Dundee, Dùn Dè, or is it Dùn Deagh?
Posted in Curiosities, Dundee at 12:00 on 9 December 2019
Last summer we were in Dundee and when walking past the Railway Station I spotted this platform sign. It has ‘Dundee’ in both English and Gaelic. I couldn’t tell you when Gaelic was last spoken in Dundee on a daily basis.
On coming back the other way I noticed that above the entrance to the station the sign has the Gaelic phrase, “Faìlte gu stèisean Dùn Deagh,” under the English, “Welcome to Dundee Station.”
My knowledge of Gaelic is not even hazy so is there a reason for there to be two spellings of ‘Dundee’ in Gaelic, Dùn Dè on the platform, Dùn Deagh on the entrance? Or do they just make it up as they go along?
There was an exhibition from the archives of the Dundee Publisher D C Thomson at Dundee’s McManus Galleries on at the time. D C Thomson were/are publishers of the comics The Beezer, The Topper, The Beano and The Dandy as well as Dundee based newspaper The Courier plus The Sunday Post – which gave us Oor Wullie and The Broons. The gallery was temporarily renamed The McMenace in tribute to The Dandy‘s denizen Dennis the Menace.
Dundee is proud of the D C Thomson legacy. There is a statue of Desperate Dan and his dog in the city centre.
One of the exhibits was this montage of comic characters set against the backdrop of the Galleries:-
D C Thomson’s offices overlooked the playground of Dundee High School. The writers and drawers of The Bash Street Kids apprently took inspiration from the goings-on there!
Comic characters and Dundee High School:-
Tags: D C Thomson, Dùn Dè, Dùn Deagh, Dundee, Dundee High School, Gaelic, McManus Galleries, Oor Wullie, The Beano, The Beezer, The Broons, The Courier, The Dandy, The McMenace, The Sunday Post, The Topper
