I speak Irish, which at times is mutually intelligible with Scottish Gaelic. Nothing jumps out in terms of ‘hachd’ as a suffix, though it does sound a bit similar to ‘ádh’ meaning ‘luck’ - ‘ádh mór’ is a phrase roughly meaning ‘good luck’, though that is a bit tenuous at best. It may be spelled ‘achdh’ in Scottish Gaelic, though I’d need to double check that. May well be a bit of plot inclusion. I do know the Pokémon translators aren’t necessarily averse to using linguistic corruptions or ‘sounds like’s in naming things.
With ‘Righ’ being ‘king’ and ‘seann’ this is correct, though interestingly this doesn’t follow typical toponymy for Gaelic-derived place names. ‘Seann’ would generally be a prefix, not a suffix, as seen in place names like Shandon (An Sean Dún - the Old Fort). ‘Righ’ also isn’t a common inclusion in place names, though plot gives a bit of leeway here. Though it follows the general Gaelic linguistic patterns, it probably wouldn’t be a town name one would come across in Scotland (though I stand to be corrected), whilst Hulbury or Stow-on-Side would be very English names (and slightly more believable), though I suppose if it came down to simple catchiness, Righseann sounds a bit better than Seannrigh. Nonetheless, nice to see Gaelic inclusion where they probably could’ve gotten away without any.
Well done, by the way, on putting all of that together, it was an excellent read and very thorough analysis.
Uh, rather incorrect. I remember when it was announced, myself and other Irish pokemon fans were quite excited at the possibility there would be some sort of Irish inclusion, and a bit disappointed when it turned out to be a very English affair. If anything, it would probably get coverage in the national newspapers. Plus at the end of the day, it’s a fantasy kids game with no expectation of real-life adherence. Irish people are... very well aware that Ireland and Britain are geographically close, I wouldn’t expect any animosity there, and I especially wouldn’t expect any pseudo-political commentary in relation to the Northern Ireland situation. It’s hardly likely to be the sole cause of the collapse of Stormont, though I have no doubt some MLAs or TDs would dramatically misinterpret what the games are about, to hilarious results.
