Some stuff on the Names Sgàthan and cyberpict

Doesn't "sgàthan" mean "mirror?"

I have waited years for someone to ask me about this and finally someone has. And the answer is, yes, as a singular word, one you would find in a lexicon, it means "mirror." As a PLURAL of "sgàth" it means "shadows," "shades," or "shelters." It does not in itself mean "shadow" in the singular.

The name Tuath nan Sgàthan was given to us when we started the group, in 1996, by Kym's Gaelic teacher. When asked for the best form of "shadows" to use for our new group, this was the one he offered. It isn't the only possibility in Scottish Gaelic, however, and is hardly the most common one in current use by speakers, apparently.

Most dictionaries give "faileas" "dubhair" "dùbhradh" "dion" "fasgadh" "fàbhar" "tearmann" "comharradh" "lorg" and "samhla" for "shadow" and "sgàil" "dubhar" "duibhre" "doirche" "duirche" "dion" "fasgadh" "sgàilean" "taibhse" and "tannasg" for "shade" (MacLennan's Gaelic Dictionary along with several online ones such as the one linked below). The same sources give "sgàthan" as "mirror." It should be noted that some of the terms for "shadow" like "fasgadh" also mean "reflection" while others like "dubhar" and "duibhre" are definitely about "darkness" specifically. This points to where the "confusion" may not be so confusing.

MacLennan's gives "sgàth" as "shelter;" "slight fear; or dread" "shade; protection"...not as "shadow" per se although "shade" is close in meaning. Other lexicon's do include "shadow" and one that is online notes the plural form: "Sgàth, or sgà, -a, -an, m. a shade, fear; a. sgàthach." (Gaelic Dictionary "s")

But frankly, I like the "mirror" concept too. It makes sense, emphasized by words like "fasgadh"...a shadow and a reflection in a mirror are basically different forms of the same thing. An image of something that it actually isn't, caused by the action of light upon that object or being. And this is one reason why the whole shadow thing worked for me, in a sort of almost Trickster sort of way. Not that we set out to deceive, of course, but that we are not always fully seen. It's an Outsider thing. So if you want to call us "Tribe of the Mirror" or our home "Mirror Fortress" that works too. ~;)

And I also like the idea that "sgàth" means "shelter" as well. The "Dùn" is our home and therefore our shelter. And with our land so wooded, there is much shelter and shadows, and many pools to be mirrors. Hmmm......

What's interesting is that because of many changes, we had been considering changing our name. Figuring that we might need something that seemed somehow more reflective (no pun intended) of our home here and what we were doing. This wasn't a big consideration in part because we couldn't come up with anything that covered enough. But now I see that "Sgàthan" actually covers it better than anything else could. I just hadn't thought about it enough until this question was brought up.

Oh, by the by, "sgath" without the grave means "lop off, chop, prune" so our name is NOT correctly spelled "Sgathan." If you are writing it and can use the marks please do. You will find us in some listings and such without them, but that is because I figured it easier to not use them than to end up with the strange variations some programs replace them with. Unfortunately many online tools are very neglectful of accent marks...even our own email host now no longer seems to accept them. Oh, and sometimes we just forget to put them in.

As for other parts of names we use, "dùn means "fortress" "fortification" "castle" and is the actual name of our home...we prefer this to the more common "ràth" in part because of "Dun Sgaith" on the Isle of Skye which many fancy to have been Sgàthach's fortress. "Tuath" means "people" "country people" or "tribe," as well as "north' and "left." Just in case you hadn't caught that. ~;) I think this is a simple concept. Tuath nan Sgàthan is the name of our group, the People of the Shadows or Tribe of the Shadows. Dùn Sgàthan is the name of the home of the founders. There may be a couple of new projects in the works all of which will have "Sgàthan" as part of the name, although they may not be clearly related.

What does Scáthach have to do with all this?

It may appear that Scáthach must be our Matron Goddess, but she is not, Macha is. Sgàthach is, instead, our spiritual Ancestor and so it is for her that we have taken this name. (In Scottish Gaelic "sg" replaces the Irish "sc" as does the grave replace the acute) We do not worship her as a Goddess nor do we believe her to be one. This may go counter to what others believe, but that is your faith and we respect it even if we don't follow it. Our belief on who Sgàthach is comes from our interpretation of her story in various translations (um, I did say I stink at the languages, right? I still need to work to the point of translating things myself) of Cú Chulainn's training with her. We feel that she is a human in these, not represented as a Goddess.

But it also has to do with personal experiences I and others have had with her. Sorry to burst the stereotypes some of you have but, yes, some Celtic Reconstructionists actually do put faith in the experiential rather than JUST books. Maybe some are the dour if-it's-not-documented-it's-BS but not all of us. HOWEVER, we CRs who do this also point out that that's what we're doing. We do not say "this is how it was because I had a vision of it"....it is OUR belief and we do not claim it is the actual fact nor do we intend to convince you. This is just to explain how we associate Scáthach, which is different than how others do and what she has to do with our family and our Tribe. We save our arguments for what's is documented. ~;)

Cyberpict? Aren't you just copying some Scottish guy?

Well, no, we're not copying him, but we do like the stuff that he is doing. Kym first used the term "cyberpict" in the early '90s, as a joke about what "label" she fit in regards to personal style. Yes, the reference is to the Picts. When she finally got online, she made an AOL account under the name then "lent" it to a friend who didn't have online access. At the time Kym already was working online as Uathach9 and AislingAACT (the latter in her work with the now defunct organization with that acronym).

Later, when trying to decide on a domain name, one that would be usable for several projects if necessary, she decided on "cyberpict" ("cruithne" was the first choice, but apparently this coincided with the finding of the astroid or whatever and every possibility was taken). This is when the folk at cyberpict.org turned up....(note the .uk part is the current url). They seem pretty cool, but we don't know them and are too shy to contact them. LOL So we should not be mistaken for them nor seen as trying to copy them. But maybe we would if we hadn't already been heading this way. Um, and living were we do, the bike only part is a bit unlikely...but we'll see.

Recently, Kym decided that Uathach was really much too young a name for her to keep using, and for now is using Cyberpict or Cyberpict9 as an unline identity.