The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #12163   Message #176795
Posted By: GUEST,Philippa
11-Feb-00 - 03:23 PM
Thread Name: Exact meaning of 'Kelpie', please
Subject: RE: Exact meaning of 'Kelpie', please
Andre.
That's interesting about the kelpers. So many Gaelic-speaking Scots went to the Malvinas to herd sheep that they actually have a Gaelic name for the place, Eilean nan Caoraich (Island of the sheep). I was surprised to hear some people who were born in Argentinia speaking Gaelic on a tv series about emigration from Scotland. But it turned that either the parents returned to Scotland or else sent their children to be fostered with relatives in Scotland when the children were around about 10 years old. They did this because they lived in very remote areas of Argentina and had no educational facilities. I'd often heard of Welsh speakers in Patagonia, but that programme was the first time I heard about Argentinian Gaels.