Malcolm MacFarlane

Portrait included in ‘Modern Gaelic Bards’, ed. Malcolm C. MacLeod (Stirling: Eneas Mackay, 1908).

Malcolm MacFarlane | Calum MacPhàrlain (30 November 1853, Kilmun Farm, Dalavich, Argyll – 22 February 1931, Greenock) was a scholar, author, and poet. His parents moved from Argyll to Paisley where he was brought up and remained there throughout his life, working as a who worked as a land surveyor.

MacFarlane was a Secretary and President of Gaelic Society of Glasgow, an active member of An Comunn Gàidhealach, and author of studies of Gaelic phonetics, music, literature, and a translator from Gaelic into English. He composed numerous songs for which he made both the tune and the lyrics.

His contributions to Erskine’s periodicals included essays on Gaelic literature and music, selections of songs, and translations from Kuno Meyer‘s anthologies of Old Irish literature into modern Scottish Gaelic.

Publications in Erskine’s Periodicals

Guth na Bliadhna

  • ‘Dan Liuir’ [ballad, GD], Volume IV, Issue 3 (Summer 1907)
  • ‘A’ Chànain Ghàidhlig is an Sluagh d’am Buin I’ [essay, GD], Volume IV, Issue 4 (Autumn 1907)
  • ‘Òran na Comhachaig (The Song of the Owl)’ [song with commentary, GD], Volume V, Issue 2 (Spring 1908)
  • ‘The Bagpipe and the Gael’ [essay, ENG], Volume V, Issue 3 (Summer 1908) – Volume V, Issue 4 (Autumn 1908) [two parts]
  • ‘Bàrdachd an Latha ’n Diugh’ [essay, GD], Volume V, Issue 4 (Autumn 1908) – Volume VII, Issue 3 (Summer 1910) [8 parts]
  • ‘The Teaching of Gaelic in Schools’ [letter, ENG], Volume VI, Issue 4 (Autumn 1909)
  • ‘An t-Ollamh Sasunnach’ [song with commentary, GD], Volume VI, Issue 4 (Autumn 1909)
  • ‘Allaban Uilics Mhic Laertes’ [prose, GD; Old Irish tale published by Kuno Meyer, translation into Gaelic presented by C. M. P.], Volume VII, Issue 3 (Summer 1910)
  • ‘Ceòl-seinn na Tuatha anns na Trì Cànainean’ [essay; GD], Volume VIII, Issue 1 (Winter 1911) – Volume VIII, Issue 4 (Autumn 1911) [four parts]
  • ‘Bàrdachd nam Ban’ [essay; GD], Volume X, Issue 3 (Summer 1913) – Volume XI, Issue 1 (Spring 1914) [three parts]
  • ‘Òran as an Làmh-sgrìobhainn a Tha Ainmichte air Feàrnaig’, Volume X, Issue 1 (Winter 1913)

Alba I

  • ‘Òran nan Croitearan’ [song, GD], Issue 11 (18 April 1908)
  • ‘Creachadh nan Èiphiteach’ [article, GD], Issue 13 (2 May 1908), Issue 14 (9 May 1908), Issue 18 (6 June 1908)
  • ‘Dòmhnull MacEacharn, Nach Maireann’ [obituary, GD], Issue 17 (30 May 1908)
  • ‘A’ Chànain Ghàidhlig is an Sluagh d’am Buin I’ [article, GD], Issue 18 (6 June 1908) & Issue 21 (27 June 1908), originally published in Guth na Bliadhna
  • ‘Ghabh na Fir Ùra’ [song, GD], Issue 19 (13 June 1908)
  • ‘Croitearan Bhatarsaidh: Iorram’ [song, GD], Issue 25 (25 July 1908)
  • ‘Creachadh nan Èiphiteach’ [letter, GD], Issue 25 (25 July 1908)
  • ‘“I” agus “Innis”’ [letter, GD], Issue 40 (7 November 1908), Issue 43 (28 November 1908)
  • ‘Flaitheanas is Ifrinn’ [letter, GD], Issue 46 (19 December 1908)

An Sgeulaiche

  • ‘O Fair a-nall am Botul’ [song with score, GD], Volume I, Issue 2 (October 1909)
  • ‘Na Leigibh Dimeas air Alba’ [song with score, GD], Volume I, Issue 3 (November 1909)
  • ‘Co Dhiubh Thogainn Fonn Mo Leannain’ [song with score, GD], Volume I, Issue 4 (December 1909)
  • ‘An Rìgh ’s an Dithreabhach’ [poetry, GD; translated from Old Gaelic into English by Kuno Meyer; to Scottish Gaelic by C. M. P.], Volume II, Issue 1 (Spring 1910)
  • ‘Liadain agus Cuirithir’ [prose, GD; Old Irish story published by Kuno Meyer; translated into Scottish Gaelic by C. M. P.], Volume II, Issue 2 (Summer 1910)

An Ròsarnach

  • ‘Cùis-Uamhais’ [story for children, GD], Vol. IV (1930)

The Scottish Review

  • ‘After the Battle’ [poetry, SC; notes by C. M. P.], Issue 88, Volume 40 (Winter 1917), reprint from The Farm Servant

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