Tâigael, part 2
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[This is a guest post by Chau Wu]
As you may be aware, the Taiwan Presbyterian Church (TPC) (Zhǎnglǎo jiàohuì 長老教會) was first planted by British missionaries in Tainan. One of the most important pioneers among them was the Scottish missionary Rev. Thomas Barclay who worked in Taiwan-Fu (Tainan). He was born in Glasgow, and matriculated at the University of Glasgow. While there, he studied under Sir William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin [according to Wikipedia]. I always associated the celebrated Lord Kelvin with the absolute zero degree in physical chemistry and the cable equation (the underpinning of the Transatlantic cable).
The majority of Taiwanese Christians are Presbyterian. Those who are aware of the church history always associate the solid establishment of TPC with Barclay, and his name shows up in Barclay Memorial Park and Barclay Memorial Church in Tainan City. The following picture shows the church with his name on the lintel above the door of the church in POJ: Tai-Lam Tang-Mng Pa-Khek-Le Ki-Liam Kau-Hoe (sorry, I cannot enter the POJ letters with the laptop I am using). You see there are no Sinographs such as the expected 台南東門巴克禮紀念教會 on it! Only the Romanized Taiwanese script. Since Barclay was a Scot, I would say this title on the church lintel may qualify as another example of Tai-gaelic.
On a personal note: The Northern branch of TPC was founded by Rev. George Mackay, a Scottish-Canadian who received the Dr. Theol. from Princeton Theological Seminary. (Here's another Tai-gaelic for you, albeit a generation or two removed from Scotland.) My grandfather was the second earliest of his many students and was among the first 5 Taiwanese of northern Taiwan to receive baptism from him at Tamsui. The Presbyterian church at Tamsui has a stone plaque recording this event.
Tai-gaelic in the spread of gospel to the Far East. How fortunate is my family!
Selected readings
- "Pinyin: the proof is in the pudding" (7/8/25)
- "The politico-cultural implications of Taiwanese romanization" (3/12/25) — lengthy, essential bibliography of posts on Hoklo, writing with POJ, etc.
- "Confessions of an Ex-Hokkien Creationist" (9/20/16) — highlly informative about POJ, Hokkien, etc.
- "Tâigael" (7/4/25)