soldier or sailor.  This term is believed first used to refer to a bear that hibernates in the Winter and hunts through the Summer.  Sumar liði was later used by the Norse to denote Viking raiders who, like a bear, confined their raids to the Summer.  Thorfinn Sigardsson, the Norse Earl of Orkney, had a brother named Sumarliði.  But the original name of our ancestor as recorded in Gaelic histories was not Sumarliði, Sumerledus, or Somerled.  His name was Sòmhairlidh ( or Sòmherle) mac Gillebride mhic Gilledomnán pronounced Sorley muk GiaBridje 'ic Gi'Adonan.  The Gaelic contains similar letters to the Norse Sumar liði , the Latin Sumerledus , or the English Somerled, but the Gaelic name Sòmhairlidh has an entirely different pronunciation and no etymological connection to these 19th century mistranslations.  A Scottish history renaissance of sorts began in the early 19th century which, unfortunately, proliferated the mistranslation of Sòmhairlidh as Somerled. 

All of the original Gaelic manuscripts render the name of or ancestor as various spellings of Sòmhairlidh consistently pronounced Sorley, never Somerled.  Rather than seeking the meaning of Somerled in Norwegian isn't it more relevant for us to seek to know What Sòmhairlidh means in Gaelic?  This web site is based upon Donald J. Macdonald's history Clan Donald, but we have gone back to the original Gaelic name of our ancestor rather than use the common mistranslation Somerled.