Gaelic Word of the Week – Rùn na Bliadhna Ùire

Bliadhna mhath ùr a chàirdean – happy new year everybody!
Our first Gaelic Word of the Week for 2021 is rùn na bliadhna ùire – new year’s resolution

This is the time of year when many people make their new year’s resolution – rùn na bliadhna ùire. Have you made any this year? A lot of people have decided to make learning Gaelic or improving their Gaelic one of their rùn na bliadhna ùire for 2021. If you can count yourself as one of them, we’d like to say– glè mhath – very good! We’ll do all we can to help you through our Gaelic resources, twitter account and more!

The word rùn is an interesting one. It can mean resolution like a new year’s resolution or a motion passed by a meeting of a Parliament! Here at Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, however, we usually use the word gluasad for a motion.

Rùn can also mean someone or something you love. If you like the band Runrig, you may know the song Dùisg mo Rùn – which means “wake up my love”. 

Rùn can also mean intention or will – droch rùn is bad intention and deagh rùn is good intention or will. You might hear these in Gaelic news programmes where they discuss court cases for example.
And rùn or rùn-dìomhair can even mean a secret! 

These are a lot of meanings for such a little word but in practice it is easy to work out the meaning of Rùn from the context! It’d be a little strange to assume the Presiding Officer was talking about love, rather than a motion in the Debating Chamber for example!

If your rùn na bliadhna ùire is to work on your Gaelic, why not follow our Gaelic twitter account @ParlAlba both to help your Gaelic and learn more about Pàrlamaid na h-Alba!

And for information about all the Gaelic learning opportunities in Scotland and worldwide, check out the official one-stop shop website for Gaelic learning LearnGaelic.Scot.

This week’s Gaelic Word of the Week is Rùn na Bliadhna Ùire.

Let’s practice: 

Rùn na Bliadhna Ùire

Rùn na Bliadhna Ùire

Rùn na Bliadhna Ùire

Rùn na Bliadhna Ùire

This week’s Gaelic Word of the Week has been read by Alasdair MacCaluim, Gaelic Development Officer, whose successful Rùn na Bliadhna Ùire in 1992 was to learn Gaelic!

Gaelic Word of the Week - Rùn na Bliadhna Ùire - New Years Resolution

Sounds and interviews from the Scottish Parliament. (Please note that opinions expressed during event-related interviews are those of individuals rather than the SPCB.)

Gaelic Word of the Week - Rùn na Bliadhna Ùire - New Years Resolution

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