Iseabail Macleod Explained

Iseabail Macleod
Honorific Suffix:	MBE
Birth Date:	27 May 1936
Birth Place:	Dalmuir
Death Date:	15 February 2018
Death Place:	Edinburgh
Occupation:	Lexicographer, editor

Iseabail C. Macleod (27 May 1936 – 15 February 2018) was a Scottish lexicographer.

Early life

Iseabail C. Macleod was born in Dalmuir, in West Dunbartonshire. Her parents were native Gaelic speakers. Her father was a policeman. In childhood, she was evacuated with her mother and younger brother Iain to Achiltibuie in the Scottish Highlands, for safety during World War II. She completed a master's degree in languages at the University of Glasgow in 1957.^[1]

Career

Iseabail Macleod taught languages in schools in Austria and Scotland as a young woman, but soon moved into editorial work. She began working on dictionaries during a job at reference publisher William Collins and Sons in Glasgow, and moved to Edinburgh in 1975, as editor at another reference publisher, W & R Chambers, and then became a freelance editor.

She was Editorial Director of the Scottish National Dictionary Association from 1986 to 2002.^[2] In that role, she oversaw the technological transitions that brought the Scots School Dictionary onto CD-ROM, for classroom use. "There are many things which you can say in Scots which are much more difficult to express in English," she explained of the dictionary's value for young learners.^[3]

In the 2001 New Year Honours, she was named a member of the Order of the British Empire for her work on Scots dictionaries.^[4] She was also an Honorary Fellow of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies.^[5]

Personal life

Macleod was an active skier, walker and hiker until her last years.^[6] She died 15 February 2018, in Edinburgh, aged 81 years, after a stroke.^[7]

Publications

• Concise English-Scots Dictionary (1985)
• Pocket Guide to Scottish Words (1986)^[8]
• The Scots Thesaurus (1990)^[9]
• The Pocket Guide to Scottish Words (1991)^[10]
• The Wordsworth Dictionary of First Names (1995)^[11]
• Scotland : a linguistic double helix (1995)^[12]
• Edinburgh Pocket Guide (1996)^[13]
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Scotland (2004)^[14]
• The Pocket Scots Dictionary
• The Pocket Guide to Scottish Place-names (2010)^[15]
• Scotland in Definition: A History of Scottish Dictionaries (2012)^[16]
• Scots: Studies in its Literature and Language (2013)^{[17] [18]}
• Scoor-oot: A Dictionary of Scots Words and Phrases in Current Use (2015)^[19]

External links

• Remembrances of Iseabail Macleod, a page of personal tributes and links to obituary notices.
• Iseabail's list of Scots language dictionaries, Scots Language Centre.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Mackay. Margaret. Spring 2018. Iseabail Macleod MBE 1936-2018. 2020-07-24. Scottish Language Dictionaries.
2. Web site: Iseabail C. Macleod. 2020-07-25. Encyclopedia Britannica. en.
3. News: 1997-09-02. Off tae cyberspace. 52. The Guardian. 2020-07-25. Newspapers.com.
4. News: MBEs M - R. 30 December 2000. 27 February 2018. BBC News.
5. Web site: Iseabail Macleod and J. Derrick McClure (editors) :: Authors :: Birlinn Ltd.. www.birlinn.co.uk. 27 February 2018.
6. Ross. Helen. December 2018. Iseabail Macleod MBE. Scottish Ski Club Journal.
7. News: Iseabail Macleod. The Herald. 24 February 2018. 24 February 2018.
8. Book: Pocket guide to Scottish words. Macleod, Iseabail.. 1986 . 0-86267-160-4. Glasgow. 13334383.
9. Book: Macleod, Iseabail. The Scots Thesaurus. 1990. Aberdeen University Press. 978-0-08-036583-1. en.
10. Book: Macleod, Iseabail. Pocket guide to Scottish words. 1991. Chambers. 978-0-550-11834-9.
11. Book: MacLeod, Iseabail C.. The Wordsworth dictionary of first names. 1995. Wordsworth Editions. Freedman, Terry.. 1-85326-366-4. Ware. 60273434.
12. Book: Macleod, Iseabail.. Scotland : a linguistic double helix.. MacNeacail, Aonghas.. 1995. 90-74851-18-5. [Brussels]. 45050699.
13. Book: MacLeod, Iseabail. Edinburgh Pocket Guide. 1996. Colin Baxter. 978-1-900455-01-5. en.
14. Book: The illustrated encyclopedia of Scotland. 2004. Lomond. Macleod, Iseabail.. 1-84204-028-6. Edinburgh. 56645438.
15. Book: Grant. Alison. The Pocket Guide to Scottish Place-Names. Macleod. Iseabail. 2010-03-25. Scaramouche. 978-1-899471-00-3. en.
16. Book: Scotland in definition : a history of Scottish dictionaries. 2012. John Donald. Macleod, Iseabail., McClure, J. Derrick.. 978-1-906566-49-4. Edinburgh. 773430813.
17. Book: Kirk. John M.. Scots: Studies in its Literature and Language. Iseabail Macleod. 2013-10-01. Rodopi. 978-94-012-0990-8. en.
18. Web site: Scott. Paul Henderson. 10 August 2012. Word Power. 2020-07-25. Scottish Review of Books.
19. Book: Stevenson. James A. C.. Scoor-oot : a dictionary of Scots words and phrases in current use. Macleod. Iseabail. 17 December 2015. 978-1-4742-4720-7. London. 927168835.