There are a couple of nicknames Jamie Fraser uses for Claire in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. One, is "Sassenach," which means foreigner or English person. And another is Mo Nighean Donn, which means "my brown-haired lass." It's the latter term that Starz has showcased for their latest "Speak Outlander Lesson.
Introduced by Gaelic expert Adham O Broin, the video incorporates fans' attempts to pronounce Mo Nigean Donn. Actors Graham McTavish and Gary Lewis, who play brothers Dougal and Colum MacKenzie in the Starz series, aren't impressed. Fortunately, Sam Heughan is there to help, offering a sultry tone to his pronunciation, which sounds like mo-neein-down. Drop your voice and raise your eyebrow ever so slightly and you could be Jamie Fraser.
Colum and Dougal approve!
As Sassenach is another nickname Jamie uses when he addresses Claire, it's fitting that one of the previously released Outlander lessons would focus on that one:
Starz doesn't need to go out of its way to whet fans' appetites for this series. Ronald D. Moore's adaptation of Gabaldon's novel is already hugely anticipated by fans of the books. Still, it's great that the premium cable channel is reaching out to the fan base while the drama's first season is in production, and it'll hopefully generate some buzz to get even more people interested in it ahead if its debut.
For those who haven't read the books, the story centers on Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe), a British World War II combat nurse who's on vacation in Scotland with her husband when she visits a strange rock formation and finds herself tossed back through time to 18th century Scotland. From there, it's one adventure to the next, and she's eventually forced to marry a gallant young warrior-slash-outlaw named Jamie Fraser (Heughan). Adventure and romance ensue as Claire attempts to acclimate herself to her new surroundings and feelings develop between her and her new husband.
The last update on the production of the series was that there are four episodes completed and prepping is being done in Scotland to resume shooting. Filming is expected to get rolling again in February, and Starz is looking to get this show on the air this Summer. Hopefully early Summer, but they haven't specified. In the meantime, if you're looking to read the book, best get started on that sooner rather than later, as it's pretty long. But it's a good read and probably falls somewhere closer to historical fiction than it does romance, but there's really plenty of both. And it certainly has the potential to make a great TV series, so here's hoping!
Check out the previously released trailer below and keep up with our Outlander coverage here!
UPDATE: Regarding some rumors going around about a potential specific premiere date for the series (beyond Starz's specified Summer 2014), Starz's official Outlander Twitter goes on record as saying no premiere date has been released yet:
