Note: this topic is from 08/11/2017. Thanks Theoria.
Posted on 08/11/2017 8:54:38 AM PDT by Theoria
Thousands of Italians emigrated to Scotland in the 20th Century, but it seems that 400 years earlier a group of Scots may have settled in a village in the Italian Alps. So local legend has it… And there are plenty of signs to suggest that maybe, just maybe, it's true.
High up in the mountains of northern Italy, just a few kilometres from the Swiss border, the people of the tiny village of Gurro speak a strange dialect, incomprehensible even to the other villages in the same valley.
They have peculiar surnames, and the women's traditional costume features a patterned underskirt that looks suspiciously like tartan.
One possible explanation is that their forefathers include a unit of Scottish soldiers - the Garde Ecossaise - who served the French King, Francis I, and were defeated with him at the Battle of Pavia, near Milan, in February 1525.
The story goes that while trying to make their way home the Scots stopped in Gurro, where they got snowed in for the winter. Many locals believe they never left.
"I've heard talk about this story since I was a child," says Alma Dresti, who was born and bred in Gurro.
"I know it's probably at least part legend but I like to believe in it and I do think there could be some truth in it.
"I like to imagine those strapping young soldiers trying to return home, stopping here, and liking it so much they stayed even once spring had come."
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Anyone named something like “McLeodalini” might be suspect.
OTOH, there is “Campbell” - which derives from “campo bella."
Same thing happened to me on a train in France. A guy said something, and I told him, “Sorry, don’t speak German”. He said, “ahm spikkin English ya blewdy bahstahd.” ONce I realized he was scottish, I could understand him.
I’ll be on the lookout for that.
I just heard a lot of gutteral sounds that sounded like acch and agh and words I didn’t understand, and (I am usually very good at recognizing languages even if I don’t speak them) I thought it was German. He ended up being a good guy. I hope the Scots never lose that accent, the way southerners are losing theirs from TV and in-migration. I would miss both.
It sure would explain some of the redheads in the family.
“The spirit of Scotia reigns fearless and free”
Not the Scots of today, who have embraced socialism and dependence. They pine to free themselves of Great Britain to then eagerly submit to the EU.
Note: this topic is from 08/11/2017. Thanks Theoria.
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