An Solus Iùil (lit.'The Guiding Light') was a Scottish Gaelic-language religious newspaper published in the mid-1920s in Sydney, Nova Scotia, on Cape Breton Island. The paper's slogan, "Is ann ad sholus dealrach glan, chì sinne solus iùil", comes from Psalms 36:9 and translates into English as 'In a pure shining light, we will see a guiding light'.[1]

An Solus Iùil
TypeMonthly
Founded1925 (1925)
LanguageScottish Gaelic
Ceased publication1927 (1927)
CitySydney, Nova Scotia, Canada

When An Solus Iùil launched in 1925, it intended to publish monthly, but after a few months the paper's publication became less frequent. The final issue was published in 1927. Each issue was just eight-pages long and included no advertising, but was apparently supported by the United Church of Canada. It provided significant coverage of church-related news, including ministerial appointments and church meetings. Details of its ownership and editor were not made clear in the paper; the March 1925 issue indicated it was published by authority of the Church Union Council of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, but later issues lacked any such notice.[2]

Among the content published in An Solus Iùil were several còmhraidhean (lit.'conversations'), a distinctive 19th-century Gaelic literary device similar to Socratic dialogues.[3] Unlike the còmhraidhean that appeared in other Gaelic-language publications in Nova Scotia, at least two of the An Solus Iùil còmhradhean were clearly written by a Canadian author, not reprints of previous Scottish còmhraidhean, and focused on the creation of the United Church and emigration away from Nova Scotia.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Nova Scotia Historical Newspapers". Nova Scotia Archives. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
  2. ^ Dunbar, Robert (2017). "Post-Mac-Talla Gaelic Periodicals in Nova Scotia: An Assessment". Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium. 37: 92. JSTOR 45048889.
  3. ^ Kidd, Sheila, ed. (2016). Cómhraidhean nan Cnoc: The Nineteenth-Century Gaelic Prose Dialogue. Glasgow, Scotland: Scottish Gaelic Texts Society. ISBN 0-903586-08-8. OCLC 968296024.
  4. ^ Dunbar 2017, pp. 95–98.
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