A retired solicitor who translated the whole of the Bible into Doric has said he is “absolutely delighted” to be recognised in the New Year Honours list.
Gordon M Hay spent 17 years translating the New Testament and then the Old Testament into Doric, the first time the whole text has ever been changed into any variant of the Scots language.
The Old Testament translation was published last year while the New Testament version came out in 2012, comprising more than 800,000 words between them.
Mr Hay becomes a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to the promotion of the Doric language, which is spoken in north east Scotland.
He said: “I am absolutely delighted and greatly honoured. I am the first person ever to have translated the whole of the Bible into any variant of the Scots language, the whole Bible had never been translated into Scots in its entirety before so I think that perhaps was the main thing.”
Mr Hay grew up in a Doric speaking family in Inverkeithny in what was then Banffshire and is now Aberdeenshire.
He first began translating the Bible when the Buchan Heritage Society, which used to hold an annual Doric service, asked him to translate in 2006 because the person who usually did it was unwell.
Mr Hay, a member of the society, said: “I was asked to translate the two passages for that service, and I enjoyed doing it, and I just dabbled.
“Six years later, I had dabbled my way through the whole of the New Testament, and then seeing how well it was received, I decided to continue and try to complete the Old Testament as well.”
His work has drawn royal attention as he has had two invitations to read at Crathie Kirk near Balmoral by the then Prince of Wales, who had read about the translations in the local press.
He met Charles on both occasions.
The 71-year-old, co-founder and treasurer of the Doric Board, has also been invited to read passages to the Scottish Parliament as part of their time for reflection on a Tuesday afternoon.
He has translated a wide variety of texts, including a chapter from The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, and Caligula’s speech as recorded by Roman historian Tacitus for a new play.
He also wrote a book of nursery rhymes in Doric which won the Scots Bairns Book of the Year award in 2022.
The father-of-three, who has four grandchildren, was also asked to translate Handel’s Messiah into Doric by the University of Aberdeen.
Mr Hay, who was a solicitor in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, before his retirement, also keeps busy playing the organ at churches around the north east and sings with Ugie Voices in Longside.
He has been a Church of Scotland elder for more than 30 years.
