THE RACES OF IRELAND
AND SCOTLAND
r o
%
THE
RACES OF IRELAND
AND SCOTLAND
BY
W. C. MACKENZIE, F.S.A. (Scor.)
AUTHOR OF
"HISTORY OF THE OUTER HEBRIDES," "A SHORT HISTORY OF THE SCOTTISH
HIGHLANDS," "LIFE AND TIMES OF SIMON FRASER, LORD LOVAT," ETC.
PAISLEY: ALEXANDER GARDNER
Unblwher b B Appointment to the ltt Qnem Victoria
LONDON
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & Co., LTD.
PRINTED BY ALEXANDER GARDNER, PAISLEY
PREFACE.
THERE are few subjects of ethnological inquiry surrounded
by greater obscurity than the origin of the different races
inhabiting Ireland and Scotland. A sharp conflict of theory,
and a remarkable lack of definiteness, are the main char-
acteristics of the discussion that centres around the subject.
Any fresh views, therefore, that rest upon the foundation of
scientifically ascertained facts, must be regarded as valuable
aids in the solution of an admittedly difficult problem.
It was with these considerations before me that I com-
menced, some years ago, to study the race problem of the two
countries for they are inseparable and embarked upon a
course of independent research. There was room for the
pursuit of original work. The confusion in which the subject
is involved was rendered not less, but more, perplexing by a
succession of treatises upon parallel lines, and all leading to
no certain conclusions.
In the solution of the race-problem, there is no evidence, in
my opinion, equal in weight to the proofs supplied by the
early forms of ancient place-names. I rest my case largely
upon etymologies. They supply the most tangible evidence
that it is possible to produce. Place-names cannot lie.
Provided the right key can be found to unlock the treasures,
they yield the pure gold of truth. But with a false key one
can only fumble ; one cannot open.
The application of place-names to the solution of Irish
and, particularly, Scottish racial questions has been rendered
largely nugatory by the method employed. Etymologists
have approached the subject with their minds made up.
VI. PREFACE.
" Here," they have said, " all the names must be Gaelic ;
yonder they must be Cymric ; in this district only Anglo-
Saxon roots can be looked for ; in that, only Scandinavian."
That being their attitude of mind, they have constructed
Procrustean beds in which the names have been made to fit
preconceived notions. I could give many instances of this
method of treating both Irish and Scottish etymologies, and
it may be confidently asserted of the result that it has
hitherto proved a hindrance rather than a help to the study
of ethnology.
I do not say that my etymologies are infallibly correct ; far
from it. But I do say that the names have been studied on
their merits, and that my derivations are based alike upon
commonsense and the facts of topography.
The main theories advanced in this book are entirely new,
and, if I may use the word without fear of being misunder-
stood, entirely " revolutionary." I am not so sanguine as to
suppose that they will meet with complete acceptance, nor so
confident as to believe that they are impervious to criticism.
But I have made no important assertions without supple-
menting them by reasoned proofs that have satisfied me,
whether or not they seem equally conclusive to others. The
tests that I have applied are severe.
I have dealt at some length with the legends pertaining to
the race-origins, particularly in Ireland, and have endeavoured
to reconstruct from them a theory of the prehistoric races,
concerning whom expert opinion has not yet settled the
elementary question whether they were men or myths. I
have tried as far as possible to separate myth from tradition ;
to penetrate the meaning of the former, and to gauge the
historic values of the latter. Necessarily, this section of the
subject is largely speculative, but when the speculations are
in agreement with the ascertained facts of anthropology and
archaeology, they are entitled to rank as working hypotheses
until they are superseded by more exact knowledge.
Finally, the subject of this book bristles with controversial
points, and covers ground that, for its adequate exploration.
PREFACE. VI 1.
would fill a number of volumes. I have ventured to touch a
good many of these points in passing, without lingering to
discuss them fully, which would have been impossible.
It will be seen that the scope of the work, embracing, as it
does, mythology and folk-lore, history and tradition, ety-
mology and anthropology, is varied and exacting. I have
tried to make myself as clear as possible in expressing my
views, even at the risk of being charged with redundancy,
and I cherish the hope that whatever the faults of the work,
obscurity of meaning is not one of them.
If my treatment of the subject has the result of directing
research into new channels for discovering the beginnings of
two great and intimately associated peoples, I shall feel that
my labour has not been in vain.
W. C. MACKENZIE.
RlCHMOND-ON-TlIAMES.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I., 1
The legends of Ireland and their interpretation The Book of the
Invasions Cesair Partholan The Nemidians The Fomorians
Were the Fomorians Phoenicians? Cormac's Glossary A discussion
of Beltine The idol Crom Cruaich The serpent-mound near Oban
The Irish "dragons" St. Patrick as a serpent-destroyer Pesti-
lence symbolised by a serpent The significance of cromlechs.
CHAPTER II., - - 17
The Firbolgs The traditional story of their origin The etymology of
the name A theory to explain the name The "long-heads" of
Ireland Huxley's pregnant suggestion The Firbolgs identified by
tradition with the " Mediterraneans " Moytura, the ** heap plain "
Giants and gods The overthrow of the Firbolgs by the Tuatha
de Danann.
CHAPTER III., - - 27
The Tuatha de Danann The country of their origin An account of
their wanderings The Dagda Keating on the Dananns The
meaning of the name The Dananns as magicians The Fir-Sidh
Their Lapponic origin discussed The Euhemerist theory The
Skraelings of the Norse Sagas The Pigmies' Isle The custom of
the * knotted cord "Selling winds in Lewis, the Orkneys, Shet-
lands, and the Isle of Man Comparetti on Shamanism.
CHAPTER IV., - 41
The Lapponic theory further discussed Disproved by anthropological
evidence MacFirbis on the Dananns The Irish texts on the
Dananns The elves of light and the elves of darkness St. Patrick
and elf-worship The elf-creed introduced to Ireland by Scandin-
aviansFolk-lore as an aid to ethnology A classification of the
Teutonic elves The application of elf-beliefs to the Dananns
Parallels between the Dananns and Scandinavian mythology
Thorpe on the resemblances between Teutonic and Celtic folk-lore.
CHAPTER V., - 54
Druidism and its significance Druidism and the Dananns The Lia
Fail Stones of Fate An Icelandic example The Ogam Script
Illusionism Scottish examples of the practice of the Sian High-
land belief in the efficacy of charms Dwarfs and hunchbacks
The Dananns identified with the Cruithen people of Ireland The
meaning of *' Cruithne " Cruithne, " the father of the Picts."
x . CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER VI., 65
The Milesians The two tales of Irish origins Gadel and Scota The
stories post-Patrician -The Scottish version Scythian and Scot-
The vagueness of the name * Scythia " Nennius on the progenitor
of the Scots The Pictish Chronicle on the Scythians and the Goths
Their common descent from Magog How the confusion between
the Goths and the Scythians arose The Lombards and the Gael-
Conclusions deduced from the evidence.
CHAPTER VII., 73
The Celts The different types of Celt The succession of races in
Western Europe The Celtae and the Galli A discussion of the
names The Belgae The two branches of the Celts Where did the
Gaelic language originate ?
CHAPTER VIII., 82
The four stocks of the Gael The Irish genealogies and their value
The historical aspect of the Milesian legend Spain and the
Milesians The system of the DinnsenchusThe different names
applied to Ireland An explanation of the Milesian names The
Basques or Vascones A Basque element in the population of
Ireland The location of the Milesian tribes.
CHAPTER IX., 90
The Iberians in Ireland The origin of the Scots A summary of con-
clusions as to the origin of the Gael The earliest notices of Ireland
by classical authors Ireland in the second century A.D. Early
Teutonic settlements in Ireland The earliest mention of the Scots
The Scottish hegemony in Ireland Tacitus and Ireland The
Cherusci and the Scots.
CHAPTER X., - 99
Various hypotheses concerning the name " Scot " Isidore's blunder
Geoffrey of Monmouth and his value as an historian The Hibernians
and the Scots An analysis of the name "Scot "-St. Patrick's
distinction between the Scots and the Hibernians Ireland indiffer-
ently named Scotia and Hibernia The Ard-riyh of Tara Ireland's
Heroic Age A dissertation on hair Irish kings with Teutonic
names The Franks in the British Isles The kilt as a Gothic dress.
CHAPTER XI., 110
The Gael The silence of early writers on the name Bede's evidence
on the root dal -An analysis of the name "Gael" -The Brehon
Laws and Teutonic parallels Cuchullin: man or myth? The Finn
Saga and its historical basis The Fianna as professional champions
Scandinavian parallels The dominant races described by the
Senchus jtfrfr The meanings of the provincial names.
CONTENTS. XI.
PAGE
CHAPTER XII., 121
The Gael and the Gaelic language in Ireland How the Gaelic language
was formed St. Patrick and education in Ireland Tradition and
the ancient tongue of Ireland Abgetoria The Latin element in
Gaelic Ptolemy's map of Ireland An analysis of the Ptolemaic
names in Ireland The general structure of the Gaelic language-
Some Scandinavian legacies The views of Dr. Joyce Bishop
MacCarthy on the Irish Picts.
CHAPTER XIII., - - - 131
Antiquaries and the Picts The different schools of theorists The
Cruithne, the Irish Picts, and the Picts of Scotland Tighernach
and the Piccardach The meaning of *' Picars " The Roman Plcti
Picti a corrupt form of a pre-existing name The Picts as pigmies
Sir Walter Scott on the Orcadian * Peghts " Picts-Houses The
Picts and the elf-creed of the Teutons The meaning of the name
"Picf Confusion between elves and Picts Beddoe on Ugrian
thralls of the Norsemen Finn-men and Finn-women.
CHAPTER XIV., - - 140
The various names of the Irish Picts Rury the Great The Golden
Age of the Irish Picts The Red Branch Knights " Ossian " Mac-
Pherson and the Irish bards The meaning of the Irish Creeves
The destruction of Emania The racial affinities of the Ulster Picts
The solitary word of their language analysed The * Danes'
Cast."
CHAPTER XV., 149
The historical Picts The Maitai and the Vecturiones (or Verturiones)
How the Picts got their name Teutonic parallels The "men of
the elves" Were the Picts tattooers ? Historical notices of the
Picts : Herodian, Solinus, Dion Cassius The sources of their infor-
mation examined Tacitus on the Caledonians Shield-painting
The Pictones of Poitou.
CHAPTER XVI., - - 157
A summary of the racial argument as applied to Ireland An analysis
of prefixes in Irish place-names What the analysis proves
Anthropology and archaeology in relation to the argument A
French analogy The Anglo-Saxon settlements in England on a
different footing from the Teutonic settlements in Ireland The
composition of the English language compared with that of Gaelic
The Saxon and the Gael The evolution of the Gaelic language
Peculiar Gaelic characteristics.
CHAPTER XVII., . - 182
Scotland and its legendary matter The earliest name of Scotland
The significance of the name " Alban " The invasion of Scotland
by Agricola Who were the Caledonians ? Galgacus or Calgacus
The Caledonian tribes self-contained units The physical features
of their country An examination of Caledonian ethnology An
analysis of the place-names mentioned by Tacitus.
xii. CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER XVIIL, - 192
River-names and their value Mountain -names and their value
Ptolemy's place and tribal names in Scotland analysed.
CHAPTER XIX., 209
Conclusions to be drawn from the analysis of Ptolemaic names in
Scotland The first clear view of the Pictish monarchy in Scotland
Bede on the origin of the Picts The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and
the Picts The two divisions of the Pictish nation The Irish
traditions of the origin of the Picts The probable sources of these
traditions The versions of the Pictish Chronicle and Nennius
Claudian on the Picts Cymric and Scandinavian elements.
CHAPTER XX., 218
Gildas on the Picts Bede on the Picts The accounts in Geoffrey of
Monmouth and Layamon The Gaelic traditions of Pictish origins
Pictish settlements in Ireland and Scotland The evidence of
Giraldus The Frisian settlement in Scotland The Saxons in Scot-
landThe different elements in the Scottish nation.
CHAPTER XXL, 228
The various theories about the Picts The Gaelic theory as represented
by Dr. Skene The Cymric theory The Gothic theory and John
Pinkerton Bede on the Pictish language Sir John Rhys and the
non-Aryan theory The Pictish system of succession Scandinavian
parallels An examination of Dr. Skene's arguments Common
elements in the Celtic and Teutonic languages The Pictish language
different from Anglo-Saxon, Cymric, or Gaelic.
CHAPTER XXII., . - - 236
The Pictish words recorded by contemporaries Scollofthes Peanfahel
The names of the Pictish kings The Drosten Stone and the
meaning of its inscription The incidence of languages - The dialects
of modern Scots The Pictish language the parent of modern Scots
The latter an indigenous language How it differs from North-
umbrian English Frisian the dominant element of the later Picts
How the Pictish language became the national tongue of the Scots
The cleavage between the Pictish and the Gaelic languages.
CHAPTER XXIIL, - 256
An analysis of Scottish river-names, mountain-names, and island-
names.
CHAPTER XXIV., - 274-
An analysis of characteristic prefixes in Scottish place-names.
CONTENTS. xill.
PAGE
CHAPTER XXV., 293
An analysis of the oldest or most noteworthy of the provincial and
town names of Scotland.
CHAPTER XXVL, - - 338
Conclusions to be drawn from the foregoing analyses The earliest
colonisation of Scotland from Ireland A settlement of the Scots in
Wales The tradition in the Life of St. CadroeThe Kingdom of
Fife The Dalriadic kingdom in Argyll A Scottish settlement in
Fife The three sons of Ere The extent of the Dalriadic sovereignty
The Northumbrians and the Scots Fife an appanage of Dalriada
The relations between the Picts and the Scots The nature of
Kenneth MacAlpin's rights to the Pictish Crown.
CHAPTER XXVII., - 350
The Romans and the Picts The Attacots St. Columba's mission to
the Picts non-political The Picts at Loch Ness The Shamanism of
the Picts The Pictish monarchy on the banks of the Earn The
relations between the Picts and the Angles The extent of the
Anglic sovereignty over the Picts The population of Lothian The
struggle for the possession of Lothian The "Commendation of
Scotland" The English claims analysed The cession of Lothian
to Scotland The Scottish victory at Carham.
CHAPTER XXVIIL, - 365
A concluding survey The different strata of the population of Scot-
landThe Britons of Strathclyde-The Northumbrian settlements
in Lothian The Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Danish, and Norman adven-
turersThe heterogeneous Scottish people The effect of segrega-
tion The amalgamation of the different peoples a gradual process
The "Scottish Conquest" The decline in the Pictish power
The Keledei and their influence Scandinavian invasions prior to
the eighth century The Lochlans Gael and Gall Fingalls and
Dugalls The Gall-gaidel The Danes and the downfall of the
Pictish monarchy The nature of the so-called Scottish Conquest
Kenneth MacAlpin as King of the Picts Later allusions to the
Picts-The Picts called " Galwegians " The ancient divisions of
Scotland The Mormaers and Toisechs The racial affinities of the
Picts of Galloway as shown by Jocelyn's account The incidence of
Gaelic in the Lowlands The cleavage between East and West
The Gaelic tribes in the West The Clan Donald and their influence
The Gael of Scotland and their language called ** Irish " Racial
characteristics in Scotland The process of unification.
CITATIONS FROM MODERN WORKS, 389
INDEX, - - - - - - 391
CORRECTIONS.
IV
Page 22 (15th line from ttop):7br " distingushing " read "dis-
tinguishing."
59 (4th line from bottom): for "F. H." read "J. H." Dixon.
90 (1st line of note) : for " Miss " read " Mrs." Bryant.
123 (18th line from top): for "Flaherty" read "O f Flaherty."
131 (2nd line from bottom) : for "Ibernian" read " Iberian."
247 (1st line of note) : for " MacFirbig" read "MacFirbis."
288 (14th line from top) : for " Leths" read " Leths."
332-3: The etymology of the place-name "Stornoway" in
Lewis, and Loch "Stornoway" in Argyllshire suggested in
the text, is allowable only on the assumption that there has
been a change of form by metathesis, an unsatisfactory
solution of a topographical problem. I have now dis-
covered in the Landnama Book an ancient place-name
which seems to supply the root that had previously
eluded my search. It is the name Stiornu-steinom, which
is translated "Anchor Rock." The pronunciation of
the word " Stornoway " by the Gaelic-speakers of Lewis
strongly suggests that in this place-name an original
Norse Stiornu has been preserved. By this reading
"Stornoway" would mean "Anchor Bay," a name that
might very well have been given to the safe natural
harbour of Stornoway by the earliest Norse settlers in
Lewis. (There is an " Anchor Head " between two bays
in the Bristol Channel at Weston-super-Mare.)
346 (12th line from bottom) : for "to" read "of."
(2nd line from bottom) : for "mystical" read "mythical."
360 (2nd line from bottom) : for "makes" read "make."
THE RACES OF IRELAND
AND SCOTLAND.
CHAPTER I.
The legends of Ireland and their interpretation The Book of the
Invasions Cesair Partholan The Nemidians The Fomorians
Were the Fomorians Phoenicians? Cormac's Glossary A discussion
of Beltine The idol Crom Cruaich The serpent-mound near Oban
The Irish * dragons" St. Patrick as a serpent-destroyer Pesti-
lence symbolised by a serpent The significance of cromlechs.
THE race problems of Ireland and Scotland are so closely
intertwined as to be inseparable. For it will be shown in
the following pages that the people known as the Scots, who
gave their name to Scotland, passed over to that country from
ancient Scotia, the modern Ireland. The traditions and
legends of these Irish settlers in ancient Alban (part of the
modern Scotland) became the common inheritance of both
countries, and form the connecting link in the chain that
stretches forward to authentic Irish and Scottish history,
and backward to traditions concerning the shadowy races who
preceded the Gael in the occupation of Ireland.
These races have provided Irish writers, more particularly,
with plenty of scope for the exercise of ingenious guessing.
The obscurity of the subject has stimulated rather than
repelled persistent research. Yet it must be admitted that
the result has been to envelope these prehistoric peoples in
a more impenetrable mystery than ever. The prevailing
2 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
tendency of the present day is to dehumanise them; to treat
them as myths; to read symbolic meanings into the records
of them handed down by tradition ; or to regard them in part
or in whole, not as races of real men and women who occupied
Ireland before the Celts, but as a pantheon of Celtic gods and
goddesses.
This tendency is so contrary to the interpretations of
mediaeval transcribers and commentators, that it can only
be regarded as an alternative solution of the problem that
has baffled investigation, or as an easy method of evading
an admitted difficulty. In either case, it is not a convincing
attitude. Any one endowed with a glimmer of imagination
can construct a pantheon to suit his own fancy. It is not
so easy to offer a sane ethnic theory that shall satisfy the
requirements of modern science. It seems probable that the
medievalists have rationalised too much, and modern critics
too little.
What do the Irish traditions tell us about the ethnology
of the country? These traditions, it is well to remember,
must have been in their original form rhymed stories handed
down orally by the shanachies, or professional historians,
from generation to generation, from century to century, until
they were clothed by monastic scribes in prose, after the
art of writing in Roman characters had been acquired.
Transcribed and redacted time and again by monks with
views of their own, they appeared finally in the dress in
which we see them to-day, a dress the fabric of which was
woven mainly in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The
nearer the source the purer the stream; and the same law
applies to tradition. If the varnish which overlies these
stories could be cleaned off, we should see the picture clearly
and in its proper perspective. The deliberate emendations
and the unintentional errors in which, necessarily, the
traditions abound would then be obliterated, and there would
be less reason perhaps for rioting in symbolism. It is the
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 3
accretion of legendary matter around the genuine traditions
of the country that has concealed a good deal of the historical
value, which, beyond doubt, the traditions intrinsically
The Book of Leinster, a compilation of the twelfth
century, contains, in common with later compilations, a
record of the successive colonies that occupied ancient
Ireland. The " Book of the Invasions," as this record is
usually called, discriminates between the races who settled
in the country and those who visited it for spoil. An account
of each invasion or settlement is given with the tribal name,
or the eponym, of the settlers. The etymology of these
tribal names, or eponyms, has baffled philologists, and has
thus added to the confusion of ideas in which the whole
subject is immersed. Neither Irish nor Scottish Gaelic pro-
vides an adequate key. But Cymric is of some help, and
for reasons which will presently appear, Cymric is tha
language above all others that unlocks the door of obsolete
Irish words and shows their original meaning.
The first eponym that meets us is that of " Cesair," " a
grand-daughter of Noah," who, with her company, arrived
in Ireland very conveniently before the Flood. It is use-
less to speculate on the racial problem presented by this
eponym, and even Irish antiquaries who accept the later
Invasions as historical, dismiss Cesair as a myth. The word,
or a similar one, is, however, used in Welsh bardic literature,
where it denotes " lordship." Thus Cesair may well stand
as the eponym of the earliest tribes who had dominion over
Ireland.
Equally nebulous are the second people who occupied Erin
under the leadership of " Partholan." This eponym seems to
mean land-sharers (Cymric Parthu, to divide). According
to Keating, the first division of Ireland (he gives seven in
all) was by Partholan, originally a Scythian, who came
from Greece. He is said to have divided the country into-
4 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
four parts. The tradition tells us that Partholan and the
whole of his followers, numbering 9,000 people, were
carried off by a plague ; yet the descendants of some survivors
appear in later traditions.
The third Invasion places us on slightly firmer ground.
This occupation was by " the sons of Nemed," and the
eponym seems to point to a race regarded, for some specific
reason, perhaps for the superiority of its magic, as sacred.
The Nemidians, who were the progenitors of the Firbolgs
and the Tuatha de Danann (two peoples whom we shall
presently meet), were brought under subjection by the
Fomorians, who first appear in the time of Partholan. With
the Fomorians we can commence to investigate the ethnic
problem of Ireland seriously.
It is difficult to imagine a race of beings with aspirations
more mundane, and activities- more human, than those of the
Fomorians. Yet the mythologists are agreed in regarding
them either as giants or as mermen. Both assumptions have
a philological basis; but they cannot both be right. It is
quite certain that a Fomorian cannot be at one and the same
time a " giant " and a " being from under the sea."
The Irish traditions describe these Fomorians without a
trace of uncertainty. They were African pirates; they were
Shemites who wished to separate themselves from the race
of Ham; pre-eminently, they were oppressors of the men
of Erin. There is nothing here that consists with the idea
either of giants or mermen. Etymologically, the name
" Fomorians " may be held to support the plain statements
of the traditions, for it seems to mean " sea-refugees "
(Cymric Ffo, flight or retreat, and Mor, the sea). That
the word essentially means " pirates " would appear to be
borne out by the fact that, at a later period, by a people
described as " Fomorians," the Scandinavian sea-rovers are
plainly indicated.
If we go a step further, and ask to what nation these.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 5
African pirates belonged who exacted an annual tribute,
both of children and produce, from the inhabitants of Erin,
we face a question of considerable speculative interest. Is
it possible to associate the Fomorians with the Phoenicians,
whose explorers are believed on excellent grounds to have
supplied the Greeks with the earliest description of Ireland
that we possess? There are, in my opinion, good reasons
for doing so. The evidence is mainly furnished by identity
of religious customs, but it is reinforced by archaeological
arguments that merit attention. Like the Fomorians, the
Phoenicians were Africans; they were sometimes pirates;
and they were the first people to visit Erin of whom authentic
history has any record. But these would be insufficient
grounds of identification if there were no others.
The word Beltine, applied in modern times to the fires
kindled on hill-tops on May Day, was originally descriptive
of a specific heathen custom of which the May Day bonfires
are (or rather were, for the practice is now extinct) com-
memorative. The etymology of Beltine is disputed, modern
scholars being reluctant to translate it by " Baal-fire," owing
to the supposed lack of tangible evidences of the prevalence
of Baal-worship in these islands. But these evidences seem
to exist notwithstanding. In cases of disputed etymology;
it is well to get as far back as possible, and that rule will be
followed in these pages. Peculiarly helpful, therefore, is the
glossary of Irish words (obsolete or difficult to explain even
in the ninth century) left by Cormac, the learned King of
Munster and Bishop of Cashel, who was killed in battle in
908 A.D. We find there interpretations, a thousand years ago,
of words to which a different meaning is now attached, or
the meaning of which is now altogether obscure. One of
these words is Beltine.
Cormac describes the custom itself in the following
terms:" Belltaine, May Day, i.e., bil-tene, lucky fire, i.e.,
two fires which Druids used to make with great incantations,
6 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
and they used to bring the cattle (as a safeguard) against
the diseases of each year to those fires." A 'marginal note
adds: " They used to drive the cattle between them." 1
A little further on, Cormac gives the meaning of Bil as
Bial, i.e., "an idol god," thus showing that in the first
quotation he did not, as some suppose, intend to equate
bil with " lucky," or if he did, that " lucky " was a secondary
meaning. There can be little doubt that Cormac's Bial
stands for Baal or Bel. 2
A close study of fire-customs in ancient Ireland and in
modern Scotland reveals the fact that they were of two kinds,
one involving the idea of sacrifice, and the other that of
purification or protection. One was propitiatory and the
other was preventive. The clearest account of the sacrificial
class that I have seen is contained in Jamieson's
Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language, copied
from the Statistical Account of the parish of Callander in
Perthshire. The quotation is as follows:
" The people of this district have two customs, which
are fast wearing out, not only here, but all over the
Highlands, and therefore ought to be taken notice of,
while they remain. Upon the first day of May, which
is called Beltan, or Baltein day, all the boys in a town-
ship or hamlet meet in the moors. They cut a table in
the green sod, of a round figure, by casting a trench in
the ground, of such circumference as to hold the whole
company. They kindle a fire, and dress a repast of
eggs and milk in the consistence of a custard. They
knead a cake of oatmeal, which is toasted at the embers
against a stone. After the custard is eaten up, they
1 Cormac's Glossary (Stokes), p. 19.
* Keating says : It is from that fire made in honour of Bel that the
1st of May is called Biltaini or Bealtaine ; for Beltainni is the same as
Beti-tln, i.e., te'mi Shell or Bel's fire.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 7
divide the cake into so many portions, as similar as
possible to one another in size and shape, as there are
persons in the company. They daub one of these
portions all over with charcoal, until it be perfectly
black. They put all the bits of cake into a bonnet.
Every one, blindfold, draws out a portion. He who
holds the bonnet is entitled to the last bit. Whoever
draws the black bit is the devoted person who is to be
sacrificed to Baal, whose favour they mean to implore,
in rendering the year productive of the sustenance of
man and beast. There is little doubt of these inhuman
sacrifices having been once offered in this country, as
well as in the east, although they now pass from the
act of sacrificing, and only compel the devoted person
to leap three times through the flames, with which the
ceremonies of this festival are closed."
There is no trace here of the element of purification, but
there is a distinct suggestion of a survival of the element of
sacrifice; and the worthy clergyman's surmise that the
practice originated in offerings to Baal may quite con-
ceivably be correct.
On the other hand, the quotation from Cormac shows that
Beltine in Ireland, a thousand years ago, was mainly an
observance having as its object the curing of cattle-disease
and the protection of the cattle from the ills of the coming
year. It is not quite clear whether Cormac's fire was
ignited in the ordinary way, or whether it was tein eigin,
or forced fire, commonly called need or neid-fire (A.S.
gnidan, to rub; Dan. guide).
In his chapters on " Fire Customs," 3 Frazer shows the
origin and widely-spread character of the need-fire, the
various methods throughout the world of making these fires,
* The Golden Bowjh, ii., pp. 195-265.
8 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
and the significance attached to the practice. A peculiar
virtue belonged to this fire owing to its purity; it was a
" living fire/' In historical Rome the duty of making the
sacred fire pertained to the vestal virgins and the chief
Pontiff. Need-fires and perpetual-fires have a history that
is full of interest. We find the " perpetual " method in
Ireland as exemplified by the fire of St. Brigid (Bridget)
at Kildare, which was plainly a survival of a heathen custom
adapted to Christian practice. 4 Martin in his Western
Islands gives an account of the need-fires of the Hebrides
late in the seventeenth century; 5 and the late Dr. Carmichael
describes the custom in the same islands as practised about
1829 ; 6 he states that in Reay (Sutherland) the need-fire was
made as recently as 1830. In some cases, the people as well
as the cattle, rushed between the fires to be purified.
The fire-cult is usually described as an Aryan custom,
but its Aryan origin is doubtful. It is intimately associated,
as Dr. Peisker shows, with the Shamanism of the Ural-
Altaic peoples. Describing the beliefs of the wild tribes
east of the Caucasian Range, he writes: " Fire purifies
everything, wards off evil, and makes every enchantment
ineffective. Hence the sick man, and the strange arrival,
and everything which he brings with him, must pass between
two fires " 7 (the italics are mine). Here we have a root-
idea substantially the same as that embodied in Cormac's
description of Beltane in the ninth century, and no less
the same as that which induced the Hebridean crofters and
the Sutherland and Perthshire farmers in the nineteenth
century to drive their cattle through the forced fires, to
cure them of murrain, and protect them against the power
4 In the Scandinavian temples there was a hallowed fire ** which must
never go out " (Eyrbyggia Saga).
5 Inscription of the Western Island*, circa 1695, p. 113 (1884).
Carmina Gadelica, ii. f p. 340.
7 The Cambridge Medieval History, i., p. 346.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 9
of enchantment during the coming year. For it is clear
from a consideration of the subject of witchcraft and its
various forms of expression, that cattle diseases and the
spells of wizardry were intimately associated in the minds
of those who practised such rites: purification and pro-
tection were equally their object.
It is not easy to dissociate these rites from sun-worship
as being the primitive impulse from which they were
derived. From the sacrifices offered to Bel there was only
a further step to the rites of purification which, as we have
seen, are the common possession of Aryan and non- Aryan
peoples, though it appears more probable that the Aryans
derived the cult from the Turanians rather than the contrary
process. It would seem likely, therefore, that the two ideas,
sacrificial and purificative, gradually coalesced, thus ex-
plaining the application of the name Beltine to a rite that
was mainly designed for a purifying purpose. Although
the survival of Baal or Bel worship in these islands is at
the present day generally scouted as an exploded notion,
it is difficult to evade the force of the reasoning that detects
traces of that cult in such customs as that described (for
example) by the minister of Callander. And it is fair to
ask for an alternative and satisfying etymology of the root
" Bel " in Beltine, if its identification with the Phoenician
sun-god is rejected. The same root is found in the " Bell-
trees " of ancient Ireland, which were apparently sacred
groves. 8 The evidences of sun-worship, more particularly
in the Hebrides, 9 where ancient customs, extinct elsewhere,
have persisted until modern times, are altogether too strong
to be ignored. A single archaeological argument from Ire-
* It will not do to assert that Beltine is simple " Bale-fire " (A.-S. Bail,
a burning), or a warning fire kindled on an eminence, because that
derivation entirely fails to explain the rites associated with Beltine. The
same objection applies to Cyra. Brill, an eminence.
See Martin's Western Islands.
10 THR RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
land may be cited; and it seems conclusive. The solar discs
which have been found in that island must necessarily have
been associated with the solar cult.
Among the ethnic Irish, a certain god (Crom Cruaich)
stands out with peculiar distinctness as pre-eminently the
object of special veneration. I suggest that in the several
descriptions of this idol which are scattered throughout
the most ancient bardic literature, the lineaments are
traceable of Baal Melkarth (Moloch) the Tyrian djety
that combined the beneficent and maleficent attributes of
the Phoenician Sun-god.
It is common ground that the May - day boniires
with their attendant customs, are survivals of pagan
rites; and their symbolism, which survived to the nineteenth
century, is found as symbolism as early as the ninth. The
reality behind that symbolism may be seen probably in
the fifth century, when St. Patrick entered upon his crusade
against paganism in Ireland. The chief representative of
this paganism was the idol named Crom Cruaich, situated
in a plain named Magh Slecht. The idol's name has given
rise to a good deal of etymological guessing. It means,
literally, either " Curved Mound," if Crom is an adjective,
or " Mound Serpent," if a substantive.
Sir John Rhys, whose opinions are entitled to respect,
suggests that the idol Crom Cruaich was in a state of decay
at the time of St. Patrick, and had consequently assumed a
stooping posture; an explanation which Dr. Douglas Hyde
appears to regard as satisfactory. By this reading, Crom
is interpreted as the "Stooper"; but Cruaich is literally
translated by Sir John Rhys as "Mound." A " Mound-
stooper" is a conception that calls for an effort of the,
imagination. M. D'Arbois de Jubainvillc connects Cruaich
with cr-uor, blood, and translates Crom Cruaich as the
" Bloody Crom," an interpretation that leaves things pretty
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 11
The literal translations given above are easily ex-
plicable, if we assume that Crom Cruaich was one of those
peculiarly -shaped eminences known as serpent-mounds. The
best example of a serpent-mound, in Scotland at any rate,
is one near Oban, which was discovered by Mr. Phene in
1871. 10 The serpent-mo uno! of Crom Cruaich, assuming
its existence, may have escaped detection to the present day.
Irish antiquaries are not agreed whether Crom Cruaich was
situated in Leitrim or Cavan. It may not have been in
either county, but I am convinced that when it is ultimately
identified, it will be found to take the form of a serpent-
mound.
The artificial mound near Oban is stone-ridged; it curves
like the letter " S "; and it is three hundred feet in length.
It faces, looking eastwards, the triple peaks of Ben Cruachan
(a name, by the way, that has the same derivation as
Cruaich), and abuts on Loch Nell. Its situation is
suggestive of sun-worship, but it is here impossible to en-
large upon that suggestion. On the head of the serpent is
a circle of stones, corresponding with the solar disc on the
heads of the mystic serpents of Phoenicia. In the centre
of the circle, Mr. Phene found the remains of an altar which
have since disappeared. Also, the circle has been proved to
contain a grave, which reveals the double purpose of this
dracontine structure. 11
The Dinnsenchus, an Irish topographical tract of un-
certain but admittedly ancient date, 12 describes Crom
10 A description of this mound is given in Miss Gordon Cumming's
From the Heltrides to the Himalayas, 5., pp. 37-9.
11 The serpent-mound at Oban is not the only one in Scotland. There
is one at Glenelg, and another in Lorn (Henderson's Survivals of Beliefs
among the Celts, p. 169). The author remarks (pp. 167-8) that one finds
the serpent associated with a knoll in Scottish myth. The serpents
figured on some of the sculptured stones may have a religious signifi-
cance.
13 Attributed to the sixth century.
12 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Cruaich (who is called Cenn Cruaich in the Tripartite Life of
St. Patrick) 13 in the following words: " The king idol of
Ireland, namely Crom Cruaich, and around him twelve idols
made of stone, but he was of gold. Until Patrick's advent,
he was the god of every folk that colonised Ireland. To
him they used to offer the firstlings of every house, and the
chief scions of every clan."
According to this description, the idol was covered with
gold, and was surrounded by twelve lesser deities made of
stone. If, now, we replace the idol (which, let it be assumed,
was once there) on the altar of the Oban serpent-mound,
we have a representation of Crom Cruaich that agrees in
every particular with the description in the Dinnsenchus,
not excepting even the sacrificial feature; for there is a
tradition that, in remote ages, the Oban structure was the'
scene of public executions.
Crom Cruaich was in Magh Slecht, which may mean the
" slaying plain." This interpretation appears to be more
correct etymologically than the " plain of adoration," which
is the usual translation. It connects the plain directly with
the sacrificial rites that are mentioned in the Irish texts.
By the Phoenicians, the sacrifice of first-born children
was a recognised rite in the exercise of public worship.
The offering of first-fruits was a Semitic custom, originally
derived, it is believed, from the Akkadians, a Turanian
people. It was practised exclusively by Semitic peoples
among the Caucasian races. In the sacrifices to Crom
Cruaich, we seem to be witnessing the performance of rites
appertaining to Baal Melkarth. A description by the late
Dean Stanley of an inner temple on the Hill of Samaria,
dedicated to Baal, bears some resemblance to the sanctuary
11 Cenn is here to be equated, perhaps, with " King," a meaning which
seems to be borne out by the succeeding words quoted from the
Dinnmmchu*. If it means "head" or "chief," it suggests the presence
of other and inferior mounds of the same character.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 13
of Crom Cruaich. " In the centre," says Stanley, "was
Baal the Sun-god; around him were the inferior deities." 14
These are described by the author as Phoenician deities.
In Phoenicia, the Sun-god was sometimes represented in
serpentine form. 15 It has already been suggested that Crom
Cruaich was dracontine, and the conjunction of Bel and the
Dragon in early Irish texts can hardly be lacking in sig-
nificance, particularly when we find the same connexion in
the bardic literature of Wales. In the Leabhar Breac, one
of the ancient Irish books, a lake on the top of a certain
mountain is called Loch Bel Dracon, of which it is
prophesied, in Adamnan's Vision, that it would kill, in the
form of a pestilence, three-fourths of the people of the
world. 16 It is quite conceivable that this loch may hava
had a serpentine mound on its borders like that of Loch
Nell. 17 Traces of the dracontine form are still found in
some place-names of Ireland, e.g., Cor-na-bpiast (English
" beasts "), which Dr. Joyce translates as " the round hill
of the worms or enchanted serpents." The familiar legend
that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland, probably
originated from the well-grounded assumption that the saint
destroyed the ophiolatry which he seems to have found in
the island. From the Tripartite Life, we find that Cenn
Cruaich's satellites were swallowed up miraculously by the
earth when the saint shook his staff at them, and the chief
idol himself bore the mark of the staff. This statement
14 Lectures on the Jewish Church, Part ii., pp. 288-9.
15 The serpent was considered to be symbolical of the solar deity. See
Deane on Serpent Worship, p. 85, who calls Ophion the serpent-god of
Phoenicia (p. 186). Deane (p. 94) says that the Phoenician mariners in-
troduced to Western Europe the worship of a deity named Ogham. The
name irresistibly suggests the mysterious Ogam script.
16 O'Curry's Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History,
p. 427.
17 Water-spirits, however, usually take the form of serpents or dragons
(see Frazer's Golden Bough, ii., p. 155).
14 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
seems to imply an attack by Patrick on the rites of the
ethnic Irish. Curiously enough, Fionn, no less than Patrick,
figures as a serpent-destroyer in Irish legend. He is said
to have slain " all the savage reptiles of Erin, the two
dragons of Loch Inny and the dragon of Loch Cuan, which
is Strangford, the piasta of the Shannon, and the great
serpent of Ben Edar, which is Howth." 18 These reptiles
and dragons may be represented in modern times by the
" wurrums " feared by the Irish peasants, which infest lakes
and carry off human beings. The origin of this superstition
may be traceable to the impression produced in the distant
past on the minds of the peasantry, by mounds shaped like
serpents on the margin of lakes. The serpents covered with
grass, but alive, which figured in North African myths,
must assuredly mean dracontine mounds. The great sea-
serpent which appears periodically to the eye of faith, may
be the marine counterpart of the land dragon, or it may be
the land dragon in another element, for the " beast " was
apparently amphibious. The maps of early geographers are
frequently decorated with fearsome monsters playfully
disporting themselves in the sea. These sea-dragons
illustrate the beliefs of the time: they are probably identified
with such place-names as Great Orme's (Worm's) Head. The
dragon-myth on sea and land gripped the imagination of
our forefathers, Celts and Teutons alike, as their legends
amply testify; and not of those races alone, for in one form
or another, the belief is world- wide in extent.
It is noticeable that, in the Irish texts, the word Crom
is associated with pestilence, e.g., Crom Chonnaill, the
pestilence that appeared in the form of a beast, and was
miraculously killed by Saint MacCreiche; also Crom Dubh
of Connaught, by which is apparently meant the Black
Death; it is translated as "the Black Maggot or Serpent." 19
18 O'Grady, History of Ireland, i., p. 33.
19 O'Cuny, Lectures, pp. 631-2.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 15
The sacrifices to Crom Cruaich were made with the object
of averting pestilence or famine. The reverence that would
be paid to a god capable of causing or averting a plague is
easily conceivable.
It has been objected that some of the rites of the Crom
Cruaich cult, may have been added to the original tradition
by Christian monks who were conversant with the Scriptural
accounts of the worship of Moloch. That objection seems
to be met by the consistency with which the whole story,
as it now appears, hangs together. It cannot well be doubted
that we have here a genuinely historical picture of paganism
as it existed in Ireland at the coming of St. Patrick, by
whose influence the external forms of heathendom were
abolished, though, in substance, some of its features were
grafted on the Christian faith.
On the archaeological side, there is something to be said
in support of the Phoenician theory. Cromlechs in Ireland
are ascribed by tradition to the Fomorians, 20 whom I am
seeking to identify with the Phoenicians. It is not a little
remarkable that this class of tombs, from North Africa west-
wards, should preponderate along the line of the Phoenician
colonies and trading centres, though, of course, they are
found in other parts of the world. 21
20 O'Grady, History of Ireland, i., p. 141.
21 Whether the dolmens came to Ireland with the Phoenicians, or a
race akin to the Berbers, it seems to be tolerably certain that their centre
of dispersion was North Africa.
One of the meanings of Cat is tumulus. (See the analysis of this
root in a later chapter. ) It is properly applied to dolmens (cf. Keith (or
Cat) Coity House at Aylesford in Kent), which adds force to the conten-
tion that the latter were originally covered by mounds.
Of the cup-markings on cromlechs in Scandinavia, Montelius says
( Woods, p. 36) : " These were certainly used for offerings either to or
for the dead." They are called * elf-mills" (compare the old custom in
the North of Scotland of offering oblations of ale and milk to " Brownie "
on stones with cup-receptacles for the liquid). Montelius adds : " Even at
the present day, they are in many places regarded as holy, and offerings
secretly made in them." 1 Are these cup-marked cromlechs the work of
16 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
I have thus tried, by evidence which, cumulatively, may
carry weight, to show that the Fomorians, a Semitic people
who exacted a tribute of first-fruits from the men of Erin,
were, in fact, a Phoenician colony, or a body of Phoenician
sea-rovers, who imposed alike their rule and their religion
upon Ireland. 22 They were followed in their domination of
that country by the Firbolgs and the Tuatha de Danann,
whose identification will be attempted in the following
chapters.
the colonies of Semitic people who, according to Nilsson, introduced both
bronze and Baal-worship to the south and west of Scandinavia ?
The name "giants' graves" applied in the south-east of Ireland to
cromlechs, finds its counterpart in Denmark, where they are called
"giants' chambers." Probably their gigantic properties relate to the
massive size of the stones, which were doubtless believed to have been
raised by a race of giants. The stone circles in Scandinavia (see Worsaae)
are found in conjunction with tombs of the Stone period, mounds of earth
being the distinguishing characteristics of the Bronze Age.
22 The Irish " keeners," who were hired to howl at funerals, perpetuated
a heathen custom derived apparently from a Phoenician ancestry (see
Stainer and Barrett).
CHAPTER II.
The Firbolgs The traditional story of their origin The etymology of
the name A theory to explain the name The " long-heads " of
Ireland Huxley's pregnant suggestion - The Firbolgs identified by
tradition with the * Mediterraneans " Moytura, the * heap plain "
Giants and gods The overthrow of the Firbolgs by the Tuatha
de Danann.
THAT the Firbolgs were a race of real men and women is
common ground alike for Euhemerists and mythologists.
But not for all mythologists. One of the most curious
theories which have been advanced is that which makes the
Firbolgs " men of the bag or womb," i.e., men " born in
the ten lunar months of gestation." l The association of
bolg with " bag " lies at the root of nearly all the guesses
which have been made to explain who the Firbolgs were,
and to give a satisfactory derivation of their name. The
prefix fir (men) is beyond dispute; the difficulty is with
bolg, to which various meanings have been attached.
The Irish story about these people, as preserved by
Keating (a familiar name in the discussion of Irish history),
is obviously a late concoction, being composed mainly o,f
etymological elements, but based perhaps on a slender
foundation of genuine tradition. Keating states that there
were three correlated peoples the Firbolgs, the Firdhomh-
noins, and the Firgailians 2 comprehensively the Firbolgic
tribes who were oppressed by the "Greeks." These
Firbolgs, preferring exile to slavery, emigrated to Erin.
1 PrtmUha Traditional Hixtori/, by J. F. Hewitt, vol. i., pp. 32 and 336.
2 Gailion and Domhnann were names for Leinster (Silra Gadelica^ Eng.
text, p. 500).
2
18 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
They had been forced by their Greek masters to dig up clay,
and carry it to barren places to form soil for crops. The
Firbolgs carried the clay in bags, hence their name, for
bolg means a "bag." The Firdhomhnoins did the digging,
hence their name, for dhomhnoin means "deep." The
Firgailians guarded the workers from the attacks of enemies,
hence their name, for gailian means a " spear."
From the time of Keating to the present day, the Firbolgs
have been called " men of the bag," or " bag men," for the
same reason as Keating's, namely that bolg, among other
things, means a " bag." That undisputed fact does not,
however, carry us very far; not further, indeed, than the
threshold of enquiry. For, if the Gaelic bolg (and the
Cymric bolgan) signifies "bag" or " sack," it means
the same thing in Mceso-Gothic, and is found with a
cognate signification in all Teutonic languages. It is
the source from which are derived a number of English
words, e.g., "bag," "big," "bulk," "bulge," "bilge,"
"billow," "belly," "boll," and perhaps "ball." We find
it in place-names, e.g., the " Bogie " (anciently " Bolgie ")
"River," " Cairnbulg," and " Dunbolg," all in Scotland,
and " Moybolgue " (anciently " Maghbolg ") in Ireland,
with others that could be named. The essential idea at the
root of all these words is " swelling," and it will be found
that every word derived from bulg or bolg possesses
that characteristic.
Applying this test to " Firbolg," the idea that first
suggests itself is that of a nation of " paunch-bellies," an
aggregation of individuals distinguished by fatness. That
idea, inherently improbable as a national name, receives
no countenance of any sort from tradition. Nor are we-
justified on etymological or other grounds in connecting the
name with the Belgae of England; and still less, perhaps,
with the Volcae, the Celtic people from whom some philo-
logists derive the name Walk, applied by the Teutons to
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 19
the Celts, and afterwards to the Romance people of France
and Italy. The word Firbolg has its nearest congener
among European national names in that of the Bulgars of
Bolgary, a race of Ugro-Finnish origin on the Volga, whose
ancestors between the fifth and seventh centuries conquered
and gave their name to Bulgaria, afterwards adopting the
language of the Slavonic people whom they subdued. But
it is impossible to establish even a remote connexion between
them and the Irish Firbolgs; the former are not found
as European settlers until the fifth century.
Orosius mentions a country called by him " Bulgaria,"
which he places near Istria on the Adriatic, 3 and by the same
author a Bulgarian people (" Illyrians whom we call Bul-
garians ") 4 are placed in Thessaly. It is evident, therefore,
that the ancient Illyrian people were called Bulgarians;
and these Illyrians are believed to be one of the most
ancient of the Mediterranean nations. 5 They may be the
" Bulgares " mentioned by Jordanes as a people oppressed
by the Goths.
Here, therefore, we may find the link we require between
the Firbolgs and the Greeks of the legend who oppressed
them. For wars between the Greeks and the Illyrians were
frequent; and it is by no means improbable that the latter
were enslaved by their formidable neighbours. They were
certainly conquered by the Macedonians. Orosius relates
that Philip of Macedon slew many thousands of the Bul-
garians in Thessaly, and captured Larissa, their largest city.
The Illyrians had a good military reputation, and " they
of all people could fight the best on horses." 6 They were,
therefore, a valuable asset for the Macedonian army.
* King Alfreds Orosius (Thorpe), p. 257. * Ibid., p. 339.
5 The modern Albanians are thought to be their nearest descendants,
and it is a curious fact that the modern Albanians claim a common
ancestry with the modern Scots.
6 King Alfred's Orosius, p. 339.
20 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
It is not necessary, of course, to treat seriously the fiction
related by Keating to account for the name Firbolg, fov
that can be explained on more rational grounds. The root
bolg enters into combination with muir (the sea) in some
early place-names to denote an inlet or a sack " bay like
the Frisian Jade. 1 It is found in the name " Muirbolc "
(Port na Murloch, Lismore), used by Adamnan with that
meaning, and in "Muirbolg" (now Murlough) in Ulster.
Thus bolg is in these names the equivalent of " lough "
or " loch." The idea conveyed seems to be that of the sea
" bulging " into the land. So, too, the Gae-bolg, wielded
by Cuchullin in his famous fight at the Ford, was a spear,
which, on entering the body, made only one wound, but
afterwards expanded into thirty barbs. And Spring was
named Imbulc, perhaps because it is the time of the
swelling of the buds.
Applying the theory of an inlet, or bay, or loch, to explain
the name of the Bulgarians (Illyrians), it is barely con-
ceivable that it may relate to the Adriatic, or, in. an extended
sense, even to the Mediterranean Sea. But that is a venture-
some hypothesis, and it seems far more probable that the
Irish Firbolgs derived their name from the fact that their
later location was mainly in Connaught. The numerous
inlets by which the coast of Connaught is characterised,
offer a plausible explanation of the name " Firbolgs," viz.:
" Bay-men," the latter being thus the equivalent of the
Scandinavian name, "Vikings." 8 Tradition asserts that
Erris in Mayo was the chief landing-place of the Firbolgs,
and Mayo is peculiarly indented by bays. Corroboration
of the view just stated may be found in one of the Irish
7 See a discussion on "sack-inlets " in Nansen's In Northern Mists, i.,
p. 93. An exact parallel is found in Mid. High German SlAch, which
means both a leather bag" (bttlg), and a "gulf" (bolg). Apparently,
in both instances, there has been an evolution in meaning.
8 Holy would seem to convey the idea equally of convexity and con-
cavity (cf. um#, a bay or bosom).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 21
texts, which informs us that the Firbolgs came to Erin " out
of the East (of Ireland) beyond Slieve Alpa (which is in
Mayo), and the country of the Franks and the Lochlannah." 9
The allusion to the Franks and the Lochlannah seems to
imply the existence of Norman and Scandinavian settle-
ments in Ireland at the time the text was written, thus
dating it from post-Norman times.
In Eddi's Life of St. Wilfrid, there is an allusion to the
tribes (apparently a servile people) who were gathered to-
gether by the Picts of Scotland de utribus et folliculis
Aquilonis. 10 Not improbably these tribes were located along
the northern lochs on the coast. Uter and folliculus, in a
figurative sense, may well mean a " sack " bay and a " sack "
inlet.
The population of Ireland is now, and so far as has been
ascertained, always has been, almost wholly dolichocephalic.
The ancient skulls which have been observed belong either
to the middle form represented by the long-barrow and river-
bed elements of the population of England, or the elongated
crania represented by the Scandinavian skull. The former
belong to what Huxley has classified as Melanochroi, the
short, dark longheads, and the* latter to his Xanthochroi,
the tall, fair longheads. The first ie the Mediterranean
or Iberian type: the other is the type associated with the
Scandinavians. Retzius alludes to the likeness between the
Scandinavian and what he calls the " Celtic " skull; and he
states that, having on one occasion exchanged with Sir W.
Wilde a typical Scandinavian for a typical Irish skull, both
observers agreed that " it would be difficult to find any
important difference between the two." n Commenting
9 O'Grady, i., pp. 210-211. Lochlyn (Cym. LlycMyn) means a gulf.
The Lochlannah or Scandinavians may have derived their name from the
Gulf of Bothnia, or perhaps, in a wider sense, from the Baltic.
10 Cited by Skene, Celtic Scotland, i., p. 261. Skene offered no opinion
on the meaning of the words.
11 Prehistoric Remains of Caithness, p. 129.
22 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
upon the tall, fair, red-haired, and blue-eyed dolichocephali
who are (and appear always to have been) so numerous in
Ireland and Scotland, Huxley suggests that "long before
the well-known Norse and Danish invasions, a stream of
Scandinavians had set in to Scotland and Ireland, and
formed a large part of our primitive population." 12 I am
convinced that this suggestion explains a good deal in Irish
and Scottish ethnology that has presented a baffling problem
to students.
The descendants of the " Mediterraneans " abound in the
west of Ireland at tho present day. They are a dark, long-
headed, and rather short people; and their progenitors are
believed to be the Firbolgs of Irish tradition. Duald
MacFirbis, a celebrated Irish antiquary of the seventeenth
century, distingushing between the descendants of the
Firbolgs, the Tuatha de Danann, and the Milesian Scots,
gives the following characteristics of the first-named:
" Everyone who is black-haired, who is a tattler,
guileful, tale - telling, noisy, contemptible ; every
wretched, mean, strolling, unsteady, harsh, and in-
hospitable person; every slave, every mean thief, every
churl, every one who loves not to listen to music and
entertainment; the disturbers of every council and every
assembly, and the promoters of discord among people;
these are the descendants of the Firbolgs, of the Gailiuns
of Liofarne, and of the Fir Domhnanns in Erinn.
But, however, the descendants of the Firbolgs are the
most numerous of all these." 13
MacFirbis states that he took this " from an old book,"
and gives no further information about his authority. But
the unflattering character which he ascribes to the descendants
la Prehistoric Remains of Caithness, p. 134.
13 O'Curry's Lectures on MS. Materials, p. 223 (cf. another version,
p. 580).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 23
of the Firbolgs fits in with some allusions in the ancient texts
to " a base Firbolgic clan, a tribute-paying people, scorn of
the warrior-tribes of Erin." 14 On the other hand, the same
texts elsewhere describe the Firbolgs as being " mighty of
bone and thew," but "not so comely to look upon as the
warriors of the race of Milith." 15 And Fardia, the chief
of the Firbolgs, who fought with Cuchullin at the Ford,
is delineated as a proud, independent warrior, of stately,
mien and with flowing golden hair.
There is a seeming contradiction here, but unless the text
has been redacted, the explanation may be that these big,
raw-boned Firbolgs were of another race, superimposed upon
the smaller, darker, and less warlike Mediterraneans. They
are described as " champions," and among the ancient Irish,
as among the ancient Scandinavians, that word implied
mercenary professional fighters, who were employed to guard
the boundaries of those whose service they entered. These
" fighting Firbolgs " may have thus become attached to the
Mediterraneans, and in time have become their masters.
Sir W. Wylde speaks of a long-headed, dark people west
of the Shannon, and of a more globular-headed, light-haired
stock north-east of that river, 16 by which description Huxley
assumed that he meant that the latter people have broader
heads than the others " not that there was any really
brachy cephalic stock in Ireland." This combination of
physical characteristics in what is believed to have been a
Firbolgic district, offers a curious parallel to the distinction
we have been considering, and seems to support the
suggestion I have made. It is conceivable that the fair,
14 O'Grady's History of Ireland, i., p. 183.
15 Ibid., i., p. 212. The Irish bards have given us a curious assortment
of racial characteristics, e.g., the creeping Saxon; the fierce Spaniard;
the covetous French ; the angry Britons ; the gluttonous Danes ; the high-
spirited Cruithne ; and the beautiful and amorous Gaedhil (O'Curry's
Lectures, p. 581).
16 Cited in Prehistoric Re mains of Caithness, p. 127. ,
24 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
globular-headed people may represent, with modifications
caused by racial admixture, an outlying fraction of the fair,
broad -headed people of the Bronze Age, who, according to
the school of Thurnam and Huxley, " intruded upon a pre-
existing, dolichocephalic, Iberian population in England."
That the Firbolgs belonged to the Stone Age there is
some evidence to show. The allusion in the texts to the
" sons of Tooran," who slew the father of Lu Lamfada,,
not with " the bright clear bronze," but with " stones and
nigged rocks," seems to denote contact between a stone-
using and bronze-using people. The Firbolgs had their
centre at Moytura " the heap plain " 17 where character-
istics of the Stone Age, such as cromlechs, are found. These
people, and their kinsfolk in Scotland, are associated with
the cyclopean style of architecture expressed in archaic
buildings, the later examples of which are commonly known
as " bee-hive " houses. Structures with the cyclopean arch
are found both above-ground and under-ground, while some
are semi-subterranean. There need be little hesitation, I
think, in identifying the Firbolgs with the men of the Stone
Age, the "old black breed" of Eipley, who are largely:
represented in the west of Ireland, and the west and extreme
north-east of Scotland.
The difficulty of reconciling the various statements in the
traditional accounts of the Firbolgs has suggested to Dr.
Standish O'Grady that they were "giants," who, in their
struggle with the " gods," represented by the Tuatha de
Danann, were eventually worsted; and he thinks that the
people whom the Gael found in Ireland and placed under
tribute were believed to be descended from these giants.
17 The name Moy or Magh Tura suggests a plain strewn with tumuli,
similar to plains in Etruria where structures like cromlechs have also been
found. The " sons of Tooran " of the Irish texts may be intended for the
Tyrhenni, one of the races comprised in the mixed people known as
Etruscans.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 25
That is not a satisfying explanation, but if it were correct,
it would appear to suggest that the traditions of the struggle
for domination between the gods and the giants were of
Scandinavian origin, for they are a counterpart of the Eddie
stories of the state of perpetual enmity that existed between
the Asar and the Jotnar. The Fomorians, who also figure
in these Irish contests for supremacy, might, with greater
reason than the Firbolgs, be regarded as " giants," for some
isolated traditions concerning them (e.g., the huge form of
Balor of the Evil Eye, who led the Fomorians at the battle
of Moytura) clearly belong to the gigantic category. But
even the Fomorians are, on the whole, so much like ordinary
pirates, that it is easier to believe that they were men
occasionally magnified by tradition into giants, than giants
frequently minified by tradition into men. As for the
Firbolgs, I can see nothing in the traditions to justify the
belief that, even occasionally, they are represented as giants.
The traditions relating to the overthrow of the Firbolgs
by the Tuatha de Danann are quite definite; and without
doing complete violence to the texts, it is not easy to see
how a non-human origin can be postulated for either people.
The Firbolgs retained the supremacy of Ireland, until they
were defeated and dispersed by the Tuatha de Danann in a
great battle at Moytura. The reverse they suffered was of
so severe a character that they never made another stand
against their conquerors. Keating states that those of them
who escaped the slaughter at Moytura fled to the Hebrides,
where they remained until driven out by the Picts. Other
accounts say that they were dispersed throughout Ireland.
There is nothing mutually inconsistent in these versions,
and both may be correct. There is (or was) a Dun Fhirbolg,
an ancient stronghold in St. Kilda (of old Hirt) which
would seem to corroborate Keating's statement. His account
goes on to say that some of the Firbolgs who fled to the
Hebrides found their way back to Ireland, where they
26 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
were apportioned land, first in Leinster and afterwards in
Connaught.
This brings us back to the short, dark, long-headed people
of the west of Ireland who are popularly believed to be the
descendants of the Firbolgs. 18 And the popular view is
probably correct. By whatever name they are called,
whether Iberians, Firbolgs, or Mediterraneans, the physical
characteristics of these dwellers on the western seaboard are
substantially the same as those that belonged to the Firbolgic
tribes, who were scattered on the plain of Mayo by a race
of superior ekill in warfare.
18 Keating, p. 41 (1723), gives the names of three tribes who, according
to the Irish antiquaries, were the lineal descendants of the Firbolgs.
They are placed on the east as well as the west coast.
Dr. Beddoe (The Races of Britain, p. 267) states that the people about
the battlefield of the northern Moytura (between Sligo and Roscommon)
were the swarthiest people he had ever seen. They reminded him more
of the south Welsh than any other people in Ireland.
It is a curious fact that the Grecralahe. the so-called Greek tribes "
(whence possibly the Scots names Greig," Gregory," and Gregor ")
mentioned by the Annals of Ulster (752), were situated between Sligo
and Roscommon. There is room for the conjecture that Grevraiyhe really
means " heath " tribes (Cym. Gryg. heath); perhaps another name for the
Cathraige, who were Firbolgs.
CHAPTER III.
The Tuatha de Danann The country of their origin An account of
their wanderings The Dagda Keating on the Dananns The
meaning of the name The Dananns as magicians The Flr-Sldh
Their Lapponic origin discussed The Euhemerist theory The
Skrselings of the Norse Sagas The Pigmies' Isle The custom of
the ** knotted cord" Selling winds in Lewis, the Orkneys, Shet-
lands, and the Isle of Man Comparetti on Shamanism.
THE " general reader," who has probably never heard either
of the Firbolgs or the Tuatha de Danann, may be surprised
to learn that the latter, whether human or non-human beings,
have formed the centre of an animated discussion between
rival schools of theorists. According to the Irish texts.
the Dananns (as we may abbreviate the name) were the
people who conquered the Firbolgs, and became in turn
the dominant power in Ireland. What the name means;
whether the beings to whom it was applied were men or
myths; and if myths, how the myths are to be interpreted;
these are all questions to which a final answer has not yet-
been given.
The texts represent the Dananns as an immortal race,
but endowed with singularly human aspirations. The
traditions suggest that they were racially related to the
Firbolgs, both peoples being Nemidians. 1 The Dananns,
after various wanderings, 2 are found in Scandinavia. The
1 There is a bardic tendency to link together racially the different sets
of invaders, the object apparently being to make the Gaelic language
appear as old as possible.
3 Contact with Greece in some form was considered necessary to round
off the adventures of these wandering tribes before their arrival in Ireland.
The Greek Danaoi may have suggested to medieval redactors a connexion
between the Dananns and Greece. Witikind, a monk of the tenth cen-
tury, states that the Saxons held that they were derived from the Greeks.
Keating says that * some held that the Scots were of Grecian origin."
28 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
" Danes " gave them four " cities," namely, Falias, Finnias,
Gorias, and Murias.
From Scandinavia they emigrated to the North of Scot-
land, bringing with them the renowned Lia Fail, or Stone
of Destiny from Falias; a magic sword from Gorias; a,
magic spear from Finnias; and a magic cauldron (the
cauldron of the Dagda) from Murias. They remained for
seven years in the north of Scotland, whence they migrated
to Ireland. There they found the Firbolgs, who spoke the
same, or a similar language. 3 At first the Firbolgs hesitated
whether to divide the country with the newcomers or to
try conclusions with them in the field. Ultimately, with
formalities which are models of chivalry, they decided to
put the domination of Ireland to the arbitrament of the
sword. The rivals met at Moytura, where a great battle
was fought, resulting, as we have already seen, in the total
defeat and dispersion of the Firbolgs, and the acquisition
of Erin by the Dananns. The texts allude to two battles of
Moytura (South and North), in one of which Fomorians
from the Western Islands of Scotland participated. But it
is thought by some commentators that there was really only
one battle, of which there are two separate accounts. 4
Such, in brief form, is the story the Irish traditions have
to tell about the Danann invasion. So far, there is no
suggestion of the supernatural in the description. But the
magic sword and spear brought from Scandinavia, and
especially, the magic cauldron, prepare us for miracles.
These, in fact, are performed at the battle of Moytura with-
out stint. The Dananns' wounded were plunged in a magic
cauldron, in which wonderful herbs were brewed, and lo!
the maimed warriors were instantly cured and made fit to
fight with renewed vigour. And the Dananns had their
a This is evidently a bardic interpolation.
4 See O'Curry's Lectures on MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History, pp.
245-9, for an account of these events.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 29
gods to help them, gods in human form, but none the less
divine. They had the great Dagda, who, with Lug (Luig-
haidh Lamhfhada, i.e., Lewy, the Longhanded) was their
chief counsellor. The Dagda is represented in the texts
sometimes as a great king, sometimes as a mighty sorcerer,
and sometimes as a giant with a truly Gargantuan appetite
for the delights of the flesh. The meaning of the word
Dagda is not known with certainty. An alternative name,
Ruad Bofessa, signifying " lord of vast knowledge," is given
by Cormac and in the Book of Leinster. It has therefore
been thought that Dagda should be equated with doctus.
Cormac equates Dag with magh, "good." A root dag,
signifying "what is produced," is found in Cymric; Dai
means, in Cymric, the Deity; and it would thus appear
that if the word Dagda comes from these sources, it must
mean the " God of Creation." The Dagda's coadjutor, Lug,
who rendered effective service to the Dananns at Moytura,
appears to symbolise an aspect of the sun (Cym. Llug,
" partly appearing," or " dawn "). 5
All this may be freely admitted without mythologising
the Dananns themselves. Irish historians of the past never
doubted that they were a people of flesh and blood who
conquered Erin. But they attributed to them, sometimes,
godlike qualities to justify the name by which they were
known. "They were called gods," said Keating, "from
their surprising performances in the black arts." 6 This
5 The rising sun was the emblem on Fionn's banner. *' Lewy of the
Red Stripes" has been thought to have a solar symbolism. ** Red stripes"
and the rosy dawn are tempting comparisons. Lug and Logi, the Scan-
dinavian god of fire, may be relatives, etymologically. Dr. Whitley
Stokes connects Luy with locken (O. Ic. lokka), to allure. This is the
meaning that I have suggested for Dedannan.
6 In the Book of the Dun Cow, the Dananns are called gods and not
gods." A fine confession of a confused idea. According to the same
authority, their intelligence and knowledge gained for them their divine
reputation. Eochaidh O'Flinn (the date of whose death is given as 984
A.D.), says about the Dananns : "No man in creation knew whether they
30 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
idea is expanded by his further statement that the Nor-
wegians " thought them gods and not of mortal race.'* In
a strikingly curious way, the same opinion is expressed about
the Lapps by a distinguished Norwegian writer of the
present day. " The Lapps," says Professor Nansen, " were
regarded by the Norwegians as being semi-supernatural, on
account of their skill in gand (magic)."
The name Tuatha de Danann, if correctly interpreted,
should afford some clue to the identification of these men
(if they were men), or the meaning of the myth, if they
belong to mythology, as most commentators of the present
day assert that they do. Tuatha admittedly means
"people": it is a form of the familiar Deutsch which is
based upon the pre-Teutonic Teutd found in many West
Aryan languages. As a secondary meaning, it is sometimes
applied, with rather doubtful warrant, to tribal lands, but
beyond question, its original meaning was simply " people."
De is usually believed to mean " gods " (Irish dee), and
that supposition has suggested the mystic character of the
Dananns. It is possible, however, that Dedannan is the
Cymric Diddan, " alluring," compounded of the prefix Dy
and Dan, a lure or charrn. The Welsh word swyn also
means a charm or spell, and is applied to a fairy in the
compound word swyn-wraig. Dan and swyn are therefore
equations. Tuatha Dedannan or Diddanan would thus mean
the " charm " or " spell " people, the wizards, 7 who were
afterwards known as fairies. This interpretation is in
accord with all that is known about the Dananns. They
were pre-eminent in magic. They were " men of science,"
were of the earth or sky." He is in complete doubt whether they were
** diabolical demons " or "a race of tribes and nations." Writers of the
twentieth century share his doubt. It may be observed that in Scottish
Gaelic, Dana is a name for "the Evil One."
7 In the Zendaresta, the wizard Yatus are called "the sons of Danu."
Between them and the Irish Dananns there is some resemblance, in
respect both of attributes and name.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 31
say some Irish texts, "who were as gods," which is a
variant of Keating's statement. 8 No other race in Ireland be-
fore or after their time could compare with the Dananns as
magi or druids, which was the generic name applied by the
Celts to describe the workers of miracles. The Dananns had
no monopoly of magic, but theirs was incomparably the most
powerful. They taught the Gael, we are told, " noble arts."
When the race that succeeded the Dananns in the domination
of Ireland attempted to oppose their feeble magic to the
irresistible spells of the arch-necromancers, they found it
unavailing. But ultimately the Dananns were worsted (we
are not told by what means) by the fresh colony of invaders.
The texts represent them as being driven to the hills and
knolls of Ireland, where they disappeared from human ken.
They gave a pledge to the invading settlers not to damage
(by their spells) the corn and milk of their supplanters, 9
the assumption being that in return for this pledge, they
were not to be molested in their hilly abodes. 10
No longer after their defeat do we meet the Dananns as
humans. From the time of their dispossession to the present
day they appear in another form. They are the Fir-Sidh
(Sidh men), the " immortal Shees," as they are sometimes
called, and their women are the Bansidhe (banshees), in
other words, the female fairies. The word Sidh is frequently
applied to the dwellings of the fairies, as well as to the
8 If the prefix Dt really means gods, it may be compared with Odin's
diar or godl (priests). Keating states that one of the tribes of Dananns
were called "Dee" (gods), because they were "Druids or priests." If
they were " Druids," they must have been magicians. An Irish text of
the tenth century clearly makes 1)6 the equivalent of " gods." Whatever
the value of the prefix, the root Dan remains unaffected. To connect
Dan with "Danes" (O. Ic. Danir, gen. Dana; Ir. Danar) or "Danish"
would be venturesome.
9 Rhys, Proceedings of the British Academy (1910), p. 36.
10 The Book of Leinster shows how the spells of the Dananns were
feared. But these stories about their ability to damage the corn and
milk of the Gael are evidently " fairy-tales " in a colloquial sense.
32 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
fairies themselves. A burial-mound, e.g., the great Hill
of Howth near Dublin, was a Sidh, 11 and any eminence
inhabited by fairies came to be known by the same name.
Similarly, the fairy mounds in the Highlands of Scotland
were the residences of the Fir-Sith, the so-called men of
peace, or the good little people, the Robin Goodfellows of
Scotland.
What is the primary meaning of this word Sid, sidh, or
sith applied to fairies and their dwellings in Ireland and
Scotland? If any explanation of the word, showing its
original significance, has ever been given, it has eluded my
search. I find, however, that the Lapps gave the name of
Sitte or Seida to their domestic spirits (what we should call
their " good fairies "), represented by idols made of rough,
black stones. I find, also, that the word Sieid in the Lapp
language means a sacred place set apart for the worship of
idols, or for sacrifice, or for consulting oracles. It is
probably the same word as Seida, which was thus applied
alike to the spirits and their abodes. In Icelandic, Seidr
means " sorcery," a word borrowed possibly from the Lapps
(or Finns, as the Scandinavians have always called them). 12
A consideration of all these facts at once suggests the
question whether the Sidh folk of Ireland and the Seid
folk of Lapland have anything in common beyond the
resemblance of the name. It might be plausibly argued
that by the name Danann (the people who were afterwards
called the Sidh folk or fairies) the Irish traditions point
to a dimly-remembered settlement in Erin of Lapps who
were renowned for their wizardry; that these Lapps were
driven from their possessions by a later colony of another
11 Borlase (Dolmens, p. 761) says that among the ancient Scandinavians
the belief existed that their relatives died into the hill near which they
lived.
13 The Sitones of Tacitus, not improbably, were Finns, their name
being derived from the same root as selda. Much translates Sitones as
"sorcerers."
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 33
race; that the Lapponic remnant constructed, and took refuge
in, underground chambers, which were the prototypes of the
burial-mounds, if not the actual mounds themselves; that
they were feared by their conquerors for their supposed gifts
of sorcery and their power of inflicting injury by means of
spells ; that when the race finally died out, or became merged
in the other races of Ireland, their spirits were believed to
survive in hills, and knolls, and mounds; and that, finally,
the traditions which had been handed down from generation
to generation about the doings of these weird sorcerers, who
lurked underground, became intertwined with the fairylore
of modern times. It should be pointed out that this theory
is not identical with what is known as the Euhemerist theory
of the origin of the fairy myth. In these matters it is
dangerous to generalise; and it should not be forgotten that
what may seem a plausible working hypothesis to account
for fairy origins in one direction, may be a totally in-
adequate explanation in another. It is a fact that the Irish
and Scottish peasantry believe that they actually see the
fairies; but that is a matter which concerns the student of
psychology. All that I wish to emphasise is, that no attempt
is here being made to explain the origin of fairies generally.
Between the fairies of Ireland and Scotland, and the elves
of the Scandinavians, there are so many points of contact
that the resemblances cannot reasonably be regarded as
coincidences and nothing more. To elaborate the striking
similarity between the elf -beliefs of Scandinavia and the
fairy-beliefs of the Gael is- beyond the scope of my purpose.
But it is not difficult to show that the realists have something
to say for themselves in postulating a human origin alike
for the Northern elves and the Western fairies. In
Scandinavia, at least, there is some evidence that the human
prototypes of the elves were the short, dark, magic-working,
uncanny Lapps, who were conquered and enslaved by the
Gothic invaders of Scandinavia. Professor Nilsson has
34 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
clearly exposed to view some links that connect the Lapps
and the Scandinavian elves. 13 The " Lapp -shots " of the
Scandinavian peasantry, and the " elf -shots " of the Irish
and Scottish peasantry (both meaning neolithic arrow-heads)
are curiously similar.
The Skraelings of the Norse Sagas are perhaps
identifiable with the Eskimo tribes, whom the early
Scandinavian settlers found in the northern parts of the
American Continent. Yet, in the Saga literature, there is
a strange confusion between the human and the elfish traits
of the Skraelings. They are described sometimes as if they
were trolls, and at other times as if they were the aborigines,
who, although differing from the Norsemen in appearance,
manners, and speech, were creatures of flesh and blood just
like themselves. 14 And that is the way in which the
Dananns are described by the Irish Sagas. 15
As an example of the way in which fairy beliefs,
originally resting possibly on an anthropological basis,
become fixed and accentuated, I may be allowed to draw
upon a personal experience. There is an islet (more correctly
a peninsula) at the Butt of Lewis, known by the name of
Luchruban or Eilean Dunibeg. Luchruban is the Irish
Luchorpan, a dwarf or pigmy, and Eilean Dunibeg means
" the little men's island." Under the name of the Pigmies'
13 Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia.
14 Archbishop Erik Walkendorf (c. 1520) writes about the Skraelinger :
" They were a small people who lived in underground houses and who
worshipped gods." (Nansen, In Northern Mists, ii., p. 86.)
Some Norse colonists of Vinland fled from the Skraelinger when they
first saw them : they thought they were spirits.
15 SUva Gadellea (Eng. text, p. 574) says that the Dananns were ** they
that first introduced swine " into Ireland (or Munster). A strange dis-
tinction for "gods " ! The boar was specially associated by the Swedes
with the worship of Freya, "the mother of the gods." The peasantry
still make images of little boars in paste in February. (See Tacitus,
German ia (c. 45), on this custom.)
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 35
Isle, the peninsula is mentioned by Dean Monro in the
sixteenth century, and by other writers in the seventeenth,
and eighteenth centuries. Now, this isle had a small so-
called kirk, and the kirk had a remarkable history. For
" pigmies " had been buried underneath its floor, and the
bones of the " pigmies " had been dug up on various
occasions sa the story ran. Its truth was proved by the
bones which were there to speak for themselves, and to silence
the criticisms of the sceptical. The pigmy story attracted
many people to the spot to see the bones of the little men ; and
the fame of the isle seems to have reached literary circles in
London, for Collins alludes to it (he was among the
credulous) in one of his Odes. When on a visit to Lewis
early in the nineteenth century, Sir Walter Scott's corres-
pondent, Dr. John MacCulloch, tried to find the isle, but
failing in his search, denied (characteristically) its very
existence. Some years ago, I was more fortunate in my
search, and the result of digging in the supposed kirk
disclosed the existence of two underground chambers, a
description of which appears elsewhere. 16 The bones of the
" pigmies " were collected and examined at the South
Kensington Museum; they turned out to be the bones of
various mammals (ox and sheep and lambs) and sea-birds
(razor-bills and gulls).
The point of all this is, that we have here a story about
" pigmies " who had lived in a fairy-hill (for Luchruban
has the appearance of a typical fairy-mound), which story
was apparently based on a belief proved to be false. I say
apparently with good reason, for, although at first sight
the conclusion appears irresistible that the pigmy legend
derived its origin from the discovery of the small bones,
further investigation showed that this conclusion was
possibly a mistaken one. There is a tradition in the Luch-
16 Proc. Soc. Antiq. of Scotland, vol. xxxix., pp. 248-258.
36 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
ruban district which relates that a race of small men did
actually reside there in pre-historic times. The tradition
is that these dwarfish people were " Spaniards," who came
to Lewis in 1500 B.C. (the less reliable tradition is, the more
precise are its dates), the supposed Spanish connexion being
unexplained. The pigmies lived on " buffaloes," probably
represented by the oxen whose bones have been discovered,
and they killed those buffaloes " by throwing sharp-pointed
knives at them." The dwarfish people were invaded by
" ig yellow men from Argyll, who drove them from their
ancient possessions near Luchruban." 17
This tradition may have pre-dated the discovery of
the pigmies' bones, the finding of which would, however,
accentuate and help to perpetuate the original story about
the little men. From the Euhemerist standpoint, there
would appear to be ground for the belief that the pigmy
tradition originated from an actual prehistoric occupation
of the subterranean chambers, by a small people who lived
underground and as fairies became immortal. Were these
Lewis pigmies Lapps?
It is well to avoid attaching too much ethnological im-
portance to a similarity of customs between different peoples,
because it is an argument full of pitfalls. But in one in-
stance at least, the coincidence of custom is so remarkable,
and the custom itself is so peculiar, as to prove apparently
contact, direct or indirect, with the British Isles by the
Lapps. I allude to what may be called the custom of the
knotted cord.
The following quotations, set forth in parallel columns,
describe the custom as practised respectively in Lapland and
Scotland:
17 Communicated to the author by a resident of the district. The
theories (supported by cranial evidence) of the eminent anthropologists,
Sergi and Kollmann, regarding pigmy settlements in Europe in remote
times, remain, I believe, unrefuted.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
37
From Richard Eden's des-
cription of the Lapps. 18
" They tie three knots on
a string hanging at a whip.
When they loose one of these
they raise tolerable winds ;
when they loose another the
wind is more vehement ; but
by loosing the third, they
raise plain tempests, as in
old times they were accus-
tomed to raise thunder and
lightning."
From J. H. Dixon's Gairloch,
pp. 168-9.
"On one occasion, M'Ryrie was
kept several days at Stornoway
by a contrary wind. He was
going about the place two or three
days grumbling at the delay. He
met a man in the street, who
advised him to go to a certain
wpman, and she would make the
wind favourable for him. In the
morning he went to her, and paid
her some money. She gave him
a piece of string with three knots
on it. She told him to undo the
first of the knots, and he would
get the wind in his favour; if the
wind were not strong enough for
him, he was to undo the second
knot, but not until he would be
near the mainland ; the third
knot she said he must not untie
for his life. The wind changed
while he was talking to her ; and
he set sail that same morning.
He undid the first knot on the
voyage, and the breeze continued
fair; the second knot he untied
when he was near the mouth of
Loch Ewe, and the breeze came
fresh and strong. When he got
to Ploc-ard, at the head of Loch
Ewe, he said to M'Lean that no
great harm would happen to them
if he were to untie the third
knot, as they were so near the
18 Quoted by A. H. Keane in The Lapps, p. 19.
38 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
shore. So he untied the third
knot. Instantly there was such a
hurricane that most of the houses
in Poolewe and Londubh were
stripped of their thatch. The
boat was cast high and dry on
the beach at Dal Cruaidh, just
below the house of Kirkton ; her
crew escaped uninjured. It is
said that at that time there were
several women about Stornoway
who had power by their arts to
make the wind favourable."
Selling winds cannot be claimed as a monopoly of Finnish
people, but the knotted cord, so far as I have been able to
ascertain, is a Finnish, and especially a Lapponic,
specialty. In Regnard's Journey to Lapland, it is stated
that the " knotted " way of selling the wind was " very
common " in Lapland. " The very lowest sorcerers have
this power, provided that the wind which is wanted has
already commenced and requires only to be excited." 19
Readers of Scott's The Pirate, will recall how Norna of
Fitful-Head sold favourable winds, and in his notes on this
romance, he cites Olaus Magnus, who tells of one King Eric
of Sweden, called Windy Cap, in allusion to his power of
making the wind blow whichever way he chose by turning
his cap in the desired direction. This was just the sort of
wizardry that the Scandinavians probably learned from the
Lapps or Finns. The prototype of Scott's Norna was Bessie
Millie, who lived at Stromness in the Orkneys over a hundred
years ago, and who had a flourishing business as a seller of
favourable winds to storm-stayed skippers. The goodwill
of Bessie's business was acquired by one Annie Tulloch or
Mammie Scott, who sold favourable winds at the rate of
19 Pinkerton's Voyages and Travels, i., p. 180.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 39
eighteen pence apiece. Her method of applying the
principle of the knotted cord was to instruct the skippers*
to go to sea with two reefs in the mainsail, only one of which
was to be shaken out during the voyage. If both were shaken
out, a contrary gale sprang up, but if the vessel were driven
back to the Orkneys, a " whole-sail " breeze could be
purchased from the accommodating Annie for a further
consideration. 20
Professor Frazer gives the interesting information that
Shetland seamen still buy winds, in the shape of knotted
handkerchiefs or threads, from old women who claim to rule
the storms. 21 Witches on the mainland of Scotland had
other means (see Dalzell) of raising the wind, which
(literally) was a far easier task some centuries ago than
(figuratively) it is at the present day. The custom of the
knotted cord was also known in the Isle of Man, and Thorpe
says that there was a woman at Siseby on the Slei who sold
winds to the herring fishers in the same manner. 22 But
wherever practised, the custom was apparently borrowed
from the Finnish peoples, whose wizardry was of the same
character as that of the Irish Dananns. 23
The exercise of magic, sorcery, and witchcraft, by what-
ever name it is called, Shamanism in short, was the governing
principle of these peoples. " The rule of the Shaman (or
wizard) over nature," says Comparetti, " is the fundamental
idea of Shamanism." He adds that, until quite recently,
the Lapps were Shamanists like the Eskimos and Samoyedes,
a fact confirmed by the great fame which they enjoyed in
ancient times among the Scandinavians, for the truth of
30 Tudor, The Orkneys and Shetland*, p. 335.
21 Ihe Golden Bow/h, pp. 322-6. Northern Mythology, iii., p. 23-4.
23 The Seid-women of the Scandinavians received money to make men
hard, so that iron could not wound them" (Thorpe, ii., p. 214). This is
analagous to the healing baths of hot milk and herbs employed by the
Dananns to cure the wounded ; which was effected instantaneously.
40 THE EACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
which Comparetti quotes conclusive evidence. " There is,"
he says, "abundant information on this point;" and every
student of the Icelandic Sagas will agree with him . Lapland
witches, more properly wizards, were known in England as
well. Comparetti thus describes the Shaman: " The
Shaman is more than a simple priest: he is the seer, he is
the medicine-man, he is wise and powerful above all others,
and is capable of miraculous actions. With his actions and
his word, he dominates things and men and animals and
spirits; he cures ills or prevents them; he can even produce
them; he can propitiate superior beings and obtain benefits;
can ensure good luck for the hunt, the fishing, the journey;
can raise winds and storms, and clouds and fogs, and
tempests, and can lay them, scatter them, disperse them;
he can transform himself and others; he can rise in spirit
into the realms of air, go down into those of the dead, and
carry off their secret." 24 The Dananns of Ireland had their
Shamans; so, too, as we shall see, had the Cruithne of Ireland
and the Picts of Scotland.
24 The Traditional Poetry of the Finns (Anderton), p. 172.
CHAPTER IV.
The Lapponic theory further discussed Disproved by anthropological
evidence MacFirbis on the Dananns The Irish texts on the
Dananns The elves of light and the elves of darkness St. Patrick
and elf-worship The elf-creed introduced to Ireland by Scandin-
avians Folk-lore as an aid to ethnology A classification of the
Teutonic elves The application of elf-beliefs to the Dananns
Parallels between the Dananns and Scandinavian mythology
Thorpe on the resemblances between Teutonic and Celtic folk-lore.
WHAT may be called the Lapponic view of the Danann
problem is not lacking in support from the evidence of
anthropology and archaeology. Professor Retzius is quoted
by Mr. Borlase 1 as having maintained that there was a race
in Britain of Turanic origin represented by the Lapps and
brachy cephalic Finns, which preceded and was entirely
different from what Eetzius calls the " Celtic " type. Of
a brachycephalic skull, found in a cist near the Knockadown
group of circles at Lough Gur, Professor Harkness remarked
that " it seemed to be a member of a race approximating
most nearly to the modern Finn or Lapp." 2 And Borlase
states that the dark races in Ireland (and Scotland) include/
types both of dolichocephaly and of brachy cephaly. " In
the wilds of Donegal," he says, " I have seen both these
types." 3 He describes the burial customs of the Lapps as
recorded by Scheffer, and adds: " In every particular of this
account, we see precisely what archaeological research on the
one hand and legend and tradition, committed to writing in
the middle ages, coupled with folk-lore still in oral survival,
on the other hand, lead us to believe occurred in the case of
1 The Dolmens of Ireland, p. 1,009.
., p. 1011. /<*., p. 1032.
42 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
the dolmens and chambered tumuli." The Lapp burial
customs, he thinks, show an identity of custom between the
Turanian peoples of Northern Europe and a primitive race
in the British Isles." 4
On the other hand, Huxley showed that the ancient Irish
skull was " predominantly dolichocephalic." The contrary
opinion seems to have generally prevailed, to some extent,
he thought, in consequence of a mistake on the part of
Retzius, who ascribed an erroneous cephalic index to the
Phoenix Park skull. 5 Huxley denied that there was any
really brachy cephalic stock in Ireland. 6 Beddoe, who dis-
covered evidences of a Turanian stock in Wales, the West of
England, and some parts of Scotland, found the prevailing
Irish skull to be long, low, and narrow. " Of forty-one
skulls in the Barnard Davis collection," he says, " only two
were brachy cephalic ; and of thirty-eight heads measured by
us in Kerry, only one would have been brachy cephalic (ex-
ceeding the index of 80) in the skull." The Irish, he adds,
are more homogeneous than the inhabitants of Great Britain,
" and extremes in the form of the head are rare, as are also
extremes in stature." 7 The inclination to prognathisui in
Ireland he considered to be of remote date, and to point to an
African source.
Thus, there is an apparent conflict of scientific opinion on
the existence of brachy cephaly in Ireland, but the weight
of evidence* seems to show that its presence, at the most, is
isolated and unimportant. It is therefore impossible to
believe that if a race of Lapponic affinities were the dominant
people in that island at a remote period, cranial evidence
of the fact would not be pronounced, for the Lapps are
characterised by extreme brachycephaly. Nor do the
archaeological data cited by Borlase carry conviction, for a
* Dolmens of Ireland, p. 4-77.
* Prehistoric Remains of Caithness, p. 126. Ibid., p. 127.
7 The Races of Britain, p. 264.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 43
similarity of burial customs is an unsafe basis to rest upon,
when unsupported by distinct cranial or other conclusive
proofs of racial identity.
On these grounds, and others that follow, I have found
myself unable to adhere to a theory that at one time seemed
to me to be tenable, namely, that the Dananns were of
Lapponic origin. At the same time, it is difficult to explain
certain factors that enter into the question, except on the
hypothesis of some form of contact with a Ugro-Finnish
race.
Duald MacFirbis gives the following characteristics of
the descendants of the Dananns, taken (like his description
of the Firbolgs) from " an old book."
" Every one who is fair-haired, vengeful, large; and every
plunderer; every musical person; the professors of musical
and entertaining performances; who are adepts in all
Druidical and magical arts; they are the descendants of the
Tuatha de Danann in Erin!" 8
The physical features of the Dananns (assuming the
reliability of this tradition) effectively dispose of the
Lapponic theory ; and their other characteristics bear a strong
family likeness to those that distinguished the Cruithne a
genuinely historical people as recorded by the Irish texts.
The Cruithne, we are told, taught " necromancy and
idolatry, plundering in ships, bright poems, signs and
omens." 9
Thus we find the Dananns as a tall, fair race of men with
8 O'Curry's Lectures on MS. Materials, p. 223. Cf. another version,
which has it, ** every fair great cowkeeper on the plain " (p. 580).
Beddoe (The Races of Britain, p. 265) found in the west of Cavan, the
breed to which Sir W. Wilde referred as the descendants of the Dananns,
a fair, large-limbed, comely people.
9 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 42. When the Moors first came
in contact with the Scandinavians, they believed them to be a race of
magicians. Mallet's Northern Antiquities (Percy) p. 173. The Scandi-
navians were great believers in omens.
44 THE KACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
a propensity alike for magic and piracy. But their super-
natural side is accentuated by the later texts more sharply
than their humanity.
That is a perplexing impasse, from which it seems to me
that the only way of escape is to assume a hasis of dualism.
We have to deal, it would appear, with an actual historic
race, who were the ruling people in Ireland, and the
traditions concerning whom are impregnated with their
mythology. If we examine that mythology, we find ourselves
confronted with the Teutonic system of gods and elves, and
more particularly the Scandinavian system as described in
the Eddas.
The first glimpse we get of the Dananns in the Irish texts
reveals them as a resplendent throng, waiting on a green
knoll to receive and warn of their danger the intruding
Milesian Scots. They were " in bright raiment and them-
selves more glorious than the dawn." There were among
them " three men of mighty stature, and one of them had
hair like glistening silver." There were also " three women,
one majestic and gentle; and one slender and very graceful,
with laughter-loving lips; and the third had thoughtful
brows that seemed to read the future." And the voice of
him who sat upon the crest of the knoll was "as of distant
thunder." "
Here, conceivably, we have a confused picture of what
may be intended for descendants of the Scandinavian
Liosdlfar, or Light Elves of the Northern mythology, the
latter being distinguished from the Svartdljar, or dark elves,
by their appearance and qualities. 11 The Light Elves were
10 O'Grady, History of Ireland, i., p. 66.
11 k< The land which King Alf ruled was called Alfheim, and all the
people that spring from him are of the Alfa-kin ; next after the Risar,
they were finer than other people" (Thorstein's Saffa Vikinyssonar, c. 1,
cited by Du Chaillu, i., p. 411). It is known from all old sayings about
the people that are called Alfar that they were much finer than other
kinds of men in the northern lands" (Sogubrot, c. 10, Du Chaillu, i., 411).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 45
benevolent beings: the dark elves, or dwarfs, were usually
malevolent. " In Alfheim," says the Prose Edda, "dwell
the beings called the Elves of Light; but the Elves of
Darkness live under the earth, and differ from the others
still more in their actions than in their appearance. The
Elves of Light are fairer than the sun; but the Elves of
Darkness blacker than pitch." 12 The Dananns of Ireland
appear in both aspects. 13 v
The dark elves figure in the Irish texts under the name of
Luprachctn, which means a dwarf. The word abhac means
both a dwarf and an elf, showing an identification of the
dwarfs with the elves, which is common also to Teutonic
mythology. A certain Aed Enver in the Irish texts boasts
that he was " of the race of Luprachan, a descendant of
Dana, who in ancient days occupied Tara, and he told how
the Clanna Luprachan ruled widely over Erin, teaching noble
arts to the Gael, and how they dwelt now immortal in fairy-
land." 14 This is a significant passage, for it shows the
Dananns both as humans and as dwarfs or dark elves. The
boast of Aed Enver is paralleled by the belief entertained by
gome Scandinavians that they were descended, not from the
gods but from the elves. 15
If the Teutonic legends and traditions are studied with
care, it will be found that the distinctions drawn between
elves and human beings show a certain lack of definiteness.
This lends support to the realist view that the originals of
the elfish people were men and women, possessing in a marked
12 Northern Antiquities, p. 414.
13 "The Sick-Bed of Cuchulainn " shows them as "demons." Else-
where they appear as guardian spirits (the Scandinavian dtsir). See
O'Grady, History of Ireland, ii., pp. 29 and 2,58.
14 O'Grady, i., 150.
15 Du Chaillu, Viking Aye, i., 409. "Are ye of the elves or of the
gods ? " asked the daughters of King Laoghaire when they met St. Patrick
and his companions (Trip. Life,). This is an exact counterpart of the
Alfar and Asar of the Scandinavians.
46 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
degree the characteristics which, in an exaggerated form
sometimes a greatly exaggerated form have been attributed
to the whole tribe of elves, dwarfs, pigmies, fairies, pixies,
brownies, and other variants. The cases of the Skraellings
and the Eskimos, the Lapps and the dwarfs, have already
been cited to show how the human and non-human elements
have become blended and confused. In the same way, there
is every reason to believe that the Irish legends have con-
founded the Teutonic Dananns with the elves and dwarfs
of their mythology.
The prevalence in Ireland of this elf -creed as late as the
time of St. Patrick is clearly discernible. In Fiaccs Hymn,
for example, we find an allusion to the fact that when
Patrick went on his mission to Ireland, " the tribes
worshipped elves." Complementary to this evidence, Manx
legend states that Manannan MacLir (of the Dananns) and
his people were " routed by St. Patrick, whereupon being
of small stature, they became fairies, and lived in the ancient
tumuli, using flint-arrows as the weapons with which they
avenged their wrongs on human beings." 16
This must mean that St. Patrick attacked elf -worship,
and that after the introduction of Christianity, it survived
only furtively and secretly in fairy beliefs. But the tradition
seems to suggest, also, that a small-statured people, whose
weapon was the bow, were at one time associated with the
people called the Dananns. And here again we come in
contact with the familiar " elf -shots " of the Irish peasantry,
and the fairy arrows of the Highlanders of Scotland, both
derived, perhaps, from Scandinavian legends of the
miraculous archery of the primitive Finnish race of sorcerers,
whom the Gothic stock displaced in Northern Europe.
The inference from all this is that the elf-creed was
introduced to Ireland, Great Britain, and the Isle of Man, by
a people apparently belonging to the Scandinavian branch of
16 Moore's History of the Isle of Man, p. 47.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 47
the Teutonic race. 17 From their contact with the Lapps, the
traditions and legends of the Scandinavians were saturated
to a greater extent than those of the Germans, with storiea
of underground elves; dwarfish smiths who forged magic
swords and spears, and endowed them with uncanny
properties; impish trolls who might be friendly or
mischievous; and fear-inspiring wizards whose spells were
unequalled in potency, and whose essence was regarded as
divine.
Place-names, as I shall show, attest the presence of ai
Scandinavian people in Ireland in the second century; and
anthropology seems to bring us into contact with the same
people in Ireland at a period anterior to the Christian
era. It is not assuming too much to suppose that these
people are responsible for a good deal of the elements,
common to Celtic and Teutonic mythology, that bulk so
largely in the legends of Ireland and Scotland. Conquering
settlers in a new country do not leave their mythology at
home. If they remain segregated from the natives, they
cherish their legends with conspicuous tenacity. But if they
coalesce with the natives, they incorporate the indigenous
legends with their own. The latter process makes folk-lore
an eminently unsafe guide in determining, unaided, ethno-
logical questions, though it is a useful auxiliary to anthro-
pology and etymology. It corroborates, for example, the
testimony of philology that the Gael of Ireland and of
Scotland have a common origin, by showing us a body of
legends common to both countries; and it confirms the con-
clusion that when the Scots left ancient Scotia (Ireland) and
settled in Dalriada (part of modern Scotland), they brought
their legends and traditions with them. This applies to the
Fionn Saga ; and a simple explanation is thus offered of what
17 There is evidence to show that of the two creeds in Scandinavia, the
Alfar and the Asar, the former was the older, the worship of Odin dis-
placing it. In the earlier Edda, there are allusions to Alfa-kldt, the
sacrifices made to the Alfar.
48 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
at one time provided a bone of contention between the sea-
divided Gael. But, if we go still further back, who can say
how much, for example, of the Cuchullin Saga is of imported
origin, and how much is native to the Irish soil?. Who,
indeed, can say what share of the Fenian stories rightly
belongs to our islands? Signs of a dual origin are not
difficult to discover, strongly suggestive of an admixture
of races, all of them tenacious of their native lore.
But this " elf " theory, in its relation to the Dananns,
requires closer investigation. The uncertainty attaching to
the origin of the elf-beliefs is illustrated by the tradition
in Jutland concerning them. It is there related that when
the fallen angels were cast out of Heaven, 18 some of them
fell on the mounds or barrows and became Barrow-folk, or,
as they are also called, Mount-folk and Hill-folk; others
fell into the elf-moors, who were the progenitors of the
Elf -folk; while others fell into dwellings, from whom
descended the domestic sprites.
Now, the Barrow-folk are identical with the Irish
siabhras, 19 which is a compound word meaning Brugh or
Barrow sidh, or in other words, Mound or Mount Elves,
the elves whose abodes were in the tombs. They are also
the same as the " dwarfs," who, in the later popular beliefs,
are generally "subterranean " ; 20 and it is sometimes diffi-
cult to distinguish them from the Norse Huldre (Hidden)
folk, and Thusser or trolls. The domestic elves are the Norse
18 To this day, it is believed in Ulster that the fairies are fallen angels.
19 Tales of Berg-folk, or Barrow-folk, form the commonest type of Danish
folk-lore.
20 In the Scandinavian texts, the Svartiilfar or dark elves, and the
Dveryar, or dwarfs, are sometimes indistinguishable from one another.
(Cf. SkdldskaparmaJ, 35, cited by Du Chaillti, i., 411.)
It may be observed that "elf" and "alp" are radically associated;
and that the original idea of "dwarf" was not smallness, but crooked-
ness (Celtic cruith). " The dwarfs," remarks Sir Walter Scott (Lockhart's
Life), " are the'prime agents in the machinery of Norwegian superstition."
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 49
Nisser and the Scottish Brownies, the kindly folk who per-
form useful offices for their human friends. So, too, the
Scandinavian Nok, or Neck (" Old Nick ") is the Highland
Kelpie or Water-horse.
Possibly the names of the four " cities " possessed by the
Dananns in Scandinavia may signify either the settlements
of Odin and his followers, or a sub-division of elves like the
above. If the latter is the fact, Falias would mean the
abodes of the Hill-folk (0. Ic. Fjall, Eng. " fell "); Murias,
the abodes of the Moor-elves (0. Ic. Mor); Gorias, the
abodes of the Cliff-elves (Eng. " gore " and its cognates),
whom the Irish texts call the " Far " (guardian) Shees of
the promontories" 21 (the Land-Vcettir of the Norse); and
Finnias, the abodes of the marsh elves (fen, a marsh). 22
The views of the " realists " seem to derive some support
from the popular beliefs of the Teutonic peoples, concerning
the appearance and the habits of their elves. The trolls a
name which Thorpe considered to be a common denomination
for all noxious supernatural beings were thought to be as
large as some men. 23 The young females of the elves were
believed to be extremely beautiful, slender as lilies, white
as swans, and with sweet, enticing voices. These are the
sirens of Irish folk-lore, against whose allurements men were
21 Manannan MacLir is called "the mighty genius of the storm-swept
promontories of the sea " (O'Grady, ii., p. 260). In Scandinavian
mythology, the Vcettir (wights) are generally, though not invariably,
associated with the functions of guardianship.
22 By Dobhar and lardobhar (lit. "water" and " west- water "), the
places in the North of Scotland where the Dananns are said to have lived
before passing over to Ireland, the parts bordering upon the Pentland
Firth and the Minch may conceivably be meant.
23 Northern Mythology, ii., p. 14. On the other hand, they are some-
times described as being a thumb high, or even no bigger than ants. A
fine set of ivory chessmen, probably of Scandinavian workmanship, was
found in 1831 in the island of Lewis by a man, who, on discovering the
figures, ran away in terror, thinking they were " an assemblage of elves."
Most of the chess-men are now in the British Museum, and a few in the
National Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh.
4
50 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
advised to stop their ears with wax. According to old
tradition, the " subterraneans " of Iceland 24 were under the
government of two chiefs, changeable every second year,
when, accompanied by some of their people, they went to
Norway to renew their oath of fealty to the king of the
whole race, and render an account of their administration.
The dwarfs, again, lived together as a regular people, em-
ploying themselves as smiths and miners, and behaving
themselves so peaceably as to be called the " still folk." In
the German tales, they are described as dark-coloured,
deformed, diminutive, and coarsely clad. 25 And in the later
folk-lore, they are sometimes called, among other names, the
" subterraneans " and " the brown men in the moor." 26 They
could make themselves invisible at will. The females spun
and wove, and the males were smiths. They borrowed and
sought advice from human beings, and were careful to reward
such services. Their females were sometimes married to,
and had children by, men. But they revenged themselves for
injuries by laming cattle, carrying off girls, and other elfish
tricks.
In all this, we have a picture of the mediaeval notions
concerning the Dananns. The earlier beliefs make them a
conquering race of men, formidably equipped with magic
arts (really a relatively high civilisation), by means of which
they overcame their enemies. The later beliefs make them
elves and fairies, and attendant spirits. How are the two-
sets of ideas to be reconciled? Only as I have suggested,
by postulating a real people whose mythology has been
confounded with themselves. The great Brugh or Barrow
24 According to the Book of Armagh, the stdhe (to give the Dananns
their later name) were del terreni, and by Cdir Anmann, the Dagda is
called an " earth-god " (Wentz Fairy Faith, p. 291).
25 Northern Mythology, ii., p. 9. According to the newspapers, a small,
deformed Irish boy was exhibited recently (and people paid to see him
in Scotland) as a leprechaun or elf.
26 They are called " the brown men of the moor " in Scottish folk-lore.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 51
of the Boyne is said to have been built by the Dagda (a
chief named Eochaid), and he himself was interred there with
his sons and the nobles of the Dananns. That is quite an
intelligible tradition of the custom of " mounding," which
was a feature of Scandinavian more particularly Swedish
burials at a well-defined period of history. The " cemeteries
of the idolaters," described in the Leabhar na h' Uidhre, one
of the oldest of the Irish texts, pertained to these elf-
worshippers, whose beliefs St. Patrick ostensibly destroyed,
but really failed to eradicate. For they were secretly, but
none the less surely, grafted upon the Christian creed, and
in spite of all the attempts of the Church to uproot thein,
they can be easily traced at the present day in quarters where
their existence might be least suspected. 27
There would appear to be some ground for thinking that
the great Dagda, originally perhaps a Scandinavian chief,
has been deified, much in the same way as Ethelwerd and
Kentigern (or Jocelyn), and more than one modern writer
have maintained that the real Odin was a conquering warrior
who, after his death, was raised by his followers to the rank
of the chief of the Asar. Indeed, it is not impossible that
the accounts of the Dagda may be a confused rendering of
Odin's career and his feats of magic. There is a striking
similarity between the Odinic attributes, as given in the
Eddas, and those of the Dananns, as described in a poem
in the Book of Invasions and preserved by Keating. 28 The
27 We find the same conditions in Scandinavia, as illustrated by the
following regulation in the ancient law of Norway called Gulathing's
Lagen : " Let the King and the Bishop with all possible care make inquiry
after those who exercise Pagan superstitions ; who make use of magic
arts ; who adore the genii of particular places or of tombs or rivers ; and
who by a diabolic manner of travelling are transported from place to
place through the air."
A council held at Rouen contains a prohibition of the same nature.
(Northern Mythology, p. 513.)
28 History (1723), p. 46. (Of. Odin's magical powers as detailed in the
Ynglinga Saga, ch. 7.)
The Book of Invasions tells us that when the Norwegians saw the
52 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Dananns are accredited with the ability to raise " ghosts "
from the tombs, one of the magical feats among the many,
by means of which Odin is said to have established his
ascendancy throughout Scandinavia. 29 And there may be
more than a coincidence in the resemblance between Lug,
the Danann god of the Rising Sun, with his wonderful
mountain-sundering sword (the Fray-garta} and Frey, the
symbol of the sun in the Scandinavian mythology; the god
who also possessed a magic sword that was irresistible in its
might. 30 Still more arresting is the fact that Lir is the Irish
and Hler the Norse god of the Sea. And these parallels
might be extended if necessary. 31 But it is in the elf-
stories that the coincidences between Teutonic and Celtic
folklore are so exact and so striking. 32 Here the resemblances
are so close as to point strongly to a common origin.
Remarking on this similitude, Thorpe thinks that it is
" necromantick art " of the Dananns, they " gave them cities and adored
their learning, and begged them to communicate their art and teach the
Danish youth their mysteries." It was Odin and the Diar who taught
" mysteries " to their Gothic predecessors in Scandinavia.
29 One of the many names of Odin is Drauga drdttin, lord of spectres.
30 Frey is sometimes described as the King of Alfheim, thus linking
him directly with the elf-beliefs of the Scandinavians.
31 The Morrega, the Dagda's wife, may be Frigg, Odin's spouse. In
the mythology of Ireland, there must have been inevitable confusion
between the gods and the elves.
32 The translators (Powell and Magmisson) of the Icelandic legends
collected by Jon Arnason, mention in their introductory essay (XLIII.,
1866) that "the great number of proper names connected with elves
shews clearly how common the belief in them has once been. These
beings are differently denominated: alfar, alfafolk, alfakyn, alfkona,
i.e., elves, elf-folk, elf-kin or kind, elf-woman. They are also called
huldufolk, huldumadr, huldskona, i.e., hid-folk, hid-woman, which latter
names betokened their power of remaining invisible to human beings.
One name yet is applied to them as mild and propitious, Ljtifllnffur,
* Lovelings.'"
There is a close resemblance between the elf-stories collected by Mr.
Arnason and the fairy stories of Ireland and Scotland. " Changelings "
and * elfin lovers " appear in both.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 53
" hardly to be explained by the assumption of an original
resemblance, independent of all intercommunication." 33
With that view, it is easy to find oneself in complete
agreement.
* Northern Mythology, ii., p. 236.
In an ancient tract embodied in Leabhar na h'Uidhre, the Sidhe are
called Aes-Sidhe, which suggests the Scandinavian Aesir or gods. In
the Scandinavian texts, the elves are occasionally ranked as " gods."
Mr. W. Y. Evans Wentz has to confess that in comparison with Ireland
and Scotland, he found Wales a barren soil for fairy beliefs. "The one
region where I found a real Celtic atmosphere ... is ... a few
miles from Newport " ( The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries, p. 9). It may
be remarked that Newport is by no means a typically * Celtic " district.
The Flemings, who were settled at Haverfordwest by Henry L, may
have left their impress both on Welsh superstitions and the Welsh
language. They were distinguished by their addiction to divination and
clairvoyance (Higden).
CHAPTER V.
Druidism and its significance Druidism and the Dananns The Lia
Fail Stones of Fate An Icelandic example The Ogam Script
Illusionism Scottish examples of the practice of the Slan High-
land belief in the efficacy of charms Dwarfs and hunchbacks
The Dananns identified with the Cruithen people of Ireland The
meaning of " Cruithne " Cruithne, * the father of the Picts."
IT may be useful here to examine the connexion between the
so-called Druidism of Ireland and the Dananns. The word
" Druid " is of ancient, if rather obscure, lineage. It is
intimately associated with A. S. dry, a magician, but its
nearest cognate is probably drude, which in Low German
and Danish means a " sorceress." The ultimate source of
the word is uncertain, but there is no sound reason for
associating it with the Cymric derw, an oak. It is plain
from the texts that " Druid " in Irish and Scottish lore is
always to be equated with magus. 1
It is frequently assumed that the " Druidism " of Ireland
and Scotland was of the same character as that of Gaul, as
described by Caesar and other Roman writers. But there is
not a syllable in any ancient and reliable text, to warrant
the belief that the tenets of the Gaulish cult were those either
of Irish or Scottish Druidism. The Druids of Gaul were
philosophers; those of Ireland and Scotland were sorcerers.
The Druids of Gaul taught natural science, discoursed
speculatively on transcendental subjects, and proclaimed the
immortality of the soul. They were prophets, they were
priests, and if they were not kings, they were king-makers.
They gave their sanction to, and presided at, human
1 Nothing is clearer in the oldest texts than the association of magic
with the Druids of Ireland and Scotland.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 55
sacrifices, and the reason for their approval, unconvincing
to us, seemed good to them. The Druids whom we meet in
the Irish texts are on an entirely different plane. The power
they exercised over the minds of the people was due to their
supposed pre-eminence in magical arts, and to nothing else.
We find them controlling storms, healing the wounded in
magical baths, and casting spells over men and animals.
In every way their wizardry corresponded with that attri-
buted to the Dananns. It is difficult to resist the conclusion
that the Irish Druids were either Dananns themselves, or
had learned their wizardry in the Danannic school; and it
is apparent that when St. Patrick landed in Ireland, the
Druidism of the country was simply Shamanism. 2
The Irish Druids played an important part in the in-
auguration of the High Kings at Temair, or Tara; but it
was a secret part, for there is nothing to show that they ever
exercised openly any political influence in Ireland, as the
philosophic Druids undoubtedly did in Gaul. At these
inaugurations, the Lia Fail, the stone which the Dananns
brought with them to Ireland from Scandinavia, " chanted "
approval if the candidate who stood upon it was the rightful
king. The Irish commentators do not conceal their opinion
that the voice was really that of a " Druid " ventriloquist,
which, in point of fact, is quite a sensible explanation.
The Lia Fail has a whole literature to itself. The origin
of the name is dubious. Lia means " stone " in Irish, and
that it originally meant a flat stone is shown by the Cymric
lech. Fail has been variously interpreted, one theory being
that Fal was a Sun-god. It will be remembered that the
legend states that the stone was brought from Falias by the
Dananns, and that I have assumed a meaning for Falias
a ln ibeLorica of St. Patrick the saint prays for protection "against
the spells of women, and smiths, and Druids" (Haddan and Stubbs,
p. 322). " Smith " is a peculiarly Scandinavian word, associated with
charms and spells.
56 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
cognate with "fell" or mountain. It is believed that one
of the names of Ireland, Innis Fail the Fail Island is
derived from the Lia Fail, but the connexion is doubtful.
It was long thought that the Tara stone and the stone at
Scone upon which the Kings of Scotland were crowned were
identical; but Professor Ramsay and Dr. Skene have
between them demolished that theory. Probably most Irish-
men still claim a proprietary right in the stone taken from
Scone, which now lies enclosed in the Coronation Chair in
Westminster Abbey; 3 but the rightful place for that stone
is not in the Dublin Museum, but the National Museum of
Antiquities in Edinburgh. There is no adequate ground for
supposing that the Lia Fail and the stone at Westminster
are the same. 4 The legend had its origin in the fact that
the Scottish monarchy was derived from Ireland, from which
country it was supposed that the Scots brought the Lia Fail
when they colonised Dalriada in modern Scotland, afterwards
taking it to Scone when they overcame the Picts in the ninth
century. Another supposition is that it was sent from
Ireland to Scone by the High King of Ireland to his son-in-
law, Kenneth MacAlpin, the first monarch of the combined
nations of the Picts and Scots. It is surely reasonable to
think that, if the Lia Fail was such a precious relic as it
is represented to have been and there is little doubt that the
* I believe that some Fenians once attempted to steal the stone from
the Abbey. Had they succeeded, and carried it off to Ireland, they
would have been guilty literally of misguided patriotism.
One of the clauses in the Treaty of Northampton (1328) made provision
for the restoration of the Coronation Stone to Scotland ; but the Abbot
of Westminster refused to let it pass out of his possession. Possibly,
some day, a Scottish Dean of Westminster, more potent in this matter
than Scottish Archbishops, may perform a patriotic duty and redeem
England's pledge, by causing the Stone (not the Chair, which is some-
times confused with the Stone), to be sent back to the country to which
it belongs.
4 The Scone stone must have had the same origin and use as the Mora
(moor) stone in the plain near Upsal, where the king was elected by
the national assembly of all the Swedes.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 57
Irish accounts of the stone are in the main reliable no con-
sideration would have been of sufficient weight to permit
of its being sent out of the country. " An auspicious omen,"
the reason suggested by 0' Flaherty in his Ogygia for the
transfer, means nothing; but I have never seen a better
reason suggested. Almost certainly, the Lia Fail remained
in Ireland, and Petrie quotes an Irish poem, dated 985 A.D.,
to show that this was the case. He endeavoured to identify
it with a pillar-stone called Bod Ferguis, but a lech, a flat
stone that was stood upon, could not have been a pillar-
stone. 5 Whitley Stokes quotes a fifteenth century MS.
containing an allusion to the Lia Fail " which is in Tara."
This is at least presumptive evidence that the Lia Fail was
believed to be then in Ireland.
The Lia Fail was known as the Stone of Destiny, the
Fatal Stone, and the Stone of Knowledge, the last name
appearing in the Book of Leinster. Why was it called by
these names? 0' Flaherty states that it was called the
" Fatal Stone," because " the princes used to try their fate
on it;" and the other names were applied for a similar
reason. But " Stones of Fate " were not peculiar to Ireland.
They were known to the Scandinavians; and they were used
in the temples of Iceland. 6
Two Icelanders, Thorstein and Indrid (tenth century) were
mortal enemies. One night Indrid left his house with the
object of killing Thorstein. Simultaneously, Thorstein
entered a temple, where he prostrated himself before a stone
and prayed to know his fate. " The stone replied in a kind
of chant that his feet were already in the grave; that his
fatal enemy was at hand; and that he would never see the
rising of the next morning's sun." 7
5 The ancient Irish are believed to have worshipped pillar-stones. The
Storjunkars worshipped by the Lapps were stone idols (see Scheffer,
pp. 105-6).
6 Northern Antiquities, p. 116.
7 Dunham, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, p. 87 (sec. 2).
58 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
This is precisely analagous to the " kind of chant " with
which the Lia Fail was accredited. Sir John Bhys cites
a story mentioned by 'Curry concerning Conn of the
Hundred Battles, a famous Irish king, who trod upon a stone
which screamed loudly. The " Druid " who accompanied
him interpreted the scream. " The Lia Fail has screamed
under thy feet," he said, " and it has prophesied. The
number of screams which it gave is the number of the kings
that shall come of thy seed for ever." 8 The "Druid" added
(very judiciously) that he was not allowed to give him any
further information.
The application of these arguments to the Dananns will
now be considered. From first to last, they seem to be
associated with the Lia Fail. It was they who brought the
stone to Ireland ; it was they, apparently, who taught its use
as an agency of divination; and it was probably they who
benefited by it in their capacity of " Druids " or wizards.
Dunham believed that the scene in the Icelandic temple
which he describes, was a relic of stone-worship adopted by
the Norwegians from the Lapps (perhaps the cult of
Storjunkar, the " Vicar " of Thor).
The Ogam script, of the origin of which nothing certain
is known, is associated by Irish legend with the Dananns.
By the Book of Ballymote, the characters are directly attri-
buted to that people; and it is impossible to dissociate them
from the name Ogma given to one of the Danann leaders.
The stones bearing Ogam inscriptions are sometimes called
"Druid" stones; in other words, the script is connected)
with the exercise of magic. There is, in point of fact, a
conflict of opinion whether or not the script was of a secret
nature; the closely-guarded possession of the heathen priest-
hood to whom the name of " Druids " was given. That
8 See O'Curry's Lectures, p. 388. In Gaelic (Irish and Scottish), dtin
means "fate" or "destiny." Possibly the word may be a derivative
from "Danann."
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 59
seems to have been the view of the eminent antiquarian,
Sir James Ware, and others ; but later students like Sir John
Rhys and Professor Bury, who have deciphered some of the
inscriptions, take a different view.
The Ogam characters are of course not peculiar to Ireland.
They have been found in England, Wales, Scotland, and the
Isle of Man. In Scotland they are confined to the recognized
Pictish area, with the exception of a doubtful example in
the island of Gigha. Some writers, like Canon Isaac Taylor,
have boldly declared their belief in the Scandinavian origin
of the Ogams; but it would be unwise to dogmatise in one
direction or another in the present state of our knowledge.
" Illusionism," so constantly associated with the Dananns,
and equally attributed by tradition to the historical
Cruithne, was a feature of Scandinavian magic. Probably
it was borrowed from the Lapps, the arch-necromancers.
The latter, when pursued by their foes, had a useful habit
of throwing pebbles behind them which appeared to their
enemies as mountains, or of casting snow on the ground and
making it look like a mighty river. 9 We find in the High-
lands of Scotland many instances of the practice of similar
illusionism, called by the name of sian (possibly connected
with the root sid). The best examples of which I am aware
are cited by Mr. F. H. Dixon in his interesting collection
of stories from the Gairloch district of Wester Ross. He
tells of a celebrated smuggler in that district who turned his
knowledge of the sian to profitable account in the practice
* See Saxo Grammaticus (Elton, p. 204) ; also Dunham, pp. 72-3, sec. 1.
The feats of the Danann magi bear a striking resemblance to those
described in the text (see Douglas Hyde's Literary History of Ireland,
pp. 286-7). The feats of magic performed by King Leoghaire's Druids
in their contest with St. Patrick consisted in covering the plain with
snow, which Patrick immediately melted, and creating a thick fog,
which the saint immediately dispersed. The Danann witches changed
trees into a host under arms (Rhys, Proceedings of the British Academy
(1910), p. 28).
60 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
of his business. " Alastair " for that was his Christian
name constantly ran the blockade by the use of the sian.
When a Government vessel hove in sight, he pronounced an
incantation, employed an amulet (probably a piece of skin),
and his boat instantly became invisible. When he got his
casks of whisky ashore, he made passes over them, and lo!
they disappeared from sight until the spell was removed.
On other occasions, when a revenue vessel appeared upon the
scene, he would take a thole-pin from the boat, and whittle
it with his knife, " when each of the chips as it fell into the
water would appear to the crew of the preventive vessel to
be a fully-manned boat." 10
The power of the charm has long been an article of faith in
the Highlands, where, side by side with the fairy creed,
belief in its efficacy has survived with remarkable tenacity.
It is far from being extinct even at the present day in some
of the islands, where probably " healing stones " are still
secretly built into buildings; where the Evil Eye is still
dreaded; where women are still believed to have the power
of casting spells over their neighbours' cattle; or of making
their enemies waste away by melting a waxen image before
the fire; or of bewitching them in other sinister ways. These
beliefs, the legacy of heathendom, lurk hidden away in the
inner lives of the people, too far from the surface to be easily
eradicated by education, and too intimately bound up with
the emotions to be easily separated from the religion of the
Cross. 11
Among the Scandinavians, witchcraft of a sinister kind
was called seid. It was held in later times to be unworthy
10 Dixon's Gairhch, pp. 165-8. One of the properties of MacLeod's
" fairy flag " in Dunvegan Castle was to multiply the numbers of the
MacLeods in battle.
11 There was a notable case in the Island of Lewis some years ago,
exemplifying, by means of evidence given in the Law-courts, the pre-
valence of beliefs such as those stated in the text.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 61
of a man to practice seid, and the se^Z-man was prosecuted
and burned as an atrocious troll-man. 12
This brings us back to the trolls, or elves, or dwarfs, or
hunchbacks, for deformity was a characteristic of the dark
elves. In one of the Danish tales, a little troll with a peaked
hump one of the " mount-folk " goes to a house in the
friendly way that is a feature of some of the stories, and
begs the loan of a cask of beer, which is granted (he returned
the loan three days later). He is described as putting the
cask on his hump and walking off with it. 13
We meet this " hunchback " feature in the Danann
traditions, which, as we have seen, connect that people with
pigmies or dwarfs (Clanna Luprachan). But the prevalence
of this notion is shown in a striking way when we come to
consider the case of the Cruithne, who were the historical
representatives of the Dananns. The links uniting the two
must, however, be made clear.
In the valuable collection by Dr. O'Grady of ancient Irish
texts, which he has called Silva Gadelica, there are allusions
to one Nar, the daughter of Lotan. She was married to
Crimthann, who is known in Irish tradition as Crimthann
Nianair, or Nar's champion. Nar is described as being of
the Chruithen-tuaith, meaning the " Cruithen people," and
in the text, these people are given the alternative name of
SidheM We have already seen that the Dananns and the
12 Northern Antiquities, ii., p. 114 (of. Du Chaillu, i., pp. 448-9).
11 In the Rigs-mdl t a story of considerable ethnological importance, the
constitution of society in ancient Scandinavia is clearly outlined, showing
that it was not the democracy that it is sometimes supposed to have been,
but that it had, in fact, an aristocratic basis. The Riys-mdl proves that
there were three classes : the big, fair, fighting men, the dominant class ;
the churls, or middle class, described as red-haired with florid com-
plexions ; and the lowest class, the thralls, who were short, black-haired,
and deformed. Clearly, by the thralls, the Rujs-mdl meant the Lapps
who had been enslaved by their Gothic conquerors.
14 Silva Gadelica (English version, p. 544 ; Gaelic text, p. 495). Nar is
elsewhere described as the " fairy sweetheart " of Crimthann ( ? Creevan,
62 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Sidhe are the same, and the identification of both with the
Cruithen people is confirmed by a statement in Leabhar
na h'Uidhre that Crimthann's wife, Nar, was of the Tuatha
de Danann. And Nar, it may be added, is Cymric for
" dwarf." It appears, too, in Scandinavian mythology as a
dwarf name.
Now, here we have an unmistakable identification of the
Dananns with the Cruithen people. But what is the
meaning of the latter name? Many and various have been
the etymologies suggested, varying from " harpers " to
" wheat-eaters," and from " Prussians " to " Picts." Dr.
Latham and Professor Graves simultaneously suggested that
Crutheni was the Celtic form of Prutheni, the Old Prussians,
but at the present day, the name is always equated with the
Latin Picti, the assumption being that the root of the word
is Cruth (Cymric pryd) meaning " form." That appears to
me to be an obvious attempt to make the name fit in somehow
with the idea of self -pain ting. Even if it were a fact that
the Cruithne (to use the spelling of greatest authority)
painted the " forms " of animals on their bodies, is it
probable that they would be designated so clumsily to denote
that fact?
The earliest contemporary allusion to the Cruithne is to
be found in Adamnan, who calls them Cruithini populi.
That is the Latin rendering of Chruithen-tuaith which, as
we have just seen, means the Cruithen or Cruithne people.
We saw further that the latter were identical with the people
of the Sidhe (fairies or elves), and the people of the Sidhe
with the Dananns. We have only to go a step further to Bee
= the strong), again showing the Danann connection with the fairies.
Mr. David Mac-Ritchie (Fians, Fairies, and Picts, p. 70) supposes that
Nar may have been the last of a dynasty. That may well have been the
case, thus explaining the name " Nar's champion." It would have been
in accordance with the custom observed in Scandinavia when the heiress
was a female a question discussed in connexion with the Picts of Scot-
land in a later part of this book.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 63
that the name " Cruithne " has the same radical significance
as Sidh or elf. We find it in Cymric as Crwtyn, a little
fellow, and in Irish Gaelic as Cruitineach, a humpback or
dwarf, which is the same word as that translated (with un-
conscious humour) in the dictionaries of Irish and Scottish
Gaelic, as " Pict." In the mythology of Ireland and
Scotland, as well as in that of the Teutonic nations generally,
fairies, elves, pigmies, dwarfs, and hunchbacks are frequently
indistinguishable, as may be seen by a comparison of the
native names for those beings. The word leprachaun (spelt
in different ways) is now the name most commonly used,
and it can be legitimately employed either for an elf or a
pigmy. The Irish, too, like the Teutons, gave a crooked
shape to their dwarfs, as denoted by the root cruith ; hence
a harp, from its humpbacked shape, is called a cruith or
crowd, and the hump plainly protrudes in the name of the
people called the Cruithne. 15
Etymology thus corroborates the testimony of legend and
tradition in associating the Dananns with the Cruithne, and
later on, I shall show how the Cruithne are similarly linked
with the Scottish Picts. It is necessary to add that an
eponym has been invented for the Cruithne in the person of
Cruidne or Cruithne, " the father of the Picts." It was
quite sufficient for mediaeval and later writers on Irish
subjects, to explain the meaning of the name of the people
by saying that they were the descendants of "Cruithne"; but
nowadays the eponymic method is rightly regarded as being
a confession of ignorance of origin. We shall meet again
the people called the Cruithne when we come down to historic
times. Meantime, I have tried to show that they received
their name from their elf -creed. Certainly, they themselves
were neither elves nor dwarfs, but a race of stout fighters,
15 The root cruith preserves the original meaning of " dwarf," which, as
already stated, implied crookedness (see Fox Talbot's English Etymologies,
p. 38).
64 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
whose original home, as the solitary word (Cartit) in their
language which they have bequeathed to posterity, and other
circumstances seem to show, was some portion of the country
loosely named Scandinavia. 16
16 I may here place on record the opinion of Colgan, the eminent Irish
scholar, that the Picts were Danes.
CHAPTER VI.
The Milesians The two tales of Irish origins Gadel and Scota The
stories post- Patrician The Scottish version Scythian and Scot
The vagueness of the name "Scythia" Nennius on the progenitor
of the Scots The Pictish Chronicle on the Scythians and the Goths
Their common descent from Magog How the confusion between
the Goths and the Scythians arose The Lombards and the Gael
Conclusions deduced from the evidence.
WITH the disappearance of the Dananns and the arrival in
Ireland of their supplanters, the Milesians, we begin to
approach the fringe of genuine history. For the so-called
sons of Milesius, or Miled, of Spain are believed by Irish
writers to be the progenitors of the Celtic people in Ireland
who have figured throughout the heroic, the semi-historical,
and the historical periods right down to the present day.
It is also believed that the ancient Irish were identical with
the Scots, some of whom, a band of colonists in ancient
Alban, conquered and gave their name to the land of their
adoption, which has since retained the name of Scotland.
Further, it is believed that these sons of Milesius, or
Hibernians, or Scots, took at some unknown period, or bore
contemporaneously with their other names, the name of Gael;
and that their descendants, alike in Ireland and Scotland,
call themselves " the Gael " to this day. Let us see, if we
can, how much truth there is in these assumptions, and
endeavour, if possible, to wade our way through the mass of
contradictions in which the subject is involved.
The legends and traditions for both elements are present
concerning the Milesians have been frequently related by
Irish historians. They are generally accepted as historical,
the only question being the date at which legend becomes
fact. Writers who relegate the Dananns to the realm of
5
66 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
myth, and who have their doubts about the Firbolgs, see
in the Milesians the earliest Gaelic tribes who occupied
Ireland. Tighernach, who wrote his Annals in the eleventh
century, is commended for his scepticism in doubting the
authenticity of all Irish records prior to the reign of
Cinibaeth, about 300 B.C. They were incerta, and whether
that meant that Tighernach was uncertain of their genuine-
ness or merely of their chronology, the fact remains that, by
sounding, the note of doubt, Tighernach has acquired a
reputation for critical acumen that may not be altogether
deserved. The reign of Cimbaeth has thus come to be
regarded by many Irish writers as the starting-point of
authentic Irish history. We shall see later on whether there
is any justification for that view.
The origin of the Milesians is described in the Irish texts
with details which, on a cursory examination, are difficult to
reconcile.
We find two tales of Irish origins, one relating to a
mythical Nel or Niul, and the other to a no less mythical
Gollamh or Miledh Espan (the Spanish miles). 1 These
legendary persons serve as the vehicles for carrying Gaelic
tradition down to the beginning of history. Both stories
are composed of a jumble of fabulous elements, overlying
the elements of genuine value. Niul and Miledh are both
associated with Scythia; both become wanderers (but in
inverse directions); and both marry Scota, daughter of
Pharaoh, King of Egypt. NiuTs descendants reach
Gothland, whence they proceed to Spain, where Miledh
was born. Miledh wanders from Spain to Scythia,
whence he finds his way to the Island of Gothiana,
and then back to Spain, plundering Albania (Scot-
land) on the way. The essential factor in the Nelian version
is the parentage of Gadel, the eponym of the Gael. The
father of Gadel is Niul, and the mother of Gadel is Scota.
1 Cymric Milwr, warrior.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 67
It would really seem that we have here, in the form of a
parable, an historical fact. This legendary marriage appears
to symbolise a union between two races, one personified by
Xiul, and the other by Scota. And just as Gadel was the
fruit of the marriage with Scota, so the Gael were the fruit
of the union between the Scots and another race.
Before I go further, I wish to examine, for the clearer
illumination of the subject, the roots of the Nelian and
Milesian stories. First of all, in their existing form, they
are certainly post-Patrician in their origin. That is obvious
from the introduction of the various Biblical incidents: the
Tower of Babel, the dragging in of Pharaoh, Moses, and the
Children of Israel, all of whom figure in the story. It is
equally clear that additions and emendations have been made
to the earlier forms of the legend. Hence the different
Irish versions, and the Scottish version told in Ireland to
Fordun, and preserved by him and Hector Boece in their
Scottish histories. Fordun wrote in the fourteenth century,
later by two hundred years than the earliest Irish manu-
scripts which contain the Milesian story, which was compiled
from still earlier sources. The earliest manuscript and the
simplest version of the legend are embodied in the history,
of the Britons ascribed to Nennius (supposed eighth or ninth
century). There it is stated, from information supplied to
the author by " the most learned of the Scots," that the*
Scots were descended from a " noble Scythian " who was
banished from his native country and took refuge in Egypt,
whence he was thrust out as an unwelcome stranger, and
finally, after many wanderings, settled with his family in
Spain. Here is no mention of any Scota, nor of a marriage
with any daughter of Pharaoh. 2 The name " Scythian "
is obviously equated with "Scot"; and a Scythian origin
is given to the Scots. But even this version, though shorn
of later extravagances, has Biblical elements which show
2 Scota figures, however, in the Bodleian fragment of Cormac's Glossary.
68 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
that it is not the original form of the legend. The only
clear fact that emerges from the different versions is that
they all represent a groping, more or less blind, after national
origins.
To the inventors of these Irish stories, the etymology of
the names " Gadel " (Gael) and " Scot " must have presented
difficulties that proved insuperable. To this day, there is
no settled derivation for either word. Of the two names,
" Scot " is much the earlier; at any rate, I have not found
the name " Gadel " in any work earlier than Cormac's
Glossary (ninth or tenth century), unless the more than
doubtful genuineness of St. Columba's poems (sixth century)
and the Elegy ascribed to Dalian Forgaill, his contemporary,
is admitted.
It has been shown that in the ninth century, the word
" Scot " was equated with " Scythian," and that the
legend about the Scots gave them a Scythian origin. It
is a fact, also, that the Irish texts represent the Scots as
" Scythian " tribes. But what country was meant by
" Scythia " ?
There is no vaguer geographical term in existence than
" Scythia." By ancient writers, it was generally understood
as the country north of the Euxine or Black Sea. In
mediaeval times (according to the period), the name was
applied to Northern Europe east or west of the Vistula.
Scanza, or Scandia, the southern part of Sweden, was called
" Old Scythia " in the seventh century, according to the
Ravenna Geographer, who places " New Scythia " east of the
Vistula. 3 It may be assumed as reasonable that those
mediaeval writers who mention " Scythia " as denoting a
particular country, desire to convey by its use the con-
temporary meaning attached to the name. On that
assumption, it will be instructive to see what country
Nennius meant by Scythia. I select this author, not only
3 Cf. also Adam of Bremen.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 69
because of his acknowledged authority, but because his
version of the origin of the Scots is, as we have seen, the
earliest wa possess, being copied, possibly (as has been
suggested), from a manuscript of the Irish " Invasions "
subsequently lost.
Nennius, then, tells us that the progenitor of the Scots
was a noble Scythian, i.e., a native of Scythia. Now, when
writing about the coming of Hengist, he uses the words
"Scythia" and "Germany" indifferently, as the name of that
warrior's native country. There appears to be good reason
to believe that Hengist (or the tribe eponymised by Hengist,
if Hengist the man is a myth) was really a Frisian, a
denomination which in the time of Nennius would be covered
equally by " Scythian " or " German." Nothing in Nennius
is clearer than the emphasis with which he seeks to show that
" Scythian " and " Scot " 4 have an identical meaning.
Therefore, if Scythian and German were in his eyes
synonymous, as they seem to have been, the inference would
appear to be irresistible that, in his opinion, also, the Scots
were of Germanic origin.
The belief in the connexion between the Scots and the!
Scythians, and between the Scythians and the Goths, is
shown clearly in the Pictish Chronicle, the authorship and
date of which are equally uncertain. There the Picts and
the Scots are derived from the same origin; they were
" Albanians," so called because their hair was whitened by
the snows of the mountains (!) Thus they are traced back
to Albania, in ancient Scythia. The Scythi or Scotti and
the Gothi are also linked together in a common descent from
Magog, this genealogy being part of the system by which
mediaeval historians sought to trace the European nations back
to Japhet as their common progenitor. The Scandinavian
genealogists likewise link together Goths and Scythians in
a Magogic ancestry, and, according to Keating, the Irish
4 Scite autem id est Scotti.
70 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
were also believed to be descendants of Magog. On the other
hand, the Cymric genealogists trace the Celts back to
Gomer, 5 the eldest son of Japhet, this precedence over
Magog, the second son, being due to the correct belief that
the Celts were the earliest arrivals in Europe of the Celto-
Germanic tribes.
Thus the Goths, the Scythians, and the Scots are made
members of the same family by the mediaeval genealogists.
The Scots were believed to be Scythians, and we have the
authority of Procopius for saying that in the sixth century,
the Goths and the Scythians were believed to be the samo
people. A close examination of the facts of this anomalous
position shows how history and ethnology alike may bo
falsified by a mistaken conception. The confusion between
these peoples arose in the following way.
The centre of dispersion of the Indo-Germanic tribes is
now believed to have been the Baltic coasts. This theory has
now displaced the belief previously prevailing, that the
original seat of those tribes was in the neighbourhood of
the Black Sea, the ancient Scythia in fact. To show how
little we have progressed in these questions, notwithstanding
the advance in the fields of archaeology and philology, it need
only be said that Teutonic tradition embodies both Baltic
and Caucasian origins. The " Scythian " (Caucasian)
tradition is much more prominent in mediaeval writings, but
the traditions of the Goths and the Lombards agree in
placing their origin in Scandinavia. It is thus a remarkable
coincidence in support of tradition, that the most recent
and competent opinion argues on evidential grounds for
Scandinavia as the earliest home of the Goths. In the time
of Tacitus, the Goths (Gothones) are found east of the
Vistula, but their real history commences with the formation
of the Ostrogothic and Visigothic tribal leagues in the south
of Europe. The East Goths settled on lands formerly
8 Nennius makes Gomer the progenitor of the Gauls.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 71
occupied by the peoples called " Scythians " by the ancient
historians, while the West Goths settled in the country
formerly occupied by the people called "Getae" by the same
writers. Now the ancient Scythians were indubitably an
Altaic race, and the ancient Getae were akin to the
Thracians, 6 both peoples having a common language and
common customs. There were few, if any, racial or
linguistic affinities between the West Goths and the
Getae, and there were none at all between the East
Goths and the Scythians. Yet, owing to the circumstance
that the West Goths settled on the lands of the ancient
Getae, and the East Goths on the lands of the ancient
Scythians, the West Goths were thereafter frequently called
" Getae," and the East Goths were perhaps still more fre-
quently called "Scythians." Hence, also, the genealogical
distinction originally made between the two branches of
the same family the Scythians or Ostrogoths, and the
Gothi (or Getae) or Visigoths. The name " Scythians,"
therefore, as used by mediaeval writers, was comprehensively
but mistakenly applied to all tribes of Gothic descent, and
Scythia was known as that part of Europe occupied by>
Goths or their kindred. It may be conjectured that the
spread of this name to the Baltic was due to the vast empire
acquired by Eormanric, King of the East Goths in the
fourth century ; or it may be due to the prevalent belief that
Odin, " the Scythian," founded colonies all over Germany
during his progress from Scythia Magna to Scandinavia.
The persistent connexion between the Scots and Scythia
which appears in the Irish traditions, and the Magogic origin
attributed to the Irish, serve as links with the Teutonic
genealogies which make Magog the progenitor of the Goths.
6 Strabo says that " the Greeks considered the Getae to be Thracians,"
and Pliny states that the Romans called the Getae by the name of
"Daci." The Danes were sometimes confused with the Dacians. The
Getae appear to have been a mixed race, the main elements of the
population being apparently Illyric and Celtic.
72 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
There is warrant, therefore, for thinking that we must look
to a Teutonic source for the Milesian legend; or that it is
a Celtic graft on a Teutonic stem. Clearly the main thesis
of the story is to explain the origins of the nanies " Scot "
and "Gael," but it really rests upon the supposed affinity
between the Scots and the Scythians or Goths; and as
Mr. Borlase points out, some of the names and incidents in
the Irish accounts of the travels of the Gael are exactly the
same as those related of the Langobardi in Paulus's History
of the Lombards. 1 This cannot be a fortuitous circumstance.
It is unthinkable that by a coincidence and nothing more,
the same people and the same incidents should appear in the
German and the Irish stories of origins; and the conclusion
is irresistible that we have here a common story indicating
a common stock.
I have thus sought to lead up to the conclusion I have
formed that the so-called Milesian Scots (or supposed
Scythians) belonged to the Teutonic branch of the Indo-
European family, and that the name " Gael " was applied to
a confederacy composed of these Scots and their Celtic pre-
decessors in Ireland. Further, in view of the fact that the
Gael must have necessarily preceded their Gaelic language,
my theory is that the latter was gradually built up on a
Cymric foundation after the Scots entered Ireland. The
stem of Gaelic is unquestionably Celtic, but there are
Teutonic grafts (with others) so pronounced as to give it a
special character, differing in important respects from its
sister tongue, the comparatively unmixed Cymric of the
Welsh. These are fundamental questions, and the grounds
of my conclusion must be stated with some fulness.
7 Dolmens, p. 1069.
CHAPTER VII.
The Celts The different types of Celt The succession of races in
Western Europe The Celtse and the Galli A discussion of the
names The Belgae The two branches of the Celts Where did the
Gaelic language originate ?
WHAT is a Celt? That would appear to be a simple question
to answer; yet I know of few more difficult. Where are we
to look for a precise and satisfying definition of a Celt?
If we ask the anthropologist, we are shown a physical
type of uncertain racial origin. If we turn to the
philologist, we are told that the Celt represents a definite
group in the Aryan family of languages. If we consult the
historian, he sends us to Caesar. History is indeed not silent
about the Celt in Roman times; and place-names in
Germany proclaim his dominance over Central Europe long
before the Teutonic wave swamped him in its westward
advance. We see him in the pages of history as by his
military prowess he shakes the Roman Empire to its very
foundations; and we see him still more clearly in the period
of his decadence, as a devitalised unit of the same Empire,
yielding sullenly to the pressure exerted by the barbarous
but more vigorous German.
The type of Celt as described by the historians is that of
a big, fair man, similar to the German. It is difficult,
indeed, to discover any really fundamental difference between
the physical characteristics of the two peoples. To the
shorter and swarthier Romans, Celts and Germans alike were
distinctively tall and fair races. But the Germans were the
bigger and the ruddier of the two. Claudian writes of the
" golden gleam " of the Gallic locks; but Caligula dyed red
(doubtless with Gallic soap, which was a mixture of bears'
fat and the ashes of beechen logs) the hair of captive Gauls
74 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
selected for their tallness. He wished to pass them off as
German captives, and for that purpose required big men with
red hair. But this example is partly balanced by allusions
elsewhere to the remarkable size of the Celts. On the whole,
it is difficult to regard the Celt and the German of the
classical historians other than expressions of the same
physical type, belonging to what Deniker has not inaptly
called the Northern stock. This is a stock which has for its
representatives to-day the tallest, fairest, and longest-headed
races of Europe. It includes the Scandinavians, the Scots,
and the Irish. 1
Turning now to the Celt of the anthropologists, we find
a type that has not the remotest physical kinship with Nordic
characteristics. Anthropology has ignored history, and
adopted a classification of its own. The Celt of Paul Broca
" the master " of modern anthropologists is short, squat,
swarthy, and brachy cephalic, everything, in fact, that the
Nordic Celt is not. Therefore, when we use the word
" Celt," we must be clear which Celt we mean: the Celt of
Broca or the Celt of Caesar. Broca restricted his classifica-
tion to the prevailing type in the Celtica of the historians,
but the " Alpine " type of Rip ley the accepted label at the
present day for the squat broadhead has a wider range.
It is unfortunate that the adjective " Celtic " has ever
been applied to this type, for it has caused unnecessary
distraction. It is a purely arbitrary name, which would be
harmless enough did it not enter the domain of the
philologist and the historian, and come into needless conflict
with them. Any of the other designations Ligurian,
Arvernian, or even Lapponic (as used alternatively by De
Quatrefages) would be preferable. Huxley's distinction
between the fair Celt and the dark Celt has not
1 It should be stated that the use of the name * Celtic," as applied to
portions of the British Isles, their inhabitants and speech, is of modern
growth.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 75
disentangled the confusion, for the fundamental cause of the
tangle is the employment of a word which lies outside the
sphere of anthropology. It may be hoped that the acceptance
at the present day of the label " Alpine," as denoting the
sturdy broadheads, or of a similar description which does
not trench upon other spheres, may lead in time to the
total disuse of the words " Celt " and " Celtic " as type-
labels. It is not difficult, however, to see how the discrepancy
between the two types of Celt originated.
The succession of races in Western Europe is of necessity
more or less a speculative question. But it is common
ground that palaeolithic man is represented by such low types
as the Spy and the Neanderthal crania, while the ancient
skulls recently discovered in England, and by some rashly
hailed as supplying the " missing link," bring us a stage still
further back in the history of man. The exact place in the
scale of the Cro-Magnon type, which has been held to
represent the sub-stratum of the present population of
Western Europe, is undetermined. This type has, however,
been identified with the tall, fair, long-headed Berbers, who
in turn have been associated by Dr. Tubino with the
Basques or ancient Iberians, and with the fair Libyans de-
picted on the Egyptian monuments of the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, B.C. 2 A further link in the chain is
supplied by Von der Gabelenz, who connects the Basque
language with the Berber. 3 The people who spoke these
kindred tongues are associated with the megalithic monu-
ments in North Africa, and in the west and north-west of
the Iberian peninsula. With every show of reason, they may
be considered as the true dolmen builders, and as such, their
connexion with the British Isles deserves, perhaps, a closer)
scrutiny than it has hitherto received.
Whether these blonde longheads succeeded the palaeolithic
peoples, or represent the earliest wave of the northern tribes
2 A. H. Keane, Ethnology, pp. 376, 378. 3 Ibid., p. 205.
76 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
who afterwards dominated Europe, it seems to be well
established that, during the neolithic age, the short, dark,
broad-headed element was present in Europe long before the
Indo-European tribes. These northern tribes were super-
imposed upon the broadheads, and with the short, brown
longheads of the south the Mediterranean type placed
Europe under a wave of dolichocephaly. In France,
especially, the broadheads preponderated, and it has been
estimated that towards the close of the neolithic age, the
round or medium types in certain districts of that country
were eight or ten times more numerous than the longheads. 4
This consideration would appear to assist in harmonising
the accounts of the historians with the classification of the
anthropologists. Beyond doubt, the dark broadheads were
dominated by the fair longheads, who were a military caste,
and who appear to have imposed their language and their
civilization upon the subject tribes. The language of the
latter was probably Turanian (or, as it is now more commonly
called, "Ural-Altaic ") which would be gradually displaced
by the superior Aryan tongue of their conquerors. The
Romans came in contact, not with the servile broadheads-,
but with the dominating military class, who in Gaul, equally
with the subject tribes, were comprehended in the name of
11 Celts," just as (strictly speaking) a Sydney merchant and
a Queensland black are both included in the designation
"Australians." I have heard of people who have been
astonished to hear that there are blacks in Australia, and of
others who were equally astonished, on meeting Australians,
to find that their skins were white. The Roman writers
would naturally describe the Celts as tall, fair men; while
modern anthropologists, finding a short, broadheaded, dark
people preponderating in the districts known to have been
4 A. H. Keane, Ethnoloyy, p. 150. Dr. R. Cruel thought that the whole
of Europe was occupied by Turanian peoples of Ural-Altaic speech before
the arrival of the Aryans.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 77
Celtic in Roman times, have applied the adjective " Celtic "
to the type which they represent. If, however, it be assumed
that this type was at all times more numerously represented
than the fair type; and if the well-established theory that
dark stocks are more penetrative and persistent than fair
stocks be accepted; then the comparative fewness in number
of the fair Celts in those districts at the present day
(especially in view of the inroads which a constant state
of warfare must have made upon the population of the
fighting class) will be well understood.
It is improbable that the word " Celt " was originally
anything more than a topographical designation. It may
have simply meant the "forest-men:" those who, like the
ancient Britons, lived on the edges, or in the cleared spaces,
of the woods which covered the face of ancient Gaul. The
word is found in modern Welsh as Celydd and Celt, a refuge
or shelter afforded by a forest, which is exactly suggestive
of the uses made of their forests by the Britons, as described
by Roman writers. The principal woods of Britain were
known in ancient times as " Caledonian " forests, the most
distinctive being the great forest in the north of the modern
Scotland, inhabited by the Caledonian or forest tribes.
According to Csesar, Celtae was the native name of the
people whom the Romans called Galli, the two names thus
applying to one people. Diodorus Siculus, however, explains
that the Celtae were the people who occupied the interior
of Gaul above Marseilles, and the country near the Alps
and on this side of the Pyrenees; while the Galli were those
whose lived beyond Celtica towards the north, near the Ocean
and the Hercynian mountains, and beyond the latter as far
as Scythia. The Romans called the whole of these people
(Celtae and Galli alike) by the common name of Galli. The
distinction made by Diodor is instructive, for it seems to
confirm the impression that the names Celtae and Galli were
topographical in their origin.
78 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
The name Galli is as undetermined as that of Celtae,
but the meaning which probably finds most favour is that
of the " mighty " or " powerful " people (Cymric Gallus,
powerful or mighty). 5 The Gauls are described as a vain-
glorious nation, but it can hardly be supposed that they were
so vain as to call themselves by so boastful a name; or, if
they did, that the Romans, their conquerors, would admit
their claim to it. I think that the derivation of the name
must be sought elsewhere. If, like Celtae, it was topo-
graphical, it may be found in the Cymric Gal, a plain, or
Gwalas, low land, and thus the Roman name may have been
borrowed from a native source. The portion of Gaul in
which Diodor places the Galli must have been of this descrip-
tion, for it was the Low Countries of modern times. On this
hypothesis, therefore, the Celtae took their name from the
dense forests of southern and middle Gaul, while the Galli
took theirs from the low, marshy district of the northern
seaboard. I do not forget that there were both Celts and
Gauls other than those in Western Europe, but the origin of
the names remains unaffected by that consideration.
It is impossible to dissociate the name Galli from the
German walk or wealh, the origin of which is disputed. It
is common ground that the word was first of all applied by
the Germans to the Celtic tribes who were their neighbours,
and it is sometimes derived from the tribal name Volcae, 6
who were the Celts of Central Europe. That is a derivation
which does not carry conviction. It seems more probable
that walk is simply Gal or Gwal in a Teutonic dress, for the
Cymric initial "G" is repugnant to the Germanic tongue.
Thus we find George Buchanan in the sixteenth century
mentioning as a curious fact that the English people of his
s Pliny writes of the Galli as if the name meant " mad " or " furious ; "
and it is a curious commentary on this etymology that the Irish bards
allude to "the angry Britons " as a racial characteristic.
6 The same tribe who, some writers think, gave their name to the
Firbolgs.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 79
day called Gallovidia (Galloway) " Wallowithia," and that
the Gallic (French) language was called " Wallic " by the
people on the borders of Germany. The Walloons of the
low-lying lands (gwalas) of Flanders must have been among
the first of the Celtic tribes to come in contact with the:
Germans as they pressed westwards; and from their Celtic
name, signifying (on my hypothesis) the " Lowlanders,"
the Germans may have derived the walk which they applied
subsequently to all the Gallic tribes, and ultimately to all
foreigners or non-Germans. 7
That the Anglo-Saxon wealh cannot have originally meant
a foreigner, but a Gaul, or a person of Gallic origin is, I
think, demonstrable. Anglo-Saxon arrogance could have
hardly gone the length of giving the Britons, the natives of
the country of which they took possession, a name signifying
" foreigners." That, indeed, would be a supposition
equalling in insularity the apocryphal story told of the
Englishman in France, who was surprised to hear even the
little children of "foreigners" speaking French. A proof
of the association of wealh with Gaul and Gival is found in
Geoffrey of Monmouth, who tells us that after the Britons
were overrun by the Angles, they were called " Gualenses,
Welshmen." In " Gualenses " we have a Cymro-Latin form
of the English " Welshmen," but in the later forms, the
" G " is dropped, and the name appears frequently in Latin
documents as " Walenses." 8 It would seem, therefore, that
the Wealisc or Welsh got their name from the Anglo-Saxons
as denoting their Gaulish origin. 9
The old Walloons the Celtic tribes of Belgic Gaul were
7 This root is frequently associated with the German wallen, to wander,
but the association seems to indicate a confusion of ideas.
8 North-west France, or ancient Gaul, is the Valland of the Norse
Sagas, and Armorica is the Wealand of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
9 In Roquefort's Glossary the terms Walons and Gualons are used
indiscriminately. Wales is le pa;/s das Wallons; and is explained as
Galhis qui est du pays de Galles. Galesche is explained, qui est du pays de
GaUes en Anyleterre.
80 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
subdued, and apparently partly expelled from their terri-
tories, and partly absorbed by the Germans whom Caesar
called the Belgae, a name satisfactorily explained, perhaps,
by the Cymric Belgws, ravagers. The prevailing theory
about the Belgae is that they were Celts, and many ingenious
arguments have been advanced in support of that theory.
It is difficult, however, to evade the force of Roman
evidence to the contrary. The statement of Caesar, who had
first-hand knowledge of the Belgae, and said they were
Germans, is to be believed in preference to the speculations
of modern critics, who try to explain away Caesar's words
if indeed they do not boldly assert that he was mistaken.
There is, however, more to be said in favour of the evidence
that the Belgae had dropped their German tongue, and
adopted that of the Celts whom they had conquered. Thus
some inquirers have come to the conclusion that the Belgic
language resembled Gaelic rather than Cymric. That is
quite a plausible conclusion, for wherever Teutonic and
Cymric elements are mixed, the amalgam resembles Gaelic
in its vocabulary, if not in its grammatical construction.
The Belgae took possession of their territory in the south of
England at a comparatively late date probably much later
than the last of the Celtic colonies from Gaul. There is no
satisfactory evidence of their presence in Ireland.
I must here face a problem which fundamentally affects
the question how the Gael found their way to Ireland. The
belief is general that the Cymric branch and the Gaelic
branch of the Celts, after their supposed separation from a
common stem, and before they reached these islands, co-
existed in a state of independence; and that the first wave
of Celtic immigration to this country was Gaelic rather than
Cymric. No evidence of the least weight has ever been
offered in support of that theory. Unable to account other-
wise for the fact that the remains of the Gaulish language
which survive, are plainly identical in their essence with
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 81
modern Welsh, rather than with Gaelic, philologists have been
driven to the assumption that the Gaelic form of Celtic was
the language of those tribes who crossed the English Channel
long before the ancestors of the Welsh people left their homes
in Gaul. 10 Where these Gaelic tribes were located on the
Continent no one can say. They might have dropped from
the clouds, or emerged from subterranean dwellings, for all
that is known about them. Sir John Rhys", it is true, has
done all that learned ingenuity is capable of accomplishing,
by identifying them with the Celtae, and by attributing
a Gaelic origin to the characters inscribed on the bronze
calendar found at Coligny, near Lyons, in 1897. But
another eminent Celtic scholar, the late Dr. MacBain of
Inverness, was equally convinced that the characters on
the calendar are akin to Cymric; and Sir John Rhys
himself was fain to confess that he could not explain
how the Celtae reached Ireland. 11 There is, in fact,
no satisfactory proof that the Gaelic language, as a
distinct branch of Celtic, originated on the Continent.
On the contrary, the proofs are cumulative that it was
formed and partly developed in Ireland; and that its
traces in England and Wales, and its introduction as a spoken
language into Scotland and the Isle of Man, equally derive
their source from the country of its origin, namely, Ireland.
We must now return to the Irish legends, and see what light
they throw upon this question.
10 It need hardly be said that the Welsh, like their neighbours, are a
mixed race. The short, dark element in the population of Wales is
notably large. This type represents, in my opinion, the predecessors of
the true Celts ; it has certainly no affinity with the Gauls of the classical
authors.
11 Proceedings of the British Academy (1905), p. 63. "There is no
record, "said Huxley, "of Gaelic being spoken anywhere save in Ireland,
Scotland, and the Isle of Man " (Critiques and Addresses (1873), p. 176).
Kuno Meyer is still more positive. " No Gael," he says, "ever set foot
on British soil save from a vessel that had put out from Ireland " (cited,
with approval, by MacBain in his edition of Skene's Highlanders of Scot-
land, p. 383).
6
CHAPTER VIII.
The four stocks of the Gael The Irish genealogies and their value
The historical aspect of the Milesian legend Spain and the
Milesians The system of the DinnsenchusThe different names
applied to Ireland An explanation of the Milesian names The
Basques or Vascones A Basque element in the population of
Ireland The location of the Milesian tribes.
IRISH tradition traces the descent of the Gael from four
stocks, eponymised ast Hiber (or Eber), Heremon (or
Eiremon), and tr, the three sons of Miledh; in other words,
the three warrior peoples. The fourth eponym is Ith, who
was a nephew of Miledh. All four stocks came from Spain.
According to the legends, the first to arrive in Ireland was
Ith, who was slain by the Dananns, whereupon the sons of
Miledh avenged his death, and wrested the island from the
Dananns. The three sons 1 then established the Milesian
dynasty in Ireland, the south of the island falling to the
share of Hiber, and the north to Heremon and Ir. A
struggle for hegemony took place, resulting in the successive
subjection of Hiber and Ir by Heremon, who became finally
the undisputed master of the country.
Now, this story is sometimes treated as strict historical
fact by Irish writers, who believe that Hiber, Heremon, Ir,
and Ith were actual leaders of the Gael, and came over to
Ireland from Spain in the manner described by the legend.
If this belief is entertained in modern times, it is not
surprising to find that the mediaeval Irish bards and shan-
achies gave it full credence. Upon the genealogists and
the Celts have always revelled in genealogies was imposed
1 There were really six sons, but three of them do not survive in Irish
legend.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 83
the task of drawing up tables of descent from the four
progenitors of the Gael, thus linking them with the principal
Irish families, who were proud of being provided with so
illustrious an ancestry. Nothing was easier than to fabricate
these genealogies; but nothing is of less historical value.
It is astonishing to find writers who laugh at the genealogies
of (say) Geoffrey of Monmouth, gravely accepting the Irish
fabrications as genuine, and regarding as real men, instead
of bardic myths, the Milesian monarchs who reigned in
Ireland centuries before writing could have been known in
the island. If oral tradition is capable of carrying us so far
with safety, why not still farther? Why stop at 300 B.C.,
or at 1300 B.C.? Why not, in short, accompany the genealo-
gists right back to Adam?
It is impossible to place one's finger on the point in the
Irish genealogies at which fiction ends and fact begins. If
it is unscientific to reject them as wholly spurious, it is still
more unscientific to base any sort of history upon them.
That they are partly fictitious is obvious ; that they are
wholly fictitious is at least possible. Therefore, no space
will be devoted in these pages to arguments founded upon
their trustworthiness.
The Milesian legend, however, at once assumes an
historical aspect when we clearly grasp the idea that we
are dealing, not with persons but with peoples. The im-
migrations to Ireland were those of the Ithian people (or,
as they are commonly called, the sons of Breogan), the
Hiberian people, the Heremonian people, and the Irian
people. Who were these people, and with whom are they
identifiable?
First of all, it is necessary to examine the tradition that
they came from Spain. It is barely conceivable that in
Celtic tradition, the country named " Spain" may be a vague
and variable name, like Grecia in actual history. Grecia
was applied sometimes to the south of Italy (on rare occasions
84 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
to the whole of Italy), and to Russia, as well as to Greece
itself. 2 It is improbable, however, that any country but the
modern Spain was intended by the Irish story of the
Milesians, for, as I shall show, the evidence of etymology
confirms that supposition.
When the Milesian legend was invented (it is probably
not so ancient as is generally supposed) to account for
existing facts, it seems certain that it had, as its core, a
tradition then existing of a Spanish descent for some of the
inhabitants of Ireland. The most obvious fact for which
an explanatory legend had to be found, to clothe this core
with a suitable covering, was the name of the island itself.
Now, for Ireland, there has been a plethora of names. 3
Those of the earliest appellations frequently appearing in
the native texts are Eriu, Fodla, and Banba, which, in
accordance with the usual system of Irish place-names, are
represented in the legends as three Danann Queens. The
Dinnsenchus, a lost topographical tract, attributed to the
sixth century, and fragments of which are incorporated in
the Book of Leinster, the Book of Ballymote, and elsewhere,
is full of these personifications of place-names, and its in-
fluence has been felt wherever Irish etymologies have been
discussed. The result is that, while Irish place-names have
been the means of providing us with poetic legends, their
real meaning in many cases has been obscured by fable.
The system of the Dinnsenchus has made Irish etymology
stand on its head. The legends are made to explain the
place-names, instead of the place-names explaining the
legends. This process is not confined to Ireland; it flourishes
vigorously wherever the Celt is to be found, and wherever
legends are loved. Place-names refusing to yield their
2 I have seen it argued that the Grecia of Irish tradition was located in
Ireland. The tribes in Ireland called Grecraighe were probably * Heath "
men, not Greeks (see chapter ii.).
3 Quite a dozen can be enumerated.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 85
secrets to local investigation have been dealt with after the
manner of the bards; they have been turned into stories. 4
Kings, or queens, or heroes, or fair maidens living at a
conveniently remote period, and bearing the same names as
the places to be legendised, have been invented to play the
part of the leading characters in many of those charming
fables of the days of old, in the conception of which the Irish
imagination was so fertile. " And that was how " such and
such a place got its name. Ireland's place-names many of
them utterly prosaic in their origin have yielded a rich
harvest of fiction, of which we would not willingly be
deprived.
This system was actively at work when the Milesian
legend was invented. What was the meaning of " lerne,"
the name given to Ireland by the Greeks; and particularly,
what was the meaning of Hibernia, its most widely known
name? And what was the meaning of Eriu, or Erin, the
name by which the Gael called their island? No one knew.
That is not astonishing when it is considered that even at
the present day, there is no agreement among scholars. But
the Irish shanachie never allowed himself to be beaten by a
name. If he could not tell its meaning, he invented one.
And so he invented the meaning of Hibernia in the usual
way.
Hiber or Eber of the legend stands for the Iberni or
Hibernians. Now Hibernia and Hyberia or Iberia are
equations, and the ancient Iberia was the Greek name for
Spain. Therefore Hiber, the son of Miledh, was brought
from Spain to Ireland. Being the eldest son, he was the
first of the Gaelic tribes to obtain a footing there, for that
seems a reasonable implication for the story. Heremon, the
second son, who secured the hegemony of Ireland, is repre-
sented as a conqueror by his name, which signifies lord, or
4 A practice humorously recommended by Sir Walter Scott (see Lock-
hart's Life). The Dinnsenchust was centuries ahead of Scott.
86 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
master. 5 Ir, the youngest of the three, is the eponym of
Eriu or Erin, more clearly shown in the later names, Ir-land
(for so it was frequently written) and Ireland. The name Ir
seems to be closely related to that of 1th. The latter is tho
name given in] the legend to Miledh's nephew, who, on
account of the scarcity of corn, went from Spain to Ireland
to spy the richness of the land. Now the word Ith (Cymric)
means " corn," and the name of Miledh's nephew is at once
explained by the nature of his errand. Ir (Cymric), on the
other hand, means "luxuriant, or juicy, or green"; and
the names Ith and Ir may be held to signify the division of
the island into corn-land (Ith) and pasture-land (Ir).
Ireland of old was famed for its pastures: according to
Pomponius Mela (first century), the luxuriance of grass was
so great as to cause the cattle to burst! Hence the tribes
of Ir are associated with pasturage and the Ithians with
agriculture, for the ultimate meanings of Ir and Ith are
capable of that interpretation. Related to Ir is the Cymric
Train (full of juice, or luxuriance, or greenness), which closely
resembles Trin 9 the name given by Diodorus Siculus to
Ireland. This, then, may be the real source of the name
Erin; it means, in effect, the Emerald Isle. It is usually
argued that Erin is an oblique case of Eriu; but that is
doubtful, for both forms appear in the nominative. Either
way, the root remains unaffected.
To the Greek writers, Ireland was known as lerne (variants
Juberna, Juverna, and Iverna) of which Hibernia is the
Latin form. In the Patrician manuscripts, the usual form
is Hybernia, though in some, the forms Hyberia and Yberia
appear, 6 thus showing clearly that Hibernia and Hiberia or
5 This is probably the meaning of the name Armin, the celebrated
leader of the Cheruscans at the commencement of the Christian era, and
perhaps of Eormen-ric, the famous Ostrogothic Emperor of the fourth
century. The word appears in Gaelic as armunn, a chief.
6 See Haddan and Stubbs, p. 318.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 87
Iberia are the same names. The Spanish Iberia takes its
name from the dominant people of the peninsula, who lived
in the valley of the river Ebro, anciently the Iber or Hiber. 7
Similarly the Irish Hibernia or Iberia takes its name from
the Iberni (the Hiber of the legend), the dominant people
of the island, who lived in the valley of the Ivernus or lerne,
now the river Maine in Kerry, or possibly the Kenmare.
These people, and the river from which they took their
name, both appear in Ptolemy's map of the second century.
Here we have another instance of the arbitrary methods of
anthropology, in labelling a particular type of cranium and
pigmentation " Iberian." Like " Celtic," the word
" Iberian " can be interpreted in one way by the anthro-
pologist, and in quite a different way by the philologist or
the historian. What, it may be asked, are the physical
characteristics of the mixed people known to historians as
the Celtiberians? And is the " Iberian " type to be regarded
as implying the whole " Mediterranean " stock, the short,
swarthy longheads; or as being synonymous with the
Basques, who, according to competent observers, 8 are mainly
neither short, nor swarthy, nor remarkably dolichocephalic?
The Basques or Vascones and here we have a link that
almost certainly connects Ireland with Spain must be the
Irish Vascons or Bhascans, whose seat was the Sceligs or
Scillies off Cape Bolus in Kerry. 9
There are frequent references in the Irish texts to the
Clan Baeiscne as an element in the Fianna, and Finn him-
self, the Fianna's chief, was believed by some to have derived
his origin from the clan. 10 I find confirmation of the Irish
texts in one of the Scottish collections of Ossianic remains,
7 Cym. Eh, issuing out ; Ebru, to pass out.
8 See Wentworth Webster on The Basque and the Kelt.
9 Betham, The Gaul and Cymbri, p. 241 .
10 Finn, son of Cumhall, son of Sualtach, son of Baeiscne (Sttva Gadelica
(Eng. text), p. 99).
88 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
in which the sons of Fingal are described as " children of
Baoisge." n Indirect corroboration of the connexion is
furnished by other facts. The Basques are a fine, athletic
people, with a wonderfully upright carriage, due, apparently,
to an unusually strong posterior base of the skull. They are
exceedingly fond of athletic games, in which they display
remarkable skill and strength. They have a dance like the
Highland Fling, and an agglutinative language which "the
devil studied for seven years without learning more than
three words."
That there is a Basque element in the Irish population
seems, on the whole, to be highly probable. But it would be
unsafe, with our imperfect knowledge of the Basque language,
to assume from fancied resemblances, the presence of Basque
roots in the Gaelic language, or in the Irish or Scottish
place-names. The root ur in river-names is frequently
quoted as derived from the Basque ura, water, but, as we
shall see, it comes more probably from an Aryan source.
On the other hand, it would be still more risky to assert
that Basque elements are entirely lacking in the language
and the topography of the Gael. The question is at present
not resolvable with certainty one way or the other. One
thing, however, is certain: that the prognathism of Ireland
does not come from the Basques, one of whose distinguishing
characteristics is extreme orthognathism. To sum up: it
is clear enough that the authors of the Milesian legend,
as already suggested, had a definite traditional basis for
assuming a pre-historic connexion between Spain and
Ireland, which they adapted to their story of the Gael.
That connexion, and the mode of using it in the legend,
are clearly shown by the way in which the authors accounted
for the Brigantes, a tribe located by Ptolemy's map in the
south-east of Ireland. Orosius (fourth or fifth century)
mentions Brigantium as a place near Corunna, on an island
11 M'Callum, p. 151. Baoisge = Biscay (Vasconia).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 89
adjacent to which was a celebrated lighthouse. The Irish
Milesian fable calls this lighthouse Breogan's Tower, and
makes Breogan (otherwise Ith) the progenitor of the Clanna
Breogan; in other wards, the Brigantes. The south of
Ireland was occupied by the Brigantes (Breogan or Ith) and
the Iberni (Hiber), and the legend is thus in agreement with
the facts in stating that Hiber and Ith took possession of
the south. The tribal name Brigantes has, of course, nothing
to do with the Galician Brigantia. It means simply the
Highlanders, 12 in allusion to the mountains of Kilkenny
which formed part of the tribal lands. Similarly, the
Brigantes of Britain the most powerful of the British
tribes occupied the Highlands of the North of England;
and there was a tribe of the Alps that bore the same name.
Finally, a connexion with Spain was suggested by the
names Galicia and the Gallseci, which names were inevitably
linked with that of Gael by the authors of the legend. Some
of the modern inquirers have fallen into the same error: they
suppose that " Gael " and " Galicia " have a common
meaning. I shall show presently what " Gael " really
means; meanwhile, I am following the Milesian legend back
to its sources. In the following chapters, we shall inquire
into the origin of the Gael and of the people in Ireland who
were called " Scots."
12 Cym. Brit/ant, a Highlander.
CHAPTER IX.
The Iberians in Ireland The origin of the Scots A summary of con-
clusions as to the origin of the Gael The earliest notices of Ireland
by classical authors Ireland in the second century A.D. Early
Teutonic settlements in Ireland The earliest mention of the Scots
The Scottish hegemony in Ireland Tacitus and Ireland The
Cherusci and the Scots.
WHETHER or not the dim figures which appear in the Irish
accounts of the earliest colonies of the island, are intended
to represent the neolithic tribes, including the dolmen
builders, the existence of these elements in the ethnology of
Ireland is amply proved by the facts of archseology. There
is no certain evidence of palaeolithic man in the island, but
neolithic man is well represented at the present day by the
short, swarthy longheads, who are to be found in abundance
in the west and south-west. These are the so-called
" Iberians," an unfortunate name to adopt, unless its
meaning is well understood. The type is that of the Silures
of Tacitus, the swarthy people of South Wales, who may
have had a Spanish origin, as implied by the Roman
historian. 1
The succession of metal-using men who came after the
neolithic age is too ill-defined to permit of dogmatic
assertion, but the Irish texts clearly suggest the concurrent
1 Miss Bryant, in her Celtic Ireland (p. 17), quotes Colmenar, a Spanish
author, who states that * history informs us " that in 200 B.C. the
Biscayans took possession of Ireland, having crossed the sea in "vessels
made of the trunks of trees hollowed and covered with leather." The
Bay must have been abnormally smooth! And Camden (Ed. 1695,
p. 574) quotes another Spanish author, Florianus del Campo, who finds
the Silures in Spain. Conceivably there may have been Silures on the
River Sil, in north-west Spain ; hence, probably, the tribal name (Sil, in
combination with the Basque urn, water).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 91
use of stone and bronze; and there can be little doubt that
the displacement of bronze by iron was similarly gradual.
Coming to historic times, it is of more immediate interest,
as bearing upon our subject, that Borlase points out that
many objects in the Museum of Art of the Royal Iris-h
Academy are comparable with those of the Merovingian
period from the fifth to the eighth century. 2 And these are
the objects that pertain to the Gael.
This brings us to the question: who were the Gael? But
before I answer that question, it is necessary to look more
closely into the origin of the Scots. I have shown the
probable grounds on which the Milesian legend is based,
and have given reasons for supposing that the tradition of
a pre-Gaelic immigration to Ireland from Spain is far from
being without a solid foundation. I have shown, also, that
the wanderings of the mythical progenitors of the Gael,
prior to their supposed settlement in Spain, relate to the
Scythians, who are equated with the Scots. A Scythic
association with Spain is suggested by the fact that there
was a Cantabrian promontory called Scythicum. All that
can be said with certainty about these Scythians is, that
they were Teutonic tribes who came from that part of
Northern Europe known in mediaeval times as Scythia.
That there were Teutonic invasions of Spain before the
settlements of the Vandals, Alani, and Suevi, early in the
fifth century, is shown by the irruptions of the Cimbri early
in the second, and of the Franks in the third century. And
there is some ground for believing that there were Teutons
in Spain in the first century, and perhaps even earlier.
According to Pliny, the Oretani of Spain were Germans,
and Seneca, himself a Spaniard, alludes to the Germans
having crossed the Pyrenees. If, therefore, it can be shown
that the Scots were a Teutonic people, there is nothing in-
herently improbable, though there is no actual proof, in
2 Dolmens, pp. 1065-6.
92 THE BACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
the supposition that they may have passed over from Spain
to Ireland. 3 But there is not a shred of evidence to suggest
that the Celtic tribes in Ireland, included (as we shall see)
in the Gael, entered Ireland as a colony from Spain. On
the contrary, all the facts are opposed to any such hypothesis.
My position is (1) that before the Gael as a national name
came into existence, the dominant people in Ireland were
immigrants from Britain, speaking the same language
(Cymric) as the Britons; (2) that at some unknown period,
apparently between the commencement of the Christian era
and the fourth century, Teutonic tribes who may have first
come as raiders, and then as settlers, added an important
element, probably in a gradually increasing volume, to the
population; (3) that these Teutonic tribes in combination
appear in history for the first time, in the fourth century,
under the name of " Scots "; (4) that a struggle took place
between the Celts and the Teutons for the hegemony of
Ireland; and (5) finally, that the two races coalesced and
formed the Gael; the Teutons, who were without women,
marrying Celtic wives and adopting the Celtic language,
while adding Teutonic elements which, in combination with
the main Celtic fabric, brought into being the branch of the
Celtic language known as Gaelic, or the language of the
Gael. 4
It will be seen that this theory of the origin of the G&el
is in sharp conflict with the prevailing notions on the subject.
Adequate proof w r ill be required, or at any rate reasonable
3 The Teutonic vessels were not "hollow trunks covered with leather,"
nor were they wickerwood covered with ox-hides.
4 This theory does not, of course, exclude other elements from Gaelic :
it merely states the main elements. The Irish traditions themselves
suggest an abnormal mixture of elements, by the statement that Gaelic
was formed from the seventy-two languages of the world (Senchua J/dr);
and Giraldus Cambrensis, in the twelfth century, seems to have had a
similar idea when he said that the Irish language is, ** as it were, a com-
pound of all other languages."
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 93
grounds must be stated, for the tenability of the belief. It
has already been shown that the Milesian legend suggests
symbolically a welding of two peoples into the Gael, more
particularly by means of the figure employed in the
" marriage " of Scota. Thus, to commence with, there is a
legendary basis for the belief, whatever its value may be.
We turn now to the historical proofs.
The earliest historical notices of the Irish people are vague
and unconvincing. Strabo's account shows clearly that very
little was known about them at the commencement of the
Christian era. He describes them as being cannibals, and
without the least sense of decency. But he was honest
enough to add that what he related was " without competent
authority." In effect, he gave these reports for what they
were worth, which was probably very little, if anything at
all. It is curious, however, to note that even in Strabo's
day, a Scythian connexion with Ireland was apparently
recognized, for, in describing one of the unpleasant practices
of the Irish, he proceeds to add that it was said to be a!
" Scythian " custom. 5
The first sure starting-point for studying the ethnology
of Ireland is provided by Ptolemy's invaluable map of (circa)
160 A.D. There we find Ireland of the second century with
the tribal names of the occupiers, and with many place-
names, some of which have persisted in a slightly altered
form down to the present day. An examination of the
tribal names clearly reveals the fact that they are of two
kinds, topographical and non-topographical. That is to say,
most of the names are derived from the character or location
of the lands occupied by the tribes (e.g., the Iberni and the
Brigantes already noticed), while others are obviously not
to be interpreted in that way. The names in the first class
5 Mela (first century) and Solinus (second or third century) agree in
calling the Irish " barbarians," but their information may not have been
more exact than that of Strabo.
94 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
may bo fairly regarded as native, and those in the second
class as foreign. In the latter class are two that are at once
recognisable as foreign tribes, viz., the Cauci and the
Manapii or Menapii. 6 The Cauci (or Chauci, as the name
is more frequently written) were a tribe concerning whom
Tacitus tells us that they! were " the noblest of the
Germans "; an unprovocative people; not given to rapine or
plunder; yet possessing a military reputation that protected
them against aggression. Pliny gives a different description
of them; he says that the maritime Chauci were a proud,
but poverty-stricken collection of miserable fishermen.
About the end of the first century, the Chauci were settled
on the coast, from the Ems to the Elbe, adjoining on the
west the lands of the Frisians, by whom they were ultimately
absorbed. It is a remarkable fact that about 162 A.D.
(approximately the date of Ptolemy's map), the Chauci are
known to have appeared in the Northern Ocean as pirates,
and to have devastated the coasts of Gaul and Britain. 7
Therefore, if Tacitus was correct, their character must have
changed in two generations. At any rate, the Chaucian raids
show that the Teutonic tribes were not strangers to Britain
about the middle of the second century ; and it seems certain
that if they knew Britain well, they must have known Ireland
equally well. A fertile and rich country, relatively speaking,
as all reliable accounts represent it to have been, Ireland
must have attracted the attention of the Teutonic rovers
before the second century.
It is usual to regard the first Teutonic and piratical
descents on Ireland as having occurred at the end of the
eighth century. Nothing could be more remote from
probability. The Scandinavian forays in Ireland, which
commenced late in the eighth, and were continued with in-
6 Their association with the Menapian or Menavian island (Man) is
doubtful.
7 Menzel, History of Germany, i., p. 105.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 95
creasing frequency and ferocity in the ninth and later
centuries, present merely a later phase of the Teutonic
danger. Centuries before, Ireland had felt the weight of
the Teutonic hand. The bands of wandering warriors from
the Rhine to the Elbe, and the hardy Vikings from
Scandinavia (the home of the best type of seaman) whq
came to Ireland as robbers, sometimes remained as settlers.
Evidence is not lacking to show that the pressure of rival
tribes, and perhaps even more frequently the operation of
economic causes, such as famine, 8 instigated the piratical
raids of the Teutonic tribes more powerfully than the mere
love of adventure, or even the innate greed for plunder.
The fat pasture-lands of Erin offered a tempting asylum
to these hungry hordes, and it may be that the dark-eyed
" Iberian " women and the golden-tressed Celtic maidens
were not without an attractive force. These Teutons beheld
the land, and found it a land flowing with milk 'and honey;
a land where the cattle " burst " with the luxuriance of the
pastures (Mela); and where fair women were perhaps not
unwilling to accept as husbands the redoubtable wanderers
from the waste of waters. What wonder, therefore, that we
find Teutonic settlers in Ireland in the second century?
The Menapii may have emigrated from the Rhine about
the same time as the Chauci left their German home. It is
sometimes stated that the Continental Menapii were a Celtic
tribe, but those who contend that they were Germans, like
the Chauci, seem to me to have all the best of the argument.
These two tribes were situated in Leinster. 9 I believe that
they may be regarded as forming the nucleus of the union
of Teutonic tribes who were afterwards called the Scots.
To those who say that the Scots were the original Gaelic
8 Bosworth, The Origin of English, Germanic, and Scandinavian Lan-
guages and Nations (note by J. H. Halbertsma, p. 53).
9 The Blani or EUani were in the same district, and it has been sug-
ges ed by at least one writer that they were from the Elbe (Elbani).
96 THE BACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
(and Celtic) inhabitants of Ireland, and that they were there
before the commencement of written history, there is a con-
clusive answer: the name " Scots " does not appear on
Ptolemy's map. If there were Scots in Ireland in the second
century, it is inconceivable that the name should have been
utterly unknown to Ptolemy. It is still more inconceivable
that if there were Scots in Ireland centuries before the
Christian era, as some writers seem to suppose, no contem-
porary writers before the fourth century should have any-
knowledge of the name. For it is the fact that the first
contemporary (Ammian Marcellin) allusion to the Scots
occurs about the year 364.
The inference, therefore, is unavoidable that the Scots
were not the dominant people in Ireland until about thei
fourth century, and that their hegemony of the island cannot
have been of very long duration before that date, otherwise
their presence could hardly have escaped the notice of con-
temporaries. When the Scots first appear in history, it is
in the Teutonic character of a fierce, restless, marauding
people, who crossed from Ireland to Britain for plunder, and
fled thither when pursued. It is especially noticeable that
before the name " Scot " meets us, Ireland gave no trouble
to its bigger neighbour. The inhabitants, indeed, had
acquired such a reputation for peaceful tractableness, that
Agricola (so Tacitus says) believed that a single legion and
a few auxiliaries would be sufficient to conquer and keep
them in subjection. It is quite certain that if a people like
the Scots had ruled Ireland in Roman times, no such con-
ception of them could have been possible to Agricola. It
cannot be objected that he had no first-hand knowledge of
the island, for he had his facts from a petty Irish king, who
had been expelled from his country. It is unfortunate that
Tacitus has told us nothing about this king: what language
he spoke, and what information, other than military, he gave
to Agricola. We may perhaps infer from the silence of
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 97
the historian that the language of the Irishman was the same
as that of the Britons ; and it is a reasonable assumption that
the state of peace which prevailed between Ireland and
Britain prior to the Scots coming upon the scene, was due
to a community of race and language. Tacitus expressly
states that in manners and disposition there was very little
difference between the two peoples. Far otherwise was it
when the Scots appeared, for the earliest notices of this
people show them harassing, with merciless and persistent
ferocity, the unfortunate Britons of modern Scotland.
It does not necessarily follow that because we hear nothing
of the Scots until the fourth century, they were a new race
of immigrants who had recently arrived in Ireland. On the
contrary, it may be assumed, with a far greater degree of
probability, that they were a combination of tribes united
by race and language, some of whom had been settled in the
island for a more or less lengthy period under their tribal
names, before they formed part of the gentes to whom the
name of Scots was given, perhaps not earlier than the fourth
century. We never hear of the Cauchi or the Menapii in
Ireland after the second century. Beyond doubt, they figure
in Irish history in later times under a different name or
names. Analogies can be cited to show that such changes of
name were not infrequent. The Continental Cauchi them-
selves disappeared from history and reappeared as Frisians.
The Cheruscans are mentioned for the last time by Claudian,
and when they disappeared, the Saxons came upon the scene.
From this circumstance, Latham drew the conclusion that
they were the same people, 10 as no doubt they were, for the
identification of the Cherusci with the Old Saxons is easy. 11
And here an interesting fact is revealed as affecting the
Scots. In the preface to the Acts of St. Cadroe, written in
10 Latham, Germany of Tacitiw, p. 131.
11 Arrain, the hero of the Cherusci, was deified by the Old Saxons, as
proved by the Irmin cult of Westphalia.
7
98 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
the eleventh century, it is stated that the Chorischii (who
are brought from Greece) took possession of a part of Ireland,
whence they passed over to Scotland, to which country they
gave the name of " Scotia " after the wife of a certain son
of jEneas the Lacedaemonian, called Nelus or Niulus, who
married an Egyptian wife named Scota. Here we have the
old legend in a new dress. I have a suspicion that this story
may point to an immigration of the Cherusci to Ireland
(which might explain the name Armun (lord) or Heremon
in the Milesian legend) and their subsequent inclusion in
the Scottic peoples.
That other Teutonic tribes arrived in Ireland after the
Chauci and Menapii, there cannot, in my opinion, be the least
doubt. These tribes were in a constant state of flux during
the early centuries of the Christian era; and it can hardly
be supposed that so tempting a country as Ireland would be
overlooked. It is difficult to resist the conclusion that the
Scots, who were sufficiently powerful to impose the name of
Scotia upon Ireland as early as the beginning of the seventh
century, and probably earlier, were a numerically strong
combination, and included all the Teutons in Ireland, with
the exception of those who were called in Irish tradition the
Irians, in Irish history the Cruithne, and by modern writers,
the Irish Picts. 12
12 Welsh tradition offers striking corroboration of the statements in the
foregoing pages on early settlements of Scandinavians in Ireland.
According to the lola MSS., a Scandinavian king named Don came from
Lochlyn and conquered Ireland. In 267 A.IX he led a mixed force of
Scandinavians and Irish to Gwynedd in North Wales. Don's son,
Gwydion, we are told, was " highly celebrated for knowledge and
science," and he was the first to teach the Welsh "the plays of illusion
and phantasm." Here we have the Danann characteristics clearly sug-
gested.
In a Welsh genealogy, Serigi, a descendant of Don, is called a
Ginyddelian (Gael), and his people are called Gwyddel Ffichti, or Gaelic
Picts. The true meaning of GaM, Goidel, or Gwyddel (a Cymric form of
a non-Celtic name), will be shown in a later chapter.
CHAPTER X.
Various hypotheses concerning the name ** Scot " Isidore's blunder
GeoiFrey of Monraouth and his value as an historian The Hibernians
and the Scots An analysis of the name "Scot" St. Patrick's
distinction between the Scots and the Hibernians Ireland indiffer-
ently named Scotia and Hibernia The Ard-rlr/h of Tara Ireland's
Heroic Age A dissertation on hair Irish kings with Teutonic
names The Franks in the British Isles The kilt as a Gothic dress.
THE .name " Scot " has yielded an abundant crop of
etymologies, some ingenious, others ingenuous, all pro-
visional. I have laid stress upon the obvious equation by
mediaeval writers of Scot with " Scyth," and have shown,
too, how " Scythian," as a distinctive name, was associated in
the Middle Ages with the Goths. Sometimes the Gothic
tribes, especially the Ostrogoths, were called Scythians;
sometimes the whole Teutonic race (including of course the
Scandinavians) seem to be embraced in the name; but always
the Scots. That fact of itself supplies an argument for the
Teutonic origin of the Scots, but I do not wish to emphasise
it. I believe that in its primary sense, the name "Soot" does
not mean Scythian, though both words may have a common
root.
Gibbon thought that "Scot" meant "wanderer"; 1
Dr. Macpherson " boat-man," or a word with a similar
signification; and Whitley Stokes gives it the meaning of
"owner" or "master" (shot, property).
The most curious etymology that I know of is that which
equates the name with Picti, the painted or tattooed men.
By associating the word " Scot " with the Welsh ysgythru,
Gaelic sgafh, and O. Irish scothaim ("lop off" or "cut"), a
1 Scots have always been wanderers, from the first time they appear in
history down to the present day.
100 THE EACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
strained interpretation is obtained, in order to tit in with the
statement of Isidore of Seville that in their own language the
Scots are so called from their painted bodies. 2 It is a fact
that what Isidore says about the Scots in this statement is
precisely the same as what the Pictish Chronicle says about
the Picts. Both statements are obviously copied from the
same source, or one is copied from the other. Isidore lived
in the seventh century, and the Pictish Chronicle is clearly,
of a much later date. Therefore, the conclusion is unavoid-
able that the compiler of the Pictish Chronicle copied his
statement from Isidore, correcting his palpable blunder by
substituting " Picts " for " Scots "; or that both statements
were copied in Isidore's case incorrectly, and in the other
case accurately from some manuscript of a date not later,
and possibly earlier than, the seventh century. There is
still another alternative. The mistake in Isidore may be that
of an ignorant transcriber. Whatever the explanation, it is
evident, from the sense of the context, that in Isidore's
statement the word " Scots " is erroneously written for
" Picts." This, indeed, is apparent from Isidore's own
description of the Picts, which repeats in effect, though not
literally, what he says about the Scots.
Yet it is on this palpable confusion of name by Isidore,
that eminent philologists found their equation of " Scot "
with the Latin meaning of " Pict." From one point of
view, it is not surprising that a writer of the seventh century
should confuse the two peoples, or even identify them with
one another, for, as indirect testimony shows, their racial
affinities were pronounced. Geoffrey of Monmouth asserts
that the Scots were the offspring of the Picts and the Irish.
It is usual to scoff at evidence taken from so uncritical an
historian, but that attitude can easily be too rigid, for there
2 Sir John Rhys was probably the first to suggest this etymology
(Celtic Britain, 1884, pp. 240-41), and he has been followed by Dr.
MacBain (Skene's Highlanders , edition 190-2, p. 385).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 101
is obviously a good deal of genuine history in Geoffrey. It
must be remembered that he professed to be the editor, not
the author, of the work that goes by his name, and wa
probably not primarily responsible for the eponymic and
other fables which he records with indiscriminating faith-
fulness. Whether, in his statements about the Scots, he
writes as an author or an editor, it is difficult to say. In*
either case, it is clear that at least as early as the twelfth
century, and probably much earlier, there was in existence
a tradition, or at any rate a belief; (first) that the Picts
married Irish women, and that the Scots were descended from
that union; and (second) that the Hibernians of Ireland were
a different people from the Scots of Ireland. Geoffrey dis-
tinguishes between the two in the clearest possible manner;
and, as I shall show later on, he is supported by the state-
ments of writers whose authority is unimpeachable.
I find an illuminating use of the word " Scot " in a,
specimen of Danska Tunga, or Old Danish, believed to date
from the first part of the seventh century. The word i$
applied to Rolf Krake, a celebrated northern warrior. He
is called Hrolfr Skjotandi, which is rendered in modern
Danish as Rolf den Skytte, and equated with Rolvus
jaculator, i.e., Rolf the dart-man. In Old Icelandic Skot
'means missile; Skjota means to shoot with a weapon; and
the Scots appear in the Icelandic Sagas as Skotar. The
modern Danish Skytte is Scytte 3 in Anglo-Saxon, and
Henry of Huntingdon calls the Scots gentes Scitiae. We
can thus understand not only how Anglo-Saxon writers wrote
Scot as Scyth, but why the word Scot was identified with
the word Scythian. It may be added that in Old Frisian,
Skot means a missive weapon, and the word is sometimes
written Scot and Scote.
:! In The Any] o- Saxon Chronicle "Scottish " is written Scyttivc. Anglo-
Saxon Scytta = Sagittarius. The English words "shot" and "shoot"
are, of course, from the same source as all the examples cited in the text.
102 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
It would appear, therefore, that the meaning of the name
11 Scot " is missile-man, and especially dart-man. The name
thus falls within the same category as Angles (Angel, a
sharp-pointed hook); Saxons (Seax or Sax, a knife or short
eword); Franks (Franca, a javelin); 4 and Lombards or
Longbardi (Bart or Barda, a broad axe). This classification
may be called the etymology of the characteristic weapon.
Of all the derivations just given, none is more convincing
than the equation of " Scot " with " dart-man." There is
proof of the dart being the characteristic weapon of the Scots.
Personifying Britannia in one of his eulogies of the Roman
General, Stilicho (himself a Goth), Claudian says that she
(Britannia), thanks to her deliverer, fears not Scottish darts
(tela). If this allusion means anything at all, it means that
the dart was the weapon specially associated with the Scots. 5
The Scots were, therefore, a people with a Teutonic name,
and with characteristics which can only be explained by;
attributing to them a Teutonic origin. We have caught a
glimpse of some of the German tribes that appear to have
been included in the Scottic combination; and I shall give
evidence to show that the language they spoke was probably
akin to Platt-Deutsch or Low German. In the meantime,
the distinction between the Teutonic Scots of Ireland and the
Celtic Hibernians of Ireland must again be emphasised.
There is no evidence on this question equal in value to the
testimony of St. Patrick; and St. Patrick carefully dis-
criminated between the Scottish reguli, the ruling caste in
4 The usual derivation, ** free-men," is not convincing, for were not the
other German tribes quite as "free" as the Franks?
Whether the other etymologies are well-founded or not, the word
" Saxon " is almost certainly derived from Seax or Sax.
5 The German infantry in the time of Tacitus, as he plainly testifies,
were skilled in the use of missile weapons. The youth about to assume
arms, says the same historian, was equipped with a shield and javelin.
The contemporary account of the battle of Clontarf (see Todd's The ITW
of the Gaedh'd with the Ga'dl) states that the Gael had ** darts with silken
strings, thick set with shining nails, to be violently cast " at the enemy.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 103
Ireland, and the Hibernians, the mass of the people. 6 And
Giraldus Cambrensis (twelfth century) makes a notably clear
statement on this matter when he tells us that the Scotti and
Hibernenses had a general name which comprehended both,
viz.: Gattheli or Gael.
Thus we see that the two different peoples, the Hibernians
and the Scots had become fused into what may be fairly
described as a nation, and that the national name was
"Gael." This fusion must have been preceded by a long
and fierce struggle for hegemony. The fight for the mastery
is typified by the accounts in the Milesian legend of the
varying fortunes of Eber, Ith, Ir, and Heremon. First the
mixed tribes in the south and south-west, comprising the
Iberni and the Brigantes (Eber and Ith) and others; and
then the Scandinavian and other tribes in the north (Ir)
and north-west, fell under the domination of the people of
Low German extraction, whose centre of settlement was in
Leinster (Heremon), but who must have exercised supremacy
over a much wider area. These people were the Scots of his-
tory. Their predominance among the Gael is shown by the
fact that by the seventh century, the whole of Ireland
was called indifferently by the names " Scotia " 7 and
"Hibernia"; and the name "Scot" was understood by
foreigners as an inhabitant of Ireland. 8
The Ard-righ or High King of Ireland, whose seat was at
Teamrah or Tara, in Meath, was chosen now from one of the
four groups of free peoples who composed the Gael, and now
from another. The High Kingship was vested in the royal
family of whatever group happened to be the most powerful ;
and it was thus a symbol of hegemony. All Irish traditions
6 Confession, and Letter to Coroticus (both considered genuine). See
Haddan & Stubbs, ii., pp. 308 and 317.
7 The earliest known use of the word Scotland as a name for Ireland
is by St. Laurence, Archbishop of Canterbury, at the beginning of the
seventh century (Bede, B. ii., c. 4).
8 Bede gives the general name of " Scots " to the Irish.
104 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
agree in assigning to the descendants of Heremon (the Scots),
a position of supremacy in the island, which gave them an
undisputed right to the throne of Tara. Thus they are in
substantial accord with the testimony of St. Patrick, in the
distinction he draws between the Scottish reguli and the
Hibernians.
In the Irish texts dealing with the early centuries of the
Christian era Ireland's Heroic Age there are glimpses
given, not only of the structure of society, but of the physical
appearance of the Gaelic warriors. These descriptions no
doubt faithfully reflect the traditional notions about these
warriors, and in substance they may not be inaccurate. The
simpler the description, the earlier the source. The later
compilers and redactors in Ireland may be easily recognised
by their profusion of adjectives. They had to cover the
barrenness of their knowledge with the flowers of their
rhetoric; and they were all accomplished rhetoricians. Then,
as now, a multiplicity of adjectives accompanied a paucity,
of ideas; but the earlier pictures of the Gael are not dis-
'figured by the excess of colour that characterises the decadent
period. On reading these Irish accounts, one is struck by
^vhat would seem to be the great importance attached to the
hair, the two most desirable qualities being length and fair-
ness.
An essay on the hair and its significance, from an
historical and ethnological standpoint, would have to take
account of two tribal groups in ancient Germany, the Suevi
and the Franks. Tacitus, in his characteristically terse
manner, marks off the Suevi from the rest of the Germans
by their mode of dressing the hair. Among the Franks,
long hair was the sign of a free man. 9 And Tacitus assures
us that ruddy hair was a German characteristic. As a
contrast to the freemen, the slaves in ancient Germany wore
cropped hair, or their heads were completely shaven.
9 Latham's Germany of Tacitus, p. 109.
THE KACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 105
We find precisely the same customs in ancient Hibernia.
Long hair and fair hair whether the " locks of golden
gleam " of the Celt, or the ruddier hue of the Teuton were
regarded in the Heroic Age, or at any rate in the estimation
of those who preserved the traditions of that Age, to be
characteristics of the aristocratic Gael. And, as in the case
of the German slaves, so in that of the Irish bondmen, the
latter had cropped or shaven heads. " They crop their hair,"
says Saxo Grammaticus, writing about the Irish, " close
with razors, and shave all the hair off the back of the
head, that they may not seized by it when they run away." 10
Saxo's reason is not conclusive; on the contrary, it stamps
him as a hitherto unsuspected humorist. The Irish serfs
were shaved for the same reason as the German slaves:
to distinguish them from the long-haired free-men.
Probably they consisted mainly of the pre-Celtic tribes, the
short, dark people physically contrasted in every conceivable
way with the fair, big-bodied, long-haired, and blue-eyed
tribes of Celtic or Teutonic origin.
There is a Celtic word (Cym. moel, Gae. mael) which is
applied sometimes to bare hill-tops, and sometimes to bald-
headed men. But in a secondary sense, it implies servitude,
and forms a prefixial element in Christian names denoting
subjection. The familiar Scottish name " Malcolm," for
example, means Mael-colum, the slave or bondman of Colurri
or Columba. This name, again, is cognate with Gille-colum,
which has a similar signification, mael having a Celtic and
gille (A. S. did, Scots chief) a Teutonic source, though now
a typical Gaelic word. 11 A slave, i.e., a cropped or shavfcn
person, and a child are both under subjection; hence the
10 Saxo Grammaticus (Elton), p. 205.
11 Gille (cf. a sportsman's gillie) has the same force (servant) as the old
meaning attached to the word " chiel " in Lowland Scotland. The Irish
form is yitta, modern aiolla. Examples of t/ille in modern names are
Gilmore (servant of Mary) and Gilchrist (Christ's servant). There is a
third class of word (Irish mogh or mug] with a similar meaning.
106 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
applicability of such names to those who in adopting them
wished, in Christian times, to crave the protection of their
patron saints, though the custom has a pagan origin.
A tentative suggestion is, that the tonsure itself may be
remotely associated with this idea of servitude and humility.
At any .rate, the usual explanation that it originally}
symbolised the Crown of Thorns placed on the Head of the
Divine Master, is not satisfying, inasmuch as it suggests
what is not a fact, viz., the Christian origin of tonsures.
The Hibernian tonsure was not even a crown it was a
half-crown. The head was shaven from ear to ear, making
the tonsure semi-circular or crescent-shaped, and with thei
fringe which was allowed to remain in front, faintly
suggesting, it may be, the tracing of an axe-head. Mr.
Ua Clerigh thinks that this may be the explanation of
St. Patrick's clerics being called Tailceanns or Axe-Heads
(usually but less correctly translated " Adze-Heads ") by
the ethnic Irish; and it seems plausible enough. 12 In any,
case, there is nothing inherently improbable in the suggestion
that the tonsure of an Irish monk may have originally been
the badge of servus Dei. 13
All this may appear discursive, but it has a bearing upon
the point I wish to establish, viz., the existence of parallel
customs among the ancient Germans and the ancient Irish,
which cannot certainly be traced, at any rate with the same
distinctness, to other peoples. The inference is obvious.
It serves to accentuate the evidence from other sources, of a
12 Huito-ri/ of Ireland to the Coming of Henry //., p. 209. See Bede on
the Hibernian tonsure, or, as it was contemptuously called by the Petrine
tonsurists, the tonsure of Simon Magus. There was a third (Eastern)
tonsure, viz., that of St. Paul, which involved the shaving of the whole
of the head.
13 The origin of "Culdee" is, I think, Chiel, Gil, or Cll-De = God's
servant. The Latin form of the name was Keledei. In the Irish form,
Cetle l)v* we have the same word (ceile) as is applied in the ancient laws
of Ireland to the dependants (servants) of the Grad Flaith or chiefs.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 107
Teutonic occupation of Ireland before authentic Irish history
commenced to be written. The very first Irish King
whom we meet in the earliest epoch of Irish history, of
which the records can be regarded as trustworthy, had a
Francic name, for Leoghaire (now Leary) who was the
heathen Ard-Bigh, when St. Patrick landed in Ireland, had
the same name as the Merovingian Lothaire. Suibone or
Suibne (now Sweeny) a Pictish name that is frequently seen
in the Irish annals, denotes Swedish lineage (the Swens or
Suiones as Tacitus calls them); Amalgaidh, a name that
appears in the list of Irish kings, is Gothic and distinguished,
for the Amalings were the royal family of the Ostrogoths,
as were the Baitings of the Visigoths. 14
Where did these Franks and Swedes and Goths come from,
and when did they reach Ireland, assuming their presence
there? No one can say with certainty, but that the Franks
showed marked restlessness during the third century can be
easily shown.
Soon after the middle of that century, they ravaged Spain
incessantly, especially the north and east coasts. They made
more than one descent on Africa. They were so troublesome
'that Probus, about 277, caused several thousands of them to
be transported to the borders of the Black Sea. But he could
not repress them, nor induce them to settle down as peaceful
colonists. They seized a fleet which lay at anchor in the
Black Sea, sailed to the Archipelago, plundered the wealthy
maritime cities, and landed in Sicily, where they took
Syracuse. They fought the Romans below the walls of
14 Amal is a Gothic word, meaning "mighty." Aedh and Aidan,
names that are specially associated with the Scots, suggest the Anglo-
Saxon Ead (Gothic And), " prosperity " (cf. Edwin). The Fenian names
Oisin and Oscar seem to contain the Teutonic 0#, demigod. Oscar is
purely Teutonic. Os is generally associated with the royal (god-born)
race of Northumberland (Kemble). Diarmid, also, has apparently the
Teutonic prefix Diora or Dlura (Old German) found in compound names
(earns). Aidan is found as the name of an Anglo-Saxon bishop in an
Anglo-Saxon poem of the tenth century.
108 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Carthage, and, being defeated, retreated to their ships, sailed
through the Mediterranean, and, coasting Spain and Gaul,
returned laden with wealth to their own country. 15 It was
partly by means of Franks, too, that Carausius established
his power in Britain; and when his assassin and successor,
Allectus, was himself defeated and slain in a battle fought
with the army of Constantine Chlorus in 296, the hordes of
plundering foreigners who were chased out of Britain were
composed mainly of Franks. 16
Is it reasonable to suppose that a country like Ireland,
endowed with a fertile soil, and enriched with mines of gold,
would escape complete immunity from the visits of these
rovers; or that so attractive a resting-place would fail to
induce many of them to become permanent settlers in an
island unprotected by the strong arm of the Roman, and
already affording an asylum to their kinsmen from the
Frisian coast? There was a proverb that said: " Choose
the Frank for a friend but not for a neighbour."
Conceivably, the native tribes in Ireland realised its truth
in the third century, if the Catti, Cauci, Cherusci, and the
other members of the confederacy called the Franks, became
members of the Irish confederacy known as the Gael. 17
15 Menzel's History of Germany, i., p. 113 (see Zosimus and Euraenicus).
16 Latham, Ethnology of the British Islands, pp. 96-7. The Franks
"sacked London." Bede says that in the time of Carausius, the sea-
coasts were "infested by the Franks and Saxons " (B. i., c. 6).
17 The following note has a bearing upon the question of Gothic settle-
ments in Ireland. Camden, quoting Sidonius, describes the apparel of
the ancient Goths in these words (trans. 1695, pp. cxvii.-viii.) :
"They shine," says he (i.e., Sidonius), "with yellow ; they cover their
feet as high as the ancle with hairy untann'd leather ; their knees, legs,
and calfs are all bare. Their garment is high, close, and of sundry
colours, hardly reaching down to their knees. Their sleeves only cover
the upper parts of their arms. Their inner coat is green and edged with
red fringe. Their belts hang down from the shoulder. The lappets of
their ears are cover'd with locks of hair hanging over them. . . . Their
arms are hooked spears (which Gildas terms nncinata tttla) and hatchets
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 109
to fling. They wore also strait bodied coats (as Porphyrio says) without
girdles."
Camden adds : " If this is not the very habit of the Irish-Scots, I
appeal to their own judgments. " The coincidence is certainly remarkable.
In his " Letters to Cynthia," Propertius alludes to what Professor
Phillimore translates as " wintry Goths." Camden reads this as ** Irish "
Getes. The confusion is between hiberna and Hibernia ; and there is a
similar instance in Giles' edition of The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle* where the
statement is made that Caesar left his army to abide ** among the Scots,"
instead of "into winter quarters." The mistake arose, as Ingram points
out, from the inaccurately written MSS. of Orosius and Bede containing
the words in Hybernia and in Hibemiam instead of in hiberna.
" Wintry Goths " is paralleled by Claudian's ** icy lerne." Is there not
a play upon words here ? lerne is not, and never was, in historical times,
"icy."
CHAPTER XL
The Gael The silence of early writers on the name Bede's evidence
on the root clal-An analysis of the name " Gael "The Brehon
Laws and Teutonic parallels Cuchullin : man or myth ? The Finn
Saga and its historical basis The Fianna as professional champions
Scandinavian parallels The dominant races described by the
Senchus Mor The meanings of the provincial names.
FOR a satisfying etymology of the word "Gael" (or "Goidel"
as it is now usually spelt by philologists), one may search in
vain. It seems to be regarded as a fact to be accepted, but
not to be explained; a name to be gloried in but not to be
analysed. With a Celtic probe no analysis is possible: there
is no root, either in Cymric or Gaelic, to which the most
imaginative etymologist can point as the source of the word.
Dr. MacBain, an acknowledged authority on the Gaelic
language, thought that the earliest form of the word must
have been Gddilas or Gaidelas from a root gad (English
" good "), but the suggestion does not carry us very far. He
was compelled to look to a Teutonic source for the root; but
it eluded him notwithstanding.
There is no hint of the word in the Patrician documents,
from which fact it may be assumed that St. Patrick had no
knowledge of it as a national designation. In the poetry
attributed to St. Columba, the name is found (" Farewell
to Erin "), and it appears also in the Amra or Elegy on
Columcille (St. Columba), ascribed to the saint's contem-
porary, Dalian Forgaill. The authenticity of these poems
has been strongly questioned, and it is not a little curious
in corroboration of this criticism, that Adamnan's Life of
Columba, an admittedly genuine work, should contain not
a single allusion which would lead us to believe that the
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. Ill
name Gael was applied in his time (seventh century) to the
people of Ireland, or any section of the people. Adamnan,
himself an Irish monk, had an intimate knowledge of Irish
affairs; and it is incredible that the word would have es-
caped him had it been adopted as a national name. His Life
is full of allusions to the " Scots " and the " Hibernians "
of Ireland, and to the Scottic language and the Hibernian
language (in his day they were synonyms); but there is not
a word to show that he had ever heard either of the Gael or
the Gaelic language.
If native writers of the seventh century say nothing about
the Gael, it would seem hopeless to look to other sources for
the name. Neither in Gildas (supposed sixth century) nor
in Nennius (supposed eighth or ninth century), both Cymric
writers, nor in Bede (seventh century), an Anglo-Saxon
historian, does the word appear. Yet in Bede there is a word
which, I am convinced, is the root for which we have been
searching: it is the word dal. When relating the settlement
of the Dalreudini, an Irish tribe, in Dalriada (Argyllshire)
Bede explains the name by saying that it meant the share
of portion of Re'uda, " for in the language of the Scots
(Irish), dal means a part." 1
This statement by Bede has a double significance: it gives
us the meaning of the word Gael, and it suggests the archi-
tectural method by which the Gaelic language was built
up, as well as indicating one of the sources of the material
employed .
Taking the second point first, we find the word used in
the nominative case, as well as in oblique forms, by the
invaluable Cormac. Thus we know at least what it was
like in the ninth (or tenth) century. We find it in the
nominative plural as Gcedel, and in oblique forms as Gdidel
and Gadelu. These are substantially the forms employed
1 Ecclesiastical History, B. i., c. 1.
112 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
by all the early writers in Ireland 2 who mention the name,
except that there is a tendency to convert what was
apparently the earlier prefixial gee, into goe or goi, thus
making the form Goidel, as it is frequently written at the
present day. The popular form " Gael " preserves the earlier
" a " and sheds the " d," owing to its quiescence in pro-
nunciation, Gcedel thus becoming Gael (as it was formerly
spelt) or " Gael," as at the present day, when we are in too
much of a hurry to use the diaresis.
But how, it may be asked, is Gcedel to be connected with
Bede's dal, " which in the language of the Scots means a
share " ? The answer is that it is the same word, with $
Teutonic prefix (gae or ge), corresponding to the Latin con,
and signifying collectiveness.
The earliest mention of the word in a Teutonic language
appears in Ulphilas, i.e., in the translation into Gothic by
Bishop Ulphilas in the fourth century, of a portion of the
Gospels. This translation is preserved in the Silver Book,
now in the University of Upsal, and numerous editions exist.
I find that Ulphila's Gothic word for co-partner is Ga-daila.
I find that in Anglo-Saxon Ge-ddl means a division, or
parting, or distribution (ge-ddelan, to divide or share), and
that Geddl-land means land belonging to several proprietors.
This is simply Bede's dal, a share, with the usual prefix
" ge " (Latin con). It is evident, therefore, that the mean-
ing of Gadel, or Gael, is simply co-sharers or co-dividers.
The root dail, dal, or del, denoting a share, is widely
distributed throughout the Teutonic languages. It appears
in English in the word " deal " (as in dealing cards) and
" dole " (as in doling alms), and in every instance it conveys
the idea of a division. The word is characteristically
Teutonic, and is not derived from a Celtic or Latin source.
* Of. Secundius Hymn (preface); Leabhar Rreac: Homily on St. Patrick;
and Gilla Caomain : Chronological poem.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 113
The conclusion is, therefore, irresistible, that it was
incorporated in the Gaelic language by Teutonic contact.
And that conclusion becomes a practical certainty, when
we find that it is confirmed by other evidence of a
similar kind.
The Ancient Laws of Ireland, which embody the most
important texts of the Brehon Law Tracts, afford ample
illustration of the methods of land and stock-sharing that!
characterised the polity of the Gael. The Senchus M6r
(i.e., the great ancient traditions), a compilation of uncertain
date, contains some of the best known of these Laws, which,
being founded upon the unwritten traditional jurisprudence
of the Brehons or Judges, possessed the invaluable sanction
of custom. Their texture is thus interwoven with a social
system that stretches far back in the history of Ireland, and
by their means the historian and the ethnologist, as well as
the jurist, are able to deduce certain conclusions that may
be accepted as reliable.
These Brehon Laws have been thoroughly analysed and
discussed by competent authorities, and it is not my purpose
to tread in their footsteps. But one clear factor that emerges
from the Irish Laws may be here emphasised: and that is
the grouping of society into units which were cemented by
blood-relationship. The tribal system was beyond doubt in
full operation. The tribe was not a family, but a group of
kindred, to which was given the name of fine, and the fine
was sub-divided into four "hearths," or grades of kinship.
That fundamental fact affected in a marked degree the law
relating to eric the Teutonic weregild which lay at the
root of the criminal procedure. It formed the co-partnery
Tmsis of the system of land tenure, for the division of land
was tribal, each group being assigned its share, doubtless
l>y lot. The pasture and waste land was common property,
each fine, or group of kinsmen, having definite rights of
pasturage which were jealously guarded. This was exactly
8
114 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
the system described by Caesar as practised by the German
tribes. With them, as with the Gael, tillage land was
apportioned among the family groups related by blood; and
in both cases, also, the tenure was annual, each group being
compelled to till fresh land every year. Caesar gives a series
of reasons for the prevalence of this custom; reasons sound
at the core, and, under a tribal system, altogether beneficent.
The custom has come down to modern times in the run-rig
system which prevailed in the Highlands of Scotland until
the nineteenth century, but there was this important differ-
ence: that whereas the original custom implied tribal
occupation and ownership, and a regard for common
interests, the modern system lacked both the stimulus of
individual ownership and the ancient bond of elan senti-
ment. It was, in fact, a shadow without the substance; an
anachronism without either sentimental or economic war-
rant; and it gave place to a system that, whatever its faults,
was founded upon a recognition of facts.
The resemblance between the ancient customs of Ireland,
as shown by the Brehon Tracts, and those of the German
tribes, as described by Ikxman writers, is too close to be
explicable by assuming for those customs a common Aryan
origin. It is true that in the ancient Cymric Laws, for
example, we find many parallels with the Brehon and the
Teutonic laws: as, for instance, the Cymric galanas, which
is the Irish eric and the German weregild, namely, a scale
of compensation for crime. 3 We find, too, that the peculiar
custom of gavelkind was observed alike in Ireland, Wales,
and Kent. Still more striking is the fact that the custom
of " fasting " upon a creditor (an integral part of the Lawt
of Distress) was not only recognised by the jurisprudence of
3 The operation of eric was between group and group. Crime inside a
group was punished by expulsion. The expelled members were called
" Kin-wrecked " men. In the clan days of the Highlands, they were
called " broken men."
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 115
ancient Wales, but may be found in full operation at the
present day among certain tribes in India, thus pointing
obviously to an Aryan source as the origin of the custom.
There are distinct traces, too, in the Cymric Laws of
fosterage; but it may be a question whether or not this was
a native or a borrowed custom. It is certain that nowhere
outside of Teutonic countries (particularly Scandinavia) and
Ireland, and Scotland, do we find such remarkable examples
of the persistence of this institution, and the amazing
devotion which it inspired (especially between foster-
brothers) as the histories of these countries afford. 4
The social conditions illustrated by the Brehon Laws are
in harmony with those legends, (based upon genuine
traditions) that are frequently treated as if they were
accepted history. The Heroic Age of Ireland is regarded as
representing a phase of history by some who reject the
pre-Heroic Ages as fabulous. On the other hand, there
are those of the mythological school who regard Cuehullin
(or Cuchulain) as a sun-god. Both points of view are pro-
bably untenable. It is just as easy to believe in the super-
human feats of Cuchullin, as it is to believe that no such
hero ever existed. The rational view to take is, that before
history was written in Ireland, tradition preserved the
memory of a champion, super-eminent for his feats of
strength and skill, around whose person had clustered a series
of legends, some well-grounded, some baseless, and others
derived from actual incidents entirely dissociated, perhaps,
from the romantic hero whom the bards called Cuchullin.
To attempt to associate this hero with totemism, on the
strength of his name (Cu, a hound) and a specific case of
tabu in the legend, is venturesome. We read the story of
4 The whole subject of tribal custom is exhaustively dealt with in
Seebohm's The Tribal System in Wales and Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon
Law. See also Maine's Ancient Irish Laws and Skene's Celtic Scotland,
vol. iii.
116 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Cuchullin and Queen Meve of Connaught, and the Red
Branch Knights of Ulster, and Ferdiad the doughty Firbolg
champion, as contained in the Tain bo Cuailnge (? the
cow-drive), with the feeling that the bards have worked up
a marvellously interesting story out of scanty material, foe
we may depend upon it that the more precise the details in
these Irish Sagas, the more active has been the play of the,
bardic imagination. Yet it is impossible to escape from a,
sense of reality. The correct atmosphere is there; the social
picture is painted by impressionists; but the colours are in
harmony with what we know to be the true scheme; and we
realise that we are looking upon a large truth half obliterated
by a mass of small lies. These stories, therefore, whether
they relate to the first century or a later period possess
a true historic value: they are really excellent specimens of
historical romances, with more romance than history, but
with the history illuminated by the romance.
The Finn Saga may be reasonably placed in the same
category; but the evidence in favour of an historical basis
is stronger. I see no reason to doubt that a certain society
of champions, having as leader a man of remarkable prowess
(who, during or after his life-time was called Finn or Fionn;
possibly an eponymic name) attained such distinction
among the other champion corps of Ireland, as to cause
the name of Fianna of Leinster to become synonymous
with physical strength and vigour, and to give their
name to the Irish language aB a word for " giant "
and "champion." On this hypothesis, there is nothing
that requires explanation in the fact that the Finn
legends are common both to Ireland and Scotland, for the
Irish immigrants who colonised Scotland brought their
traditions with them; and among these, the story of Finn
MacCumhall and the Fianna whom he commanded, was
perhaps the most widely known and the most tenaciously
cherished.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 117
I have already remarked upon the athletic skill of the
Basques ; and if athleticism were a Basque monopoly which
it is not and never has been that fact would strongly
corroborate the Basque origin of the Fianna. For they
were magnificent athletes, carefully picked for their physical
strength, and carefully trained to perform Fiannic if not
Titanic feats. " There were seven score officers, each man
of these having thrice nine warriors, every one bound to
certain conditions of service." These conditions are de-
tailed: 5 they are sufficiently exacting to appal an Olympic
champion. And to crown all, in addition to the feats of
sheer strength and physical skill, each man " must be a
prime " poet versed in the twelve books of poesy " surely a
fine example of mens sana in sano corpore. The size of the
champion is stated with a fine eye to contrast. In the
" Colloquy with the Ancients," the few remaining members
of the Fianna (including Oisin) by a feat of bardic imagina-
tion, are brought down to Christian times, and hold a con-
versation with some followers of St. Patrick. The largest
of St. Patrick's clerics, we are told, " reached but to the
waist, or else to the shoulders, of any given one of the others,
and they sitting." This was the bardic way of saying that
the Fianna were above the ordinary height.
Societies of professional champions were recognised in
Scandinavia as a useful institution. The members of these
societies, and likewise individual champions, wandered over
the country, offering their services to those who were ready
to give them the most liberal remuneration. Like the
Fianna of Ireland, they had to offer proofs of their prowess,
and they were ever ready for the test. The berserks (wearers
of bearskins) were professional champions; their fits of
frenzy and consequent running amok made them particularly
awkward persons to have a disagreement with.
The Irish Fianna seem to have a Teutonic name, for
5 Silva Gadelica (English text), p. 100.
118 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Feinnedha, an authoritative form of the word, may with
some reason be interpreted as " enemies," 6 a name that
must necessarily have been given to the Fianna by foes who
spoke a Teutonic tongue. It is not improbable that there was
a Scandinavian element in the composition of the Fianna.
The mother of Finn himself was a daughter of the King of
Lochlan, according to one of the Scoto-Fenian tales, 7 and
some of the Fenian names, as already shown, are plainly
Teutonic.
If we are to believe tradition, the services of the Fianna
were employed mainly against Firbolgs and Scandinavians.
In the first century so the tradition runs Tuathal, the
High King (of the Heremonian line) imposed a boroma*
or cow-tax, upon the Fir-Gaileoin, a Firbolgic people of
Leinster, and the exactions gradually became more oppressive
until, finally, the tribute-payers seem to have been goaded
into revolt. They were then supplanted in Leinster by the
Heremonians, or Scots, who employed a body of militia
(the Fianna) to aid them as a fighting force in carrying
out their policy.
The Fianna are placed in the third century by tradition,
and that is just the century during which I have assumed
that some of the later Teutonic settlements in Ireland took
place. Ptolemy proves that there were Teutons in Leinster
in the second century, and the historical evidence, on th$
whole, seems to consist well with the traditional hints of a
political upheaval in that province between the second and
6 O. Ic., Fjande; O. H. G., Ftant ; O. Sax., Fiund all meaning
"enemy." This is a purely Teutonic word, showing, in contrast to
hostis, the objective attitude of the Teuton towards his foes, who were
* the haters " (Ger. feind, the hater). The English word fiend " is a
development of this idea.
According to tradition, the main duty of the Fianna consisted in
defending the boundaries of the High King of Erin.
7 J. F. Campbell's West Highland Tales, xi., 349-350. Campbell (i., 62)
remarks on the similarity between the Gaelic and the Norse stories.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 119
fourth centuries. The Senchus M6r describes the three
dominant races who were in Ireland at the time of the
compilation of the Laws, as the Feini, the Ultonians, and
the Laighin: " the three noble tribes who divided this
island," as they were called. The Ultonians (Uluid or
Vitas') were the people of Ulster, the so-called tribes of Ir;
the Feini were associated with Tara in Meath; and the
Laighin were the Leinster men.
These names have been the subject of much speculation.
Uluid or Vita has proved so puzzling that no real attempt
has been made to give an etymology of the word. Probably
it is a form of Cymric Gwellt, grass, signifying a grazing
country, 8 which, again, fits in with the etymology of Zr 1
signifying greenness and juiciness. Feini (not to be con-
fused with the Fianna) has been interpreted as meaning
"farmers" 9 (O'Curry), "masters" (Atkinson), and
" Phoenicians " (Shaw). But with greater probability Feini
is derived from Old Icelandic Venja, to teach, for the Feini
were the law-givers, and their eponym, Fenius Farsa, was
a " school-master " in Scythia. Laighin or Leinster as a/
place-name is interpreted in a curious fashion. In: his
analysis of the contents of the Book of Leinster, Dr. Atkin-
son quotes the legend that " Leinster took its name from the
broad lances (lagiri) brought by the Black Gaill across the
sea when they came with Labraid Longseck." The Black
Gaill, or Dugalls, must surely be an allusion to a Scandi-
navian settlement. " Broad lances " is an etymology that
still holds the field, but its improbability is obvious.
The name is with far greater likelihood derived from Old
Icelandic laegd, a low-lying place, to which Anglo-Saxon
leag (Leigh), a grassy plain, is probably related. This
8 According to Camden (trans. 1695), the Irish form in his day was Cui
Guilty, i.e., province of Guilly.
9 Old Icelandic, Fin, Old Fris., Fenne, pasture, would consist with
that derivation.
120 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
derivation correctly describes the great limestone plain of
Leinster.
How the Scandinavian " ster " (sceter, mountain-pastures)
was applied to three out of the four provinces of Ireland
has never, I think, been satisfactorily explained. It seems
to denote a wider range off Niordic influence than Irish
historians are willing at present to admit. Possibly, too..,
further study of the obscure Feni dialect, which has com-
pletely puzzled Irish scholars, will show that contrary to the
theory underlying all past attempts to find a key to its
mysteries "sages" in the dialect are mentioned in the
Annals its basis may be Teutonic rather than Celtic. The
" language of the Feni " may prove to be an element in
what one may call " Gaelic in the making." And now we
have to consider what Gaelic really is.
CHAPTER XII.
The Gael and the Gaelic language in Ireland How the Gaelic language
was formed St. Patrick and education in Ireland Tradition and
the ancient tongue of Ireland Abgetoria The Latin element in
Gaelic Ptolemy's map of Ireland An analysis of the Ptolemaic
names in Ireland The general structure of the Gaelic language
Some Scandinavian legacies The views of Dr. Joyce Bishop
MacCarthy on the Irish Picts.
BEFORE there was a Gaelic language, it is obvious that
there must have been a Gaelic people. The earliest un-
disputed examples of what is now the Gaelic language are
to be found in Adamnan's Life of St.Columba. In his Latin
text, there are several words, chiefly place-names, in what
he calls indifferently the " Scottish " and " Hibernian "
tongue. In Bede's text, a few Gaelic words are also dis-
coverable: they are called " Scottish " words: belonging to
the language of the Scots of Ireland. Thus the people*
afterwards called the Gael, were in the seventh and eighth
centuries known only by the names of Scots and Hibernians.
It cannot be asserted that the names " Gael " and " Gaelic "
were never applied to the people and the language during
or before those centuries: all that can be said is that there'
is no reliable evidence to show that the names were so used.
A lack of discrimination between all these names is
commonly shown in treatises dealing with affairs in
mediaeval and pre-mediaeval Ireland. And the confusion
is accentuated by the fact, that after the Scots of Ireland
became the Scots of Scotland, there were two Scots peoples
in Scotland. There were those who by the Lowlanders were
known as " the old Scots," and who spoke a language which
the Lowlanders called "Irish"; but their own name for them-
122 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
selves was " Gael," and for their language, " Gaelic." There
were also the Low-country Scots who spoke a Teutonic
language, but who retained the name of Scots (a name
repudiated by the Highlanders) after abandoning gradually,
as the result of social contact with their predecessors in Scot-
land, the " Scots " tongue which their ancestors had brought
with them from Ireland. But these fundamental, though
frequently overlooked, facts in Scottish ethnology will be
examined more closely in the proper place.
How was this Hibernian, or Scottish, or Gaelic language
formed by the Hibernians, Scots, or Gael? It must have
been built up slowly and gradually, like all mixed languages
resulting from inter-racial contact. Originally Cymric, like
the British language, with whatever non-Aryan and pre-
Celtic elements the Celts may have borrowed from their
predecessors, the Irish vocabulary was enlarged and enriched
by the addition of many words derived from the languages
(differing only dialect ically) of the various Teutonic hordes
that arrived in ever-increasing numbers in the fruitful isle
of the west. And when St. Patrick came to Ireland in the
fifth century, the lingual development was rapid. Latin
words were grafted in large numbers upon the Celto-
Teutonic stem; and Ireland then learned, apparently for the
first time, to read and write.
It is a hard saying to many Irishmen, and in their view
an incredible statement, that before the arrival of St.
Patrick, Ireland had no written language. They point in
refutation to the Ogam characters, and the wonderful
learning of their country in mediaeval times. The Ogam
argument is now rarely heard, for it is no longer tenable.
Though the script is probably very ancient, its probable use
as literary machinery has never been seriously suggested.
As for the remarkable outburst of literary activity which
followed the introduction of Christianity, the evidences of
which are furnished alike by Christian missions and by
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 123
Christian manuscripts that found their way all over Europe,
it is sufficient to say that the birth of learning in Ireland
was the outcome of the educational stimulus supplied by
St. Patrick and his followers. The thirst for knowledge and
the desire to employ a newly-found means of expression,
hitherto denied to the zealous adherents of the new faith,
were impulses derived from the work of the great missionary
and educationist, whose name will be for ever associated with
that of his adopted country.
What do we learn from tradition about the ancient tongue
of Ireland? There is a legend that the Irish language was
formed by Gadel Glas, the eponymous of the Gael, from the
seventy-two languages of the world. Another version tells
us that Fenius Farsa sent from his school in Scythia his
seventy-two disciples, to learn the various languages then
spoken throughout the world. 1 By a natural process of
reasoning, the Feni of Meath are derived from this Fenius.
According to Flaherty, Fenius composed the alphabets
of the Hebrews, Greeks, and Latins, the Beth-luis-non
(apparently a Runic alphabet like the Futhork) and the
Ogam. This information he professed to take from For-
cherne, an Irish poet, who was said to have lived before
the Christian era ,a statement that is hardly less sus-
picious than the story about the existence of Fenius himself.
It would seem probable that the whole of this legend is
based upon a confused knowledge of the invention of the
alphabet by the Phoenicians, who are eponymised by the
name of Fenius. Or, Fenius may have been invented as the
ancestor of the Feni of Meath, an undoubtedly historical
people, who, by the topsy-turvy process usual in such cases,
are said to have derived their name from Fenius, instead
of Fenius taking his existence from them.
There is a statement by Nennius which throws light upon
the method employed by St. Patrick, in combining the use
1 Senchus Mor, i., p. 21.
124 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
of letters in Ireland with the spread of Christianity. He
informs us that Patrick wrote over three hundred abgetoria,
which word has been interpreted by Ware and others to
mean the alphabet. 2 Tirechan, in his life of the saint,
asserts that the latter baptized men daily, and taught or
read to them letters or abgetories; and he gives specific
instances of these letters having been written for converts.
Father Innes, in his celebrated essay on " The Ancient
Inhabitants of Scotland," 3 quotes the glossary of Du Cange
to prove that, in the Middle Ages, the words Abgatorium,
Abcturium, Abecenarium, Abecenarium, and Abecedarium
were used to express the A. B. C. or alphabet; and in
support of his contention that the Irish received the know^
ledge of letters through the Latin language, Innes argues,
shrewdly enough, that the Gaelic words for a letter, a book,
to read, and to write, are all derived from Latin. 4 The*
Romans never having entered Ireland, a knowledge of
those words could only have been . obtained from St.
Patrick and other Latin-speaking missionaries, who find-
ing no equivalents in the Irish language, expressed them in
Latin, giving them only an Irish inflexion. This is not
merely a plausible argument, but a fairly convincing proof
that the use of letters in Ireland coincided with the intro-
duction of Christianity; and it is reinforced by the fact),
that the ecclesiastical terms relating to the Christian religion
which have been incorporated in the Gaelic language, are
derived from Latin. This we should expect; but it affords
presumptive evidence that the two sets of terms;, literary
and ecclesiastical, both obtained through a Latin medium,
were introduced by the same Latin-speaking instructors, the
Christian missionaries. What share, if any, Palladius had
in promoting the use of letters during his short and un-
a The word used by Nennius is Abietoria, which Innes reads as
Abgetoria.
3 Innes (1885), pp. 246-7. 4 Ibid.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 125
successful mission in Ireland can only be conjectured; 5 but
it is clear that the reputation justly earned by mediaeval
Ireland as the Isle of Learning, as well as the Isle of Saints,
must be assigned to the Patrician foundation so well and
truly laid in the fifth century.
But it is necessary to go further back than the time of
St. Patrick, and examine, as far as the facts will permit, the
groundwork of the Irish language before any incorporation
of a Latin element took place. The limit of our knowledge
is fixed by the date (c. 160 A.D.) 6 of Ptolemy's map of
Ireland. Place-names, as I shall show, supply the most use-
ful ethnological proofs that we possess in determining pre-
mediseval problems; and of all place-names, the names of
rivers are the most valuable, for they show conclusively that
the language which they disclose was the language of the
people who at one time were settled in the valleys watered
by those rivers. Now what do Ptolemy's river-names of
Ireland tell us? Thene is not one of them that cannot be
j ustifiably assigned either to a Cymric or a Teutonic origin ;
and it is a remarkable fact that some of the principal river-
names are referable, as I think, to the Scandinavian branch
of the Teutonic language.
I would remark in the first place on the incidence of the
root Vind in these Ptolemaic river-names. We have the Vin-
derius running into Belfast Lough, but the name at its
mouth appears as Logia, now Lagan, the name, also, of a
river in Sweden. Logia is most probably derivable from
O. Ic. logr, water. Of special importance is Ptolemy's
Buvinda, which Adamnan calls the Boend, now the Boyne.
The latter form of the name might be referable to Buan,
swift (Cymric), which correctly describes the flow of the
current, but the analogies cited below seem to exclude that
derivation.
6 Zimmer's idea that Palladius and Patrick were one and the same
person has now been generally abandoned.
6 Variously stated as 120, 140, 150, and 160 A.D.
126 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
According to Gluck and other scholars, the Celtic Vind
comes from the same root as the Gothic hveit (English
"white"). The root is Vid, German hvit, with an intrusive
" n," a nasalised form of Vid. The nearest Teutonic cog-
nate of Vind is Danish hvid, white, and it is a question
whether Vind may not have been derived direct from that
source. Cymric gwyn is cognate, but the Gaelic forms,
Finde and Find, later Fin and Finn, are more akin to the
Scandinavian (see Vidua).
In Buvinda we find Vind used to denote a river with clear
water, as may be seen from the use of the later Finn in
river-names. Therefore, the usual etymology of Buvinda,
" the river of the white cow " (in itself an unlikely
name for a river) is more than doubtful. It is true
that Bede (B. IV., c. 4) translates (surely with the
assistance of an Irishman, for Bede can scarcely have had
a knowledge of Gaelic) Inisbofinde (now Inishbofin) as " the
island of the white heifer "; and Bofinde is the Gaelic form
of Buvind. But here finde implies whiteness, while in
Buvinda as a river-name, it has the force of clearness. The
prefix Bu must be the Gaelic Bo, cow, for Adamnan, whose
native tongue was Gaelic, translates the river-name Bo (the
Boyle, i.e., the Bo-ail or cow-river) as Bos. Therefore,
Buvinda seems to mean the " cow-river " (distinguished by
its clear water) implying, like the name Boyle, a stream
where cattle were watered. 7
A point to notice in this discussion of the name Buvinda
is, that here we have in one of the earliest, if not the
earliest, example of the Celtic word for "cow," as used in
Ireland, a purely Cymric form; for Bu is to-day the Welsh
name for cow, as it was the Irish name in the isecond century.
^ There is a pretty legend that tells us how Findloch Cera in Sligo got
its name. The birds sent by God to Patrick when he was in Cruaich
used to strike the water with their wings, and thus made it whiter than
milk, whence the loch was called "white" (Atkinson's Introduction to the
Book ofLeiwter, p. 38).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 127
By the seventh century, it was in Irish, Bo. Thus we see
that the Celtic elements in what was afterwards called the
Gaelic language, had diverged in the course of five centuries,
from the Cymric forms of the second century. And the
divergence, with some show of reason, can be assigned to the
fact that during those centuries, Gaelic was in the making.
In Vidua, identifiable with the River Finn, we have what
is apparently the Danish form (hvid) of Vind (now Finn). 8
The Vinderius, also in Ulster, is shown in Ptolemy's map
as a crooked stream. It is referable probably to 0. Icelandic
Vindr, awry (Dan. Vind, to turn or bend) an appropriate
meaning for the Lagan, in contradistinction to the Bann,
which may be derived from O. Icelandic Beinn, straight,
a designation that correctly describes the course of the Lower
Bann. 9 Ptolemy's name for the Bann is Argita, a Cymric
word (Argae, a dam, Argau, to enclose, Argaead, a shutting
in) denoting a boundary, for then as now (it separates
Antrim from Londonderry) it provided a natural division.
The Shannon the pride of Ireland, called by Ptolemy
the Senus has an undeniably Teutonic form. The root
Sen is apparently 0. Icelandic sen, denoting a slow motion,
which is applicable to the flow of the Shannon for the greater
part of its course.
The Barrow, for which Ptolemy's name is the Birgus,
probably takes its name from the same ultimate source as
Brigantes, in whose country it was situated. Birgus and
Barrow are related to Cymric Bri, gen. Brig (Scots
" brae "), but Ptolemy's form suggests a derivation from a
Teutonic origin: O.Icelandic Berg, a rock or hill. The river
rises among the Slievebloom Mountains on the border of
King's County and Queen's County.
Near the Birgus, in the country of the Manapii, Ptolemy
8 1 would remark, however, that Finn in Old Icelandic means " smooth."
9 There is a River Beina in Norway, and a Bane in Lincolnshire. In
the North of England, Bain means straight or direct.
128 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
places the Modana, now the Slaney, itself a Danish name
(Slaaen, dull). The name Modana is nearer 0. Icelandic
Moda, a large river, than Cymric Mwth, rapid, an alter-
native derivation.
Ptolemy's Dabrona, now the Blackwater, can hardly be
attributed to Cymric du, Gaelic dub, black. It is probably
derivable from Cymric Dyfru, to water, Dyfrhynt, a water-
course (Cf. Ptolemy's name Sdbrina for the Severn).
Ptolemy's Libnius (Liffey) is referable to Cymric Lief, a
flood, Llifaw to stream, to flow.
It may be added that some of the river-names of Ireland
not mentioned by Ptolemy seem to betray Scandinavian
origins. The Clare is the Danish Klare, with the same
meaning as the English " clear." The Erne appears in
O. Icelandic as Ern, rapid or vigorous, and the Suck as
Sukka, noisy.
Turning to the general structure of the Gaelic language,
we find incorporated in it a number of words which, beyond
question, are a Scandinavian legacy. The obvious reply td
this fact is, that these words were bequeathed to Gaeljc
during the raids and settlements of the Northmen, which
commenced (it is supposed) at the end of the eighth century.
That this explanation is not conclusive I shall prove by the
examination of a single word, but a very important one,,
in ancient Irish: the word mocu. This word occurs over
and over again in Adamnan, and was clearly understood by
him to mean ' elan " or " tribe "; literally the descendant
from a progenitor. It is usually translated as being
synonymous with mac in modern Irish and Scottish
names; while mac, in turn, is equated with the Cymric
mab, older map. But the strict meaning of the Cymric
word is " boy " or " son," whereas the Old Irish mocu stands
for descendants or posterity. The difference between the
two is shown in an Ogam inscription " Maqqui Erccias
Maqqui Mucoi Dovinias," cited by Rhys and Jones, which
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 129
they translate as (The monument) " of MacErce, son of
the Kin of Dubinn." 10 Here the difference between " son "
(maqqui or mac) and " kin " (mucoi or mocii) is clearly
brought out. But both come from the same source.
The first verse of the Volu-spd in the Poetic Edda, " com-
posed at so remote a period in heathen times that it is
impossible now to ascertain its age," contains the words
mogu Heimthallar, which in modern Danish are rendered
"a/ Heimsddl's slaegt, 1 " and in Latin, " poster os Heimdalli."
The Old Danish mogu is thus the exact equivalent of the
Old Irish mocu, and it seems certain that they are the same
words. 11 The modern Irish word Sliocht (in Scottish Gaelic
Sliochd), represents the ancient mocu, and is the same as
the modern Danish Slaegt.
There is a further curious coincidence between the word
fera, occurring in the same verse of the Volu-spd (translated
as hominum) and the Gaelic fear (gen: fir) a man. The
words are practically identical, and Cymric gwr, a man, is
thus more remote from the Gaelic. The Old Danish ok (and)
also approaches more closely the Old Gaelic ocus than the
Welsh ac.
The influence upon the Gaelic language of these Scandi-
navian and other Teutonic elements, affords what I believe
to be the true explanation of the phenomenon which Gaelic
exhibits of substituting " q," and later, " c " ("k" sound) for
the Cymric "p." An initial "p" is repugnant to the
Teutonic tongue, whereas it revels in the " k " sound. If
this theory is tenable, the " p " and " q " puzzle is not so
puzzling after all.
What are we to make of these proofs of early contact with
a Northern people? If the etymologies I have suggested are
accepted, assent must necessarily be given to the view that,
10 The Welsh People, p. 52.
11 But in Old Icelandic mogr means a son or boy (the Gaelic mac
and the Welsh mab), and this yields the secondary interpretation of mocu
and mac.
130 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
as early as the second century, some of the best parts of
Ireland were held by settlers who spoke a Scandinavian
tongue. That is a view which, to the best of my knowledge,
no Irish historian has ever taken. Nor, indeed, is it possible
for anyone to accept this position, if his ethnological opinions
coincide with those of Dr. Joyce, whose authority on Irish
place-names is believed to be unassailable. For this is what
Dr. Joyce writes:
" In our island (Ireland) there was scarcely any admixture
of races till the introduction of an important English
element, chiefly within the last three hundred years ....
and accordingly our place-names are purely Keltic, with the
exception of about a thirteenth part, which are English, and
mostly of recent introduction." 12
I can conceive of no statements that can be more easily
refuted than these. No one who holds the opinions that
they embody can ever hope to be able to solve, even partially,
the puzzling problem of pre-historic Ireland. I have already
shown, and I shall bring further evidence to show, that the
postulate of an almost unmixed race in Ireland, prior to
the sixteenth century, is fundamentally unsound.
Bishop McCarthy, in his edition of Adamnan, says that
" no fact in the pagan history of Ireland is more certain than
that the whole country was originally held by the Irish
Picts or Irians. 13
With certain reservations, I subscribe entirely to that
view. It is possible to go further, and say that the people
whose Ptolemaic and other river-names we have been examin-
ing, included the Picts. And this brings us face to face
with the question: " Who were the Picts?"
12 The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places, p. vi. Since these
lines were written, the death of Dr. Joyce has left a blank in the realm of
Irish research, which, however some of his views may be regarded, cannot
be easily filled.
11 Quoted by Mr. Wentworth Huyshe in his edition of Adamnam's
Life of St. Columba, p. 113.
CHAPTER XIII.
Antiquaries and the Picts The different schools of theorists The
Cruithne, the Irish Picts, and the Picts of Scotland Tighernach
and the Piccardach The meaning of ** Picars " The Roman Picti
Picti a corrupt form of a pre-existing name The Picts as pigmies
Sir Walter Scott on the Orcadian ' Peghts " Picts-Houses The
Picts and the elf-creed of the Teutons The meaning of the name
"Pict" Confusion between elves and Picts Beddoe on Ugrian
thralls of the Norsemen Finn-men and Finn-women.
IT is not altogether surprising that the Pict has been re-
garded, sometimes as a giant, sometimes as a dwarf, some-
times as a fairy, and at all times as an enigma. Ever since
Sir Walter Scott himself a sound antiquary poked fun at
the hallucinations of amiable Oldbucks obsessed by pet
postulates, the Pictish question has formed a centre around
which many a battle-royal between rival schools of theorists
has been fought. These encounters have been sometimes
positively vicious in the intensity of the acrimony arouse,d
by them. The spectacle of normally peaceful and be-
nignantly gracious antiquaries seeking (metaphorically) one
another's blood, because their views on the Pictish question
were divergent, shows at once the perversity of human
nature, and the disabilities under which even wise men may
suffer when their wisdom lacks the flavouring of humour,
or their sense of proportion is temporarily thrown off its
balance. And after all that has happened, the Pictish
question still remains unsolved, notwithstanding some con-
fident assertions to the contrary.
It would serve no useful purpose to tell the story of the
Pictish warfare in words, or to relate the varying success of
the Gothic, the Cymric, the Gaelic, and the Ibernian
Schools. At the present day, it may be said that the Gael
132 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
hold the field. Dr. Skene, the great protagonist of tha
Gaelic theory, a skilled lawyer in working up a brief, aj
sound antiquary when unencumbered with preconceived
ideas, and a persuasive writer in presenting a case, haa
apparently prevailed upon most of our Scottish historians
to accept his views, although there is a sturdy minority of
Celtic philologists who keep the Cymric flag flying. Sir
John Rhys, the mainstay of the non-Aryan theory, has a
small and only partially convinced following, who find in;
his hypothesis a way of escape from .certain difficulties that
have not been met by the Celts. The Goths, whose main
pillar was the pompous and pugnacious Pinkerton, are for
the present a wholly discredited school. What if all this
confusion has resulted from a lack of co-ordination between
the different points of view? What if none of them is either
wholly right or wholly wrong?
For the present, my purpose is to link the Cruithnei,
commonly called the Irish Picts, with the Picts of Scotland.
Irish traditions gives three names, Irians, Cruithne, and;
Dal n'Araidhe, to the same people; and I have already shown
that Cruithne was another name for the Tuatha de Danann.
While Adamnan and the Annals of Ulster do not apply the
name Cruithne to the Scottish Picts, the Pictish Chronicle,
St. Berchan, the Albanic Duan, the Book of Deer, and John
of Fordun plainly indicate that the names are interchange-
able. Also, Tighernach, regarded as the most careful as
well as the earliest of the Irish Annalists, frequently applies
the name Cruithne to the Picts of Scotland, whom he
designates likewise Picti, Pictones, and Piccardach; and he
definitely connects the Cruithne with the Dal n'Araidhe.
I have stated that the name Cruithne indicates a people
distinguished by their elf-beliefs, or obsessed by them, as a
modern word might express their attitude. I think it can
be shown still more clearly that the Picts of Scotland were
dominated by a similar belief. But let us see, first of all,
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 133
what Tighernach means by the name Piccardach, applied by
him to the Picts of Scotland.
Robert of Gloucester calls the Picts " picars," " pycars,"
and " picardes," and an explanatory note on the name
" pycars " says that they were the compnye (company) of
Pittes " out of Scitie (Scythia) that some clepeth Pikerdys."
To the country of the Picts he gives the names of Picardye
and Picardie, 1 and in a curious passage, he writes of " Scottes
and of Picars of Denemarck (and) of Norwei." 2
"Picars" probably means plunderers. It survives in the Scots
words " pikary," rapine, and " pycker," a petty thief, which
in the same sense is found in archaic English as "pykar."
The word " picard " is now obsolete, but it meant a small
vessel for coast or river work, and is used by Leland with
a similar meaning (" picardes and small ships "). The Picts
were well provided with these small craft, as Gildas and
Tighernach plainly indicate. It is probable that picardes
were originally piratical craft, hence the association with
" picars." The word " picaroon " was applied indifferently
to a pirate or a pirate vessel, and the spurce of the whole;
" pickery " group of words, as applied to theft, is apparently
pecus, pecoris (French picarer), shewing that the original
thieves were cattle-stealers. In any case, the connexion
between the Cruithne of the Irish annalists and the Picars,
and Picardes of English historians is, I think, fairly estab-
lished. What rivets the connexion is the free use by Tigher-
nach of the name Piccardach (the exact equivalent of
Picardes) for the Cruithne.
But what are we to make of the name "Pict?" The Latin
word Picti means the painted people. Is this the original
1 The history of Picardy in France suggests reasons for its name being
connected with the etymology discussed here. The Somme must have
swarmed with "picards" sometimes. There was an early Saxon colony
in Picardy.
2 Hearne, i., p. 103.
134 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
meaning of the name, or is it a Roman corruption of a
name having a totally different meaning? At one time, the
former conclusion was unquestioned, hut the prevailing
tendency to-day is to make Picti a corrupt form of some
unknown Celtic word. Probably this idea originated with
the difficulty of reconciling the Latin word Picti with thet
Anglo-Saxon names for the Picts. 3 Also, it is difficult to
explain why, for the first time, the Romans should give the
name of Picti to a people in North Britain, three and a
half centuries after they had seen a painted people in South
Britain, and long after they had come in contact with
tattooers in the south of Europe. Why did they give the 1
name of Picti to these later people, while they gave no such
name to the woad-using blueskins described by Caesar? It
may be argued that i*t was because the Picts painted pictures
on their bodies, while Caesar's Britons dyed their skins,
not for ornament, but in order to intimidate their enemies.
That argument is, however, too flimsy to withstand attack.
And those philologists who have sought to derive the origin
of the name Picti from a Celtic source, with a meaning
unconnected with the custom of painting, have every justi-
fication for looking behind the Latin word. But they have
not discovered the Celtic word for which they have sought.
The conclusion I have reached regarding the origin of the
Roman Picti is, that it must be a corruption of another
name, but that this name means something entirely different
from "the painted people." The Anglo-Saxon forms of
the name cannot easily be an Anglo-Saxon rendering of
Picti. Our early chroniclers, such as Gildas, Adamnan,
Bede, and Nennius employed the Latin language as their
medium of expression, and consequently used the recognised
Roman name Picti. In King Alfred's translation of Bede,
3 The Anglo-Saxon forms are Peohtas, Pyghtas or Pightas, and Pehtas.
The Scots forms are Peychtis (old) and Pechts (modern). The Scandinavian
form is Pet or Pett.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 135
however, he gives Bede's Picti as Peohtas. Probably he
knew no more than Bede knew about the origin of the Picts.
But he knew, and probably the contributors to the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle knew, that Picti was a corrupt form of
the original name, which they rendered as Peohtas and
Pyghtas.
In order to ascertain the meaning of the word Pict, we
must go to the country of the Picts, the modern Scotland,
or part of it. There we find the truly remarkable fact that
from the Shetlands to the Border, the prevailing tradition
is that the people called Picts by the peasantry were dwarfs
or pigmies, with a marked predilection for underground
dwellings. The word " picht," still alive in Scottish dialect,
means a "very diminutive, deformed person " (Jamieson).
An excellent example of the popular notion of a Pict in
the nineteenth century is given by Sir Walter Scott. He
tells us (in his notes on The Pirate) 41 that about 1810, a
missionary, " a very little man, dark-complexioned, ill-
dressed, and unshaved," arrived at North Ronaldshay, one
of the Orkney Islands. The inhabitants " set him down as
one of the ancient Picts, or, as they call them with the usual
strong guttural, Peghts." They produced a pair of "very
little, uncouth-looking boots, with prodigiously thick soles,"
and appealed to Mr. Stevenson (grandfather of Robert Louis
Stevenson) whether it was possible such articles of raiment
could belong to anyone but a '" Peght." The attitude of the
people was decidedly hostile, until they understood that they
had made a mistake in assuming that the unfortunate little
missionary was a Pict.
The following statement shows what must have been the
popular conception of a Pict in the fifteenth century:
Writing in 1443, the Bishop of Orkney states that when
Harald Fairhair conquered the Orkneys in the ninth century,
4 See also Lockhart's Life of Scott, where the story is related. The
Orcadians considered that the ** Peghts " were " no canny."
136 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
he found that the inhabitants consisted of two nations, the
Papae and the Peti. The Papae are obviously Christian
anchorites, the same name that was applied by the Norsemen
to the Irish monks whose relics they found in Iceland. The
Peti are the Picts, as we know from the name Petlands^
fjordr, given to the Petland, or Pentland, Firth in the
Heimskringla, and the name Petia given to Scotland by
Saxo Grammaticus. The Bishop tells us that these Orcadian
Peti were dwarfs who, though of little strength, were
wonderful workers in the construction of their " cities." At
midday, they hid in little houses under the ground. 5
These " little houses " are, of course, the underground or
semi-subterranean structures called in Orkney Picts-houses,
or eirde-houses, or earth-houses, of which so many examples
are to be found in the islands . The architectural type includes
those structures above ground in the Hebrides usually called
" bee-hive " houses, and known in the seventeenth century
(to quote Martin) as Tey-nin-druinich^ literally the hunch-
backs' houses, though translated as " Druid's House."
We find the Ronaldshay Peght and the Bishop of Orkney's
Peti reproduced in the Teutonic dwarf or elf -stories. The
little missionary is a counterpart of the coarsely clad " little
black men " of the German tales, or the Niss of the Swedish
tales, who was the size of a baby, with an old but wise face,
and who wore a coarse woollen jacket and shoes like those of
peasant children. Likewise, the Bishop's Peti of Orkney,
the small people who hid themselves at midday, must surely
be identical with the dwarfs of Northern mythology, who
shun the light, the legend being that, if surprised by the
breaking forth of day, they became changed to stone. In
the Alvis-mal, it is related that the dwarf Alvis had been
promised Thor's daughter in marriage, but when he went
5 See The Bannatyne Miscellany p. 43, for the original quotation.
6 Martin's Western Islands (1884), p. 154. Druinneach means in Gaelic
" hump-backed."
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 137
to fetch his bride, Thor cunningly detained him all night,
by asking him various questions, until the dawn, when the-
dwarf, being one of those genii who shun the light of day*
was obliged to depart without the bride. 7 The Peti of
Orkney and the " trows," or trolls, of Shetland have all the
characteristics of the Scandinavian dwarfs. 8
The importance which the elf-beliefs assumed in the
imagination of the Scandinavians is clearly shewn by the
fact that in Ulfliot's Laws, it was ordered that the figure-
head (a dragon) of every ship should be taken off before she
came in sight of land, lest the gaping head and threatening
beak should frighten the land-voettir, the tutelary genii
of the country. 9 It would not, therefore, be surprising to
find that among the names given to the Scandinavians by
the other races with whom they came in contact, one of them
should relate to this dominating creed. And it would seem
that we find that name in the word " Pict."
The word, " Pict," I believe, is derived from the same
source as the English " petty " and the French petit. Accor-
ing to Skeat, the origin of " petty " and petit is the Gaulish
petti, from which root also comes the Wallachian pitic, a
dwarf. The modern Welsh representative of petti is peth, a
thing. The Teutonic cognates, or derivatives, appear to be
the English "wight," German wicht, O. Icelandic vcettr, all
of which imply primarily a " thing," but the words are
usually applied to a supernatural being, an elf. Similarly,
the Welsh pethyn means a little thing, and pwt means any-
thing that is very small; while the Danish vcett, an elf,
7 Northern Antiquities, p. 377. Du Chaillu makes a similar statement
about the northern dwarfs hiding in their holes during the day, and
Pennant notes the prevalent belief in Scotland about the repugnance of
the fairies to the glare of daylight.
8 The " trows," says Scott (Lockhart's Life), do not differ from the
fairies of the Lowlands or Sighean of the Highlanders.
9 Landnama, c. 7, cited by Du Chaillu (i., p. 419).
138 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
is the same as the O. Icelandic pett, a Pict, the latter aj
borrowed form. 10
Thus the word Pict comes, apparently, from a Celtic
source, with a signification similar to that of the word
Cruithne. The Scandinavian form Pett, 11 and the forms
employed by English writers of the Middle Ages, associate
the name with the Gaulish petti and the Welsh peth, more
obviously than the picht of Scottish dialect, a word having
the same radical meaning as petti, and deriving its guttural
form from a Low German influence. The form " picht "
may have been the source of the Latin Picti, which became
stereotyped as the national name of the people to whom it
was applied. The easy transmutation of the " V " (or
" W ") and " F " sounds with the " P " sound can be seen
from examples in the various Teutonic tongues; and it is
not a little curious that while the name of the Picts took, in
the Teutonic languages, the initial " P " of the Cymri,
the Welsh Triads took the initial " V " of the Teutons, and
generally called the Picts Gwyddel Vichti or Ffichti, or, as
it is sometimes written, Phichtiad. 12
10 One being the (borrowed) Cymric form, and the other its Scandinavian
equivalent. Pinkerton points out that the Northern nations adopted the
Roman " P " to express " V " and "W."
11 In Old Icelandic, petti means a small piece of a field a foreign word,
according to Cleasby, introduced from the British Isles.
13 In Anglo-Saxon, the Runic letter "p" was employed to represent
the letter "W." It seems to have been confused sometimes with the
Latin "P." For example, the name pechthelm (Weohthelm or Wecht-
helm), which appears thus in Birch's Cartularium Saxonicum (iii. 25) must
be the same name as that of Bishop Pechthelm, whom Bede mentions as
a contemporary. It is difficult, indeed, to believe in the genuinely
Teutonic origin of any name with an initial * P."
The Welsh had another name for the Picts, viz., Peithwr, meaning
" men of the plains." A third name, Brithwr, is used in Welsh literature
for the same people. Brith means both "speckled" and "mixed."
Probably it has the latter meaning when applied to the Picts, as denoting
an admixture of races (cf. Brith E'mcjl^ mongrel Angles). The name
" Britons" may conceivably have the meaning of a "mixed" people, thus
agreeing with the traditional composition of the Cymri.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 139
It would appear, therefore, that the Orcadian Peti were
really elves of the subterranean sort. But the Euhemeristic
theory of the origin of the elf -myth in the North, appears to
derive some support from certain facts of anthropology re-
lating to the Shetlands. Beddoe remarks that black hair is
not infrequent there, and that it is usually found in persons
of a " decidedly Ugrian aspect " and melancholic tempera-
ment. The same type, he adds, is found at Wick, in South
Caithness, and in the north-east of Sutherland. 13 He sug-
gests that the type may represent the Ugrian thralls of the
Norse invaders, or possibly some primitive Ugrian tribes.
Beddoe also remarked upon a Finnish type which he had
observed in the Island of Lewis, 14 a type with which the
present writer is acquainted. Did the elf -stories in those
parts of Scotland take their rise from the presence there of
Finnish thralls, who accompanied the Norse colonists, 15
either during or before the historical period? A Swedish
belief is that the elves represented the souls of those who
were slaves, and who tended the fields of their masters while
the latter were engaged in piracy; 16 and that belief tallies
with the tradition in the Highlands that the Drinneach, or
hunchbacks, were " Picts " and " labourers."
The popular belief in Sweden to which I have just alluded,
is really the most plausible explanation I have seen of the;
elf-inyth, for it provides a platform upon which the realist
and the mythologist can both meet upon equal terms. If
we postulate a slave caste of Finns, as forming part of the
equipment of the Scandinavian settlers in different places
of the British Isles, we can find a ready explanation of the
Lapponic custom of the knotted cord, in those places where
Scandinavian and Ugrian types are most prevalent, as well
18 The Races of Britain, p. 239. 14 Ibid., p. 240.
16 It is possible that there is a radical philological connexion between
"thralls" and "trolls."
16 Northern Mythology, i., p. 93.
140 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
as the Shamanism that is such a feature of the Dananns, the
Cruithne, and the Picts. We can also understand the elf-
traits of the Orcadian Peti whom Harald Fairhair is said to
have exterminated.
There is a tradition in Shetland 17 of certain of the natives
being the descendants of " Finn- women." The Orcadian
accounts of " Finn-men," who appeared occasionally on the
coast in their little boats, tally closely with the statement
of Claudius Clavus (fifteenth century) about " the little
pygmies a cubit high whom I have seen, after they were
taken at sea in a little hide boat, which is now hanging in
the cathedral at Nidaros (Trondhjem). There is likewise
a long vessel of hides, which was also once taken with such
pygmies in it." These boats, according to Nansen, than
whom there is no better authority, correspond with the
Kayak and the Umiak (the women's boat) of the Eskimos. 18
Were the Finn-men of the Orkneys Eskimos or Lapps?
The " Finn " boats captured in the Orkneys and sent to
Edinburgh may, with advantage, be compared with the boats
at Trondhjem.
17 Tudor, The Orkneys and Shetlands, pp. 168-9.
18 Nansen, In Northern Mists, ii., p. 269.
CHAPTER XIV.
The various names of the Irish Picts Rury the Great The Golden
Age of the Irish Picts The Red Branch Knights * Ossian " Mac-
Pherson and the Irish bards The meaning of the Irish Creeves
The destruction of Emania The racial affinities of the Ulster Picts
The solitary word of their language analysed The " Danes'
Cast."
IT was stated in the last chapter that (excluding their
territorial name of Vita or Ulster people), the Picts of
Ireland were known by three different names: the Irians,
the Cruithne, and the Dal n'Araidhe, or Dalaradians. The
words " Irian " and " Cruithne " have already been ex-
amined. In the third name, we find the Teutonic " dal,"
a part or share. This root underwent a curious trans-
formation in Ireland. Originally a place-name, it acquired
a secondary meaning denoting a tribe. Thus Dal n'Araidhe
must have originally meant the share or portion of Araidhe,
and as a fact, Dalaraidhe or Dalaradia was an Ulster place-
name. But in course of time, the tribal land and the tribe
alike seem to have been comprehended by the word "dal";
and latterly, Dal n'Araidhe generally meant the tribe or
the descendants of Araidhe, who was killed in battle by the
Heremonians or Scots in 248 A.D. He may be regarded,
perhaps, as historical, though it is possible that the name;
is tribal rather than personal. There are parallels elsewhere
(which will be noticed later) of this double meaning of
"dal."
But the Irish Picts had a fourth name. Believed to be
descended ultimately from one Ruadhraidhe the Great, who
is said to have commenced his reign as High King of Ireland
in 288 B.C., they are frequently called the Clanna Rury in
the Irish tales. It is improbable that such a person as Rury
142 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
the Great ever lived, a suspicion that is strengthened by the
exactitude of his date. It was easy enough to invent a line
of descent from him, with all the necessary intermediate
names; but his existence is not made more convincing by
a precise genealogy. The view I take of the. whole of the
so-called history of Ireland before the Christian era is, that
it requires much stronger evidence than any that has yet been
offered, to support the historical character of the numerous
kings whose reigns are usually accepted as authentic. That
does not imply disbelief in the general accuracy of Irish
tradition; but it means that tradition is demonstrably un-
able to bear the weight of precise detail with which the Irish
fabricators have overloaded it. Tradition has supplied then
skeleton; the bards have supplied the warm flesh, and the
pulsing blood of the living story.
Kury the Great may with some probability be identified
with the mythic Rodric of Geoffrey of Monmouth, and
Layamon's Brut. He was the first king of the Picts to sail
from " Scythia " for Scotland and Ireland; the name is the
same as the Scandinavian Ruric. Ruadhraidhe (pronounced
Ruari) means probably " the Red Ruler," an etymology
that is more patent in what ib now the English form
" Roderick." The association of the Gaelic ruadh, red, with
the Icelandic rjodr, red, is noticeable, all the more so, as
it differs so widely from the Cymric coch y red. So, too, the
Gaelic raidhe (if it means righ, king) is to be equated with
the Gothic reiks, ruler, and the Scandinavian riki, kingdom.
But it is believed that these words, and the whole of their;
Teutonic cognates, are traceable to the Celtic rig, king, to
be seen in such Gallic personal names as Cingetorix and
Vercingtorix . The Latin rex is a near congener of the
Gallic rix, and neither of them is far distant from the
ultimate source, the Sanscrit rajan, king. But it is possible
that in these Gallic names the secondary meaning of " tribes-
man " may be meant by rix, for " Cyn " seems to be the
THE BACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 143
Gallic equivalent of the Cymric Cun, a leader or chief.
Conceivably the latter may be the true derivation of the
word " king " rather than Cyn, a tribe.
The golden age of the Irish Picts was the first century A.D.
That, at any rate, is the period assigned by Irish historians
to the Heroic Age, and the Cuchullin saga. Whether Conall
Cernach, the celebrated Ulster hero, and his king, Concobar
MacNessa, and Fergus Mac Roigh (who quarrelled with
Concobar) and the other champions who formed the com^
munity known in Irish tradition as the Red Branch Knights
whether these were men or myths, who shall say? If they
are historical, why make Cuchullin, their contemporary, a
solar myth? It is true, Cuchullin performed prodigies of
strength and skill that no human being has ever accom-
plished, but these are merely bardic extravagances, and do,
not destroy his historical character. He was the great
champion of the Picts of Ulster in their struggle with the/
Connaught tribes, as described with much fertility of
imagination in the Tain bo Cuailgne ; yet he himself was
not, it is said, of the race of Ir.
I see no reason to disbelieve in the existence of the Red
Branch Knights. There is a sureness of touch about the
stories of the Heroic Age that seems to show that the
tradition, when first committed to writing, was well-defined.
The Heroic tales have the true atmosphere of heroism, and
they lack the superfluity of adjectives that inevitably betray
the hand of the mediaeval inventor or redactor. It seems
probable that the period should be placed later than thqr
first, but before the fifth, century. It is impossible to re-
concile the Ireland of Cuchullin with the Ireland of
Tacitus; a country of warriors, with a country whose fighting
qualities the Romans despised. The evidence of a reliable*
historian like Tacitus must certainly be preferred to that
of distorted and edited tradition. Yet both may be true, if
referred to different periods. Perhaps James Macpherson
144 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
was not so far wrong, after all, in making Cuchullin and
Finn (or Fingal, as he called him) contemporaries, though
this is one of the points seized upon and emphasised by
hostile critics in demolishing his " Ossian." There may
have been too much Macpherson, and too little Ossian, in the
work of genius and a work of genius it remains in spite of
everything named the Poems of Ossian; but it has the
true heroic ring, and the general picture it presents of the
ethnic Gael and Pict is probably not untruthful, if allowance
be made for a poet's license. Macpherson was what we call
an Impressionist, and must be judged accordingly.
Certainly, Macpherson is more credible in his extrava-
gances than the Irish bards in theirs. The exuberance of
imagination which characterised the latter, is frequently seen
in their tales of the Heroic Age. But we have in the
story of Deirdre, one of the tenderest and most moving
romances that have ever come from a Gaelic pen. The
three sons of Usnach, one of whom (Naoise) is the hero of
this romance, were members of the first order of champions,
the Red Branch Knights of Ulster, the most skilful, the
most valorous, and the most chivalrous of all the Irish
fighters. But why Red Branch? Branch of what or whom?
That is a reasonable question to ask, but I have not
observed that it has ever been answered. The Red Branch
was just the Red Branch, and there's an end on't. Here
it is needful to state that the Picts, or Cruithne, or Clanna
Rury, once possessed, according to popular belief, the whole
of Ulster. It is highly probable, as I have already suggested,
that at one time they possessed, not only Ulster, but the
greater part of Ireland. In the Heroic Age, we find them
centred near Armagh at a place called Emhain Macha,
usually named Emania. The etymology of this name need
not detain us, but it may be useful to say that it means pro-
bably the River Plain (Avon Magh), the river in question
being a tributary of the Blackwater. There is the usual
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 145
legendary etymology, which .connects the name with a red-
haired Queen Macha, who reigned at Emania. Such legends
are so common in explaining Irish place-names, that it is
not surprising to find nearly every Irish writer gravely citing
them as adequate etymologies. Near the site of Emania is
.a place named Creeveroe, the ancient spelling of which is
Craebh Ruadh, translated as " Red Branch." It was here
that the Ulster champions met periodically to exhibit their
prowess; and it was from the name of this place that they
derived their name of the Red Branch Knights. But is
there any appropriateness in " Red Branch " as a place-
name? None that I can discover. The same word Craebh
appears in the ancient place-name Monaigh Craebi (the
modern Moncrieff) in Scotland, and in numerous place-names
of Ireland, sometimes in the form of Crew. Beyond doubt,
Craebh is here to be equated with Crieff. Now the names
Oieff and Moncrieff in Scotland are surely the same as 'the
Welsh Cryf (Cornish Cref or Crif or Creif), meaning
" strong." Where this root appears as a place-name, that
place has at one time been the site of a natural or artificial
strength, or fort. Thus in Creeveroe, if translated the Red
Strength, we have at once a sensible and satisfying
etymology, not only of the place-name, but of the name by
which the Ulster champions were called. And if we wish to
know why the fort was named the " Red Strength," we
have an explanation in the tradition that the walls of the
King's House were of " red yew." Creeveroe may mean
the " Royal Strength," for ruadh or roe is sometimes trans-
lated " royal," and thus an alternative etymology is pro-
vided. But that the Creeves of Irish place-names mean
strengths or forts, and not " branches," I have no doubt
whatever. 1
i When dealing with Greene as an Irish place-name, Dr. Joyce, in trans-
lating it as " branch " (Place-names, 1870, p. 483) is obliged to suggest the
fanciful explanation that it really means " tree," and that tree " is
associated with " games, or religious rites, or the inauguration of chiefs."
10
146 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Emania was destroyed in 332 A.D. That is an important
date to remember, for, in my belief, it marks off definitely
Irish reliable history from tradition and legend. The
chronology of this event is probably accurate, and the in-
cident itself is, beyond question, historical. The metropolis
of the Picts of Ulster was burned, and their power per-
manently shattered by "the three Collas " 2 of the Here-
monian or Scottish line of kings. Thenceforward, the
Pictish possessions in Ulster were narrowed down to a strip
of country, now represented by County Down and the
southern half of Antrim.
After the Ulster Scots became predominant in that
quarter, they were known by the Annalists, but not in-
variably, as the Ulaid or Ulta, and their kings as kings of
Uladh (Ulster); while the Picts were always called the
Cruithne, and their rulers, kings of the Cruithne. The
Annals of Ulster have preserved a record of the persistent
antagonism between the two peoples: they contain also a
record of instances in which they united to meet a common
foe.
Nothing proves more clearly the historical character of the
destruction of Emania than the bitter memory left for many
centuries by the event. Private grievances are frequently,
effaced by time; but national wrongs never. They may be
atoned for by subsequent goodwill, but the memory of them
is ineradicably engraven on the hearts of a people. They may
be forgiven; but they are not forgotten. There are few more
remarkable instances of this fact, than the tenacity with
which the Picts of Ulster continued to preserve the memory
of the burning of Emania. Dr. Hyde states that after a.
period of nine hundred years, the Irians (or Cruithne)
refused to make common cause with the other Irish against
the Normans at the battle of Downpatrick in 1260; so
2 According to Ferguson (The Teutonic Name System, p. 19), Colla is a
Saxon name. The MacDonalds are descended from one of the Collas.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 147
bitterly did they resent the treatment their ancestors had
received at the hands of the Heremonians, and so deeply did
the burning of Emania continue to rankle in their hearts. 3
It is to be observed that the Cruithne, in their later
possessions, were confined to the part of the north of Ireland
that is now by far the most prosperous corner in the whole
country; for it includes the great City of Belfast. It is
to be observed, further, that the people inhabiting that corner
differed then, as they differ to-day, in certain respects from
their neighbours. The Ulster question, it would appear, is
not one of to-day; nor of yesterday. Its roots may stretch
further back, even, than the times of the Tudors or the
Stuarts. For the seeds of a mutual antagonism were sown
in the smoking ruins of Emania nearly sixteen hundred
years ago.
We have now to consider, briefly, the racial affinities of
the Cruithne or Ulster Picts. To what stock did they
belong? What language did they speak? That their lan-
guage differed from Gaelic is certain. One word, and one.
only of their vocabulary, has been handed down to us: the
word cartit. It is quoted by Cormac as meaning "a pin
that is put on its shank." It is equated with the G-aelic
dealg, which means a pin and a thorn, a suggestive con-
junction, reminiscent of the statement by Tacitus, that the
ancient Germans commonly used a thorn for a pin. This
Cruthinian word cartit has puzzled philologists considerably,
for cartit means a shanked pin in no known language. There
is little doubt that it is a compound word, as indeed Cormac's
interpretation implies. The latter half of the word, viz.,
tit, is plainly, I think, the Icelandic tittr, pin, and car is
the Cymric gar, Gaelic carr, meanig a shank. Cartit is
thus a hybrid; and hybridism, as we shall see, is character-
istic of the Pictish language. It is a sure sign of the mixed
3 Literary History of Ireland, p. 66.
148 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
races of which the Irish and the Scottish nations alike are
composed.
The Scandinavian 4 origin of the Cruithne would appear
to have been believed in by their neighbours, for the rampart
built by the Picts as a protection against the pressure of
the Scots, is known traditionally as the " Danes' Cast."
This rampart the great Wall of Ulidia extended in
separate sections through the valley of the Newry Biver
for a distance of over twenty miles. It proved an adequate
barrier against the aggressiveness of the Scots, whose occu-
pation, under the three Collas, of the territory comprised in
Armagh, Monaghan, and Louth, (subsequently known as
Oriel) was certainly effective, though their hold on the rest
of northern Ulster was apparently less firm.
4 I use the word " Scandinavian," throughout, in its philological sense,
that is, to include the Danes. Scandinavia, strictly speaking, excludes
Denmark.
CHAPTER XV.
The historical Picts The Maitai and the Vecturiones (or Verturiones)
How the Picts got their name Teutonic parallels The "men of
the elves" Were the Picts tattooers? Historical notices of the
Picts : Herodian, Solinus, Dion Cassius The sources of their infor-
mation examined Tacitus on the Caledonians Shield-painting
The Pictones of Poitou.
How are the elves, the " pechts " of Scottish tradition 7
connected with the Picts of history? Beyond any doubt,
the name " Pechts " or " Pichts " was applied by the
peasantry of Scotland to what Lhave proved to be dwarfs, or
pigmies, or elves; and it is equally beyond doubt that the
people so well known to historians as the Picts were not
dwarfs, or pigmies, or elves. On the contrary, they were
believed to be big men physically " folk of much might," as
Layamon calls them * and it is inconceivable that had they
borne the remotest resemblance to the " Peght " described by
Sir Walter Scott, no contemporary writer should have alluded
to the fact, and no anthropological evidence should remain to
testify to its existence. So here we have folk-lore, not for
the first time, apparently in conflict with history and anthro-
pology; the conditions, in fact, are precisely analogous to
those which we examined in the case of the Dananns of
Ireland.
Layamon's term, "a folk of much might," as applied to the
Picts, may have its origin in the name Mcetce (Maitai) 2
given by the Romans to one of the two main divisions into
1 Brut (Madden), i., p. 423.
The big-bodied Caledonians of Tacitus are described by Eumenius
(309 A.D.) as " Picts." That was their later name.
From the description given by Gildas (a contemporary) of the physical
appearance of the Picts, it is clear that there was little or nothing to
distinguish them from the Scots.
2 Adamnan's MiathL
150 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
which the people, afterwards collectively called the Picts,
were grouped early in the third century. The Mcetce are
placed nearer Antonine's Wall than the Caledonians, and the
description by Dio warrants the belief that they embraced
the tribes south of the Grampians as far as the Wall. To-
wards the end of the fourth century, a similar division is
found, as described by Ammian Marcellin. He calls the
Caledonians JDi-Caledonians, perhaps in allusion to the racial
admixture Cymric and Teutonic of that people, and gives
the second group of people the name of Vecturiones, in which
name may possibly appear the Latin form of the Scandin-
avian Vcettir. B Sir J. Y. Simpson, in his essay on The
Cat-stane, made the suggestion (p. 40) that the Vecturiones
may have been Saxon allies of the Picts, 4 who had then
amalgamated with the latter. It can scarcely be doubted
that in the fourth century, the Southern Picts were a mixture
of Scandinavians and Saxons, with a Celtic element of more
or less unimportance.
I have shown that there is adequate ground for believing
that the Picts got their name from the people upon whom
3 1 am well aware that the name is now almost invariably written as
*' Verturiones." Sir John Rhys introduced this form into England, and
his authority has been sufficient to establish it. He founds the emenda-
tion on a statement in Eyssenhardt's edition of Ammian, that the form
Vecturiones comes from Gelonius, who lived in the sixteenth century,
and that it has no MS. authority (Celtic Britain (1884), p. 84). Sir John
Rhys was ** delighted " with this discovery, but he does not tell us how it
has been proved conclusively that " r " is right and " c " is wrong. Until
this has been done, there does not seem to be sufficient ground for reject-
ing Vecturiones and adopting Verturiones. George Buchanan, one of
the best Latin scholars of his day, uses the form Vecturiones ; and he
lived in the sixteenth century as well as Gelonius. Is it likely that he
copied from Gelonius? If Verturiones is, in fact, the correct form, it
may be referred to either of two Cymric words, viz., gwerthyr* a fortifica-
tion, or, with greater likelihood, to ywerydre, cultivated land (or an
inhabited region) as distinguished from the great Caledonian Forest.
4 His object was to prove that the Cat-stane in Edinburghshire com-
memorates Vetta, the grandfather of Hengist and Harsa.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 151
they intruded in Scotland. These people spoke a Cymric
tongue, and it was probably they who gave the name of Petts
or Peths to the Scandinavian newcomers, as denoting that
they were devoted to elf -worship. It is impossible to say
whether or not the Celts had elf -beliefs before they came in
contact with the Teutons, but it is certain that this creed was
an integral part of the Teutonic mythology.
The Gothic kin of Odin were called Asas, or gods, from
their theogony (aesir, gods), and the national name " Goth "
itself, not improbably, has its origin from the same source. 5
Similarly, the temple-priests of the Scandinavians were
called godar, or gods. Here, therefore, we appear to have a
parallel case of confusion between real people and their
mythology. And between the Gothic people and the
Dananns, Cruithnes, and Picts, there was a racial
connexion that makes the coincidence all the more re-
markable. But it must be something more than a
coincidence that these three peoples are shown by their
names (Luprachan, Cruithne, and Pett), and by the
traditions concerning them, to be associated with elves so
unmistakably. And I cannot see any explanation of this
undoubted fact except the one I have offered.
Briefly, therefore, my suggestion is that the Tuatha de
Danann, the Cruithne, the Picts, and the Scandinavians were
racially indistinguishable from one another, possessing the
same system of gods and elves, the same reputation for magic,
poetry, and piracy, and the same physical characteristics of
bigness and fairness. They were probably called "the men of
the elves" by the Cymric inhabitants of these islands, and in
course of time, the original application of the name was for-
gotten ; the traditions concerning their first arrival in Britain
and Ireland became blurred, indistinct, and finally hope-
5 The earliest form of the national name gut-thiuda or "god-people,"
as found in a Milan MS., seems to give colour to that view. No satis-
factory alternative has ever been suggested.
152 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
lessly confused. That would account for tradition using
the same name without discrimination for elves, and for
the race of men who worshipped the elves. The Picts of
Scotland disappeared so suddenly and mysteriously from
history, that it is not surprising to find this confusion in
name between the " pichts," or elves, and those who brought a
knowledge of the " pichts ' to the country that is now
Scotland.
I must, however, deal briefly with the obvious objection
to my theory, that the proofs of self -painting by the Picts
clearly point to the true origin of their name. To that my
answer is, that even jf it were proved beyond any question
that they painted their bodies, that fact would not necessarily
vitiate the etymology I have suggested. But were the Picts
actually tattooers or self -painters?
The evidence of their receiving their name from the
practice of tattooing rests to some extent upon a statement
by Claudian (fourth century), that the Picts, whom he
describes as an " engraved " people, were appropriately so
named. A careful study of the passage and its context seems
to reveal a play upon words ; a weakness from which Roman
poets were not exempt. Claudian, in fact, punned upon
the name Picti, and by so doing showed that he did not
believe that the national name meant the " painted " people,
Had he so believed, the pun would have been pointless.
Before the Picts were first named by historians, the
practice of tattooing in Britain is mentioned by two writers
of the third century (Herodian and Solinus), and it may be
that the question whether the Picts were really tattooers or
not, must be resolved by the weight to be attached to their
statements. Herodian (Book III.) in his account of the
campaign of Sever us, writes of certain Britons who dyed
their skins with the pictures of various kinds of animals ; and
that they wore no clothes so that these pictures could be seen.
He tells us, also, that in certain parts of the country, the
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 153
people lived in the marshes up to their necks in water.
A similar statement appears in Dion Cassius. It is
impossible to resist the suspicion that Herodian's naked
artists were like his (and Dion's) amphibious Britons:
coloured by the imagination. He may have had trustworthy
reports of woad-stained men, just as beyond doubt, he had
descriptions of the marshes of Britain; but the bare facts
would have been uninteresting. So he touched up the facts.
This tendency to embellish facts is frankly acknowledged
by Solinus, who in his dedication to Autius, confesses that
he got his matter from other authors, and naively states that
he added many things to give the work variety, and thus
prevent his readers from getting wearied! Borrowing from
other authors is not a thing of to-day or of yesterday, but the
modern author openly acknowledges his debt, except when
he annexes ideas. The ancient author was in the habit of
annexing language and ideas alike without acknowledgment,
and of adding a fringe of embellishment to the work.
Solinus was an honest writer for his time: he disclaimed
originality except for his fictions. But at what value are
we to appraise evidence from a source of this sort?
Solinus, whose main source of information was Pliny, tells
us that Britain was partly inhabited by barbarous people,
who in their childhood had the shapes of animals engraved
upon their bodies, so that the scars grew with the man.
There is some doubt how much of what passes under the name
of Solinus came from his pen at all. All that is found in
the MSS. of his works about the Hebrides and the Orkneys
and Thule is believed by Mommsen to have been added
by a copyist, perhaps an Irish monk, between the seventh and
the ninth centuries.
To the statement made by Isidore of Seville (seventh
century), about the Pictish custom of puncturing the skin
by needles dipped in the juice of herbs, there is a sufficient
answer. He made an extensive use of Solinus, and in his
154 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
description of the Picts, seems to have improved upon his
original. Solinus copied from Pliny, and added fictions of
his own; Isidore copied from Solinus; and the Pictish
Chronicle seems to have copied from Isidore. The Gothic
Jordanes, too, who wrote in the previous (sixth) century,
was an unblushing borrower. In his description of the
Caledonians, he copied from Tacitus almost literally. But
his statement that the Caledonians painfced their bodies with
iron-red is from some other source. It has certainly no
authority from Tacitus.
Not one of these foreign writers had first-hand knowledge
of Britain or its inhabitants; and statements founded partly
upon hearsay, partly upon an interpretation of the writings
of other authors, and largely upon a desire for effect, cannot
be accepted unhesitatingly as statements of fact. Those
authors whose information is above suspicion, have nothing
to say about a tattooed people in the north of Britain.
Tacitus, who got his facts from Agricola, his father-in-law,
does not tell us that the Caledonians were painted. In his
Germania, he directs attention to the fact that the German
tribe Harii painted their bodies, with the object of inspiring
their enemies with terror. If the Caledonians whom
Agricola defeated had been painted, Tacitus could hardly
have failed to mention the fact. Nor is it conceivable that if
the Picts of the sixth and seventh centuries were tattooers,
no allusion to the practice should have been made by Gildas,
or Bede, or Adamnan. Yet these authors lived in the same
island as the Picts, while their contemporaries, Isidore and
Jordanes, who described this people as tattooers, were more
ignorant of the conditions existing in the Britain of their
day, than is the average Briton of the present time, of the
conditions existing in Central Africa. The silence of the
native authors is arresting. Obviously they knew nothing
about the figured animals so glibly described by foreign
writers.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 155
The silence of Tacitus makes one suspect, that even the
practice of woad-staining may have fallen into desuetude
among the Britons before the end of the first century. The
" engravings " and " paintings " associated with the Picts
may have been on their shields, not on their bodies. 6 A
young Scandinavian was given a white and smooth buckler
when he entered upon an active career as a warrior. This
buckler was significantly named " The Shield of Expecta-
tion." When, by signal exploit, he had given proof of
his valour, he was permitted to paint or carve upon the
shield an emblematical figure, expressive of his own inclina-
tions or his deeds of prowess. None but princes or persons
distinguished by their services were allowed to carry shields
adorned with any symbol; and consequently the owners of
these painted or carved shields were held in high honour.
It is remarkable that this practice, or some resemblance to
it, has a place in the traditions of the Scottish Highlanders.
Mr. J. F. Campbell found it in some of the stories collected
by him. In these stories, " the shields of the warriors are
Bucaideach, bossed; Balla-bhreachd, dotted and variegated;
Bara-chaol, with slender point, with many a picture to be
seen on it, a lion, a cremhinach, and a deadly snake; and
such shields were figured on the lona tombs." 7 It is by no
means unlikely that some of the animal designs on the old
sculptured stones of Scotland, may represent a survival of
this old custom of shield-painting. The prevalence of the
custom may explain the terse and cryptic allusion of Tacitus
(Agricola c. 29) to the honorary " decorations " borne by the
veteran Caledonians, who were renowned in war. Calgacus,
the Caledonian leader, was the most distinguished for birth
and valour among the chieftains, and was therefore entitled
to the leadership of the normally independent tribes.
6 See Mallet's Northern Antiquities (Percy), p. 167. The practice is
confirmed by the Swedish sagas collected by Anders Fryxell.
7 West Highland Tales, i., ex.
156 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
There is still another consideration. The Pictones of
Poitou bore the same name as the Picts of Britain. The
latter are frequently called Pictones by the Irish Annalists,
and the Pictones of Gaul are called " Pictes " in Roquefort's
Glossary. No suggestion has ever been made that the people
of Poitou were tattooers. They are usually believed to have
been a Celtic people. But equally, perhaps, with the
Vectones of Pliny (the Vettones of Strabo). a people near
the Tagus, they have been Teutonic settlers of whose migra-
tion to the west there is no record. 8 The Pictones 'had a fleet
which was impressed by Csesar, and this fact suggests a
maritime origin. Perhaps they were Suiones or Swedes,
whose naval force is specially remarked upon by Tacitus.
But whatever their origin, there is not the slightest ground
for associating their name with the idea of self -painting.
The conclusion to be drawn from all these considerations
is, that the proofs that the Picts were tattooers are unsatis-
factory, if not altogether lacking in weight. As a corollary
of these dubious or worthless proofs, force is added to the
view that the name Picti is simply a Roman corruption of
a name similar in sound, but having an entirely different
signification. And I have already stated what, in my
opinion, the word really signifies.
8 Even in the time of Caesar, says Dunham (p. 276, sec. 1), the tribes
on the maritime coast from the Rhine to the Baltic were beginning to
learn the piratical life.
CHAPTER XVI.
A summary of the racial argument as applied to Ireland An analysis
of prefixes in Irish place-names What the analysis proves
Anthropology and archaeology in relation to the argument A
French analogy The Anglo-Saxon settlements in England on a
different footing from the Teutonic settlements in Ireland The
composition of the English language compared with that of Gaelic
The Saxon and the Gael The evolution of the Gaelic language
Peculiar Gaelic characteristics.
IT will be useful here to gather up the threads of the racial
argument, as affecting Ireland. To recapitulate, then: I have
tried to show (1) that the Teutonic elements in ancient
Ireland were of two varieties, Low German and Scan-
dinavian; 1 (2) that the Scots are included in the former,
and the Picts in the latter category; (3) that while the Picts
remained a separate people, though their language affected,
and was affected by, the predominant Celtic tongue, the Scots
coalesced with the Celtic Hibernians, their predecessors in
Ireland, sharing the land with them, adopting their language
(while leaving a strong Teutonic impression upon it), and, in
1 The resemblances between the customs of the ancient Irish and the
ancient Scandinavians are too close to be fortuitous. Some of these have
been noticed in the text, and they could be easily supplemented. The
bards of Ireland and the scalds of Scandinavia, for example, supply so
complete a parallel to one another that it is difficult to believe in an
independent development of the system under which they flourished so
vigorously. The sagas of both countries were based upon the poetry
of the bards or scalds. The harp was a favourite musical instrument in
ancient Scandinavia, as in ancient Ireland and ancient Scotland.
It may be added, as corroborating a prehistoric connexion between
Scandinavia and the British Isles, that the inscriptions and rock-carvings
in these isles are similar to some of those in Sweden and Denmark
belonging to the Bronze Age.
158 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
their own tongue, calling themselves and their Celtic partners
by a common name, the Gaedel, or co-sharers, to express this
union of races, languages, and interests.
I propose at this point to examine briefly some of the
place-names of Ireland, with the view of tracing them to
their sources. They are all " Gaelic " names, but, as will be
shown, they are derived apparently, some from Cymric,
others from Teutonic, and a few from Latin roots, and they
afford a useful example of the manner in which these roots
have been incorporated in the mixed language known as
Gaelic. 2 The most familiar of these Irish place-names,
mostly prefixes, have been selected for analysis.
Achadh : usual form Agh (Ach and Audi in Scotland). This
appears to be the same word as haugh, frequently found
in the Scottish Lowlands. It is derived from O. Ic. 3
Jiagi, pasture, A. S. haga, a field.
Gym. affinity lacking. This prefix is further discussed
in the Scottish place-names.
Ait: generally found in Ireland as a prefix: Atty, a
dwelling-place .
This is derived from a characteristically Teutonic
root: Goth, aihts ; A. S. dhte; Eng. aught or ought;
Scots, audit; all meaning a possession. No Cym.
affinity, but found as a borrow in Corn, achta, inheri-
tance.
As a suffix, adit appears in Connacht or Connaught,
and Keenaught, which seems a more likely etymology
3 The word " Gaelic " is intended to embrace the language spoken by
the Gael in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man, It is the same
language independently developed. " The old Irish Grammarians," says
Pinkerton (p. 134), "as Mr. O'Conor remarks, call the Irish tongue Berla
Tabide, or a mixed speech."
3 Contractions : O. Ic. = Old Icelandic. A. S. = Anglo-Saxon. Cym. =
Cymric. Gae. = Gaelic. O. Sax. = Old Saxon. Corn. = Cornish. Ger. =
German. Lat. = Latin. Goth. = Gothic. Eng. = English.
THE BACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 159
than icht progeny, or descendants. The latter comes
from Gym. Ach, a pedigree, sometimes written lachas.^
Ail or Allt: a rock or cliff. Cym. Allt, a cliff, or side of a
hill.
AnnagJi or Anna: usually translated as a marsh. Perhaps
connected with Cym. Annedd, a dwelling, and applied
to settlements in marshy districts.
Ard : always interpreted as "high" or a "height." This mean-
ing is from Lat. Arduus and Arduum. In some instances
it is applied with that meaning to places that are
not high, and incongruity is the result. But where Gae.
Ard, high, or a height, or a promontory, can be legiti-
mately employed (i.e., when warranted by the topo-
graphy), there is no need to look elsewhere for a
derivation .
Where such a search is necessary, the etymology is
found, I think, in 0. Sax. Ard, a dwelling. This
interpretation will stand any test that may be applied.
Associated with this meaning is Cym. Ardd, ploughed
land.
The earliest use of this prefix in place-names is pro-
bably to be found in Adamnan, who uses it apparently
in the sense of a dwelling, e.g., Art-chain, the name of
a monastery founded by Find-chan ("a hill," says a
commentator, which "has not been identified"); Ard-
Ceannachte, the name of a "region"; Artdamuirchol
(Ardnamurchan), the dwelling by the sea-sound, or
4 As Cym. Ach, a pedigree, becomes Gae. Icht, so Cym. Ach, a river
(fluid or water), may be the true origin of the much-disputed Icht in Muir
'n Icht, which would thus mean the River Sea, i.e., the Sea of the Severn,
or the Bristol Channel. This must have been the Sea originally meant
by the Gael, though it is usually applied to the English Channel,
" Glastonbury of the Gael," the town of the oaks (Cym. Glasten), was
on the border of the Ichtian Sea, and Glastonbury was in mid-Somerset.
(In the charters of Ine, the name appears as " Glastingae," the " gae "
being the Teut. gau, a district or town.)
160 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
strait (between Mull and the mainland). It is called
by Adamnan " a rough and rocky district " (not a rocky
promontory). 5
Ath : a ford. Of doubtful Celtic origin. It looks like a
Gaelic adaptation of 0. Ic. v ad (vath), a ford, showing
a Gaelic characteristic of dropping the initial letter.
There is no Cym. cognate.
Bally : (Scots BaT), a town the commonest prefix in Irish
place-names, and supposed to be characteristically
Gaelic. So it is, but it is derived apparently from
a Teutonic source, and it has no Cym. cognate. For
Goth. Bal also means a residence, and 0. Ic. Bol means
a farm, both being derived from the Goth. Bauan, to
dwell, root Bhu.
Cormac equates Baile with Rath, a fort, which sug-
gests an alternative origin for Bally. It may have
been in the first instance the " bailey," or fortress, which
protected the village, and later, as in other cases (Dun
and Rath}, the village itself. "Bailey" is of Latin
origin (ballium).
Caher : a stone fort, or castle, or a town where a fort had
existed. This is the Gaelic form of the Cym. Caer, with
the same meaning.
Cam : a heap of stones, or a rocky hill. Cym. Cam, a heap.
Carrick and Croagh : a rock. Cym. Craig, a stone, or rock,
or craig. In Wales, Ceiriog is the name given to some
streams, probably from their stony bottom.
Cashel : Lat. Castellum. Eng. castle.
Cavan: a hollow. Lat. Cavus. Eng. cave.
Ceann : (Kin and Ken), a head, point, or cape. (Cym. Pen.)
(But see Ken and Kin in a later chapter.)
6 This is, however, a doubtful name, for its form has altered consider-
ably. It is difficult to say with certainty whether the region got its name
from'the promontory (Ard), or vice versa.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 161
Cill: (Kil), a church. Lat. Cella. Eng. cell. Sometimes
confused with Coill (Kil, Kel, and Kelly), a wood;
Welsh Coll or Collen, hazelwood; Corn. Kelly or Killy,
a grove.
The original meaning of the root Kil was not "church,"
but " burying-ground," and the word is still alive in
Gaelic with that meaning. There are numerous "Keels"
in Ireland, the name being applied to cemeteries that
are believed to have a pagan origin. This word is.
evidently related to Gym. Cel, a corpse. Parent churches
were probably founded on or near the sites where saints
were believed to be buried, hence the association of ideas.
But the monks of the Middle Ages undoubtedly em-
ployed the Latin Cella to denote a church.
Clock : (Scots Clack), a stone. Gym. Clog, a large stone.
Cluan, Clon, or Cloon: a meadow by a bog or river; usually
fertile ground, and therefore frequently the site of
monasteries. Probably derived from Cym. Glan, a
brink, or side. Found in Scotland as Clunie (Kluen,
Clony), Clunas, Clunaig, Clyne (Clun, Clyn), etc., and
in France as Cluny, the site of the celebrated Cluniac
monastery.
Cncc : (Englished as Knock), a hill, knoll, or mound.
Cym. Cnwc, a lump.
Curragk, Curra, Cur, or Car: a marsh. All probably from
Ic. Kiar or Kaer, (Eng. Carr), a marsh. But the
Scots Carse is from Cym. Cors, a bog.
Cul, Cuil, Coul, and Cool: (the last the usual form in
Ireland). This word affords an excellent example of
the prevalent method of applying modern Gaelic to ex-
plain ancient place-names, irrespective of propriety, and
sometimes even of meaning. In modern Gaelic, it
means a "back," or a "corner," and consequently the
ii
162 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
changes are rung on " back " and " corner " in trans-
lating this word when found in topography. The
results are not infrequently ludicrous, and in all cases
unconvincing.
By studying the, topography of the places bearing the
name, it will be found, both in Ireland and Scotland,
that they are eminences, either conical hills, or rising
ground, the place designated being at the summit. In
the first category are to be placed the Coolin hills
in Skye, Coulmore (great peak), and Coulbeg (little
peak), in Assynt, Sutherland, all of them dis-
tinguished by a conical shape. In the second
category are Coul in Ross-shire, Coull in Aberdeen-
shire, Culloden in Inverness-shire, and the various
Culters (Cultyr, Culter, etc.), throughout Scotland
(c/. Maryculter and Peterculter, the rising ground
belonging to the churches of St. Mary and St. Peter).
In Irish topography, the numerous Cools belong mainly
to the second class.
It should be mentioned that Adamnan uses Cul in the
sense of "rising ground " (Cuul-eilne in lona).
Whence then is Cul derived? In the sense of a conical
hill, it is found in Gym.' Col, a peak. In the sense of the
summit of 'rising ground, it is found in 0. Ic. Kollr,
top or summit (the " K " is found in some of the Scot-
tish place-names, e.g., Kultre). Associated with these
roots is the Lat. Collis, a hill, or rising ground.
Dal : this is usually interpreted, both in Irish and Scottish
topography, as dale or valley. Even so, it must be
attributed to a Teutonic source, for although dol is
found in Cymric with the meaning of the Eng. dale,
its primary sense is that of a wind or loop. The
Teutonic languages (Goth., 0. Sax., and Dutch dal,
A. S. dcd, O. Ic. dalr y mod. Ger. thai), all convey the
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 163
meaning of " valley." It is also found in O. Slov. dolu,
with the same meaning.
But it is to be observed that in the topography of
Teutonic countries, including England, dal (or thai),
usually appears as a suffix, while in Ireland and Scot-
land, except in the parts occupied by the later colonies
of Scandinavians, it is a prefix. The meaning of dal as
signifying a portion or share, has already been fully dis-
cussed, and it is probable that this earlier sense, as
mentioned by Bede, may be (at any rate in many in-
stances) the primary meaning of the root in Irish and
Scottish topography. It points to the sharing of the
lands by the Gael, and in view of the fact that the most
desirable lands were situated in valleys, a confusion
of the two ideas is quite intelligible.
Deny (Daire) : the early meaning of this word in Irish place-
names is vouched for by Bede, who says that before
St. Columba passed over into Britain, he had built a
noble monastery in Ireland, " which from the great
number of oaks is, in the Scottish tongue, called
Dearmach the Field of Oaks." By Adamnan, this
place is called Dab-Mag (Oak-plain), now Durrow.
The most widely known place-name in Ireland belong-
ing to this category is Londonderry, the " London "
being tacked on to the " derry " in a charter from
James I. to the merchants of London.
The word is Celtic: it is found in Gym. Ddr, an oak.
Desert or Dysart : an uninhabited ^ place. From Lat.
Desertum. Used in Irish and Scottish topography to
denote places chosen by monks for solitary exercises of
devotion. Sometimes corrupted to Isert in Ireland, and
occasionally (by metathesis) perhaps as Ester.
Drum or Drom : a ridge, from Cym. Trum, a ridge, or
back. A common prefix both in Irish and Scottish
164 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
place-names, sometimes in the form of Drummond or
Drumen, which, by substituting the Gaelic " d " for
the Cymric "t," is the same as the Gym. truman, a
ridge, and trumain, ridged.
Dun: an unmistakably Celtic prefix in Irish and Scottish
place-names. Yet it is a close cognate of A. S. tun,
Eng. town. The original meaning of the latter is that
of enclosure (O. Sax. and A. S. tein, O. Ic. tun), hence
the added idea of a fortification, associated primitively
with an enclosure.
It would appear that the meaning of the word dun has
passed through two stages: (1), a hill-fort, or simply a
fortress; (2), a town. The Eng. "borough" or (Scots)
" burgh " seems to have passed through similar stages.
The ultimate source of this word is Teut. berg, a hill,
cognate with Celt. brig. A " burgh " was originally
a hill-fort. Later, when a village settlement had been
formed around the hill-fort, a burgh, or (Eng.)
borough, meant a fortified town; and in modern times,
when forts were no longer required, simply a town.
The Gae. dun is from the Cym. din, a hill-fort, or
a fortress. It was not an uncommon suffix in Gaulish
place-names, e.g., Lugdunum (Lyons), where we have
the Latin form of the word. Dun, and burgh, and broch
(the last a metathetic form of the Scand. borg, while
the Irish brugh is a methathetic form of burgh) are
still used to designate ancient forts, but not necessarily
hill-forts. Sometimes din and dun are used to denote
a steep, round hill: a hill suitable for a fortress, or be-
lieved to have formed the site of one.
Eilean: an island. Applied generally, though by no means
invariably, to the smaller isles. To the larger islands
the word usually given is Innis or Inch, both in Ireland
and Scotland. Now we have here incontestable evi-
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 165
dence of an imported word becoming an auxiliary of
the native term. The Gaelic Innis (in Ireland some-
times Ennis), is from Gym. Ynys, an island, and in
the form of "Inch," it frequently appears in Scottish
place-names that are not islands at all, as well as in
genuine island-names. The explanation is either that the
meadows were at one time insulated by water, or that
Inch, in these cases, has the same meaning as 0. H. Ger.
Ouwa (mod. Ger. Au), one of the meanings of which is
meadowland abounding in water. The Eng. " island "
comes from the same root; it means literally " water-
land."
The Eileans were comparative late-comers in Ireland
and Scotland. The word is not Celtic at all. It is
simply the Eng. "island" (O. Ic. Eyland, A. S. Eglond)
in a Gaelic dress. This Teutonic word, long ago firmly
fixed in the Gaelic language, has had a tendency to
oust the Celtic Ynys. Yet it is an interloper. An
early use of the word is by Adamnan, who gives the
name of Elena to an island.
Eden : this prefix in names of places characterised by hilli-
ness is always translated as " hill-brow," and is derived
from Eudan, the forehead. Thus, such names as Eden-
derry are interpreted as meaning " the hill-brow of the
oakwood," Edenmore, as " great hill-brow," and so
forth. This is surely a strained application of Eudan,
the forehead. The true source of Eden seems to be
0. Welsh Eiddyn, signifying a slope (see " Carriden "
and " Edinburgh " in a later chapter).
Fearn : always translated as " alder " in Irish and Scot-
tish topography. This is a useful name in topography,
as showing that the Celtic element in Gaelic was
originally Cymric. " Fearn " is the Gaelic form of
Cym. gwern, a meadow or swamp. But gwern also
means "alder," and that meaning alone has been re-
166 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
tained in modern Gaelic, the other meaning of
" meadow " or " swamp " having been lost. It will be
found that the place-name, " Fearn " (simply or in com-
bination), in Ireland and Scotland aptly denotes a
meadow, originally, no doubt, a swamp.
Fin or Fionn : fair, or white, or clear, and applied thus to
place-names. It is, in this sense, a cognate of Gym.
gwyn, though it is radically related to " white " (es-
pecially 0. Ic. vitr), with an intrusive " n." Gaelic
" Find " (older Vind), is properly applied to rivers
whose water is characterised by clearness. (See
Ptolemy's Buvinda, previously analysed.)
When applied to ridges or slopes (e.g., Findrum and
Findlater), this meaning is inadmissible. We have here
either Cym. Ffin, a boundary, signifying, as was fre-
quently the case, the division of property by means of
mountain ridges; or with greater probability, 0. Ic. Vin
pasture, 0. OFris, Fenne, pasture-land (cf. Cym. gwaen,
a meadow).
Gabhal (Goul and Gowl): a fork. (Cf. Goole in Yorks.,
which is on the fork of two streams). Cym. Gajyl',
Ger. Gabel; A. S. Geaful; Dutch Gaff el; Ic. Gaff all,
all meaning a fork. It is difficult to say whether
Cymric has borrowed from Teutonic, or vice versa. The
primitive root is obscure.
Garbh (Gar and Garra) : rough. Cym. Ganv, rough; it
also means a torrent, being thus applicable to river-
names.
Garry: Cym. Garrd, garden. This appears to be a Celtic
loan from a widely diffused Teutonic class of words
(0. Ic. Gardr; A. S. Geard; 0. French Gar din or
Jardin, derived from a German origin), all having the
fundamental idea of an enclosure. Sometimes applied
to the names of farms. Gort y Gart, and Garth belong
to the same class.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 167
Glaise or Glas : grey, blue, or green, for all three colours are
comprehended, and Cym. Glds has the same diversity.
The woad used by the ancient Britons for painting
themselves was known to the Eomans by two names,
glastum and vitrum, both words having a reference to
glass. The colour of common glass is a bluish green,
and Mr. Fox Talbot points out the curious circum-
stance that in French, verre (glass) and vert (green)
have the same sound. 6 He concludes that the Eng-
lish word " glass " comes from the Celtic glds. This
is more than doubtful, for the evidence of Tacitus seems
to show that it is derived from the 0. Teutonic word
for amber (glese), a shining substance, which could
easily give its name to glass when it came into use.
But in topography the meaning either of blue-green
or of glass is clearly impossible. The word is applied
to small rivers or streams, and, it would seem, for the
same reason as glass received its name, that is, because of
their shining surface. The word in this sense is cer-
tainly from the Teutonic root glas, to shine, which is
found in German topography with the same meaning as
the Irish and Scottish glas (e.g., Glisbach). It may
be objected that Cym. dais means a rivulet. But that
would appear to be an imported meaning, for its original
sense is that of a stripe or bruise. Glas, a shining sur-
face, is found in Welsh, evidently a loan word from the
Teutonic root.
Gobha, Goe, Gow, Gowan, and Gown: a fairly common
suffix in Irish and Scottish names. It is always inter-
preted as "smith" (e.g., Bally gow, Balnagowan, the
blacksmith's town). Now the blacksmith was, no doubt,
an important person in ancient Ireland and Scotland,
but hardly, one would suppose, sufficiently so to make
him an outstanding figure in topography. Rather must
6 Cf. Cym. ffwydyr, which means both "glass" and "green."
168 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
we look for the root in the common Teut. gau, govia, a
district. Bally gow and Balnagowan would thus signify
the district village, which is surely what these Bally-
go ws are now, and always have been. (But see " Bally "
and "Rath.") The name Ardgowan, having a similar
meaning, bears out the derivation of Ard, dwelling,
previously given.
Innis or Ennis : an island. Already discussed under Eilean.
Leitar or Leitir : (usually in the form of Letter, both in
Ireland and Scotland), the slope of a hill. Cym.
Llethyr, a slope (Ger. Letter, Eng. ladder, that which
slopes or leans); Ger. Leite, slope or declivity; Gothic
hleida.
Linne or Lin : a pool or lake. A suffix in some Irish names,
the most familiar being Dublin. Cym. Llyn. But
O. Welsh Linn also denotes a marsh, a related meaning.
Lough or Loch (Scotland). Cym. Llwch, an inlet, a lake.
But the source is probably the Teut. root, Lek (Ldk\
watery, and especially 0. Ic. Logr, water.
Magh, May, or Moy : a plain, or field. Cym. Mai and
Maes, Ger. matt, Eng. mead or mede (cf. Cym. Ma,
a place). 7
Mam or Maum, Ireland and (rarely) Scotland: a round hill.
(Lat. Mamma.) Sometimes applied in Ireland and Scot-
land to a mountain pass.
Mon, Mona, and Money : Money is a frequent prefix. It is
usually taken from muine, a brake or shrubbery. But all
the names in this class may be related to 0. Norse
Moinn, dwelling on a moor. Mon and Min in Scotland
belong to the same category. (Gae. monadh, a moor;
moine, al>og; Cym. mawn, peat, is probably related).
7 The Cym. form Mai is found in Scotland, e.g.. May, Moy, Cambus
o' May, Rothiemay, etc.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 169
Mor : great or large (Gym. 'Mawr), apt to be confused with
O. Ic. Mor, moor, and possibly with Gae. Muir (Gym.
Mor), the sea.
Muilenn (Mulliri): a mill. Gym. Melin, A. S. Myln. Not
of Teutonic origin, the genuinely Teutonic word for a
mill being " quern " (A. S. cweorri).
Mullagh : applied in Ireland to certain hills . From Gym .
Moel, piled, bare, or bald, applied in Wales to mountains
with bare tops.
Owen: applied in Ireland to streams. It is a corruption of
Gym. Awon (Avon), a river, and even in Ireland
occasionally takes the form of Awin.
Poll or Pol: pool. Gym. Pwl. A. S. P6L Doubtful
whether derived from Cymric or Teutonic.
Port: a haven. Lat. Portus ; Gym. Porth.
Rinn (in various forms): a promontory, or point. Gym.
Rhyn, which, however, has various meanings, among
which " Cape " may be a loan (cf. Ehinns of Galloway
in Scotland).
Rath : an earthen fort, and so applied to place-names .
Dr. Joyce says that there are over 400 townships in
Ireland with this prefix, in the forms of Ra, Rah, Raw,
and Ray, and more than 700 names commencing with
the word in its original form Rath (correct pronuncia-
tion Ra) .
Now, whence is the word Rath derived? In the sense
of " fort," it has no apparent affinity with Gym. Rhath,
a cleared spot (cognate with 0. Ic. Rydja, O. H. Ger.
Riuti, land made fertile by uprooting; Eng. root and
rid, i.e., a place ridded of trees).
A form of Rath is used by Caedmon ( Burh
wrathum weriari) in the same sense as the Irish word
for a fort, and the English equivalents are " ward " and
" guard," showing a common form of metathesis (cf.
170 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
"wraith," also written "warth"). The 0. Ic. form is
varda, to watch over, to protect. The Irish raths (forts),
are usually associated by tradition with the Danes,
"Danish raths" being a common conjunction. Cf. A.S.
ivraeth, a fortification or enclosure, and 0. Ic. Reitr, a
place marked out. The latter word is associated in Scot-
land with " burghs " or forts, e.g., Rattar Brough
(Caithness), Rattra (Borgue). Rattray (Blairgowrie
and Peterhead), is probably from the same source.
But it is a large assumption to suppose that all the Irish
raths were forts. On the contrary, Hath signified home-
stead in the Irish Laws (Celtic Scotland, III., p. 243),
and is therefore related to Gym. Rhath, a cleared spot,
which, in turn, seems to have been borrowed from a
Teutonic source. Rath is found in a number of German
place-names. In 0. Ic. Rjodr means an open space
in a 'forest. Most of the " Raths " in Irish topography
must have got their name for this primary reason.
Ros or Ross : a promontory and (in the South of Ireland) a
wood. Scottish topography has the word in both senses,
as well as with the meaning of a moor or marsh. Gym.
(Welsh and Cornish) Rhos.
The source of Ross, a promontory, is probably Cym.
Rhus, a start or tail (cf. Start Point in Devonshire).
Ross, a wood, may be related to Rhos, a marsh. (In
Cormac's Glossary, further meanings are given of Ross,
viz.: " flaxseed " a meaning still alive and "duck-
meat.")
Sean (Shan): translated as "old" (Lat. Senex). But this
is surely a doubtful etymology. Preferably this prefix
in place-names is to be referred to a Teutonic word signi-
fying herdsman (Senno, Gothic Sanja, cowherd), and
also pasture (Senne). Thus Shanbo and Shanbally may
have been originally applied to a town pasture, and
Shanmullagh would mean hill-pasture.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 171
Sgor and Sgeir (Scuir and Skerry): a sea-rock, from O. Ic.
Sker, a rock in the sea a common name for rocks,
especially on the west coast of Scotland. Scar and Scor
in England.
Sliabh (Slieve): a common name in Ireland (it is rare in
Scotland), for a mountain or hill. It is usually, if not
invariably, applied to a conical height, just as Mam
(which see), is applied to a round hill. Why is this?
Sliabh is a Gaelic cognate of " slope," which is a
derivation of the word " slip," the root-idea of the latter
word being found in "slippery." A hill with sloping
sides necessarily has a pointed apex. Now, the English
word " slip " is derived from a Teutonic base, sleip or
sleup, to slip or glide (Ger. schleifen, O. H. G. sliofan,
Goth, sliupan), and a Gym. affinity is lacking.
Sliabh enters as freely into mountain nomencla-
ture in Ireland as Ben does in Scotland. The former
has a Teutonic and the latter a Cymric origin. Indirectly
these facts imply that the Gaelic language was built up
in Ireland (Sliabh probably displaced the Cym. Peri),
and transplanted in Scotland, where, however, except
in isolated instances, the Teut. Sliabh failed to oust the
earlier Cym. Pen or Ben. If this hypothesis is accepted,
it is difficult to evade the force of the reasoning that
ascribes a Teutonic element to the very texture of the
Gaelic language. Mountain nomenclature is frequently
both ancient and philologically suggestive.
Sron : a nose, and consequently applied to a promontory.
From Cym. Trwyn, a point or nose; 0. Ic. Trjona
(perhaps a borrowed word). Here S is substituted for T.
Sruth or Sruthair : a stream. The English word " stream "
and its various Teutonic affinities are derived from the
Sans, root Sru, to flow, but it is difficult to dissociate
the Gaelic word from Cym. Yslrad, from which
" Strath," so common in Scotland, is taken. The Gaelic
172 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
form of Ystrad is Srath, and the " t " appears to be
similarly eliminated in Sruth. Originally applied to
a valley or strath, it may have acquired a secondary
meaning by being applied to the stream flowing
through the strath. Confirmation of this view seems
to be afforded by Corn. Stret or Streyth, stream. Con-
versely, Ystrad may come from the same root as stream:
Sru, to flow, i.e., a place through which a stream flows.
Stuaic (Stag and Stook): an isolated rock. From 0. Ic.
StaJckr, a stack or cape.
Suidhe (See and Sea): a seat or settlement. From 0. Ic.
Setr, seat or residence, with the allied forms in all the
Teutonic dialects. (In the Gaelic word, the consonants
are mute.)
In Ireland, says Dr. Joyce, hills, mostly crowned
by earns or moats are called Suidhe Finn, i.e.,
Finn's seat or resting-place. In his " Ossian,"
Macpherson makes use of this fact in Gaelic topography
by showing us Fionn on his mountain-top. There is
a mythical element here, which might be employed by
mythologists to prove that Fionn was a solar deity.
So, too, in proving the mythic character of King
Arthur, they might point to his " seats " like those of
Fionn. It is a remarkable fact that the mythology
of the Finns contains a similar idea in relation to
Kaleva, a word that means " rocky " from Finnic
KalliOy cliff, Lapp. Galle, Kallo (Gallagh in Irish
means a place full of rocks). Kaleva is a giant,
evidence of whose strength is found by the people in
blocks of granite that they believe him to have hurled,
and in huge rocks that they call his seats. A " Son of
Kalev " is called " Child of the Rock." (Comparetii,
p. 209). But a much more rational explanation can be
given of these "Finn," "Arthur," and "Kaleva"
Seats.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 173
Tamnach: a field. Evidently a compound word (Tamn-
achadh), the prefixial Tamn, which sometimes appears
as Tavn, Tawn, and Ton, being apparently derived from
Gym. Taf, a spread or a flat space.
Tarbh (Tarf): a bull. (0. Ic. Tarfr, a bull). A doubtful
etymology for river-names, which may be referred with
greater confidence to Gym. tarfu, to expel; tarf, drive
(but see below). A name like Clon-tarf, however, pro-
bably means the " bulls' meadow." Tarw is a river-
name in Wales (Cym. tarw, what bursts through). It
means also a " bull " in Welsh.
Probably we have here a derived figurative name, of
which there is apparently another instance in Cymric
TwrcJi (Gae. Tore), a hog, a Welsh river-name appear-
ing in Scotland under the form of "Turk." Twrch
also means " burrower," and a link is thus provided be-
tween a river that burrows its way, and a hog or a boar.
Similarly, a river that " bursts " its way through
obstacles might fairly be compared with a bull.
Tigh (various forms): a house or dwelling, from Cym. Ty,
a house.
Teamhair : (Tara, the capital of Ireland's High Kings in
Meath; and other places in Irish topography). It some-
times appears as " Tower," and that is apparently the
source of the word, which is usually translated as " a
palace situated on an eminence."
Teampull : from Lat. Templum, applied generally to ancient
churches.
Teine (Tin or Tinny): fire, indicating places where fires
(whatever their object) were kindled. Cym. Tan, fire.
But the source is the Teutonic root tand, to burn; it is
found in all the Teutonic dialects (Goth, tandjan, to set
on fire; 0. Ic. tandri, fire; A. S. tendan, to kindle.
Eng. tinder, etc.).
174 THE KACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Tlr: land. (Lat. Terra.) Cym. Tir.
Tobar (Tipper and Tibber): a well, from Cym. Dwfyr,
water. O. Gael. Dobur or Dobhar.
Torr or Tor: a heap or tower (Turrus). Cym. Twr.
Traigh (Tray}: a strand (Tractus). Cym. Traeth, a tract,
or sand.
Tuaim (Toom or Tom): a tun^ulus. Cym. Tom, a mound.
Tulach (Tully, Tulla, Tullow, Tallow}: a small hill. Cym.
Twlch, a knoll. Corn. Tallic, Tallock, Tallach, what is
highly placed.
Vaimh (Wem and Weem): a cave. Cym. Wm, hollow.
Uisce or Uisge (numerous forms): water. Cym. Wysg,
current or stream.
The foregoing analysis of typical place-names in Ireland
shows conclusively that the people who bestowed those names
upon the places where they settled, spoke, some Cymric, others
Teutonic, and a few Latin, the last element being plainly
post-Patrician, and mainly ecclesiastical in its incidence.
The amalgamation of these elements is shown by a further
examination of Irish topography, which reveals the existence
of many hybrids Teutonic prefixes, and Celtic suffixes, or
vice versa among the names. The importance of this
evidence in solving the ethnological problem presented by the
Gaelic race and language can hardly be over-estimated. The
suggestion that these Irish place-names merely show affini-
ties with Cymric and Teutonic words, without being directly
derived from them, fails entirely to meet the case.
Obviously, the names are not cognates, but derivatives.
In the domain of anthropology, there is to be seen in
Ireland the undoubted prevalence of the Nordic or North
Teutonic type, mingling with the classical type of the Gallic
Celts. It has been shown that the pre-Celtic and pre-
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 175
Teutonic types are also well represented; but the question
of the original composition of the Gael and the Gaelic
language is not directly affected by the ethnology of their
predecessors, with whom there was no amalgamation. In
the domain of archaeology, too, a Teutonic connexion with
Ireland has been proved to exist; and Irish legend betrays
distinct points of contact with Teutonic folklore: as I have
shown, there is a remarkable resemblance between certain
customs primitively observed' alike by Teutons and Gael.
But nowhere is the Celto-Teutonic blend so clearly revealed
as in Irish topography. And place-names, rightly inter-
preted, are unassailably conclusive.
There is little difficulty in finding analogies for this
mixture of peoples and languages, the closest being per-
haps the coalescence of races in France on conditions re-
markably similar to those postulated for Ireland. Just as
the Scots, a Teutonic people, gave the name of Scotia to
Ireland (and later to Scotland), and imported Teutonic
elements into the Cymric language spoken by the Celtic
people with whom they coalesced; so the Franks, also a
Teutonic people, gave the name of France to part,
and ultimately the whole of Gaul, and introduced Teutonic
words into the Celto - Roman language spoken by the
Gallic people whom they subdued. In one sense, the
settlements of the Visigoths and Burgundians in Gaul show
even a closer analogy to that of the Scots in Ireland. For
while the Frankish monarchy, in alliance with the Church,
each for its own ends, aimed primarily at conquest, the Visi-
goths and Burgundians sought a peaceable settlement among
the Gallic people. " They shared lands and goods," says
Dean Kitchin, 8 "with the older owners. . . . He (the
German), took half of all forests and gardens, two-thirds
of all cultivated lands, one-third of all slaves, and so settled
down in peace."
8 Hist, of France, i., 60.
176 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Here we have conditions entirely favourable to a mixture
of languages. The Teutons found the prevailing language
in Gaul to be a Low Latin dialect, necessarily interspersed
with Celtic words, the latter being relics of a language which
had been renounced by a conquered and decadent people in
favour of the tongue of their conquerors. The submersion of
the Celtic language in Gaul, by Latin, is a striking fact in
the study of races. It was a sign of the decay of nationalism,
which itself was the outcome of a loss of independence, and
the deadening lethargy induced by the hopelessness of its
recovery. In such circumstances, subdued peoples mould
themselves gradually, but surely, in the shape of their
masters; and in time, assimilation, more or less complete,
generally takes place in language, customs, and sympathies,
if equal liberties and privileges are enjoyed by the different
racial units which comprehend the population.
An apparent anomaly here suggests itself in the fact that
the Teutonic tribes conquered the West by force of arms,
but instead of absorbing and assimilating the Western
nations, were themselves absorbed and assimilated, leaving
only indistinct traces of their Germanic origin. So it was in
France; so it was in Spain; so it was in Ireland. The
explanation appears to be that, primarily, the Teutonic in-
vaders were not settlers they were plunderers. When they
settled, they married the women of the country, and the
mother-tongue of their children gradually displaced the
father-tongue, as it will always do quite naturally. The
Anglo-Saxon settlements in England were on a different
footing. Originating in the arrival of bands of adventurers,
whose swords were for sale, the immigration developed into
an organised scheme of colonisation, in which the Teutonic
wives of the settlers were included. This would appear to
be proved by the testimony of Bede, who tells us that Old
Anglia was said to have remained depopulated (desert) from
the time of the emigration to Britain " to this day." Thus
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 177
in England, owing to the comparative absence of racial in-
termarriage, the Celts did not absorb the Saxons, nor did
the Celtic language oust the Anglo-Saxon tongue. Nor, on
the other hand, did the Saxons absorb or assimilate the
Celts. Some they must have reduced to a state of bondage;
many they drove westwards and probably northwards; and
a minority may have been permitted to retain their lands.
These lands may have remained tributary on varying con-
ditions, as was the case with certain territories in Gaul
conquered by the Franks; and the holders would in those
instances either sink gradually into a state of serfdom, or
become completely and permanently Anglicised. Numerous
traces of the Celt are found in the place-names of England,
but comparatively few in the English language.
The Franks amalgamated the Low Latin of the Law
Courts with their own Teutonic Law-terms. The result
was " a barbarous Latin full of German words." But by
the end of the eighth century, the Lingua Romano, Rustica
had firmly established itself as the national language of the
country. At the Council of Tours in 813, homilies were
read either in Romance or German, and the Army oaths
of 842 show that it was not until about, or after the middle
of, the ninth century, that bi-lingualism among the Franks
fell into disuse. The decay of Teutonic influences in Gaul
must have been accelerated by the death of Charles the
Great.
But although German thus gradually disappeared as a
distinct and spoken language in Gaul, it left its permanent
mark on the language of the Franks, that is, French. The
dialects of Northern France contain many traces of the
original language of the Franks, while in Normandy, the
Scandinavian element, introduced by the Northmen, is shown
in the local dialect, as well as in many place-names and naval
terms. The Proven9al dialects show the influence of the Bur-
gundian settlements, and in Gascony the speech of the Visi-
12
178 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
goths runs through the Latin texture, interspersed with some
Basque remains. 9
In Spain, the same Teutonic elements are found in the
spoken languages. In Catalan, the Biscayan Latin is mixed
with Gothic, as is the purer Latin in Castile. In Portugal,
Suevic mingles with the main West Latin stream.
Again, when the composition of the English language is
considered, it is easily seen how the main Teutonic fabric
itself a mixture of Low German with important Scan-
dinavian dialects has been mingled with a comparatively
small Celtic element, borrowed from a conquered race, and
a Norman-French element of profound importance imposed
by a conquering people. Eomance, the language of the
Court, the Church, the Law, the Schools, and the Army,
never became the language of the people. There was no
real blend between the Normans and the Anglo-Saxons, and
the attempt to force a foreign language on an unwilling
nation was foredoomed to failure. Of necessity, communica-
tion between the two peoples had to be carried on by means
of a double vocabulary, and the two languages were mutually
affected by the contact. But in the end, the Anglo-^axon
of the masses triumphed, and the Romance of the classes
was incorporated in, and assimilated with, the Teutonic
dialects, to form, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with
Latin and other elements, the English language. English
would be a comparatively poor language did it consist of an
Anglo-Saxon element only, instead of being the richest in
the world by its capacity for absorption. The purest
languages are the poorest.
And so it is with the Gaelic language. The power of
incorporating foreign elements shown by the original Celtic,
is maintained to the present day by the addition of English
9 Roquefort's Glossary explains the " Walonne " language as langue
primitive des Francois et qui s'alUra bientot par la jonction du Tudesque
et du Latin (ii.,'p. 737).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 179
words in a Gaelic dress that represent new inventions and
new ideas. Thus, the enrichment of the language by the
importation of foreign words has proceeded apace with what
a purist would, with some propriety, regard as its disfigure-
ment. A loss in purity has been accompanied by a gain in
flexibility of expression, in enlargement of vision, and in
facility of communication. CleaT-ly the balance of advantage
lies on the side of the language that can absorb, adapt, and
incorporate. 10
The Saxon and the Gael are not parted by the chasm that
is generally believed to exist. Their nearness of kinship is
proved more particularly by anthropology and philology.
They have given to one another, taken from one another,
profited by one another, by social contact in England, and
by actual amalgamation in Ireland and Scotland. There is
not, and there should not be, any real antagonism between
them. Ideally, one is the complement of the other.
Throughout the Gaelic vocabulary, the same facts pro-
claimed by place-names are observed on analysis, and
nowhere more prominently than in the numerals, which
are plainly of Latin origin. These facts are sometimes
partially obscured by the accumulation of phonetically use-
less, but grammatically convenient, consonants in the
modern language; and it may be remarked here that if ever
the Gaelic language is to be popularised among non-
Gaelic speakers, it will be necessary to simplify it by clear-
ing away, as far as possible, this superfluity of mute letters.
It need scarcely be said that the evolution of the language
has resulted in marked divergences from original forms, and
that the Gaelic of the present day is as different from the
10 In The Welsh People (p. 617) the authors quote, apparently with
approval, O. Schrader (Prehistoric Antiquities, Eng. translation, p. 113),
who says that "the notion of a mixed language must have more weight
assigned to it than has hitherto been allowed." That is a true and
pregnant statement.
180 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
oldest written Gaelic as is English from Anglo-Saxon. The
numerous glosses in the oldest Irish manuscripts show that
the Gaelic of the glossarists was, in turn, different from the
Gaelic of an earlier date. That, of course, is only what
might be expected; but among other things, it shows
the absurdity of the attempts so frequently made to explain
Gaelic place-names by the" Gaelic of the present day. As
well attempt to explain the " wicks " and " hams " of Anglo-
Saxon topography by the English of the twentieth century.
The Celtic element in the oldest Gaelic must have been pure
Cymric. Cormac proves this by using " p " words, e.g.,
prem (Gae. cruim), a worm, and map (Gae. mac), a son.
Thus, even by the ninth century, Gaelic had not shed entirely
its Cymric characteristics.
In its grammatical structure, Gaelic has points of
resemblance with the Cymric, Teutonic, and classical
languages, but it has certain characteristics that are
peculiarly its own. It would be beyond the scope of this
work to deal with the structural formation of the language,
even if I were competent to do so; but two examples may
be given of marked peculiarities. One is the aversion from the
initial letter " p," which, under the influence apparently of
the Teutonic element in the language (as already noticed),
generally becomes " c " (" k " sound), and is sometimes, as
in atliar (pater) eliminated altogether, as it is in Mceso-
Gothic. Another remarkable characteristic is what is known
as " aspiration," a device for flexion which is absent in the
classical languages. This is one of the most important
elements in the phonetic and grammatical structure of the
language: by means of the introduction of the letter " h," the
sound is softened, and the case is altered. And here it may
be said, that notwithstanding the frequency of the guttural
"ch" in Gaelic (another Teutonic inheritance), the general
softening of consonants, and consequently gain in euphony, is
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 181
a goal that has been successfully reached in the construction
of the language; while the treatment of the vowels is such as
to suggest the cooing of a dove. It is a mistake to suppose
that Gaelic, as spoken by a scholar, is harsh. It is in a
large measure a liquid language, full of devices for
euphonious expression. Its " appearance is against it "; but
its appearance is deceptive.
CHAPTER XVII.
Scotland and its legendary matter The earliest name of Scotland
The significance of the name " Alban "The invasion of Scotland
by Agricola Who were the Caledonians ? Galgacus or Calgacus
The Caledonian tribes self-contained units The physical features
of their country An examination of Caledonian ethnology An
analysis of the place-names mentioned by Tacitus.
SCOTLAND, rich in prehistoric monuments, is comparatively
poor in legendary matter that can be separated, as a dis-
tinctive inheritance, from the imported folk-lore of Ireland.
The historian of Scotland can thus take, as his starting-point,
the records of reliable and contemporary writers, and, unem-
barrassed by confused and contradictory traditions of pre-
historic peoples, construct from the scanty but sure material
at his disposal a story of Scottish national life. The student
of Irish affairs, before Irish history was written, is like a
weary traveller wandering in a wilderness of fiction, who
scans the horizon with an eager eye, looking for an oasis of
fact. The student of Scottish affairs, it is true, encounters
the same tangle of fiction and fact in exploring his line of
country. But he recognises the legends as Irish; they have
been carried across the Irish Channel; and have changed their
hue; yet their true origin is undoubted. The Scota of
Scottish tradition may differ from the Scota of the Irish
legend; so may Gathelus or Gadel; so may Simon or Simeon
Breac. But the Scottish stories are simply edited versions
of the Irish originals; they are mainly the work of that in-
defatigable and highly patriotic collector of traditions
relating to the Scottish people, John of Fordun.
What was the earliest name of Scotland? The oldest
^eographers made no distinction between the northern and
^uthern parts of Britain. They were equally compre-
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 183
bended in the earliest name of the island, Albion, and its
later name, Britain. It is generally assumed that after the
the name Albion as applying to the whole island fell into
disuse, it survived as the name of modern Scotland. It is true
that the Irish name for ancient Scotland was Alba (a form of
the word against which Dr. Skene vigorously protested) or
Alban, which name, it is asserted, is the same as the Albion
of Aristotle, or his personator. There is one, perhaps there
are two, isolated passages in ancient Irish writers which
apparently suggest the application of Alban to the whole
island; but the identity of Alban with Albion will require
proof of a more convincing nature. The meaning of
" Albion " has never been satisfactorily determined, though
philologists of the present day lean to the old conception
of the "chalk cliffs" as the most tenable theory, which, in lieu
of a better explanation, it possibly is. But the likelihood
of Scotland retaining a name with this meaning after Eng-
land had lost it, is not strong.
Alban means the Highlands. It is a Cymric word, signi-
fying " the upper part," and a cognate word seems to be
furnished by 0. H. Ger. Alpun and Alpi (Alps) meaning
" mountain pasture." Although the modern Gael applies the
name Alban to the whole of Scotland, the ancient Alban
comprised a much smaller area. Albania the Latin form
of Alban as described in a tract of the twelfth century
(De Situ Albanie) was co-extensive with the Caledonia of
Tacitus, i.e., the part of the modern Scotland that is north
of the Firths of Forth and Clyde. The Scots, whose slogan
at the Battle of the Standard, in 1138, was " Albanich,
Albanich! " were those who were afterwards known as the
" ancient Scots," and the " wylde Scottis," living benorth
the Firths. 1
1 There is evidence in the allusions of ancient writers, as well as in the
direct proof furnished by old maps, that Albania was sometimes con-
sidered to be an island, the idea being that the two Firths (Forth and
Clyde) actually met.
184 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Our acquaintance with the Caledonian tribes commences
with the invasion of Scotland by Agricola, of whose
campaign his son-in-law, Tacitus, has left us an account,
which, by reason of the conciseness of the narrative, is
all too meagre. It is unfortunate that this account
was not given by a writer of greater prolixity.
Terseness is an admirable literary quality, but although
Tacitus is the delight of the stylist, he is the despair
of the ethnologist. He touched upon a number of
racial questions, and settled none of them. Yet some of
his statements are sufficiently precise and unambiguous. The
" ruddy hair and large limbs of the Caledonians " suggested
to him a " German origin." In his treatise on Germany, he
states his belief that the Germans were a pure unmixed
race; that a family likeness pervaded the whole; that their
physical characteristics were "eyes stern and blue; ruddy
hair; and large bodies." 2 When describing the inhabitants
of Britain, he makes a clear distinction between the German-
looking Caledonians and the rest of the inhabitants. Many
attempts have been made to explain away his words, but
it is not easy to evade the force of this distinction. If
Tacitus is to be accepted as a reliable authority and his
father-in-law could have no object in misinforming him
we must take it as a fact that the Caledonians differed
physically from the Britons, in resembling the Germans
more closely.
A further question here suggests itself. Did Tacitus
mean that the whole of the Caledonians north of the Firths
were red-haired, big - bodied men; or was his description
limited to the particular tribe that gave its name to the
whole body of the inhabitants? This is an important point
in determining the ethnology of northern Scotland. Accord-
ing to the point of view, it might be possible to argue that
2 Germania, c. 4.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 185
the Caledonian army vanquished by the Romans in 84 A.D. 3
was composed wholly of Germanic tribes; or that one tribe
alone, the Caledonii, was of Teutonic origin.
When Tacitus made his remark about the origin of the
Caledonians, the area of his observations was partly tribal
(e.g., the Silures) and partly geographical (e.g., the " tribes
nearest Gaul"). Therefore the Caledonians might have
belonged to either category. But it is noticeable that when
he comes to describe the decisive battle in Caledonia, and the
preparations that preceded it, he never calls the antagonists
of the Eomans by the name of " Caledonians," but invariably
by the name of " Britons "; or the " various inhabitants " of
Caledonia.
Again, the Welsh Triads, when describing the foreign
colonies that settled among the Britons, state that a "descent"
was made in " Albin " by " the tribe of Celyddon"; that
is, the Caledonians, or the refuge-seeking people who took
shelter (Celydd] in the Caledonian forest. The inference
is that this tribe settled among the native Britons.
If we assume that this foreign people were a tribe of
Germans (or Scandinavians) whose tribal name has been
lost, the remark of Tacitus on their ethnology is freed from
ambiguity, for it must be supposed that his allusion was to
that tribe alone. But he called the " various inhabitants " of
Caledonians by the name of Britons, because that was the
national name of the majority of the inhabitants of Cale-
donia, although the dominant tribe the Celyddons were
not British by origin.
One conclusion may be drawn from the name Calgacus,
3 The site of the battle is still an unsolved problem. It must have been
near the sea ; Mons Grampius must be identifiable ; and for these reasons
Ardoch must be abandoned. Skene is probably right in suggesting
"Granpius" as the correct name of the mountain (Cymric gran, pre-
cipitous, and perhaps pid, a tapering point). The usual reading is
"Graupius."
186 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
or Galgacus, " the most distinguished for birth and valour
among the chieftains," whom the Britons chose as their leader
against Agricola. We find the name used by Adamnan in
both forms (C and G being interchangeable) as " Calgach "
and " Galgach " (Roboretum Calgachi, and Daire Calgaich
are the old names of Deny). In modern Gaelic, the word
has various meanings, but the root-idea is that of " pointed "
or " stinging " (Cymric Cola, a point or sting, Colp, a dart,
from which the Gaelic Colg or Calg, a spear, is apparently
derived). The name Calgacus would appear to be of Cymric
origin, the form being altered by Teutonic contact. It
seems to mean " dart-man." It affords no certain clue to the
language spoken by the person who bore the name, but it
denotes the existence of a Celtic tongue in Caledonia. There
is no mention of the name of the tribe to which Calgacus was
attached, though the presumption is in favour of the
Celyddons.
A fact that stands out clearly in the narrative of Tacitus
is, that the Caledonian tribes in normal circumstances were
not -under the effective government of a central authority.
There was no organisation that gave them the coherence of
nationality. They were simply separate, self-contained
units, of relatively greater or less importance, mutually inde-
pendent, and probably mutually antagonistic. But the
moment they were threatened by a common danger, they
united for their common defence. Yet a hastily formed
alliance for a temporary purpose must have placed them
at such a disadvantage as made their defeat by the disciplined
soldiers of Agricola (auxiliaries, with a stiffening of legions),
a foregone conclusion. They were, in fact, a mob opposed to
an army. A curious parallel is presented by the conditions
that prevailed in the Highlands during the clan period.
There was the same lack of cohesion among the clans until
a common object united them; but no sooner was that object
served, than the old divisions were renewed, and the old
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 187
antagonisms were re-awakened. Thus, formidable although
the Highlanders frequently proved themselves in their cam-
paigns against the Sassenach, their effectiveness was fre-
quently neutralised at Culloden conspicuously so by the
lack of that kind of discipline of which the basis is combina-
tion, carefully planned, and obediently executed.
The lack of inter-communication between the Highlanders
in the clan days (except of a hostile nature) was due mainly
to the physical features of the country in which they lived.
Mountains divided them and a waste of trackless moor; and
it was not until Wade's military roads were made in the
first half of the eighteenth century, that a community of
national feeling was established between them. If that was
the ca&e in the eighteenth century, the mutual isolation must
have been much more pronounced in the first. For the
country presented a dreary, unrelieved vista of marsh and
forest, forest and marsh. In the great Caledonian forest, the
precedent set by the Gauls and by the Britons of the south,
must have been closely followed. According to Caesar (cor-
roborated by Strabo) the British towns were in thick woods,
fenced round with a trench and rampart, where, " to avoid
incursions, they retire and take refuge."
Of what race or races were the natives of Caledonia com-
posed? That they were a homogeneous people is out of the
question. Leaving out of account the people of the Palaeoli-
thic and the Old Stone Ages, the evidences of the present
day provided by archaeology, in conjunction with cranial
characteristics and pigmentation, prove the existence of an
important substratum of neolithic folk, the so-called Iberians
of the chambered cairns, and the Bronze people of the short
cist and stone circles. 4 The short, dark longheads are
numerous in the West Highlands, in Caithness, and the
Orkneys; and it is there that the chambered cairns pre-
4 The stone circles in Scotland seem to belong to the period of transition
between Stone and Bronze.
188 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
dominate. The taller and fairer broadheads, on the other
hand, are mainly in the north-east counties, where the beaker
finds, associated with the brachycephalic skulls and the oldest
Bronze remains, are thickly clustered in the map prepared
by the Hon. John Abercromby. 5 This map shows that
while in western Scotland, pottery of the beaker class was
found in a few sporadic sites only, there are numerous beaker
sites in the south of England and all along the east coast
of England and Scotland, as far as Sutherland, with a group
in central England and some isolated instances in Wales.
The conclusion seems to be that these beaker-men worked
their way up the east coast from the south. At any rate,
Mr. Abercromby 's conclusion is, that although there are
variations in the types of ceramic, there was probably no
difference between the people who made them.
The prehistoric factors in Caledonian ethnology must not
therefore be overlooked, but even then, we are only on the
threshold of the question. Who were the big red-headed
men of whom Tacitus has given us a tantalising glimpse;
and if, as I have assumed, his description was confined to
a section of the people in northern Scotland, what were the
racial affinities of the remainder, excluding the Stone and
Bronze elements? It may be said at once that to this ques-
tion no final answer can be given. We can however look
for some guidance to the few place-names that Tacitus has
left on record. Here, again, it must be premised that even
if it be possible to reach the sources of those names with
tolerable certainty, they only prove that tfre language from
which they are derived was spoken by a people who, at
one time (not necessarily in the first century) inhabited the
places concerned.
These place-names are only four in number, three of them
(Clota, Bodotria, and Taus or Tavaus) being the names of
5 Proc. Soc. o/Antiq. of Scot., vol. xxxviii.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 189
rivers, and the fourth, Horesti, being a tribal name. Clota
is the modern Clyde. As is so frequently the case, " C " here
is interchangeable with " G." This is shown by the cognate
river-name " Clude," which appears in Taliessin as Glut vein
(Glut avon). Cym. glwyd, "of fair appearance" would
fit, but this would appear to be a loan from A. S. glced, shin-
ing or smooth (0. Fris. glod, Ger. glatt, smooth, the primi-
tive meaning of the Teut. root). The English words "glad"
and " glitter " come from the same source. But the nearest
approach is 0. Ic. glot, to shine or glitter, and Glota is
found as a Scandinavian river-name. Antonine calls the
Island of Arran, Glotta, and Horsley translates the name
given to the Clyde by Tacitus as " Glota." Camden, too,
seems to prefer the form " Glotta."
But, on the whole, it seems safer to look for the root in
Cym. Clud (an early form of the Clyde), " that rwhich
carries " (ftluda to carry or convey). In certain of the
Welsh Triads, Clud is translated as "progression." The
idea of motion, so common in river-names, seems therefore
to be present here. The Cluden and Clyth in Scotland, the
various Cludachs or Clydachs, the Clywedog, and the Clwyd
in Wales; and the Clody, Clodagh, and Glyde in Ireland
show the same root. ^(Cludach and Clodagh give the river-
root ach.)
Bodotria (Ptolemy's Boderia) is a doubtful word, but
it seems to be connected with Cym. Budraw, " to dirty or
soil," and in view of the probability of the Forth being a
muddier river in the first century than it is even to-day,
there is no impropriety in this derivation. The later name
" Forth " must surely have the same origin as the English
word "ford," and as a matter of fact, it appears in 1072
under the name of " Scodwade," or " Scot Ford," and a little
later, as " Scotte Wattre." The name given to the Firth of
Forth in the OrJc. Saga, namely Myrkva-jjordr (murk-firth)
190 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
seems to bear out the derivation I have suggested for
Bodotria. 6
Tava or Tavaus (sometimes read as Tanaus): is clearly
of Cymric origin. It is derived from Tafu, to spread, a root
found in Welsh river-names, and applied to rivers having a
wide or spreading mouth. It is found in Ptolemy's Tava,
which is clearly the Tay. But the Tava of Tacitus cannot be
the Tay. When, in A.D. 80 (the third year of his campaigns),
Agricola encountered " new tribes," he had not yet pene-
trated as far as the Forth. It was not until the following
summer that he built his line of forts between the Clyde and
the Forth, after an effective occupation of all the country
south of the Firths. Therefore we must look for his Tava
between the Humber (the country north of which he con-
quered in A.D. 79), and the Forth.
The Tava of Tacitus is probably the Tweed. The Teviot
contains the name, its earliest forms being Teiwi and Tefe.
The suffix " ot " is the Cym. ach, a fluid or river (0. Gae.
oich, water), for " cjp. " and " th " in old documents being
similar, they are frequently found to interchange in names.
The oldest form of Forteviot in Perthshire was Fothuirta-
baicht, and its later forms were Ferteuyoth and Forteviot;
Elliot (Forfar) is in its oldest forms Elloch and Eloth;
Kenneth was sometimes written Cinacha and Kenaucht; and
so on. The name Teviot therefore means " the spreading
water." But that description is only applicable to the mouth
of the Tweed, of which river the Teviot is a tributary, though
a tributary nearly equal in importance to the parent stream.
I suggest as a probable solution of the difficulty, that in
the first century, the river had not yet received its name of
the Tweed, but was called the Tefe right down to Berwick.
This would appear to be confirmed by the etymology of
the word Tweed (earliest forms Tuidus, Tede, etc.), which
6 Myrkva-fjordr appears in the Heimskringla as a place-name in
Sweden (Morkofjord).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 191
seems to be identical with Gym. Tuedd, coast, the inference
being that the portion of the combined streams nearest the
sea received the name of " the coast river " to distinguish it
from the Teviot beyond the junction. The Farrar and the
Beauly rivers (see next chapter) supply an analogy in
support of this theory.
The tribal name Horesti may with same probability be
assigned to the same origin as the English word " hurst "
(Ger. horst), a thicket. (Of. forst and forest.) The Horesti
were north of the Firth of Forth, apparently in Fifeshire.
Pursuing this examination of early place-names, I shall
now analyse the Ptolemaic names of the second century in
Scotland.
CHAPTER XVIII.
River-names and their value Mountain -names and their value
Ptolemy's place and tribal names in Scotland analysed.
RIVER-NAMES are the most eloquent factors in topography,
for they are the oldest and the least liable to change. They
are more useful pointers even than the names of mountains.
Tribes seeking settlements would be naturally attracted by
rivers, and especially by f ordable rivers ; and the most desir-
able lands would be the higher ground adjoining the swamps
which must have resulted from the unbanked state of the
streams. If the new settlers were superimposed upon older
inhabitants, the existing names of the rivers would be re-
tained, frequently (but not necessarily), in the original or
a corrupted form. If the lands were unoccupied by other
tribes, the settlers would give the rivers names in their own
language, denoting their peculiarities or general characteris-
tics, whether straight or crooked, smooth or rough, clear or
dark, sluggish or swift, and in some cases, names denoting
simple motion, or even the primitive idea of water.
It may be laid down as an axiom of topographical research,
that the more fanciful the names, either of rivers or moun-
tains, the later is their origin. The simple minds of the
barbarous tribes whose chief concern was the provision of
food by primitive agriculture, by the chase, by the reiving of
neighbouring tribes, and by the tending of their flocks and
herds, were unlikely to conceive poetic names for the features
of the landscape. And it may be added that, in general,
names which " leap to the eyes," as being eminently descrip-
tive of the topography, are far more likely to be correct than
those that call for an effort of the imagination. The horror
of the obvious which characterises the work of some etymolo-
gists is surely an unscientific attitude.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 193
The following is an analysis of Ptolemy's river-names in
Scotland:
Abravannus (Luce): 1 this probably means Aber-avon, the
river-port, for Aber means a port, as well as a confluence.
Aberavon is purely Cymric, and Luce is Scandinavian
(see B,. Loxa).
Alauna (Allan): this is obviously the Allan or Alne in
Northumberland, but the name is also given to a town
in Scotland on the Allan (Stirling). "Allan" is a widely
distributed river-name found in England, Wales, and
Scotland in various forms. The root is Al or El, and so
appears in the Ale (Roxburgh), an early form of which
is Alne. Conversely, Alnmouth (Northumberland), is
sometimes pronounced Alemouth, the " an " of Allan
(of which "ne" seems to be an Anglo-Saxon variant),
being a common suffix in British river-names (it repre-
sents Afon or Avon, a river). In Cornish, the root Al or
El appears in Hel, Hail, or Heyle, a tidal river.
Probably it is to be traced to Cym. Elu, to move on,
to go.
We find the root as a suffix in such names as Cam-el
(Cornwall), meaning the crooked (cam), river, and
(pace the etymologists who attribute the name to their
favourite gods) probably also in Camulodunum, the
dunum, or hill-fort, of the crooked river, i.e., the Colne,
on which Colchester is situated (cf. the Scottish Game-
lot and the Camelot of Arthurian legends both river-
names).
Boderia (Forth): already discussed (Tacitus group of
names).
^'Rivers," says Skene (Celt. Scot., i., 73), "do not change their
names." And yet he makes Abravannus = Luce, Boderia = Forth, lena
=Cree, etc. There is no rule without an exception, and river-names are
not exempt from the application of this general truth. A change of name
usually implies a change of race. The river-names of America, Australia,
and Africa proclaim this fact.
13
194 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Celnius (Cullen): Gym. Cul, narrow.
Clota (Clyde): already discussed (Tacitus group of names).
Deva : Ptolemy's name for the Dee. But the equation of Dee
with Deva shows something lacking in the phonetics.
There are evidently two elements in Deva, and the first
syllable only (De), is represented in the modern name.
The second half of the word gives the root Af (Gym.),
conveying the idea of motion, from which the familiar
Afon is derived. Wf, flow, or glide, or running, con-
tains a related idea. The first syllable in Deva is Gym.
Dwy, two, and Deva thus means the two streams.
This view of the origin of Deva seems to be proved
by the fact that the great Dee in England and Wales is
called by the Welsh (and, as Camden observes, was
called by them in his day), Dwfyr Dwy, meaning the
two waters, in allusion to the fact that the river has
two head-streams. The Aberdeenshire Dee is mainly
formed by two head-streams, and the Dee in Kirk-
cudbrightshire is formed at its broadest part by a junc-
tion with the Tarfe. (There is also a Dee in Ireland,
showing the wide distribution of the name.)
In Scotland, the Aberdeenshire Dee may have been
called originally Dwy - avon, the two rivers, for
Ptolemy's town on the Dee shows the "Avon" termina-
tion pretty clearly. So also does Devenick (in the
name Banchory-Devenick), which means literally " the
Dee Eiver water." Deva and Devon have a common
origin.
We have a parallel case in the river-name " Dusk,"
or " Desk," which Davoren's Glossary translates as the
two streams. (Gym. Dwy Wysg.) 2
2 Loch Duich, in Kintail, Ross-shire, may supply a further parallel, for
the name seems to mean the two waters (Dwy-ich), Duich and Long
forming a fork.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 195
The derivation of Deva from Diva, goddess, has no
apparent warrant. The Dee, of course, was worshipped,
but so were all the principal rivers.
lena : a corruption of Ken, apparently. (Gym. Cain, clear.)
lla (Ullie), or the Helmsdale River: (see " Ullie " in the
Scottish river-names.
Itis : (probably the Etive River). Perhaps from Gym. Ith,
what stretches out.
Longus : (perhaps meant for Loch Long). Gym. Llong, a
ship, and 0. Ic. Lung, a warship. It should be observed
that Cormac calls Long (a ship) a " Saxon " word.
From this it would appear that the Celts borrowed the
word.
Loxa (Lossie): 0. Ic. Laxa (salmon-river) hardly fits here,
but 0. Ic. Ljoss (bright or shining), does. This is the
j>robable source of the name.
Nabarus (Naver): the Sans, root is Niv, to flow, and cognates
of Nabarus, or leaver, are found in Germany
(R. Naab); Holland (R. Naba, or Nave); Spain
(R. Nevia); Russia (R. Neva); and Wales (R. Never).
Gym. Nof, what is flowing or moving, is apparently
the Celtic root. " Navern " is an old form of the Scot-
tish Naver, and the same form (" Nevern "), appears
in the Pembrokeshire river. In 0. Welsh it is spelt
" Nyfer."
Novius (Nith): Gym. root (Nof) just mentioned. Nith can-
not, without violence, be equated with Novus. It is
probably from Gym. Nydd, a twist, a suitable name for
a sinuous river like the Nith.
Tava (Tay): same root as the Tavaus of Tacitus (which see).
Tina (Eden): perhaps from Gym. Eddain, to glide onward.
But it may be a misplacement by Ptolemy of the Tyne
196 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
in Haddington (Old Norse, TJiynja, to make a thunder-
ing noise, as a rapid current does).
Tuessis is placed in the position of the Spey, but there is
no obvious connexion between the names. Possibly
Tuessis may be conected with Cym. Tws, an outlet.
The name "Spey" is clearly derived from O.Ic. Spyia, to
spew or vomit, or (more obviously), from 0. Fris. Spey,
with the same meaning. The name is due to its spates.
(Probably " spate " has radically a similar meaning;
Irish Gae. speid).
Varar (Beauly): the old name of the Beauly was the
Farrar, still retained in the B,. Farrar, which runs into
the Beauly. This word can be plausibly referred to
O. Ic. Far a, to move or go, hence Far, a passage. Suffix
dr is a nominal form from a, a river. Vor (gen. pi.
Varar) means a fenced-in landing-place, and the word
is used in Iceland for an inlet where boats land. But
as a river-name, the idea of motion is preferable for
the Scottish Varar. Cym. Ffaivr, a running, a course,
or Gwdr, gentle, is alternatively a possible, but less
likely, source.
Ptolemy gives the names of a few sea-lochs (sinus, a bay
or sea-loch), which will repay analysis.
Lemannonius : This bay has been variously identified with
Loch Linnhe, Loch Fyne, and (Skene) Loch Long. Its
position suggests Loch Fyne, but its name and other
circumstances lead to the belief that Loch Linnhe is
meant. It must be remembered that in Ptolemy's map
we cannot look for the accuracy of a modern map.
The grotesque shape that he has given to Scotland of
which various explanations have been suggested shows
that his knowledge of the country was, to say the least,
imperfect, though it is possible that Ptolemy was not
responsible for this shape.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 197
His map is simply a rough sketch, wonderfully,
accurate in some respects, but inaccurate in others. The
boundary of the Caledonii from the Varar estuary to
the Bay of Lemannonius must have been a natural
boundary, which is provided by the string of lochs now
connected by the Caledonian Canal. In that case Lem-
annonius must be the modern Loch Linnhe, anciently
Lochaber. Etymologically, this conclusion is sup-
ported by the fact that Loch Leven runs into Loch
Linnhe (Cym. Llyn, a lake), and Leman and Leven are
variants of the same word (see R. Leven).
Rerigonius (Loch Ryan): perhaps from Cym. Rhe, a run
or current, and Wiigyn, a notch (cf. Bolg, a notch or
bay). The modern form " Ryan " = Cym. Rhean, a
streamlet. The loch, as usual, takes its name from the
river that runs into it.
Vindogara: the Roman station at Vandogora (called by
Richard, Vanduarium), was apparently Paisley, as
proved both by its . situation and by the Roman re-
mains found at that town. Vanduara=Gwyndwr, or
white water, by which name the White Cart, on which
Paisley stands, was locally called. But Ptolemy gave
a similar name (Vindogara) to what seems to be the
Bay of Ayr. 3
Volsas or Volas (Loch Broom): the river-name "Broom,"
which gives its name to Loch Broom, is a corrupt form
of Braon, Breyne, or Brune, the earliest forms of the
name. It is a rapid mountain stream, and takes its
name from Gae. Bran, a mountain stream, itself de-
rived from O. Ic. Brana, to rush forward, or to fall
violently (hence probably the Scots word Brane, mad,
or furious) . A clue is thus given to the Ptolemaic name,
'Horsley and Stukeley read Vind as Ftd, i.e., the Teutonic and not
the Celtic form. (See Vind in Ptolemy's place-names of Ireland.)
198 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
for Gym. Ull means what is abrupt, or quick, and
Ullaid means a sudden driving.
The small bay of Ullapool, from which the village
takes its name, opens from Loch Broom. It may be
a relic of the Ptolemaic name, but with greater likeli-
hood it is a later Norse name, meaning Ulf 's bol, or
farm.
The names of three headlands called by Ptolemy the
Veruvium, or Verubium, the Vervedrum or Virvedrum, and
the Tarvedrum, or Tarvedum, or Tarvaidunos, may repay
examination. They are the three principal capes of Caith-
ness, viz., Noss Head, Duncansby Head, and Dunnet Head.
Tarvedum is identifiable with Dunnet Head, as well from
its position on the map as by the alternative name of
Orcas, which seems to relate to the Orkney Islands. From
Dunnet Head the precipices of Hoy and the outlines
of the Orkney hills are visible. The form of the word
now most generally accepted as authoritative is Tarvai-
dunos. The usual derivation of Tarvai is from Tarbh
(Gae.), a bull, and there is a theory that the promontory
may be associated with some form of bull - worship.
That, I think, is an absurdity. Plainly, Tarvai is de-
rived from Gym. Terfj extreme, Terfyn, an extremity.
This etymology appropriately describes the most
northerly point in Great Britain. Dunos is apparently
Gym. DinaSj a hill - fort. Dunnet Head consists of
numerous hills and valleys, but the Dinas is probably
represented by Brough, close to the headland. I can
find no distinct evidence of the remains of any fort at
Brough, but the name shows that there must have been
a Burg on or near, the site; otherwise the name is unin-
telligible. 4
4 It is conceivable that Tarvedum may be Cape Wrath (am Parph), and
that Parfedum may be the correct reading.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 199
The earliest forms of Dunnet are Donotf, Dunost,
and Dunneth. I suggest that in these names we may
find the Dunos of Ptolemy. In the early maps of Scot-
land, the headland is called Quinic Nap, and Windy
Nap.
Verubium is obviously Noss Head. Noss is O. Ic. Nos, a
nose, a variant of Nes, so frequently applied to head-
lands in Scandinavian districts. The old name was Cat-
ness, but the " Cat " has long disappeared.
Verubium may be derived with some plausibility
from Cym. Wyraw, to reach out, with its related sub-
stantative Wyre (which probably denoted a headland),
and ub y what is high, thus denoting a high promontory.
Vervedrum or Vervedum contains Wyre, already noticed, and
for a similar reason. But Richard of Cirencester makes
the first syllable Vin, which, if correct, must be Cym.
Ffin, a limit or boundary. Vedr is, I think, Cym.
Gwydyr, green. This headland is notably verdant. 5
The present name, Duncansby Head, is quite modern.
The earliest forms are Dungalsbae, Dungsby, and (in
old maps) Dunsby. " By " is, of course, the usual
Danish termination, denoting originally a dwelling or
farm, and now a village. Therefore, Dungal or Dung
is probably a personal name, that of the dweller, or
farmer. There is an 0. Ic. word, dunga, meaning a
useless fellow, from which it may be derived, for the
Scandinavians had an unpleasant habit of giving one
another pointed nicknames. This name, in turn, would
easily take the Gaelic form of Dungal.
5 Ptolemy's name for the Wear ( Vedra) contains the same root, derived
from the same source. Gwydyr means both glass and green, and the
name of the river would thus signify glassy or shining. (See analysis of
Glas as a river-name, and Mr. Fox-Talbot's comment on verre.)
200 THE KACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
From the promontories we proceed to the islands, and
here we have a wide and important field of investigation,
for islands, like rivers, are tenacious of their names. An
analysis of the island-names is instructive. It is needful,
however, to remark that Ptolemy had only a vague idea
of the relative position of the Scottish islands, and except
by their names, there is no sure guide otherwise to their
identification.
Dumna may be intended for the Outer Hebrides. The name
is doubtfully from the same source as that of the
Damnonii, a powerful tribe occupying the entire basin
of the River Clyde, and both sides of the Firth of
Clyde. Dumn is an old form of the modern Welsh.
Dwfn, meaning deep. We find it used by Bede in the
form of " Dummoc " (Dumnoc, deep water), for Dun-
wich. It seems to have been applied to places bounded
or approached by a deep channel, as distinguished from
shallows. A cognate form, in a Teutonic dress, is sup-
plied by the name " Dieppe." Thus, " Dumna " may
mean a territory approached by a deep channel like the
Minch (La Manche).
Ebuda: the modern name Hebrides, the Hsebudae of Pliny.
The "r" is intrusive, through a transcriber's error, and
the error has been perpetuated to the present day.
Ptolemy gives the name Ebudae to a group of five
islands, which he places between Ireland and Scotland.
Two of them he calls Ebuda (close to Ireland, thus
showing the vagueness of his knowledge), and the others
he names respectively Epidium, Maleus, and Ehicina.
By the identification of Maleus with Mull, Skene
attempted to identify the others, from their position in
relation to Mull; but that is a futile task. The names,
however, may be analysed, and the analysis may be
fruitful. When, some years ago, I was writing a his-
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 201
tory of the Outer Hebrides, I had to relinquish the
attempt to give any rational explanation of the word
Ebuda. Since then I have discovered that in Roque-
fort's Glossary of the Romance dialect, Ebudes =
terreins incultes. Therefore Ebudae, Hsebudae, or
Hebrides means "the wastes." The Gym. affinity for
this old Gallic word is probably to be found in an
allusion by Solinus to the Hebrides, which, he tells us,
were destitute of corn. (Gym. Heb, void of, and Yd,
corn.) It is in the highest degree likely that in the second
century, agriculture was practically unknown in the
Hebrides, which must have been devoted entirely to
pasturage and the chase. (See the speech that Tacitus
puts into the mouth of Calgacus, in which it is stated
that the Caledonians had no cultivated lands; but this
may have been a hyperbole).
It seems probable that Ptolemy's two Ebudae may
be Islay and Jura, as suggested by Skene.
Epidium must have been near the Mull of Kintyre, the
Epidium promontory. The Epidii occupied Kintyre,
and perhaps the island Epidium as well. Possibly
therefore Epidium was Arran. The name Epidium is,
I think, derived from Gym. ~Ypid, the tapering point.
There is an alternative suggestion for the identifica-
of Epidium. Ptolemy may have duplicated the name,
first, as part of the mainland represented by Kintyre
(Gae. Ceann-tir, Gym. Pen-tir, Land's End see Pen-
tire, in Cornwall), and again as an island. There would
be nothing surprising in Kintyre being classed as an
island, attached as it is to the mainland only by the
narrow isthmus between East and West Loch Tarbert
(Gae. Tairbeart, an isthmus, literally, boat-draught).
A curious commentary on this suggestion is provided
by the doubtful story of King Magnus Bareleg having
202 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
tricked the Scottish King Edgar out of Kintyre, by
crossing the isthmus in a boat dragged from one loch
to the other. By thus making Kintyre an island within
the literal meaning, but not the actual intention, of
Edgar's grant, he was enabled to include Kintyre with
all those Western Isles between which and the mainland
he could go in a boat with a rudder. 6 Robert Bruce
afterwards crossed the isthmus in the same manner.
Tarbert in Easter Ross and Tarbert in Harris are,
in each case, a narrow isthmus which similarly provided
short cuts; and Tarbert (or Tarbat) on Loch Lomond
marks the place where boats may have been drawn across
to Loch Long in the same way.
Maleus is certainly Mull. Its earliest subsequent forms are
Malea, Myl, and Mula. It may take its name from the
mountainous character of the island, and the source
would thus be Gym. Moel, a conical hill; also meaning
" bare," and therefore applied in Wales to hills with
bare tops, which is the general character of the Mull
mountains. (But cf. 0. Ic. Muli, a projecting moun-
tain.)
It is to be observed, however, that the two forms
which are the earliest (Ptolemy's and Adamnan's) both
make the root 'Mai, which suggests that the meaning
may be derived from Gym. Mall, a soddened state,
Mallus, soddened, thus denoting a marsh or bog.
Monceda : Skene reads this name as Monarina (so does
Elton) 7 and thus easily identifies it with Arran (Mon and
Arina) . But this reading is opposed to the more authori-
6 Magnus Barefoot's Saga, c. 11. The Saga gives Melkolm (Malcolm)
as the name of the Scottish king instead of Edgar. This must be an
error. Elsewhere the Sagas relate a similar incident in connexion with
Beiti, a mythological Sea-king.
7 Elton gives both Monarina and Monaoida as Ptolemaic island-names,
thus increasing the confusion.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 203
tative form Monaeda, and the position of the island (if
that counts for anything) points clearly to Mon or Man.
(? Gym. 'Mdon, habitation, or Mawn, peat (Manau) ).
Rhicina: the remaining island of Ptolemy's group of five
is usually identified with Rathlin, the small island
on the north coast of Ireland. The old forms are
Rachra, Ragharee and Reachrainn. An old name
of the Isle of Thanet, Ruoichin, seems to contain the
same root. In O. Welsh, Rag ynys means " an adjacent
island," and Rag shows itself in these island-names.
The northern division of Ptolemy's islands comprises
Ocetis (amended to Sketis), Dumna, Orcades, and Thule,
in the order of their latitude northwards.
Orcades: the Orkneys. The origin of this name has given
rise to a good deal of conjecture. It is usually
attributed to Gae. Ore, a pig or a whale. The Gaelic
"whale" must be a porpoise! The meaning is probably
to be found in Gym. Orch, a limit, or rim, the Orkneys
being the islands beyond the limit of Scotland in the
North, e.g., Dunnet Head, Ptolemy's alternative name
for which, as we have seen, is " Orcas." Probably the
modern form " Orkneys " is from O. Ic. Orkn, a kind
of seal; perhaps a Norse interpretation of the Cymric
name. In 0. Welsh the name appears as Or eh, which
supports the derivation I have given.
Sketis (if that is the correct reading of Ocetis, which, per-
haps, is doubtful), stands for Skye. The earliest
forms of Skye are Scia, Scith, and Skid. The source
appears to be Gym. Ysgi, cutting off, in allusion to the
jagged nature of the coast-line. The Norse name for
the island was Skid, a chopped piece or a splinter, which
is a related idea. (Cf. also Goth. Skaidan, to divide
or sever.) The position of Ocetis, it may be added,
does not correspond with that of Skye.
204 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Thule : if Ptolemy had a confused idea of the situation of
the western isles, how much more ignorant was he of the
situation of Thule, the mysterious island so frequently
mentioned by ancient geographers, and so vaguely placed
by them. Ptolemy splashes it, so to speak, into the
ocean, anywhere away up in the unknown North. The
name is Teutonic (but the authorities are in disagree-
ment as to its source), and there can be little doubt
that the supposed island which caused the geographers
and some Roman writers so much trouble, was Scan-
dinavia itself. Dr. Nansen (In Northern Mists} gives
excellent reasons for that belief.
Let us now turn to Ptolemy's tribal names and see what
we can make of them. Commencing with the northern ex-
tremity, we find a group of " C " names, which are plainly
Cymric in form.
Cornavii occupied the extreme north. The name is from
Gym. Corniaw, to butt. The Cornavii of Caithness and
Cornwall were the people at the butt or extremity. The
Cornavii of England occupied the land butting into the
sea between the Dee and the Mersey. Cym. Corn, =
Eng. Horn.
Caerini occupied the Assynt country in Sutherland. The
name seems to be connected either with Cym. Caer, a
wall or fort, or Caeor (Cym.), a sheepfold. But
Richard of Cirencester calls this tribe the Catini, a
name obviously associated with the Cat of Caithness;
and he places the tribe not on the west, but on the east
coast, where, in point of fact, Caithness is situated.
It is customary now to sneer at the whole of Richard
as being the work of a convicted impostor. But it has
been proved that his description of Britain is accurate
in details that were unknown until modern research re-
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 205
vealed them; and it would appear that the compiler
really had access to authoritative documents. Perhaps,
therefore, Catini should be read for Caerini. Camden,
who wrote more than a century and a half before Ber-
tram forged Richard, asserts that Catini is the correct
reading of Ptolemy; but following Ptolemy, he places
the tribe on the west coast. Cat means heath. 8
Carnonacae : placed in West Ross-shire. Possibly the people
of the Carr or Carron (Carr-avon). In that event, Gym.
Non, stream, and Ach, river (a seeming duplication),
may be represented in the name. But it may be derived
with greater probability from Gym. Carnen, a heap
(Cairn), thus making Carnonac mean a stony or rocky
place.
Creones or Cerones : on the west coast of Inverness-shire.
Perhaps from Gym. Cri (Crech), meaning "rough":
the people of the " Rough Bounds," as the district was
sometimes called.
Damnonii (seeDumna): the name may be referable to the
fact that they were situated on the Firth of Clyde.
Similarly, the Damnonii of England were bounded on
the north by the Bristol Channel. The name survives
in Devon. Damnonia, the country of the Damnonii,
is a name found in Gildas.
Perhaps an equally likely derivation can be traced
to Sansc. dhdman, signifying dignity, heroism, and
similar qualities. Dom, in O. Frisian, generally found
in compounds, but existing originally as an independent
word, is said to be cognate with dhdman. The
Damnonii in England and Scotland were clearly a most
important tribe. Dominus also suggests itself as a pos-
sible source of the name.
8 See the discussion of this root in the Scottish prefixes. In Ptolemy's
map of England, a tribe called Catysuchlani, placed in the modern Hert-
fordshire, has a name, the prefix in which may be the Cat, or heath, root.
206 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Epidii: (see Epidium).
Novantae occupied Galloway. The root contained in this
name seems to he Gym. Bant, a high place, with the
prefix Nw or Ny signifying a characteristic. This,
again, agrees with the modern name, Galloway, for
Gale in Cornish (Welsh Gallt, an ascent), means a high
place, and Gwyddle is a woody place.
Selgovae occupied the country west of the Novantae. The
essential root in this name appears to be Gym. Swl, a flat
space or ground. This derivation is borne out hy the e.f.
of Solway (Sulway and Sulloway), the name of the Firth
receiving the rivers that traversed the country of the
Selgovae (the Annan, the Nith, and the Dee). As their
neighbours, the Novantae, occupied the hilly country
of Galloway, so the Selgovae were the inhabitants of the
plains to the east of them; hence apparently their name.
The root gov is probably derived from Gym. gwyfaw, to
run out or flat.
Otalini: coming round to the east coast, we find this tribe
(in later editions Otadeni), occupying the district be-
tween Hadrian's Wall and the Forth. A probable
derivation for this tribal name is from Gym. Oth, what
is exterior (or Wt, what is out), and Linn, a marsh, or
Lleyn, a low strip of land, thus signifying the coast
people. (Their territory extends from the Wear to the
Forth.)
Venicones were the people of Fife, Forfar, and Kincardine.
The name seems to be related to Welsh Fjwynog, a
meadow, and especially to Corn. Why nick, a marsh;
Winnie, fenny. (Cf. Gym. Gwcen, a meadow.)
Tcexali or Tcezali were the people of Aberdeenshire and
Banffshire. The promontory of Tsezalorum is Buchan-
ness or Kinnaird's Head. Tsexali may be identical
with Texel at the mouth of the Rhine, a significant
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 207
circumstance (Cf., also, the Scottish isle named Texa).
The name suggests the plant teasel, or tazel (A. S.
tcesel), as a feature of the country. The district in-
habited by the Tsezali may have abounded in dipsacus.
A preferable derivation may be from Gym. Tawch,
foggy. Ch would take the form of x (cf. Uxell for
Uchel).
Vacomagi lay between the Tsezali and the Caledonii. They
occupied the County of Elgin, Strathspey, Strathavon,
Braemar, and Strathardle. The latter part of the name
is clearly the Celtic magus, a plain, and the prefix sug-
gests Cym. Gwag, void or empty. But this cannot
mean a depopulated plain, unless it signifies that the
Vacomagi seized unoccupied territory. The word may
be a hybrid, the prefix being from 0. Ic. Vokr, moist.
Vacomagi would thus mean the people of the marshy
plain.
Caledonii: their territory and name have already been dis-
Decantae may have occupied both sides of the Moray
Firth, hence the significance of the prefix. Cant seems
to be referable to Cym. Cant, a rim. The name
Decantae would thus mean the people on both shores
(of the Firth).
Lugi occupied the country on the east coast of Sutherland.
The name probably means the marsh people, Lug, and
Leog (Gae.), being cognates. (The god Lug is some-
times invoked to explain this name!) Probably Cym.
Llwch, a lake, is the source of Lug.
Smertae or Mertae : location near Loch Shin. Stokes makes
the root 8mer, to shine. If that is the fact, it seems
to confirm my interpretation of the name Shin (which
see) as being related to the Eng. word ''shine."
(" Smert " is found in personal Celtic names.)
208 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
The town names need not detain us long; several
are associated with the river - names. Alauna (the river-
town) on the east coast, looks like Inverkeithing; Alauna,
on the west coast may be Dumbarton; Devana is the
settlement on the Deva; Orrea, on the Ore 9 (but the river-
name is not given; it is derived from O. Ic. Orr, swift);
Tamia, on the Taj; Tuesis, on the Spey; Rerigonius, on
Loch Ryan; and Vandogara, on the White Cart. Bannatia
suggests Cym. Banad, broom; and Lindum shows the stem
Lind, meaning marsh (0. Welsh Linn). There seems to be
no reason to doubt that Victoria is a boastful name given to
the site by the Romans. Castra Alata is evidently Burgh-
head. This place is named Ptoroton by Bertram (Richard
of Cirencester) ; and it is a curious circumstance that a
local name for Burghhead is (or was, some years ago) Tor-
rietown (Cym. Twr, tower).
In the ill-defined portion of Ptolemy's map near the Sol-
way Firth, there is a group of three towns, the names of all
of which suggest a high situation.
Carbantorigon is resolvable into Cym. Caer, a fort or city;
Bant, high, or a high place (see Novantae); and *Rigon (see
Rerigonius) .
Uxellum is from Cym. Uchel, high.
Trimontium probably does not mean " the three moun-
tains," but " the mountain town " (Cym. Tre and Mynydd\
Perhaps these towns were really in Galloway, but have
been placed too far to the east. It is useless to attempt to
identify them with any modern names.
9 Cf. Orrock in Fifeshire.
CHAPTER XIX.
Conclusions to be drawn from the analysis of Ptolemaic names in
Scotland The first clear view of the Pictish monarchy in Scotland
Bede on the origin of the Picts The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and
the Picts The two divisions of the Pictish nation The Irish
traditions of the origin of the Picts The probable sources of these
traditions The versions of the Pictish Chronicle and Nennius
Claudian on the Picts Cymric and Scandinavian elements.
THE conclusions to be drawn from this excursion into
Ptolemaic geography will now be stated. Allowing for any
etymologies that subsequent analysis may show to be unten-
able, there will remain a residuum of unassailable evidence
to prove the predominance of the Cymric language in Cale-
donia during the first and second centuries of the Christian
era. It is true that the presence of Cymric place-names in the
second century does not necessarily imply a contemporary
Cymric population. The Celts who originally named the
places had doubtless long disappeared before Tacitus or
Ptolemy recorded the names; and it is conceivable that their
successors in the second century may have been of a different
race, though they retained most of the place-names of
the Celts. Yet the Cymric shape of the tribal names seems
to prove, not necessarily indeed that the tribes themselves
were Celts, but certainly that a Cymric language was spoken
in some parts of Caledonia in the second century. Ptolemy's
sources of information are unknown, but his informants
must have got their facts about the tribes from Cymric-
speaking persons. The tribal names supplied by these Celts
may not have been the names acknowledged by the tribes
themselves; they may have been employed merely as names
14
210 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
descriptive of the character of the country occupied by the
tribes. They are, in point of fact, mainly topographical, as
I have tried to show, and so regarded, they offer only a
slender clue to the ethnology of the tribes to which they
were applied. But the evidence that they offer of the exis-
tence of a Cymric tongue in Caledonia during the second
century is unmistakable.
The analysis also proves, if less decisively, that there was
another philological element co-existing sporadically with
the Cymric. That is shown by the place - names of
Teutonic, and apparently Scandinavian, origin that I
have analysed. Again allowing for error, the exis-
tence of that element in the Ptolemaic names cannot
well be doubted. The name Varar, applied to the
Beauly Firth, would appear to suggest that it was the
channel by which tribes of Scandinavians entered the
country. They may have been the refuge-seeking Celyd-
dons mentioned by the Welsh Triads, and, if, as I have sup-
posed, the boundary of the tribes whose distinctive name
was the Caledons, stretched from the Moray Firth to Loch
Linnhe, that suggestion is not without support from the
following facts.
When we get the first clear view of the Pictish monarchy,
we find that it was seated on the banks of the Hiver Ness.
That river-name does not appear in Ptolemy. It is first
mentioned by Adamnan, who tells us of St. Columba's visit
to the Pictish King Brude at his capital on the Ness. The
river-name " Ness " is Teutonic (cf. the Nissa in Sweden,
the Neisse, Nesse, and Netze in Germany), and is ultimately
derived from Sans. Nis, to flow. Ness is the Teutonic, and
Netze the Slavonic form of the word. It is impossible to
avoid the suggestion that this Teutonic river-name, inti-
mately associated as it was with the Pictish monarchy when
it first emerges into the clear daylight of history, may denote
Teutonic hegemony ; and if the suggestion is pressed further,
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 211
it is easy to believe that the River Nissa in South - West
Sweden, situated in nearly the same parallel of latitude as
the Scottish River Ness, was the centre of the district from
which this ruling people may have proceeded to the North
of Britain. In the time of Jordanes (sixth century), this
district (West Gothland) was inhabited by a people whom
he calls " Gautigoth," and whom he singles out from their
neighbours as specially brave and warlike.
In the time of Bede, the tradition about the place of
origin of the Picts was that they had come from " Scythia."
I have already examined this word to show its geographical
vagueness; and have suggested a sound method of ascertain-
ing what was meant by the writers who used it. Following
that method, we find that the Ravenna Geographer (who
must have used geographical terms in the sense in which
they were understood in Bede's time) places Scythia to the
west of the Vistula. But he states that " Old Scythia "
was the name given by most cosmographers to Scandia, i.e.,
Scandinavia. Therefore, we are, I think, justified in con-
cluding that by Scythia, Bede must have meant Scandi-
navia. The Anglo - Saxon Chronicle gives the same
account (copied, no doubt) as Bede, with the additional in-
formation that the Picts came from the south of Scythia,
which, we may take it, means South Sweden. It is a curious
commentary on the Chronicle's statement, that Geoffrey of
Monmouth and Layamon, while mentioning the Norwegians,
the Daeians (Danes) and the Picts in association, says
nothing about the Swedes. The inference may be that they
believed the Picts to be Swedes.
There is some ground, therefore, for the belief that the
Picts were originally bodies of Swedes, or Goths from the
South of Sweden, who settled in North Britain after ravag-
ing the country and plundering the Cymric inhabitants
during an undefined period. That, indeed, seems to be the
inference to be drawn from the statements of Gildas. He
212 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND,
says 1 that the Picts were a foreign nation who, in associa-
tion with the Scots, harassed the Britons for a lengthy
period, and who settled down in the northern part of the
island only after the close of the Roman period in Britain.
They remained there, says Geoffrey, " mixed with the
Britons."
The facts may be that the tribe of Caledons represents
the earliest settlement of Scandinavians; that a lengthy gap
separates this settlement from the arrival of the later waves
of Scandinavian origin ; that these new - comers for a
long period led a restless life, their chief occupation, by
land and sea, being that of plunderers, or Piccardach; that
finally, they turned to pastoral and agricultural pursuits,
and mixed with the earlier inhabitants; and that they them-
selves, in turn, became the prey of hungry hordes, some from
the same nest as themselves, and others from the mouths of
the Rhine, or the Weser, or the Elbe. Jordanes well calls
Scandia " the hive of nations," and it is tolerably certain that
during the migratory centuries, no inconsiderable propor-
tion of the swarms from that hive fastened upon the east of
Scotland. It is a well -authenticated feature of Scandinavian
history, that owing to the redundancy of the population
in relation to the means of livelihood, the pressure of famine
occasionally made forced emigration a necessity; and lots
were cast to decide who should go. 2 It is by no means im-
probable that the " refuge-seeking Celyddons " of the Welsh
Triads, and the big, red-haired men of Tacitus belong to
this category. The people whom the Romans called Picts
may have been forced from their homes by economic causes,
or in search of plunder. In any case, their numbers, at first
small, but augmented by successive colonies, seems to have
been considerable in the aggregate. Occupying apparently
that part of the country north of the Firth of Forth which
1 Gildas, Sec. 14 and Sec. 21. 2 Bosworth's Origins, p. 53.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 213
lies to the south of the Grampians, they were able in time
to dominate the mixed Cymro-Teutonic tribes, comprehen-
sively called the Caledonians, who occupied the country north
of the Grampians. Thus the first time that the Picts are
mentioned by a contemporary (Eumenius the panegyrist),
it is in the words " Caledonians and other Picts," showing
that at that time " Pict " had become a national name.
From the third century onwards, the Pictish nation had
two great divisions, appearing at different times under the
names of Caledons and Meets, Dicaledons and Vecturions,
and North and South Picts. The Grampians formed a
natural boundary for these divisions, as Bede plainly indi-
cates. A fair deduction from all the circumstances of the
case is, that the Northern Picts were the descendants of
the Caledonian tribes described by Tacitus, and the Southern
Picts the later arrivals who seized upon the most fertile parts
of Scotland, and in course of time transferred the Pictish
sovereignty from the banks of the Ness to the banks of the
Earn.
In the next chapter, I shall show that these views are not
out <$. harmony with what the most reliable chronicles tells
us about early settlements in Scotland. In the meantime, it
will be well to see what the Irish legends have to say about
the origin of the Cruithne, who, according to these legends,
founded the Pictish monarchy in Scotland.
The Cruithne, then, were of the seed of Geleoin, son of
Ercoil; their name was Agathyrsi; and the country from
which they emigrated was Thracia. The genesis of this story
is not difficult to trace. The Roman accounts convinced the
authors of the story, that the Picts who derived from the
Cruithne were a tattooed people. They themselves knew
nothing of any native tradition that the Cruithne were
tattooers, for right through the whole range of Irish tradi-
tion and history, there is no allusion to tattooing being a
Cruithinian practice. But in deference to the Roman
214 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
writers, an origin had to be found for this people to agree
with the classics. Now, Virgil described the Geloni of Thrace
as picti or painted, and Claudian appeared to attribute to
them the practice of tattooing. Therefore the Cruithne must
have been of " the seed of Geleoin." Herodotus assigned
a Greek origin to the Geloni; therefore Geleoin must be
connected with Ercoil or Hercules. But it was also known
that Virgil had described the Agathyrsi, the neighbours of
the Geloni, as a painted or " spotted " people. Therefore, in
order to be on the safe side, the Cruithne were connected with
the Agathyrsi as well as with the Geloni. The Agathyrsian
legend undoubtedly originated in an Irish monastery.
The legend recognises the similarity between the name
of the Picts and that of the Pictones of Gaul, and conse-
quently tells us that on their way to Ireland from Thrace,
the Cruithne founded Pictavia in Gaul, so called from
pictis "a kind of arms." I have already stated that the
name of the Pictones of Gaul appears in Roquefort's
Glossary as " Pictes," and it is further confirmation of the
identity of their name with that of the Picts of Scotland,
that Gregory of Tours and Glaber should call them
" Pictavi " and " Pectavi." Jean Picard, a French writer
of the sixteenth century, has the same story as the Irish
monks; no doubt he copied the Irish legend. He tells
us that the Picts, or Agathyrsi, left their native country,
" owing to domestic troubles," and settled, partly in Britain,
and partly in the most fertile portion of Gaul. 3
The entry in the Book of Ballymote connecting the Picts
with the Agathyrsi, is translated as follows by Pinkerton
arid Skene respectively. Pinkerton's version reads:
" They (the Cruithne) were called Agathyrsi, and from
a kind of slaughtering weapon they were called Picti." 4
3 J. Picarde . . . de prisca Celtopcedia, etc., p. 160.
4 Enquiry r , i., p. 508.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 215
Skene's translation is as follows:
" Agathyrsi was their name.
" In the portion of Erchbi.
" From their tattooing their fair skins were they called
Picti*
In a question like this, Skene is a far safer guide than
Pinkerton. But the " slaughtering weapon " and the pointed
weapon for tattooing, are not so widely separated as might
be imagined. 6
The method I have described appears to represent, with
some degree of accuracy, the mode of reasoning by which the
Irish story of the origin of the Picts was concocted. It seems
to have deceived Pinkerton, who probably accepted this story
as the foundation of the elaborate theory by which he
brought the Picts, a Gothic race, from Thrace. Also, he
deceived himself by identifying the Goths with the Getae,
(a Sarmatian tribe probably), whom the Goths displaced in
Thrace, and by whose name they were frequently called by
contemporary writers. The genuine Getae of Thrace were
tattooers like the Geloni; and thus, apparently, by building
up his theory on the foundation of the Irish legend,
Pinkerton convinced himself that he had discovered the true
cradle of the race of the Picts.
I believe that in the course of his researches, Pinkerton
stumbled upon a half-truth, namely, that the Picts, i.e., the
people who were originally called Picts were of Gothic ex-
traction. But his method of proving that thesis was to
abuse those who differed from him, and to make statements,
some of the most important of which will not bear examina-
tion.
5 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 33.
6 An ingenious argument for deriving Picti from a sharp point (Cym.
pig = a point, whence pick, pike, peak, and other related words), could
easily be built up in connexion with the method of tattooing.
216 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
If the Pictish Chronicle is to be accepted as reasonably
authoritative on the origin of the Picts, there can be no doubt
that it supports the Gothic theory. It declares that the
Scythians and the Goths had a common origin: they were
descendants of Magog. This is probably copied from
N^nnius, who makes the same statement. A common de-
scent from Magog is also attributed by Scandinavian tradi-
tion to the Sweas, or Swedes, and the kindred Goths of South
Sweden. The latter are believed to have preceded in Scan-
dinavian the people sometimes called, by certain historians,
" Scythians." These historians relate that Odin, in a human
shape, led his people from the Black Sea through Germany
(where he planted colonies on the way) to the island of Fyen
(Odensee), and thence to Sigtuna on Lake Malar, the latter
becoming the headquarters of Odinism and the centre of
Swedish authority, which exacted tribute from the Goths
of South Sweden. Nennius derives the Gauls and the Goths
from two sons of Japhet; the former from Gomer, and the
latter from Magog; and, as already stated, the Welsh have
a Gomerian tradition, thus marking them off from the Teu-
tonic Magogites. Both Nennius and the Pictish Chronicle,
by a mistaken etymology, make Scythians and Scots the
same people, and the Chronicle derives them and the Picts
from a common ancestor. But it also derives the Scythians
and the Goths from the same stock; and the inference there-
fore is, that the Picts and the Goths were equally included
in the Gothic nomenclature. Of the Goths, the Chronicle
gives the character that is confirmed by other sources of in-
formation. They were gens fortis et potentissima, corporum
mole ardua, armor um genere terribilis. 1 The same idea is
conveyed by the words of Giraldus Cambrensis, who calls
the Goths "a hardy and valiant " nation.
The confusion of the Goths with the Sarmatic Getae may
account for Claudian's suggestion that the Picts were tat-
7 limes, App. ii. It is suggestive that Cym. Goth means "pride."
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 217
tooers, if his allusion to the practice is not mere poetic
license. Of the Getae and the Picts, he uses almost the
same words when alluding to this custom. He writes of " the
scars of honour " of the Getae, and " the frightful scars "
of the Picts. Moreover, it is to be observed that while, as a
rule, he associates the Picts, the Scots, and the Saxons to-
gether as a combination against which the Roman arms were
directed, in one passage, he writes of the Saxon, the Scot,
and the Getae. 8 Conceivably this may indicate a belief that
the Picts were Goths, or Getae as they were called by the
Romans. That " Goths " and " Scythians " were, at one
time, interchangeable terms is stated by Procopius (sixth
century), who says that the ancient writers gave the name of
Scythians to the Gothic nations. It has already been shown
that as the West Goths were confused with the Getae, so
the East Goths were confused with the true Scythians, north
of the Black Sea.
To sum up: a Scandinavian element seems to have
intruded itself at an early period upon the Celtic
(Cymric) population that occupied North Britain, contem-
poraneously with the Cymric occupation of the rest of
Britain and Ireland. After a lengthy interval, the domin-
ance of North Britain passed to fresh immigrants, who were
kinsfolk of the earlier invaders; and they in turn seem to
have been partially displaced by later invaders, apparently
of Low German stock. In the following chapters, this hypo-
thesis will be examined by the light of the Chronicles. If
it is accepted, it will be seen at once that it implies a mix-
ture of races and a mixture of languages.
8 See Latham, The English Language (1862), p. 45.
CHAPTER XX.
Gildas on the Picts Bede on the Picts The accounts in Geoffrey of
Monmouth and Layamon The Gaelic traditions of Pictish origins
Pictish settlements in Ireland and Scotland The evidence of
Giraldus The Frisian settlement in Scotland The Saxons in Scot-
landThe different elements in the Scottish nation.
THE various traditions about the Picts are drawn from three
sources: Anglo-Saxon (Bede), Cymric (Gildas, Nennius, and
Geoffrey of Monmouth), and Gaelic (the Irish MSS.). The
Pictish Chronicle is plainly of Irish authorship, 1 and may
therefore be included in the last category.
Gildas, the oldest (sixth century) of these authorities, is
also the least communicative. He was a Jeremiah rather
than a Tacitus. His object was not to write history, but
to preach a sermon. Therefore his information is of the
scantiest. If he knew any tradition about the origin of
the Picts, he does not tell it. Yet he uses one significant
word that is ethnographically important. Both the Picts and
the Scots, he says, were " foreign " nations; more accurately
described as " overseas " or " transmarine " people. He tells
us also, in effect, that the Picts and the Scots were a vil-
lainous crew of barbarians, who were continually pouncing
upon the poor Britons and tormenting them with their
waspish attacks. There was a community of interest between
the associated peoples which seems to imply a community of
race. They differed in "manners," says Gildas, but were
equally bloodthirsty. There is nothing said about the
language of either people. 2
1 The words Da Drest (two Drests) in the list of Pictish kings seem to
support that view. The two Drests or Drusts were joint rulers.
2 Gildas, sec. 19.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 219
Bede, the next author in point of time, gives us the tradi-
tion that was current when he wrote his history. The Piets
came in a few ships from Scythia; they were driven by con-
trary winds on the north coast of Ireland, where they sought,
hut unsuccessfully, a settlement. The Scots (by which word
Bede means simply the natives of Ireland), gave them both
advice and wives; the advice was to settle in Albania, which
they did; and the gift of the wives was accompanied by a
stipulation that when the succession to the Pictish throne
should come into doubt, the king was to be chosen from
the female rather than from the male royal line; which
custom, says Bede, has been observed among the Picts " to
this day." These statements are definite enough. It will
be noticed that Bede, like Gildas, gives the Picts a foreign
origin. 3
Nennius is less definite, but like Gildas and Bede, he
makes the Picts an " overseas " people. He tells us that
they first occupied the Orkneys, and then the east coast of
Albania, keeping possession of a third of Britain " to this
day." He dates their arrival some hundreds of years before
the Christian era. 4
Geoffrey of Monmouth is a discredited historian (he was
really an editor), owing to the absurd fables with which
his work is interlarded. Yet no unprejudiced critic can
avoid the conclusion that it includes a great body, not only
of valuable tradition, but of genuine history. He tells us
that the Picts came from Scythia at a period which, by his
allusions to contemporary Roman history, may be computed
as being at the end of the first, or the beginning of the second
century. The leader of Geoffrey's Picts was one Rodric,
who after ravaging Albania penetrated to the north of Eng-
land, and was there met, defeated, and slain by the British
King Marius. Those of the Picts who escaped destruction
3 B. i., c. 1. 4 History of the Britons, sec. 12.
220 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
were allowed to settle in Caithness. 5 As I have already re-
marked in the Irish section of this book, I think it probable
that the progenitor of the Clanna Ruari, or the Cruithne,
may be identified with Godfrey's Rodric.
Layamon, in his Brut, copies a good deal of Geoffrey's
version of the Pictish settlement in Albania, with some
added details which may represent genuine Welsh tradition.
The Picts, says Layamon, were "folk of much might " from
Scythia, who " harried and harmed " the country. " Many
hundred burghs he (Rodric) had made destitute." After
their defeat by Marius and the settlement of the survivors
about Caithness (as related by Geoffrey), the Picts sent a
deputation of twelve men to their neighbours, the Britons,
to solicit a supply of wives. The Britons repulsed them
disdainfully, and a search for wives was then made in Ire-
land. There the ambassadors met with success; and thus it
occurred that " Irlande's " speech became the language of
the Picts. 6 Plainly, their own speech was something dif-
ferent.
Here Layamon makes a departure from his authority.
Geoffrey's version is, that after their unsuccessful attempt to
get wives from the Britons, the Picts obtained them from
the Irish; and he adds the remarkable statement (as already
pointed out), that the Scots derived their origin from this
union between Pictish husbands and Irish wives. 7
The Gaelic traditions, as we have seen, bring the Picts
from Thrace, and I have shown the probable reason for their
having done so. In some details, these traditions disagree,
but they are in harmony in making Ireland the seat of the
Picts before they removed to Scotland. They were driven
5 British History, B. iv., c. 17.
6 Brut (Madden), i., pp. 423-9. The stone erected to commemorate the
defeat of the Picts by Marius was called ** Westmering," hence Geoffrey
Gaimer's (twelfth century) name of " Westmaringiens " for the Picts.
7 Geoffrey, B. iv., c. 17.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 221
out of Ireland, according to one of the versions, by the
hostility of the Scots, who feared their growing power. After
leaving Ireland (where, however, some of them remained),
they conquered Alban from Cat, or Caithness, to Forchu,
which Skene rather plausibly makes the Firth of Forth. 8
They were provided with wives before they left Ireland.
Another version sends them from Ireland to the Britons of
Fortrenn to fight against the Saxons. But they had no
wives, so they returned to Ireland for women, and obtained
them after promising solemnly that the royal succession
should be on the mother's side. 9 Still another version relates
how they cleared their swordland among the Britons, first
Magh Fortrenn and then Magh Girginn; and here also we
are told that they took wives of the race of Miledh and
established the female succession to the throne. 10
So much for the origin of the Picts, as narrated in a
series of accounts that in some respects are difficult to re-
concile. The chronology of the Pictish settlements varies
with the other details. The Irish traditions bring us back
to an indefinite period before the Christian era. The Scot-
tish traditions, which give Ireland as their original seat in
these islands, date their coming at 200 B.C. exactly. Thus
Wyntoun writes:
" Twa hundyr wynter and na mare
Or that the Madyn Mary bare
Jesus Cryst, a cumpany
Out of the Kynriyk of Sythy (Scythia)
Come of Peychtis in Ireland." n
Geoffrey, as we have seen, brings Eodric from Scythia at the
end of the first, or the beginning of the second century A.D.
8 Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 30. The Fore of the Irish MS.
should perhaps be read Fort, "t"and "c" being so difficult to distin-
guish from one another in old MSS. The Welsh name for the Forth was
Werid.
9 Ibid., p. 45. Ibid., p. 319. " Cron., iv., c. 19.
222 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
The narratives from Anglo-Saxon, Cymric, and Gaelic
sources alike give prominence to the Irish marriages; and
Skene 12 quotes Layamon as an authority in support of his
contention that the Pictish language was Gaelic. Logically,
equal importance should he attached to Layamon's state-
ment that the Picts were not an indigenous race, and that
their neighbours in Alban, who refused to give them wives,
were a British or Cymric race.
But the story of the Irish wives, and the succession to the
Pictish throne through an Irish female line (to be examined
presently), is apparently due to a confusion between two
distinct occurrences: a Pictish settlement in Scotland, and a
Pictish settlement in Ireland. The two events (which may
have been separated by a lengthy period of time) are so
involved that it would be a hopeless task to attempt to dis-
entangle them. The Irish traditions get over the difficulty
by making the conquest of Alban, or Scotland, an affair of
Irish Picts. But that contradicts the accounts in the Anglo-
Saxon and Cymric versions, which bring the Picts direct
from Scythia to Scotland. If the two distinct settlements
of the Picts (one in Ireland and the other in Scotland) are
kept in mind, and if it is remembered that in the circum-
stances of the case, tradition would infallibly intermix events
relating to the two colonies, the difficulty presented by the
Irish marriages will disappear. When Layamon wrote
his Brut (about 1200 A.D.), he was aware that in parts
of Scotland where the Picts formerly dwelt, the Gaelic
language was spoken in his day. That doubtless was his
reason for supposing that it was the language spoken daring
the Pictish occupation, and consequently must have been in-
troduced by the Irish wives of the tradition related by Bede
and Geoffrey, to both of which sources he acknowledges his
indebtedness. But all this need not exclude the possibility
of close social relations between the Picts of Scotland and
12 Celtic Scotland, i., p. 202.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 223
the Cruithne of Ireland; nor is it necessary to assume that
there were no Pictish migrations from Ireland to Scotland.
On the contrary, there is every reason to believe, from
geographical as well as traditional considerations, that the
Picts of Galloway were originally a colony from the opposite
coast of Ireland.
There were later Teutonic additions to the Pictish popula-
tion of Scotland, well within the historic period. The first
is related by Geoffrey, who says that Carausius, the Mena-
pian, who assumed the purple and took possession of Britain
at the end of the third century, had the assistance of a body
of Picts who came over from Scythia. To reward them for
their services, he gave them a settlement in Alban, " where
they continued afterwards, mixed with the Britons." 13
A century later, a fresh settlement was effected, if Giraldus
Cambrensis is to be believed; and Geoffrey's statements seem
to bear the same implication. " When Maximus," says
Giraldus, " was transported from Britain into Gaul (with
the whole strength of men, arms, and ammunition that the
Island could raise) to possess himself of the empire, Gratian
and Valentinian, brothers and partners in the Empire,
shipped over the Goths (a nation hardy and valiant, being
at that time either their allies, or subject and obliged to
them by some Imperial favours) from the borders of Scythia
into the north parts of Britain, in order to annoy them and
make them call back the usurper with their youth. But
they being too strong, both by reason of the natural valour
of the Goths, and also because they found the Island destitute
of men and strength, possest themselves of no small terri-
tories in the northern parts of the Island." 14
In the fifth century, still another settlement was effected;
and here, at any rate, we are on firm historical ground.
13 Geoffrey, B. v., c. 3.
14 I quote Camden's version (trans. 1695) of the passage in Giraldus
(1st Book, De Institutions Principis).
224 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Nennius relates how Hengist obtained from Vortigern a
grant of territory in Albania, " near the wall," for his sons
Octha and Ebissa; and how the latter arriving with forty
ships, sailed round the country of the Picts, laid waste the
Orkneys, " and took possession of many regions beyond the
Friesic Sea, even to the Pictish confines." 15 The Friesic
Sea was the Firth of Forth, or the Scottish Sea, as the
Angles subsequently called it; " the Sea which is between
us and the Scots," as the Durham additions to Nennius
explain. There is good reason to believe that the invaders
of Britain under Hengist and his sons were Northern
Frisians from Jutland. The Firth of Forth represented
the southern boundary of their possessions in Scotland, but
the northern limit is uncertain. It seems to be a fair assump-
tion that what Nennius meant by confinia Pictorum was
the common boundary between the Northern and the
Southern Picts; in other words, the Grampians. If, in point
of fact, the concession of territory in Scotland to the Frisians
lay betAveen the Grampians and the Forth, it would ex-
plain a good deal that is now obscure.
The Teutonic settlements during the Pictish monarchy do
not perhaps end here, for some of the battles fought by King
Arthur (why should his existence be doubted?) against the
Saxons, seem to have been the result of attempts on the part
of the Saxons to obtain fresh territory in Scotland. " The
more the Saxons were vanquished," says Nennius, " the more
they sought for new supplies from Germany, so that kings,
commanders, and military bands were invited over from
almost every province." 16 And Geoffrey states: " They (the
Saxons) had also entirely subdued all that part of the island
which extends from the Humber to the Sea of Caithness." 17
Layamon, writing about the Saxon struggle with the British
people, says: " Then came together all the Scottish people:
"Peohtes and Saxons joined them together, and men of many
Nennius, sec. 38. 16 Ibid., sec. 50. l7 B. ix., c. 1.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 225
kin followed Colgrim (the Saxon leader)." 18 The clear in-
ference from this passage is, that in Layamon's view, the
Saxons formed an element of the Scottish people; or, to be
accurate, the nation that in Layamon's time was called the
Scottish people.
It is not easy to estimate the precise value of these accounts
of Teutonic settlements in Scotland during the Pictish pre-
dominance. But whether the details are correctly stated or
not, there cannot be any doubt that they represent genuine
traditions based upon actual occurrences. It will be shown
that settlements such as those described, far from being at
variance with known facts, afford a satisfactory explana-
tion of them. It is evident that these immigrations must
have produced an effect upon the ethnology of Scotland,
corresponding with the importance of the settlements and
the penetrative force of the settlers. Did the Teutonic set-
tlers blend with their predecessors, or did they keep them-
selves separate, independent, perhaps antagonistic? What
points of contact, if any, were established between them?
If I have made myself clear so far, it will be remembered
that my hypothesis is, that the big, red-haired men described
by Tacitus were of Scandinavian stock; that they mingled
with, and obtained the hegemony of, the Cymric tribes whom
they found before them in Caledonia; that the true Picts
were a later Scandinavian addition, to the population; and
that the language of North Britain became a mixed tongue,
as a result of the contact between the different racial
elements. The subsequent immigrations must have contri-
buted additional Teutonic elements to this mixed language,
and thus modified its Celtic strain still further. Also, it
is certain that these successive waves of Teutonism beating
upon the east coast, must have gradually absorbed or
eliminated nearly every trace of the Celtic population whose
forefathers had dwelt there (as proved by its place-names),
18 Brut (Madden), ii., p. 418.
15
226 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
and that therefore the Celtic language must have been
similarly displaced by the Teutonic. This pressure seems
to be exemplified by the struggles of the Britons of Fort-
renn against the encroachments of the Saxons, as embodied
in the Irish traditions. Who were these Saxons, and who
were the Saxons whom the Romans pursued to the Orkneys
in the third century, as recorded by Claudian? Surely they
were the vanguard of the settlers on the east coast, whose
case we are considering. Thus I am supposing that while the
Pictish tongue, or the mixed language of the Picts who
dwelt in the interior, was further modified by contact with
Saxon or Friesic settlers, those parts nearest the coast on
the east became Saxon colonies, inhabited by a people who
spoke a Low German dialect, which was retained pure with
scarcely any admixture of Celtic. The pressure on the Picts
by these colonies was from east to west; and thus the further
west the Saxons pushed, the more assimilated their race and
language became with those of the Picts.
But the name " Pict " would assuredly be applied to all
the Saxon settlers in Pictland, irrespective of race and
language. Kenneth MacAlpin was a Scot before he obtained
the Pictish throne; but his death is recorded as that of Rex
Pictarum. James VI. of Scotland was a Scot before he
crossed the Border, but he was afterwards an Englishman
in the eyes of Continental Europe. And all the different
races of which the population of Scotland was composed,
gloried in the name of Scot after the Scottish monarchy had
been firmly established; all, that is to say, except (wonderful
to relate) the Gaelic people in the Highlands, whom the
Lowlanders called the " ancient " Scots. But that paradox
will be explained in the proper place. A nation is
formed by a conception of common interests; that was
the conception which made a nation of the mixed
people called the Picts, composed of Cymric, Teutonic,
and possibly pre - Cymric elements ; and that was the
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 227
conception which welded these elements (with a fresh
element, itself similarly mixed) into the nation there-
after known in history as the Scots. 19 Something of
the same nature occurred in Ireland in historic times, when
Norman, and English, and Scottish settlers made their homes
there. Ultimately some of them, or their descendants, be-
came more Irish than the Irish themselves; and that will
always happen where races mix, or where they are not
separated by barriers of religion or language.
This theory of the origin and development of the Pictish
nation and language is the only one, as it seems to me, that
is in accord with the narratives of the earliest chronicles, the
incidence of place-names, the physical characteristics of the
Scottish people, and the structure, peculiarities, and distribu-
tion of the dialects of the Scottish language at the present
day.
19 Subsequently Anglo-Saxon, Norman, and Flemish elements were
added, and became incorporated in the national life.
CHAPTER XXI.
The various theories about the Picts The Gaelic theory as represented
by Dr. Skene The Cymric theory The Gothic theory and John
Pinkerton Bede on the Pictish language Sir John Rhys and the
non-Aryan theory The Pictish system of succession Scandinavian
parallels An examination of Dr. Skene's arguments Common
elements in the Celtic and Teutonic languages The Pictish language
different from Anglo-Saxon, Cymric, or Gaelic.
IT becomes necessary at this stage to glance at the different
theories that have at one time or another been held about
the Picts and their language, and to show how they fail to
harmonise with certain known facts.
First, as to the Gaelic theory advocated by Dr. Skene, and
widely accepted by many who have never subjected it to in-
dependent scrutiny. Every Scot should be grateful to Skene
for his illuminating work on early Scottish history. The
three volumes of his Celtic Scotland, though of unequal
merit, occupy a unique place in the domain of Scottish his-
tory during Skene's time; and there has been so little done
since his time, that his supremacy in that department is un-
challenged. But his earliest book, The Highlanders of Scot-
land, a prize essay written for the Highland Society of
London, is better known to the public than the later and more
valuable work. He was a lawyer by profession, and his
Highlanders betrays the fact. For no one can examine this
essay critically, without coming to the conclusion that the
author forgot that he was an historian with an impartial duty
to perform, and only remembered that he was an advocate
with a difficult case to win. 1
1 An opposing lawyer could pick holes in Skene's case with the greatest
ease. For example, he directs attention (Highlanders, p. 10, MacBain's
edition) to ** the marked line of distinction " drawn between the Picts and
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 229
There is a considerable difference between the jaunty
assurance of the Highlanders, and the careful reasoning of
Celtic Scotland; there is, in fact, the difference between the
age of twenty-eight and the age of sixty -seven. The method
in the Highlanders was to start an hypothesis; assume it as
a fact; and build upon the assumption a fresh hypothesis.
On some points, it was like a long sum in compound interest
with an initial mistake in the calculation. For it can be
shown that the Gaelic theory of Skene, argued with un-
questioning confidence in the Highlanders, and with a
cautious and undecided note in Celtic Scotland, was in fact
based upon a fallacy.
An edition of Skene's Highlanders was published some
years ago by the late Dr. MacBain, an eminent Celtic
scholar, who performed his duties as editor by tearing to
tatters his author's most cherished notions. On the main
thesis of the book (the Gaelic origin of the Picts), Dr.
MacBain declared that " no present-day Celtic scholar and
many have written on the subject holds Skene's views that
the Picts spoke Gaelic." 2 I am content to leave the question
there.
The advocates of the Cymric theory, who include naturally
enough some of the most competent Celtic philologists of the
Scots by Gildas, Bede, and Nennius in respect (among other differences) of
their " language." But neither Gildas nor Nennius says a word about the
language of either people. In the same book (p. 47) Skene says "there
could have been but little difference of language between the two nations
of Picts and Scots." When making these inconsistent statements, he
was seeking to prove two different things, and forgot that his arguments
were mutually destructive. Again, in his Highlanders, he bases one of
his principal arguments for the Gaelic origin of the Picts on a statement
in the Welsh Triads, which he describes as " the oldest and most
unexceptional authority," in support of his theory. In his Four Ancient
Books of Wales, published thirty-one years later, he describes the same
Triads as being "of perhaps doubtful authority." Eight years afterwards,
in his Celtic Scotland, he does not hesitate to reject (with a certain
reservation) the Welsh Triads as " entirely spurious."
2 Editor's preface to second edition of The Highlanders of Scotland.
230 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
present day (e.g., Dr. Whitley Stokes), have much more to
say for themselves. The first writer of weight to lend his
name, but in a tentative fashion, to this solution of the
Pictish problem was that sound antiquary, William Camden.
The essay of Father Innes on the Ancient Inhabitants of
Caledonia -a model of close and persuasive reasoning was
the foundation upon which subsequent advocates of the
theory have built. George Chalmers in his Caledonia ably
developed and fortified it, by showing the importance of
place-names in settling the question.
John Pinkerton was not the originator of the Gothic
theory, but was its most dogmatic and influential advocate.
Stillingfleet and Usher had both argued a Teutonic origin
for the Picts, the evidence of the early Chronicles seeming to
admit of no other conclusion. Dr. Jamieson, too, was a
tower of strength for the Goths during the early part of the
nineteenth century. His arguments, hidden away in the
obscurity of an Introduction to his great Etymological
Dictionary of the Scottish Language, have not in later
years received the attention that they merit. But Pinker-
ton's name is the first that forces itself into notice in con-
sidering the claims of the Teutons.
Pinkerton seems to have bludgeoned many of his
contemporaries into a belief in his ethnological teaching.
In his day, it was rashly announced that he had proved the
Teutonic origin of the Picts, just as Dr. MacBain no less
rashly stated long afterwards that, in respect of the Picts'
language being allied to Cymric, " the Pictish question is
settled." 3 Pinkerton's weapon was the cudgel, not the
rapier. Wherever he saw a Celtic head, he hit it. In his
view, the Goths had a monopoly of all the virtues of the
Scottish nation; and the Celts were in undoubted possession
of all its vices. He was positively obsessed by his anti-
Celtic bias; and to the question: " Can any good come out
3 Ptolemy's Geography of Scotland, etc., p. 50.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 231
of Celtica? " his answer was an emphatic and unequivocal
"No." And yet, the great Colossus himself had feet of
clay. They protrude everywhere throughout his vigorous
essay. He was, in truth, as careless of his own facts as of
his opponents' feelings.
These three theories, Gaelic, Cymric, and Teutonic, have
one feature in common: they all ignore the plain statement
of Bede, that in his day there were five languages in which
the Scriptures were taught in Britain, namely, the languages
of the nations of Angles, Britons, Scots, and Picts, with the
Latin language common to all. 4 Nennius, too, calls these
nations "four different people." 5 There is nothing un-
ambiguous here, and it is useless to try to gloss such state-
ment with refinements about identity of language but
difference of dialect. The Angles spoke Anglo-Saxon; the
Britons spoke Cymric; and the Scots spoke Gaelic. There-
fore Pictish was something different from all three. It could
not have been Anglo-Saxon, nor Cymric, nor Gaelic. What,
then, was the Pictish language?
Sir John Rhys has tried to overcome the difficulty by
seeking to prove that it was a non-Aryan tongue, and that
the Picts were non-Aryan people. And Zimmer, also, was
induced to believe that the Picts were the people who pre-
ceded the Celts in these islands. The non- Aryan theory
derives much of its support from the supposed un- Aryan
custom of succession through the female line, which, beyond
doubt, was a feature of the Pictish polity. But was it an
un- Aryan custom?
As shown by the lists of Pictish kings, the later of which
may be regarded as authentic, the succession was normally
that of brothers. A son did not succeed his father, but a
4 B. i., c. 1. Elsewhere (B. iii., c. 6) Bede says that the nations and
provinces of Britain were "divided into four languages, viz., the Britons,
the Picts, the Scots, and the English."
5 Nennius, Sec. 7.
232 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
brother succeeded a brother. There was nothing unusual in
that system (we find it established among the West Saxons) ;
and it had its obvious advantages in cases where a son
happened to be too young to bear arms. But among the
Picts, the failure of brothers brought into operation the
doubtful circumstances alluded to in the tradition recorded
by Bede. In these circumstances, the principle of choice
from the royal female line came into play, and this differen-
tiated the system of the Picts from that of their neighbours.
The suggestion that the system presupposes a certain loose-
ness of the marriage-tie appears to receive support from
Caesar's description of the social relations of the Britons ; and
particularly from a story told by Dion Cassius about a retort
made by a Caledonian lady to Julia, the wife of the Emperor
Severus. The Empress passed certain strictures upon the
state of Caledonian morality, and the reply was that the
system thus condemned was preferable to that of the
Romans: the Caledonian ladies openly consorted with the
best warriors of the race, while the Roman matrons privily
committed adultery with the vilest of men. 6
This statement of the Caledonian lady opens up a new
field of investigation. It suggests the nature and the
origin of the Pictish choice from the mother's side. The
fable about the condition imposed upon the original Pictish
settlers, when they obtained wives from Ireland, was
probably an Irish invention to account for a known fact,
namely, the succession of females among the Picts.
It has been pointed out by Dr. Frazer, that it was the
custom alike in ancient Greece and ancient Sweden, for the
royal families to keep their daughters at home, and send their
sons forth to marry princesses and reign among their wives'
people. 7 Scandinavian tradition relates instances, in which
6 The Welsh People, p. 14, by Rhys and Brynmor Jones. The authors
use the word " Pictish," but there is no warrant for this word in the
original, which reads, Argentocoxi cujusdam Caledonii uxor.
7 The Golden Bough, ii., p. 278.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 233
daughters' husbands received a share of the kingdom of their
royal fathers-in-law, even when the latter had sons of their
own. The Ynglingar family, said to have come from
Sweden, are reported in the HeimsJcringla to have obtained
at least six provinces in Norway by marriage with the
daughters of the local kings. Among the Scandinavians,
kingship was merely an appanage of marriage with a woman
of the blood-royal. 8 It is clear that in Scandinavia, at any
rate, the kingdom was transmitted through women, long
after the family name and property had become hereditary
in the male line among the people. 9
What then becomes of the argument that transmission
of the Pictish crown through the female line was a non-
Aryan custom? Whether or not they were peculiar to the
Scandinavians, the customs I have mentioned seem to
have an important bearing on the Pictish question. They
add force to the contention that the ruling element among
the Picts was at one time Scandinavian.
The Gaelic and Cymric theories are not tenable unless the
plain statement of Bede, a contemporary of the Picts as a
nation, is ignored. Moreover, early Cymric authors like
Gildas and Nennius make a clear distinction between the
Picts and the Britons, the latter belonging of course to the
Cymric race. The oppression of the Britons by the Picts
is not consonant with the idea of kinship; rather does it
suggest affinity with the Teutonic hordes that similarly
harried the Britons in the south.
Dr. Skene's arguments on the question of language are
not convincing. But neither he nor his critics are happy
in insisting overmuch upon the employment, or non-employ-
ment, by St. Columba of interpreters. The specific case
usually cited is that of .the aged chieftain in Skye, named
8 The Golden Bough, ii., pp. 279-281.
9 Ibid., ii., p. 288. This is clearly brought out in the collection of
Swedish sagas by Anders Fryxell.
234 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Artbranan, with whom Columba communicated by means
of an interpreter. Skene tries to evade the dilemma of con-
fessing that an interpreter was necessary between a Gaelic-
speaking Irishman and a Pict (who, in Skene's view, spoke
the same language), by suggesting that the agent was not an
interpreter of language, but an expounder of the Scriptures.
One would have thought that Columba himself was quite
capable of the necessary exposition if he could have made
himself understood. But, according to Skene, he did not
find the services of an interpreter necessary when he visited
King Brude on the banks of the Ness. To that there is
a two-fold reply: Adamnan makes no statement about an
interpreter one way or the other ; 10 and Columba was
accompanied by Comgall, an Irish Pict, head of the
Bangor monastery.
Both Skene and his critics assume that Artbranan, the
Skye man, was a Pict. But Adamnan does not say so; and
there is no certainty that in the sixth century Skye was a
Pictish possession. Therefore, Artbranan may have spoken
a language other than Pictish. His name is Cymric: it
denotes kingship (Brenin, a king), and he is described as
chief of the Geona cohort, which suggests that Skye at that
time was a military station. The aged convert was buried
at a place called Dobur Artbranan, from which Skene in-
ferred that Dobar being Old Gaelic, the supposed Picts of
Skye must have been Gaelic speakers. But dobur is only
a Gaelic form of the Cymric dwfyr, water, and the Cymric
form may have changed to Gaelic by the time Adamnan
wrote in the seventh century. However the question is
regarded, it is an unproved assertion that Artbranan spoke
what was, in the sixth century, the Pictish language. It
is impossible, therefore, to argue that Columba's employ-
10 But Adamnan distinctly states (ii. c. xxxii.) that on one occasion,
when in the " province of the Picts " (presumably in King Brude's
territory), Columba made use of the services of an interpreter.
THE EACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 235
ment of an interpreter proves anything, either for or against
the Gaelic theory.
That theory cannot be sustained, as well on the historical
and traditional grounds already cited, as on the broad ground
that there is not a single Ptolemaic place-name in Scotland
with a distinctive Gaelic form, nor any important river
whose name is demonstrably Gaelic. In a later chapter, I
shall supplement the proofs already given on these points,
with others equally cogent. The Teutonic tribes of immi-
grants who were first called Picts, made comparatively few
changes in the nomenclature of the rivers and mountains.
But the presence of common elements in Gaelic and
Teutonic, and Gaelic and Cymric, makes it easier to under-
stand how the Gaelic theory could be urged with some
plausibility. Thus, the mixed language known as Pictish,
consisting mainly of Scandinavian and Low German roots
mixed with Cymric, was a relation both of Teutonic and
Cymric; and Gaelic being another relation, but in a funda-
mentally different degree, a complex set of circumstances
was set up, which has not unnaturally proved a baffling
puzzle. The Pictish language is regarded as mysterious;
and mysterious it certainly is, unless the conditions of its
formation are kept in mind. I shall illustrate its character
by some examples, and trace its development and its ultimate
form. In the meantime, it is permissible to assert that a
language composed largely of Scandinavian and Low Ger-
man roots, mixed with Cymric, must have been something
different from Anglo-Saxon, Cymric, or Gaelic; and that it
meets the conditions postulated by Bede's statement that
Britain had four nations and four tongues with the Latin
language common to all.
CHAPTER XXII.
The Pictish words recorded by contemporaries Scollofthes Peanfahel
The names of the Pictish kings The Drosten Stone and the
meaning of its inscription The incidence of languages The dialects
of modern Scots The Pictish language the parent of modern Scots
The latter an indigenous language How it differs from North-
umbrian English Frisian the dominant element of the later Picts
How the Pictish language became the national tongue of the Scots
The cleavage between the Pictish and the Gaelic languages.
THE number of words definitely described by contemporaries
as belonging to the " Pictish " language is exactly two. All
other words called " Pictish " are the names of persons who
are associated with the Picts. But these two words are
called Pictish by authors who knew what the Pictish
language was, and who lived before the name of Pict became
extinct.
Much the later, and (from the standpoint of the present
essay) the less important of these two words is Scollofth.
Reginald of Durham (late twelfth century) writes of certain
clerics (clerici) attached to the church of Kirkcudbright,
who in the language of the Picts (sermo Pictorum) were
called Scollofthes. We are told by inference that the word
Scottofth has the same meaning as Scholasticus ; and con-
sequently are not left to guess its import. There is general
agreement (and it is indeed obvious) that the first part of
Scottofth (Scott) is the word derived from the Latin Schola,
that is common alike to the Teutonic and the Celtic
languages, and is represented in English by " School." In
his attempts to prove the Gaelic origin of the Picts, Skene
made the suggestion in his Celtic Scotland 1 that Scottofth
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 237
was probably a Norman pronunciation of the Gaelic word
Sgolog ; and in a later part of the same book, he devotes,
some space to show that these Sgologs were poor scholars: 2
the lowest stratum, as early records prove, of the various
degrees in the social scale of ecclesiastic and monastic de-
pendents. Unfortunately both for the force of the philo-
logical argument and the identification of Sgologs with
scholars, poor or otherwise, this word Sgolog has nothing
to do with schools or scholarship. It is the Gaelic form of
a Teutonic word: 0. Ic. Skalkr, A. S. Scealc, Ger. Schalk,
all meaning servant or serf. Clearly that was the meaning
given to Sgolog in ecclesiastical records, and as recently as
the end of the eighteenth century, we find what is another
form of the same word, viz., Scallags, applied to the lowest
stratum of society in the Scottish Highlands. 3
The word Scollofth is obviously a compound. Scoll, as
we have seen, is of no distinct value ethnologically, though
the form is Teutonic. But Ofth is probably Gym. Of yd,
a philosopher (an " ovate " as the Welsh say), the compound
word thus signifying a " School-philosopher," which is pre-
cisely what Scholasticus meant in the twelfth century.
The second " Pictish " word mentioned by a contemporary
is one that has long exercised antiquaries, both before and
after Jonathan Oldbuck: it is the word Peanfahel, or as
some MSS. have it, Peanval. Had the Venerable Bede fore-
seen that the solitary Pictish word which in the eighth cen-
tury he bequeathed to posterity, would have opened the
floodgates of controversy, and disturbed, as it has disturbed,
the equanimity of generations of antiquaries, he would have
hesitated, beyond doubt, before making himself responsible
for a result so distressing to a gentle monk.
It is usually assumed that Bede equates Peanfahel with
''Walls-end"; and consequently, the controversy has been
2 Celtic Scotland, ii., pp. 446-7.
3 See Travels in the Hebrides, by the Rev. J. S. Buchanan.
238 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
limited to the category of languages in which Peanfahel
means the end of a wall. But Bede does not say that it
has that meaning at all. His statement is that the wall
begins at a place called Peanfahel; he gives no explanation
of the meaning of the word. The place is usually identified
with Kinneil, a village and parish near Bo'ness on the bor-
ders of Stirlingshire and Linlithgowshire, where there are
Koman remains. This belief has arisen from a supposition
that the Gae. cen has been substituted for the Gym. pen; a
supposition strengthened by the statement of a Nennius
interpolator, that the wall commenced at " Cenail." But
the allusion in the text of Nennius is to the Wall of Severus,
concerning the identity of which there is still some doubt. 4
The length of the wall in the Nennius text (133 miles) is
applicable neither to Antonine's Wall in Scotland, nor
Hadrian's Wall in England. There is an error apparently
in the transcription.
Bede says that Peanfahel was about two miles from Aber-
corn. Skene points out that Kinneil is six miles distant
from Abercorn, but that Walton, the place he suggests
(Camden made the same suggestion long before him) as the
site of Peanfahel, is exactly three. 5 The author of the
ancient MS. known as Capitula Gildce states that the wall
commenced at Kaer Eden (Carriden), which is exactly two
miles from Abercorn.
Beyond doubt, the prefix in Peanfahel is (in its primary
sense) Gym. pen, a head or end; 6 but it is unlikely that
jahel, or val, is derived from Gym. gwal, a rampart, which
itself, like the English word "wall," probably owes its
origin to vallum : for there are other Cymric words, mean-
4 The evidence of Bede (B. i., c. 12, and B. iii., c. 2) strongly supports
the view that the Wall of Severus was between the Tyne and the Solway.
8 I believe that, in point of fact, the distance is about four miles.
6 The Scottish "Bens" have the "B" form of "Pen." Strictly speaking,
" Ben " is the point or peak of a mountain.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 239
ing " wall " or " rampart," which have a truer Celtic signi-
ficance than gwal. Gae. fdl has two meanings, viz., "turf"
and "rampart," the latter word implying a rampart made
of sods. Fdly in the former sense, is almost certainly
derived from 0. Ic. and Swed. vail, " turf " or " sods," itself
a derivation of vollr, a plain (gen. vallar, pi. vellir). This
Scandinavian word vail has passed into Scots dialect as -fail
or fad, meaning " turf " or " sods." A " fail-dyke is a
turf -wall.
The Scots word fail is found in Old English as weall,
with the same meaning: its Teutonic origin seems to be un-
questionable. The Pictish fahel, Scots fail, and O. Eng.
weall all mean apparently the same thing: "turf" or "sods";
and their common source is O. Ic. vail.
That the forms fahel and val are interchangeable is shown
as well by the Bede MSS. as by the name of the Waal
River (or Vaal as it appears in its transplanted form in
South Africa), which Tacitus (Annals ii. 6) calls the Vahal,
a word meaning yellow or muddy, and having perhaps an
affinity with 0. Ic. vail, sods. Vahal would appear to be
an early Low German form of Vaal, as fahel may be of
O. Ic. vail.
My conclusion therefore is, that Peanfahel is a hybrid,
the first portion of which is Cymric, and the second portion
Scandinavian. Its literal meaning is "the end of the turf
rampart," for, by the Gaelic analogy, it appears likely that
fahel has here not only the idea of turf, but that of a ram-
part made of turf sods. We know from Bede that this was
the material of which Antonine's Wall was built; 7 its
popular name, Grime's Dyke, may perhaps be derived from
an O. Welsh word grym, meaning force, or strength.
The English name for Peanfahel, as Bede informs us,
was Penneltun, which, with the retention of the Gym. Pen,
is a contracted form of Pen-weall-town, or the town at
? B. i., c. 12.
240 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
the end of the turf rampart. Probably, therefore, Walton,
near Carriden, is the representative of Bede's Peanfahel.
The argument supplied by the analysis of Peanfahel, that
Pictish was a language of mixed Cymric and Teutonic
elements, is reinforced by an examination of the names of
the Pictish kings. These are given by the Pictish
Chronicle in two series, the first of which is non-historical.
But it contains one name, Dectotreic, which even Skene was
forced to regard as being the same as Theodric; and he
admits that four of the other names in the list have a
Teutonic appearance. 8 His explanation of the presence of
these Teutonic names in a list of Pictish kings, is an hypo-
thesis based upon inadequate grounds.
The first series also contains the name " Brude," applied
to twenty-eight of the kings consecutively, and followed in
each case by an additional name. Apparently, therefore,
" Brude " was a title of rank, although it is found in the
second series of kings (in various forms) as a recurring per-
sonal name (cf. the English personal names, King, Prince,
Duke, etc.). I suggest that the origin of the name may
be traced to 0. Fris. Breud or Brida (the historical Brudes
sometimes appear as " Bridei ") which equates German
ziehen. According to Kluge, the verbal root of ziehen is
tuh (" tug "), -corresponding with an Aryan root duk, pre-
served in the Latin duco. Therefore Brude may have had
the meaning of " duke " or " leader," like Herzog in Ger-
man. In some texts, the Anglo-Saxon ealdormen are
designated " dukes." It may be added that Scandinavian
topography reveals the presence of " Brude " or " Bride " as
a personal name.
But these twenty - eight Brude - names have a further
peculiarity. Every alternate name has the prefix of "Ur."
For example, the name Brude Pant is followed by Brude
Ur-Pant; Brude Leo is followed by Brude Ur-Leo; and so
8 Celtic Scotland, i., p. 209.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 241
on. This is a Cymric peculiarity as may be seen in a Welsh
genealogy quoted by Skene, where a similar prefix in alter-
nate names appears as Gwr (man, or person, or husband),
and in the Manumissions of Bodmin, where the prefix
(Cornish form) appears as " Wur." 9 The Cornish genea-
logies just cited, actually gives one of the very names that
appear in the Pictish series, viz., Guest and Wur-Guest in
the former, and Gest and Wur-Gest in the latter. It is
impossible to evade the force of this coincidence, in prov-
ing the presence of a Cymric element in the Pictish
monarchy; and Skene makes no real attempt to meet the
argument.
There are certain names in the second or historical list
of Pictish kings, which stand out prominently as represen-
tative: they are Brude (in various forms; Drust or Drest;
Necton or Nectan; Gartnait or Gartnaith; and Talorg,
Talorgan, or Talorcan. The name " Brude " has already
been examined.
Drust or Drest is plainly a Teutonic name. It appears
in 0. Fris. as Drusta, and in German as Drost; and its
meaning is "chief magistrate." In the Middle Ages, it
was the title in Germany of a nobleman who was High
Steward or Governor of a district. The word is still
alive in Hanover, where it is a title of nobility, and it is
found as a personal name in Germany. 10
Nectan appears in Bede as Naitan, which is the later
Anglo-Saxon form, after the change in the guttural. Nectan
may therefore be regarded as the 0. Fris. form of the A. S.
" Naitan." The personal name Nectan or Naitan may be
9 Celtic Scotland, i. p. 209. An analysis of the names that are added to
the ' Brudes " shows that they are apparently Cymric nicknames des-
criptive of personal characteristics.
10 This name is commonly, but erroneously, associated with the Cymric
name "Tristan." It sometimes appears with an affix, as "Drosten" or
*'Drostan." The Teutonic Drost and the Celtic Mormaer had similar
duties to perform.
16
242 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
related to A. S. Ncetan, to conquer. Perhaps a preferable
source is O. Ic. Neytr, which means good, or useful, when
applied to persons.
Gartnait is apparently a compound word, the first part
being possibly connected with the widely distributed root
in the Teutonic languages, of which the A. S. form geard
has sometimes the meaning of " land " or " region," while
the latter portion of the name seems to have the root from
which Naitan is derived.
Talorg or Talorgan is clearly Cymric, the literal mean-
ing being " very bright front." Frontlet- wearing kings
are mentioned in the Triads; and the name Talorgan (or
Talargan) probably means the wearer of a silver frontlet. 11
Another purely Cymric name in the authentic list of
Pictish kings is that of Mailcu, 12 who was the father of King
Brude, the ruler of the Picts in the time of St. Columba,
We have in this name the Cu syllable that has given rise
to what may be called the " hound " theory, the suggestion
being that such names as Cu-chulain, Cu-stantin, Mail-cu
are evidences of totemism, because Cym. Ci and Gae. Cu
mean a dog or hound. The variants of these names, Con-
chulain, Con-stantin, and Malchon, are held to be Celtic
inflexions. But what of the fact that in Layamon's Brut,
"Constantin" is the consistent rendering by one MS. (Cott,
Caligula) and "Costantin" the rendering by another (Cott.
Otho) under circumstances that exclude all questions of in-
flexion? " Cu " or " Co " is simply a contraction of " Con,"
and the latter is common enough in ancient Irish history
as " Conn "; it is a form of Cun (Cym.), leader, or chief.
The prefix 'Mail or Mael is another stumbling-block, for it
looks like the same word as Mael, bald or cropped, and is
11 The Gaelic name Aodhan may have had, primitively, a similar
signification.
12 Bede gives this name as Meilochon ; the Chronicles of the Picts and
Scots has the form Malchon ; and Nennius has Mailcun as the name of a
powerful British King.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 243
consequently incorporated in personal names, in the same
sense as Gilla or Giolla, a servant. But we find from Gildas
that the original form of the Cymric word was Maglo ; he
gives the name Maglocune, which is the same as Mailcu
or Malchon. 13 Magi means a prince, and it would thus
appear that Mailcu means, not the slave of the hound, but
simply Prince Conn, alternatively, " the princely leader."
As already stated, there are only two words in existence
that have been described by contemporaries as " Pictish,"
while there is a third (Cartit) which is described in Cormac's
Glossary as belonging to the language of the Cruithne, who
are generally called " Irish " Picts. But there are also some
words forming a sentence, which are believed to belong to
the Pictish vocabulary, and to form the only complete sen-
tence in the Pictish language that has been discovered. These
words are inscribed on what is known as the Drosten Stone 14
(so called from the initial word) at St. Vigeans, near
Arbroath. The letters are Saxon minusceles, and certain
peculiarities in their structure point to the eighth century
as the probable period of the inscription. The district in
which the stone was found lies well within what was the
Pictish kingdom. The words on the Drosten Stone belong,
beyond reasonable doubt, to the language spoken in that
district before the Scottic conquest of the ninth century. 15
Agreement has now been reached in the decipherment of
the inscription (Drosten ipe uoret ettforcus)', and it only
remains to decide to what language it belongs, and what it
means. But with precisely the same decipherment before
13 The names of two British kings, Coinmael and Farinmael, elsewhere
appear as Con-maegl and Farin-raaegl.
14 I do not propose to attempt to give any reading of the Newton Stone,
for its characters have not yet been satisfactorily deciphered.
15 " Sweno's Stone " (Sweyn's Stone), near Forres, is also apparently a
Pictish relic. In a charter of the neighbouring lands of Burgie, in the
reign of Alexander II., this stone is mentioned as Rune Pictorum.
Clearly, therefore, the Scandinavian Runic emblems on this obelisk with
the Danish name, were attributed to the Picts at so early a date as the
reign of Alexander II.
244 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
them, commentators on the inscription have arrived at
totally different conclusions. One writer, 16 believing the
language to be Cymric, because he believes that the Piets
were Cymric Celts, translated the inscription as " Drosten,
thou wrought 'st repentance." Another writer, 17 believing
the language to be Gaelic, because he believes that the Picts
were Gaelic Celts, translates it as "Drostan's: his rank (was)
noble: his foster-father (was) Fergus." The authors of
The Welsh People read it as " Drost's offspring Uoret
for Fergus" (p. 17); amended (p. 50) to " Drost's nephew
Voret for Fergus "; but to what language the original words
are assigned I know not.
The first word " Drosten " is by common consent a per-
sonal name; and the last word, " Forcus," is generally
believed to fall within the same category. Drust is one
of the most noticeably frequent names in the Pictish list
of kings, while Forcus is a variant of the name Fergus,
that is not rare. Drost or Drusta, as we have already
seen, is the Old Frisian form of a Teutonic word, meaning
" chief magistrate." 18 The terminal " en " in Drosten may
be the Old Frisian suffix, denoting a personal agent (e.g.
Drochten, a lord). Fergus, or Forcus, is said to be the Gaelic
equivalent of the Cymric Wurgust or Urgust, but it may
be pointed out that '" Ferigis " appears in the ninth century
as a Teutonic name. 19 So much for what is, more or less,
common ground in the reading of the inscription.
16 Dr. W. Bannerman in Proc. of Soc. of Antiq. of Scotland, vol. xliv.,
pp. 343-352.
17 Rev. D. MacRae in Proc. of Soc. of Antiq. of Scotland, vol. xliii.,
pp. 330-334.
18 Of. " Land-drost," a title in Dutch South Africa.
The fact that Drosten appears in history as an early Irish name
(e.g., St. Drostan, the reputed nephew of St. Columba, and * Drostan of
the Oratory," who died in Meath in 717) does not, of course, prove its
Celtic origin. In Irish legend it is a Cruithinian or Pictish name.
19 Ferguson, The Teutonic Name System, p. 324. It is more likely, how-
ever, that Fergus is the Gaelic equivalent of the Cymric "Wurgust."
Similarly, the Gaelic "Oengus" (Angus) is the Gaelic equivalent of the
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 245
On the assumption that the stone is of sepulchral origin,
we naturally look for some equivalent of the familiar Hie
facet. We find in Ipe Uoret a cognate phrase, if my inter-
pretation is correct. For Ipe appears to he the Pictish form
of the Cornish Y6&, or Uppa, meaning " Here," or " In
this place," and both are obviously related to the Latin Ibi.
(The letters " b " and " p " are interchangeable.)
This interpretation of Ipe is confirmed by an analysis of
Uoret which follows it. Uoret gives an alternative form,
Wret, Uo and W being Cymric mutations. What does Wret
mean? In Scots literature it is found twice, and so far as
I know, twice only; on each occasion (as Dr. Jamieson men-
tions), by Wyntoun, who spells the word wrait, and rhymes
it with state. What he means by the word is quite clear. He
equates it with '" died," when chronicling the death, first
of Robert II, and then of Robert III., of Scotland. It
seems likely, however, that it has an added shade of mean-
ing, by implying that the death was sudden, or that the
illness was of short duration.
This word wrait is beyond doubt derived from 0. Ic. Rata,
to fall down or collapse, which (pret. 3rd pers. sing.), should
yield Ret. Cleasby states that the original form of Eata
was Vrata, but that the initial V was dropped at an early,
period.
Thus we get from Ipe Uoret, the meaning " Here fell
(or died)."
Ettforcus shows a familiar 0. Ic. form of a compound
word relating to family or race (0. Ic. dtt or cett, family
or race, found in such compounds as att^menn, kinsmen,
etc.), and means " the kin or race of Fergus." The
oldest known forms of the name " Fergus " are " Forco "
and " Forcus."
Cymric " Unnust " or " Ungust " (Cymric Un, an individual). The suffix
"gust" may be Cymric Gwest (cf. the modern name "Guest"), "visit"
or "entertainment." It would thus be related to the gwestva or food-rents
to chieftains from free tribesmen (see Seebohm's Tribal System in Wales).
246 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Summarising these translations, we arrive at the follow-
ing meaning of the St. Vigeans inscription, viz.:
" Drostari of the race of Fergus fell (or died) here."
This interpretation satisfies at once philological demands,
and the requirements of reasonable probability. But it can
be shown that it is also confirmed by historical facts.
The Annals of Ulster and Tighernach both chronicle a
battle fought in 728 A.D. between two Pictish forces, one
under King Drust or Drostan, and the other under Angus or
Unnust, the energetic and ruthless leader, who afterwards
reigned for thirty years as the undisputed sovereign of the
Pictish nation. In this battle Drostan was defeated and
slain. The site of the battle was Dromaderg Blathmig
(Tighernach), or Drumderg - blathug (Annals of Ulster).
Drumderg means the Red Ridge, and the name Blathmig
appears (as Skene suggests), in the modern place-name Kin-
blethmont, near St. Vigeans. But there is much stronger
evidence for the conclusion that the site of this battle was in
the parish of St. Vigeans. From the Redhead on the coast
of Forfarshire, a ridge of Old Red Sandstone runs right
through that parish; and having regard to the context, it
cannot well be doubted that this is the Red Ridge of the
Irish Annalists.
Skene shows that Alpin, the brother of Drostan, who fell
at the Red Ridge, was of the line of Gabhran on his father's
side; and the line of Gabhran was descended from Fergus,
son of Ere, the founder of the Scottish race of Dalriadic
kings. Therefore, Drostan was of the race of Fergus, and
the fact is chronicled by the inscription, as might be ex-
pected, for descent from Fergus was indicative of noble
ancestry. As Cleasby points out, " the ancient sagamen "
of the Scandinavians " delighted " in genealogies, " and had
a marvellous memory for lineages "; and exactly the same
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 247
characteristics distinguished the Irish and Highland bards
and historians.
The cumulative proofs are therefore convincing that the
St. Vigeans Stone marks the spot where the Pictish King
Drostan fell in 728, or at any .rate, where he died. 20 If
that conclusion is accepted, it follows that the philological
value of the inscription as a key to the Pictish language is
great. For it shows that in the eighth century, the main
element in that language was closely akin to, if not identical
with, Old Icelandic, and that Cymro-Latin factors were also
present.
A further example of this Scandinavian element in the
Pictish language, and its lineal descendant, the neo-Scottish
dialect, may be cited. In the National Museum of Antiqui-
ties in Edinburgh, there is an ancient banner, which for many
generations was the cherished property of the Aberach branch
of the Clan Mackay. Its age is unknown, but in Strath-
naver it has long been a synonym for anything, the origin
of which is so ancient as to be beyond the ken of tradition.
On the banner is a hand with the fingers extended. Across
the palm of the hand are the words Be tren. Round the
hand are the words, Verk visly and tent to ye end. What do
these words mean?
The banner being the property of a Highland family, a
Gaelic origin has been sought for the motto, but no Gaelic
key has been able to unlock its meaning, with the excep-
tion of the word tren. Yet the meaning of the motto is
surely clear enough. Be tren, by common consent, means
Be strong. The word tren is still alive in Irish, and is
occasionally heard in Scots Gaelic. It is traceable to Cym.
tren, strenuous; as a noun, it means "force" and " rapidity."
The river-name " Trent " is probably derived from it.
20 Duald MacFirbig states in his * Fragments" of Irish Annals, that in
727 Angus won three victories over Drust, whom he calls "King of Alba."
248 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
For the remaining words, however, no Celtic source will
serve. But when we apply a Scandinavian key, it moves
in the lock easily. Verk is from O. Ic. Verka, to work.
Visly is from O. Ic. Viss, wise, or with knowledge. Tent
is the familiar Scots word meaning " attend carefully."
(French attendre).
Thus the full translation of the motto is, " Be strong :
work with knowledge (wisely), and keep the end steadfastly
in view: an excellent precept to which the custodians of
the banner may have endeavoured to conform. Strength,
wisdom, perseverance, and foresight are enjoined; possibly
a counsel of perfection for mediaeval Highland chiefs, but
embodying statesmanlike virtues that apply to all times and
all men.
The motto on the Aberach-Mackay banner supplements
the inscription on the St. Vigeans stone in proving the Scan-
dinavian and Cymric elements that preceded and co-existed
with Gaelic in Scotland. Both are, in my view, philological
monuments of uncommon importance.
It would appear, therefore, that when the Pictish nation
was at the height of its power, the language spoken in the
East of Scotland between the Grampians and the Firth of
Forth had as its closest affinity the language spoken in
Scandinavia at the same period, which goes by the name of
"Old Danish." The last important settlement in Pictish
territory before the establishment of Scottish ascendency
was, as we have seen, Frisian; and I have shown that it
probably extended from the Firth of Forth to the Gram-
pians. Thus the Firth of Forth came to be called Mare
Fresicum, as later it was called the Scottish Sea by the
English, because the Scots exercised sovereignty over the
lands north of the Firth occupied by Frisian colonists. The
language spoken by these colonists profoundly affected in
course of time the vernacular of East Scotland.
It will be observed that the fahel of Peanfahel takes the
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 249
Low German, rather than the Old Icelandic form; and the
inference is that the settlers of Saxon or Frisian origin, who
dwelt hetween the Grampians and the Forth, had impressed
the Pictish language with the stamp of Platt-Deutsch.
Later, that impression deepened and widened until, when
the earliest examples of what is now known as the " Scots "
language appeared, it had become permanently shaped in
the Low - German form which it bears at the present day.
The addition and distribution of a Saxon or Low German
element, must necessarily have introduced a corresponding
modification in the Pictish language. Thus, on the east
coast we would naturally expect to find that element, and the
dialect representing it, in their purest state; while further
west, a greater degree of mixture would be anticipated.
North of the Grampians, on the east coast, we should look
for a smaller proportion of Platt-Deutsch, and larger pro-
portions of Cymric and Scandinavian than further south.
Later on, the influx of the Scots would add still another
factor; and, as a large substratum of the whole, there was
(and is) the flotsam of neolithic and probably paL^eolithic
ancestry, mute as to philology, but eloquent as to anthro-
pology, which would be found existing independently in
the most rugged and least fertile parts of the country, or in
a state of servitude among the later peoples. The dominant
race would always be found in the plains.
Thus arose the different dialects of the modern Scots
language, as distinct from the language of " the ancient
Scots," or the Gael. It is a mistake to suppose that the
modern Scots language is merely a dialect of Northumbrian
or Anglo-Danish English. It is true that owing to the
cognate elements in both, they possess features in common. 21
And it is true, moreover, that owing to the lengthy pre-
dominance of Northumbria over the east of Scotland up to
the Firth of Forth, the dialect in the Lothians is in some
21 There is a Scandinavian element in both.
250 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
respects not easily distinguishable from that of the north-
east of England. But there was no such predominance over
the country north of the Forth. And to argue that the com-
paratively small number of Anglo-Saxon refugees who settled
in Scotland during, and subsequently to, the reign of Malcolm
Canmore were capable of imposing a new language upon the
inhabitants of the country which they made their home, is
contrary to all ideas of probability. Nor is it more likely that
the large number of English prisoners who were carried cap-
tive into Scotland by Malcolm Canmore would be the means
of displacing, in favour of an Anglo-Saxon tongue, the
ancient language of their masters. These captives were
driven out of the country after Malcolm's death, and it is
a well-established fact that in subsequent reigns, the enmity
of the Scottish people (especially the Celts) towards Eng-
lish and Norman settlers became a fruitful source of internal
dissensions. 22
The Norman barons who obtained lands and a permanent
settlement in Scotland, introduced Norman usages, and
added an unimportant element of Norman-French to the
language; but their presence in the country does not affect
the question under discussion.
There is consequently no escape from the conclusion, that
the present Scots (originally Pictish) language is indigenous,
and that its development, at any rate north of the Firth of
Forth, has been almost entirely independent of English in-
fluences. Whence then was it derived? To that question
I have attempted to give what appears to me to be a satis-
factory answer. The modern Scots language is an admix-
22 Barbour called the language in which he wrote, " Inglis." Gavin
Douglas called the same dialect " Scottes." It was also called *' quaint
Inglis." This shows a recognition of its relationship with English; but
with a difference. In Harbour's day, the Scots language was Gaelic, and
the language called "Pictish," in the belief of that time, had disappeared.
Therefore Barbour gave the literary language in which he wrote the name
of its nearest congener. Probably it differed from the vernacular.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 251
ture of the Teutonic dialects of the Pictish settlers, with some
Cymric remains, and some additions of Gaelic introduced
by the Scots from Ireland. The Celtic elements are less
distinct, the further east they are traced, and on the coast
of the ancient Pictish kingdom, as far north as the Gram-
pians, they are only faintly discernible. These distinctions
mark the points of social contact between the Celtic and
Teutonic peoples, and the characteristics of the inhabitants of
the areas so distinguished follow closely the lines of the
linguistic demarcation.
The personal names complete the circle of Teutonic factors.
Jamieson gives a long list of names in Angus alone, most of
which are undeniably either of Scandinavian or Frisian
origin; 23 and elsewhere, it has been pointed out that, for
example, names such as Watson and Gibson, which are
fairly familiar on the east coast of Scotland, are derived from
the Frisian names Watse and Gibbe, while the suffix "son"
is peculiarly Scandinavian. 24 The similarity of many words
in common use in the same geographical area, with words
in Old Frisian having the same meaning, is altogether too
striking to be fortuitous. The English forms of these words
are substantially different. As a distinguished foreign his-
torian has aptly observed: ". . . The speech and the
song of the Scottish ploughman not unfrequently receive
their best illustration by a comparison with the expressions
of the Holsteiner, Hadeler, or Frisic husbandman or
mariner." 25
The retention in Scots of the letter "c " with the guttural
sound " ch," is sufficient proof of itself to show that the
language did not come from England. For in Anglo-Saxon,
the " c " was changed into " h " between the eighth and the
23 Dissertation, p. xl.
24 Bosworth (1848), p. 73. Similarly Ritson and Hodson are from the
Frisian names Ritse and Hodse.
"Lappenberff (Thorpe), i., p. 108.
252 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
ninth centuries. Thus, in a Codex referred by Wanley to
737 A.D., we have a few lines of Caedmon, in which the word
" mighty " appears as " msecti," " Lord " as " drictin," and
Almighty as "Allmectig." In the same lines, as modernised
by King Alfred about 885, these words are written " mihte,"
"dryhten," and " ^Elmightig," 26 showing that in the
interval the change from " c " to" h " had taken place; and
that change has been maintained to the present day. 27 If
the Anglo-Saxons, therefore, were the authors of the Scots
language during the llth and subsequent centuries, the " h "
form would assuredly have been incorporated in that
language. But the " c " (or guttural " ch ") has always
been, and is at the present day, a distinctive characteristic of
Scots; it is retained, for example, in the word " micht," as
it was in Anglo-Saxon up to the eighth century. Precisely
the same peculiarity is apparent in Old Frisian, which, in the
opinion of Mr. Halbertsma, an eminent Frisian linguist, 28
was originally distinguished from Anglo-Saxon only by
slight differences of dialect, but about the middle of the
fifth century, entered upon a phase of independent develop-
ment. 29
The dominant element among the Picts during the later
period of their sovereignty was apparently Frisian. And
that may be the explanation of the puzzling statement by
2t5 Bosworth, p. 57. See Joyce on the gutturals in the North of Ireland
(a Scottish inheritance). The Origin and History of Irish Place Names,
p. 52.
27 The guttural form is very pronounced at the beginning of Scottish
literature (cf. Harbour's "Bruce").
In the Durham Book (a Northumberland glossary written about 900 A.D.)
the "h" has superseded the "c." If, therefore, the Scots dialect came
from Northumbria, how did it retain the "c" after it had been per-
manently shed by the Northumbrian dialect ?
38 His remarks are incorporated by Bosworth, p. 46.
29 There are many words in the Scots language that are exactly the
same in O. Fris. e.g., mon for man; dochter for daughter; suster for
sister ; brocht (O. Fris., brochte) for brought ; thocht (O. Fris., thochte) for
thought ; thole (O. Fris., tholia), to tolerate ; and so on.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 253
Procopius, that Brittia or Britain was peopled in his day
(6th century) hy the Britons, the Angles, and the Frisians.
He says nothing about the Saxons, and nothing about the
Picts. The usual supposition is that by "Frisians" he must
have meant Saxons ; but in that event, he omitted the inhabi-
tants of the northern part of the island altogether. Is it
likely that the powerful nation of the Picts would thus be
ignored by a well-informed writer, as if they had no exis-
tence? It seems to me to be more probable that he included
the Saxons in the name "Angles," and that by Frisians, he
meant the dominant people of the Pictish nation.
Assuming, then, that Pictish was a mixed language, its
nearest cognate in its final development being Old Frisian,
how did this language become the national tongue of the
Scots, who, when they colonised Alban, were demonstrably
Gaelic-speakers? Ralph Higden tells us how this question
was answered in the fourteenth century. He says that the
Scots were at one time confederates of the Picts, and lived
with them, and that consequently they " drawe somewhat
after here (their) speche " (as Trevisa translates the pas-
sage). 30 That is substantially the true explanation of the
seeming anomaly. The Scots were a conquering caste, but
considerably outnumbered by the Pictish people whom they
governed; and in course of time, the language of the majority
prevailed. Gradually but surely, the Celtic tongue of the
Scots was swamped by the popular language throughout the
area of the Scottish seat of government, 31 until finally it
lingered in the Lowlands, only in sporadic centres where
30 Polycronicon, ii., pp. 156-8. The original text reads : Scoti ex conmctu
Pictorum, cum quibus olim confcederati cohabitabant, quippiam contraxerint
in sermone.
31 Gaelic must have been understood at the court of Alexander III., for
it was a Highland bard who proclaimed his genealogy. But the Court
language must have been Norman-French, for it was in Norman-French
that the Bishop of St. Andrews explained the nature of the oath and
obligation.
254 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
it persisted as a spoken language, in districts contiguous
to the Highlands as late as the sixteenth century. 32
Bi-lingualism kept Gaelic alive in Court circles (whether
continuously or not) until the reign of James IV., who,
we are told by the Spanish Ambassador, " spoke the
language of the savages." But among the mass of the
Lowland Scots it seems to have died out long before. Only
in the West and North Highlands, where social contact with
the Picts was at its minimum, did it retain permanently
its hold on those Scots who became distinguished from their
southern compatriots by the adjective "ancient," to signify
their adherence to the old language, and the adjective
" wyld," to signify their place in the scale of civilisation.
The statement made by John of Fordun about the
languages spoken in Scotland in his day, shows clearly what
the conditions were at the end of the fourteenth century.
Fordun tells us that there were two languages, which he
calls respectively " Scottish " and " Teutonic." The " Scot-
tish " language was spoken by those who dwelt in the High-
lands and outlying districts (the Isles); and the " Teutonic "
by those who occupied the seaboard and the plains.
Thus the Highlanders and the Islesmen spoke the "Scot-
tish " (Gaelic) tongue, while the people on the (east) coast,
and the occupiers of the plains; in other words the Low-
landers, spoke a " Teutonic " tongue. If that Teutonic
tongue was English, Fordun would have said so, and we
must therefore assume that the language was structurally
different from English. We are driven to the conclusion
that this " Teutonic " tongue, for which Fordun could find
no distinctive appellative, must have been a legacy from
the Picts, a race whose name, by the end of the fourteenth
century, had disappeared from history.
32 Sir Thomas Craig, writing at the beginning of the seventeenth cen-
tury, says that he remembers the time when the inhabitants of the shires
of Stirling and Dumbarton spoke pure Gaelic.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 255
But there must necessarily have been a large proportion of
Scots among the dwellers on the coast and on the plains.
What had become of their Scottish (Gaelic) speech?
Obviously they had abandoned it, and adopted the
" Teutonic " speech of the people among whom they had
settled. And that is what Higden meant by saying that
the Scots, as the result of living with the Picts, Tiad adopted
their speech. Thus Fordun and Higden explain one
another, and by so doing, throw valuable light on the racial
problem. And that the forefathers of these dwellers in the
plains, who spoke a Teutonic tongue, were Picts, is shown
by the early Welsh texts, in which the Picts are sometimes
called Peithwr, or " men of the plains." 33 Similarly, the
Low Country in Scotland is called in the Book of Deer the
" Cruithnean plain."
It was not until the tenth century that the Scottish, or
Gaelic, tongue was called " Irish " to show its origin, and
to distinguish it from the " Teutonic " tongue, or " quaint
Inglis," that had, by this time, usurped to itself the name
of " Scottish." The latter has been called " Scottish " ever
since, while the original Scottish language, afterwards
called Irish, is now known by its most descriptive name of
"Gaelic. "34
33 At one stage of these investigations, it seemed to me not impossible
that this name, Peith-wr, or "men of the plains," might be the origin of
the Roman name Picti, in contradistinction to Albinnich, "the people ot
the hills ; " but further study showed that this view was scarcely tenable.
However, Poitau (Pictavia) in France may have received its name from
the level character of the land, and accordingly, the Pictones may have
had their name from the topography of their country, instead of the
contrary process.
34 As already remarked, Scots dialect is impregnated with words of
Celtic origin, the remains of the Cymric element incorporated in the
Pictish language, and of the Gaelic language introduced by the Scots
and mixed with the Pictish tongue. Here is another important difference
between the Scots and the Northumbrian dialects.
CHAPTER XXIII.
An analysis of Scottish river-names, mountain-names, and island-names.
IT will be well to have recourse once more to the proofs
supplied by place-names, for reinforcing the correctness of
the views just stated. I propose therefore to examine a few
of the earliest and most characteristic names, excluding those
already analysed in the Irish and Ptolemaic categories. I
commence with the principal river-names.
Adder (Black and White): it has been suggested that this
name is simply " water," with the loss of the initial
" w." But that is not consistent with the earliest form
Edre. Eather is the etymology A. S. Edre, meaning
a water-course. This is proved by the town-name
Edrom (Ederham), the village on the Edre.
Almond: apparently (from its early forms), a variant (see
"Lomond") of Avon, river. Gym. Afon, or Awon.
Annan (early form Anant): probably Gym. Nant, brook.
Aray (from which Inveraray takes its name) : Skrine appro-
priately calls this river "the furious Aray." It is a
Scandinavian name, 0. Ic. (Err (pron. like "Air"),
furious. The termination is O. Ic. a, river.
Awe : Gym. Aw, a fluid, or a flowing.
Ayr: see Aray. The root is the same.
Bran, Brahan, Brander : Gae. Bran, a mountain stream.
The source is probably O. Ic. Brana, to rush forward,
or to fall violently (cf. Scots Brane, mad or furious).
The suffix of Brander is Gym. dwr, water.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 257
Brora: 0. Ic. Brdthr, Swift (cf. Falls of Bruar).
Colder (Cawdor): the root Col (? Gym. Gall, energy), is
ultimately derivable from Sans. Cal, to drive, (Celer,
quick), and Gym. dwr, water. Calder therefore means
the rapidly moving water. (Cf. Scots Call, Caw, and
Ca, to move quickly, to drive: " Ca the cattle.")
Carron (Garonne): the root is probably Gym. Garw, a tor-
rent. A connexion with Lat. curro, Eng. current, and
Sans, car, denoting motion, may be remotely traced.
Garry and Yarrow are probably relations of Carron.
Cart: is seemingly connected with Gym. Carthu, to clear, or
cleanse.
Conan or Conon: probably from Gym. Cyun (Lat. Con),
united. The Conan receives in its course four other
fivers, and the united streams, under the name of the
Conan, fall into the Cromarty Firth. Cf. Conwhisk, and
Condorrat, both of which names have a meaning similar
to that of Conan, namely, " united streams " or
"waters."
Dee : see Deva, already analysed.
Deskford, Dusk Water, Duskie Burn: "Dusk" means
literally two streams, as shown by Davoren's Glossary
(see "Dee"). Gym. Dwy, two, and wysg, a stream
or current.
Deveron: some of the early forms (e.g., Douern, Duff-
hern), suggest the meaning as Dark Earn (see " Earn "
and " Findhorn "). The Blackwater is one of its head
streams. It is a rapid river, like all the Earns. The
early spelling does not support an etymology derived
from Gym. Dwfr, water.
Devon : the phonetics hardly permit of a derivation similar
to that of "Dee" (Dwy-ajori). An early form,
Dovan, suggests Gym. Dof, gentle or tame (Scots doivf,
17
258 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
lethargic, or inert), but that description is only
partially appropriate, and probahly Gym. Dwf, what
glides, is preferable.
Don and Doon: an early form of Don, viz., Deon (Aber-
deen), suggests a derivation similar to that of Devon.
An alternative etymology is to connect it with Dee and
awon. It is a twin of the Dee, and it is believed that
at one time it united with that river near its efflux.
Its channel has certainly been altered. It is noteworthy
that so important a river as the Don is not mentioned
by Ptolemy. The Don divides for a short distance into
two branches, which reunite, enclosing a river-island to
the north of Kintore.
^he Doon is formed by the junction of two streams.
Douglas: black stream or rivulet. Gym. Du, black, and
glas, already analysed. Glas occurs fairly frequently
in Scottish stream-names, sometimes without the initial
letter (e.g., Finlass and Kinlass), when used in a com-
pound. Duglais in Welsh, is translated as a black
stripe."
Earn : an important and much disputed river-name. Its cog-
nateness with Erin (Ireland), though usually assumed,
is more than doubtful. The early forms suggest Gym.
Erin, moving, Erain, having impulse; but a more
obvious relation is suggested by 0. Ic., Ern, brisk or
vigorous, which fits the flow of all the Earns. 0. Ic,
Ern } and Gym. Erain, may be radically associated (cf.
River Erne in Ireland).
Elliott : the river root El and oil or oich, water. Elliock has
the same meaning (cf. Teviot).
Ericht : a hybrid. Here we have icht for ach, river (cf.
muir riicht). Er or Ar = 0. Ic. (Err, furious. The
Erichts are turbulent streams (see "Aray" and "Ayr").
Esk : Gym. Wysg, a current or stream.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 259
Eive: Gym. 'Ew, what glides or is smooth.
Findhorn (Findearn) : Find, clear, added, apparently, to the
original " Earn " (see " Earn "). The Gaelic name of
the river is Erne.
Fleet: 0. Ic. Fljot, a river.
Forth: Gym. Fford, a passage; Eng. Ford, Scots Forth,
an inlet of the sea. O. Ic. Fjordr (nominal form
Firdi, i.e., Firthi) shows the origin of "Firth" (see
the "Bodotria" of Tacitus).
The Forth is called Aghmore (the great river), in
a map published early in the fourteenth century.
Gala: Gym. Gal, clear or fair; or from Gym. Gwallaw, to
pour.
Girvan: an old form is Gar wane. Gym. Gwar, gentle, and
afon.
Irvine: a hybrid. An old form is Orewin. 0. Ic. Orr,
swift. Win = awon, river.
Isla: early forms, Ylif and Ilefe. Gym. YZ, denoting
a motion, and yf, a fluid. Hylif, apt to flow. Sans,
root II, to move.
Kelvin: Gym. Cell (Corn. Kelly], a grove, and afon, the
wooded river, an appropriate name.
Lander (or Leader): Gym. Llathyr, glittering. (Old forms,
Leder, Ledre, and Lawedir ; a later form is Lawther.)
Leith : (Water of), and Leithen are probably from A. S.
Lad, a channel, Scots Leth.
An old form of Leith is Leth. O. Fris. Leith means
ferry. This derivation seems more likely than from
Gym. Lleithiaw, to moisten.
Leven: usually attributed to Gym. Llevn, smooth. But an
etymology that is phonetically sounder is, I suggest, a
compound of Lee and afon, shortened (as was the cus-
260 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
torn) to Leven. The name also occurs in England. The
old name of Lennox (Loch Lomond) was Levenax, or
Levenach. Lee (Gym. Lli) means a stream (Gym.
Llifaw, to flow).
Lyon : may be a doublet of Leven. But it may oome from
Gym. Llion, "an aggregate of floods," for the Lyon
has a great number of mountain tributaries.
'Mark and Markie : this name is found in four districts, all
in the Pictish area; a suggestive circumstance. It
means " boundary-river," and is derived from 0. Ic.
Merki-d, with that meaning.
Nairn: Cormac equates the obsolete word Noire with Gae.
glan (Gym. glain), pure, and Nairn with "what is
pure " (? Gym. Nur, a pure body). The earliest forms
of the name are " Narn " and " Name." In Gaelic
the name is Visge Nearne (? the Earn Water), and it
may be that we have here another of the " Earn " names
already discussed. The river formerly emptied itself
into the Sea at Auld-earn, a name that supports the
etymology I have suggested.
Oich : the O. Gae. form of Gym. Ach, a fluid. Ach is
found as a river-suffix in Wales, and is usually trans-
lated as " river."
On, Orrin, Urr, Urray, and Vrie : all from O. Ic. 6rr y swift.
There is no necessity to go to a Basque root for these
names.
Oykell : here we have a curious combination of Gym. Ach
(O. Gae. Oich}, a fluid with the river root el. (Old
forms Okel, Ochell, and Akkell).
Peffer: Gym. Pefr, radiant, an appropriate name for the
Peffer (Strathpeffer), in Ross -shire. There are
" Peffer " burns elsewhere in Scotland, and also in Eng-
land.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 261
Shin: O. Ic. Skin, sheen, shining (see "Scone"). (A. S.
Scinan, to shine.) Cf. Loch Skene in Aberdeenshire,
and Loch Skeen or Skene in Dumfriesshire. The name
is also found in combination (e.g., Auchnasheen, a place
in Ross-shire, on a stream named the Sheen).
Shira: one of the older forms is Schyroche. Oche is the
familiar Gym. ach, and 0. Gae. oich, river or water,
and Schyr is 0. Ic. SJccerr, clear. (Cf. Skyre Burn in
Kirkcudbrightshire.) Here the Celtic ach is equated
with the Scand. a.
Spean: Spey-an, the Spey (already discussed) river; or
perhaps from O. Ic. Speni, suck.
Teith: Gym. Teithyawg (O.Welsh), moving.
Teviot : early forms are Teiwi and Tef e, which are essen-
tially the same names as Tava or Tay (spreading).
The terminational ot is a familiar corruption of
ach or oich, a river.
Thurso : Thor's River; also a river-name in Iceland. 1 The
" Bull " River is not a convincing etymology.
Tilt: perhaps from O. Ic. Tilt, peaceful.
Tummel : Gym. Turn, a bend, with the el termination.
Vllie: the same name as the Ulea (a Swedish name) in
Finland; found also in England, perhaps, in the River
Hull (Kingston-on-Hull). The source is apparently
O. Ic. Hola, Dan. Hul, from which Eng. words "hole"
1 We learn from the Sagas why rivers were named after Thor. When
the Norse colonists came in sight of land, they were in the habit of
throwing their high-seat pillars overboard "for luck," and they settled
where the pillars landed. That was how the river Thdrsd in Iceland got
its name (Eyrbyggia Saga, c. 4) ; and the Thurso River in Scotland may
have received its name similarly. In the Icelandic case which has been
cited, the image of Thor was carved on one of the pillars. The idea was
that the choice of a settlement was directed by Thor.
262 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
and " hollow " are derived. Gym. II, what moves, is
an alternative derivation, if the Ullie is Ptolemy's Ila.
It is possible that the original name took a Scandinavian
form under Norse influence ; Ullie has certainly a Scan-
dinavian termination. The Hen in Cork probably
comes from the root IL
Ythan: old form Athyn. Probably from Gym. Athu, de-
noting motion, the suffix yn being a fragment of afon.
Gae. Ath, a ford, not probable.
A few of the principal mountain-names may now be
analysed. They are not of great ethnological interest, some
of them being obviously late, and some taking their origin
from neighbouring features, such as lochs and rivers. Pro-
bably only the loftiest mountains retain their most ancient
nomenclature: those that stood out from their fellows promi-
nently; and even this rule is not without exceptions. 2 As
the hilly districts received new populations, so the less
important hills would receive new designations. We can
thus understand the names of the less conspicuous moun-
tains in Scotland having a Gaelic form, while the towering
mountains dominating the landscape are generally found, on
analysis, to have a Cymric root, though the original Cymric
Pen has been Gaelicised to Ben?
The various "Cairns," e.g., Cairngorm, Cairntoul, etc.,
betray the presence of Cym. Cam, a heap; Carnedd, a heap
of stones; as the various " Craigs " are the Cym. Craig, a
stone, or rock. (Eng. " Crag " is, of course, another form
of the word.) Similarly, a name like Ben Cruachan (Irish
Croagh, the guttural having been lost in Ireland) comes from
Cym. Crug, a heap.
2 The highest mountains have frequently the most unimaginative
names, e.g. Benmore, the big mountain or peak.
3 Quite probably many of the present mountain names are Gaelic forms
of pre-existing Cymric names.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 263
The suffix " gorm," in a name like Cairngorm, is believed
to be the Gae. gorm, blue, but a mountain takes a blue
hue only when seen from a distance. Gym. gwrm, dun, or
dusky, a colour which agrees with the fact, is a (more probable
derivation. The " toul " of Cairntoul is referable to Gym.
twl, what is rounded, again agreeing with the fact. The
curious name, Ben Macdhui, in the same group of mountains,
is an obvious corruption, as indeed the different modes of
spelling the name (e.g., Ben Muich Dhui), testify. Nothing
but nonsense can be made out of a name like this, if we turn
to Gaelic or English for an etymology; but we find in Gym.
mwci, a fog, mwcan, a cloud of fog, what is perhaps a satis-
factory explanation, while dhui may well stand for Gym.
duawg, gloomy, or black. On the other hand, Ben-y-gloe,
appears to mean the bright or cloudless mountain. (Gym.
glOj what is bright.) The presence of Gym. y (the) is signi-
ficant.
Ben Nevis and Ben Lomond seem to derive their names,
one from the river Nevis, and the other from the celebrated
loch over which it towers. If this is the fact, we find the
root of Nevis (is = wysg), in that of Naver, which has already
been analysed; while "Lomond," as we have seen, is the
same as " Leven " (cf. Almond for Avon). But if, as
seems less likely, the process was the contrary one, we have
a choice of suitable derivations for the mountain - name.
0. Ic. Gnaefa, to rise high, to tower, may be balanced with
Gym. Nyf, snow (Lat. nix, gen. nivis). Ben Nevis is both
a high mountain the highest in Britain and it is snow-
capped all the year round. For " Lomond," Gym. Llumon,
a beacon, might be suggested, but it is much more probable
that the mountain took its name from the loch, like Ben
Hope, from Loch Hope (O. Ic. Hop, a small land-locked
bay), and Ben Avon, from Loch and Glen Avon. This
view seems to be confirmed by the fact that the West Lomond
Hill in Kinross has Loch Leven at its base.
264 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Ben Ledi and Ben Lawers in Perthshire both suggest a
Cymric origin: Lied, broad, and Llor, what bulges out. But
Schiehallion in the same county is difficult to account for
in a Celtic language. The first syllable looks like Sid or
Sitli, a fairy mountain-residence, and the shape of the
mountain suggests O. Ic. hall, smooth, as the source of the
description; or possibly hallandi, slope.
In names like the Sidlaw Hills and Venlaw, the A. S.
hldw, shows itself unmistakably. Its presence in Peeble-
shire (Venlaw) is intelligible, but all existing ethnological
notions fail to explain its presence north of the Firth lof Tay .
The Ochil Hills have an indisputably Cym. name: Uchel,
high or lofty. And Ben Voirlich, literally the large flat
stone (Cym. Mawr, large, and llech, a flat stone), has the
Cymric rather than the Gaelic form.
Names like Sliach and Slioch are a little puzzling until
we find from early forms that they are contractions of
" Slevach," and so we find in them the Irish " Slieve,"
already discussed. There is a " Slioch " in Eoss-shire
(Sliabhach), west of the mighty Ben Wyvis, which is a
name that presents some difficulties. It is apparently a cor-
ruption of a Gaelic word fuathas (which appears in a charter
as Uaish), expressing prodigiousness of size (Wyvis has an
enormous lateral bulk). It is impossible to say how far
back this name goes; there are no early forms extant.
Turning now to the island nomenclature, I shall examine
a few of the principal names, not previously analysed.
Ailsa Craig : a pleonasm. Cym. Allt, Gae. Ail, a
rock. Craig, a stone. Corn. Alsa, a high cliff.
Arran: the present name accords with the most ancient
forms. The source is apparently Cym. Aran, a high
place, frequently found in Welsh mountain nomencla-
ture. The Aran Islands of Galway in Ireland must
have their name from the same source.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 265
Batra (Outer Hebrides), Burra (Shetland), Burray (Ork-
ney): early forms prove that Burra and Burray mean
" fort-island " (Borgarey} ; and Barra may have a
similar meaning, for in Lewis, Borg, in combination,
sometimes takes the form of Bar a or Bhara. A con-
nexion of the name with St. Finn Barr is more than
dubious. Barra's position in the group of islands at
the end of the principal members of the Outer Hebrides
may suggest a Celtic source (Barr) for the name;
but it is a doubtful derivation.
Benbecula : is a name that has puzzled both Gaelic and
Scandinavian etymologists. The " Ben " is the solitary
hill in the island, and is an addition to the Original
name. The terminational " a " is a varient of ey,
(0. Ic.), meaning island. The real name is contained
in "Becul" or "Bagle" (to cite an early form). Another
early form is " Beacla " (a full list of forms is given
in the History of the Outer Hebrides). It is derived
from Gym. Bugail, (cf. " Bugle," a wild ox), a herds-
man. Becula thus means the Herdsman's Isle, an
appropriate name for an island mainly devoted to pas-
turage. Thus we find in the full name " Benbecula "
a curious assortment of Gaelic, Cymric, and 0. Ice-
landic forms, proclaiming the mixture of races that I
have been insisting upon.
Bute: early forms of Bute are Bot, Bote, and Boot. (The
bootjack used by the London mob as a symbol of the
obnoxious Scot, Lord Bute, was orthographically cor-
rect.) O. Ic. Bud } a dwelling-place, is the probable
source of the name (cf. Corn. Bot, a dwelling).
Coll (early forms Coll and Collow): looks like Cym. Coll,
a hazel, a word that remains unchanged in Gaelic. But
a more probable derivation is that discussed under Cul or
Cool (''rising-ground 7 ') in the list of Irish prefixes.
266 THE EACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Colonsay : has the same derivation as Coll, (with an affix:
Gym. Colon, a peak), as shown hy the early forms, one
of which, Golwonche, seems to contain a suffix ynys, or
wch, island. George Buchanan says of Colonsay that
"there is a hazel-wood in it." Evidently he derived
the name from Cym. Gotten, a hazel. It is impossible
to conect the name with St. Columba.
Cumbraes (Great and Little): early forms Kumbrey and
Cumbraye. This name means, I think, beyond doubt,
the ridge island (0. Ic. Kambr, a ridge, and ey, an
island ; not the island of the Cymri}. It is thus
derived from the fact that the Great Cumbray has a
ridge called the Shoughends extending nearly from end
to end of the island ; and the name is also appropriate for
the sister isle.
Cumbernauld shows in its early forms the same
origin, and takes its name probably from Barrhill, as
does Kirkintilloch (anciently (Cym.) Cairpentaloch),
from the Roman fort on the hill (see Barra). Kirk-
intilloch ^ind Cumbernauld were formerly one parish.
But Comrie is from quite another source, viz., Gae.
Comar, a confluence, from Cym. Cymmer, with the same
meaning. Comrie in Perthshire is situated at the con-
fluence of the Earn and the Ruchill, and Comrie in
Ross-shire at the confluence of the Conon and the Meig.
Cummertrees in Dumfries seems to mean the joined
hamlets (Cym. tre), viz., Cummertrees, Powfoot, and
Kelhead.
It may be doubted whether even Cumberland has its
name from the Cymri. May it not mean the land of
mountain ridges? The name Cymri is probably related
to Cym. Cymhar, a partner, and has thus the same
force as Gael. Sir John Rhys, whose authority is un-
challengeable, gives Combrox, compatriot, as the earliest
source. The ideas of " compatriot " and " partner " are
not unrelated.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 267
Eigg : this name probably means the Ridge Isle, from 0. Ic.
Egg, a ridge. The " ridges " may have been suggested
by the dominating appearance of Scure-Eigg, a rocky
basaltic hill with columns rising in ranges. Quite as
likely a derivation is from 0. Ic. Egg, sharp-edged, in
allusion to the island's serrated outline.
Flannan Isles: " Called after St. Flannan." But who was
St. Flannan? This seems to be another instance of a
saint manufactured (see St. Kilda) to explain the name
of a place that has sacred remains. In Lewis the isles
are usually called the " Flannels " (Scots " flannen " for
"flannel" reversed). The meaning of " Flannan
Isles" is probably the "squally isles": root flann, a
gust of wind, common in Shetland (and therefore doubt-
less of Scandinavian origin). Cf. Scots flannin, e.g.,
11 the wind's flannin doon the lum."
Gigha : the Scandinavians named this island Gudey, literally
God-island. As I have incidentally mentioned, they
called their temple-priests " gods," and they may have
applied the name to Gudey, on finding there evidences
of Christian worship. It contains the ruins of an old
chapel.
Holm: a name given to numerous islets, especially in
Orkney. From 0. Ic. Holmi, islet. But the Holms
in the south of Scotland are meadowland. They were
apparently so called for the same reason as the Gae.
Inch, island, was applied sometimes to meadows, especi-
ally in Perthshire, an explanation of which has already
been given.
lona : Adamnan called it loua, and Bede Hy, and these being
the earliest forms, are therefore the most authoritative.
It is quite comprehensible that loua should take the
form of lona, not only because of the similarity of the
forms, and the inflexional suggestion which they convey,
268 THE BACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
but also owing to the fact that lona is the Greek equa-
tion of Columba, or dove, and Hiona would therefore be
regarded as the equivalent of Columba's Isle. 3 The
island was frequently called Hi Coluim - Cille, later
Icolmkill.
loua and Hy show suggestively Teutonic fprms.
loua = Ouwa, 0. H. German, island (literally the
"water-place" or "water-land"), while Hy or Ey is the
Scandinavian form of the same word. Sometimes the
name of lona appears simply as "I" (i.e., Ey). There is
no Celtic word from which can be derived a meaning
that has any approach to likelihood. This name of
itself is sufficient to show the presence of a Teutonic
element on the west coast, long before the historical
settlement of the Norseman. 4
I slay : the earliest forms are Ilea, He, and Yla. It has
been suggested that the name is of Basque origin; but
that does not explain it.
II may be Cymric, and I suggest, tentatively, either of
the following sources, viz.: Hyll, gloomy or wild; Y/Z,
what tends to part, in allusion to the shape of the island
as intersected by Lochs Gruinart and Indal. But it is
by no means improbable that, like O. Eng. lie and YZe,
the name just means " isle," and is derived from insula.
Jura: has a Cymric name. Early forms are Doirad, Dure,
and Dewra. The source is Cym. Dur (durus), and the
name therefore means the hard or barren island. A
" dour " man is a " hard " man.
Kerrera: apparently a pleonasm. (Early forms Kjarbarey.
and Carberry.) Cym. Caer, and O. Ic. borgarey, the
fort island (see Barra and Burra).
3 St. Coluraba was called by the Gael, Columcille, i.e., Colum of the cell
or church, presumably to distinguish the great ecclesiastic from others of
the same name.
* Adamnan's form, lou-a, corresponds with the Scandinavian termina-
tions which he gives to Mull (Mal-ea), Islay (Il-ea), and Eigg (Eg-ea).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 269
St. Kilda : there is no saint of that name, and the origin of
the place-name has consequently proved a puzzle. It
originated in this way: There was a sacred well in the
island called Tiobar Childa. Tiobar is Gaelic for a
well, and Childa (Kelda) is O. Ic. for a well.
The name had been duplicated by the two
languages. The Gaelic-speaking people who called the
well Tiobar , did not understand the meaning of its pre-
vious name Kelda. They supposed it must have been
the name of the Saint from whom, presumably, the
well derived its sanctity. And thus Saint Kilda was
manufactured (see comment under KIT).
The original name of the island was Hyrt or Hirt, de-
rived either from 0. Ic. Hjortr (pi. Hirtir), a hart, or
stag, or from Hirdir (herd), a shepherd.
Lewis and Harris (where the tweeds come from) : one island,
though administratively distinct, and belonging to dif-
ferent Parliamentary constituencies: Ross and Cromarty
(Lewis), and Inverness-shire (Harris). This separa-
tion, with all its inconveniences and anomalies, is due
to a system still persisting in its effects, whereby a
county like Cromarty, for example, is dotted over dif-
ferent localities like raisins in a plum-pudding, because
these dots represent what formed at one time the posses-
sions of the Earl of Cromarty. Originally Lewis and
Harris must have been embraced by one name.
Harris, which appears in a great variety of forms, must
be referred to the Norse Herod, a district, rather than
the high island, or heights. Harris is more moun-
tainous than Lewis, and the idea at one time was, that
"Lewis" might mean the low part, and "Harris" the high
part of the island. As shown by early forms, Harray
in Orkney (Herad) must be the same name. The Red
Book of Clanranald gives the form Heradh to Harris.
270 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Lewis appears in various garbs, a full list of which,
with the various derivations, I have given elsewhere.
(History of the Outer Hebrides, p. xxviii.) The
name has proved a fine field for etymological guessing,
in which I myself have taken part, with the same un-
satisfying results as others. The earliest form is in
an Irish (supposed twelfth century), MS., where it is
Leodus, and the Saga forms give Ljodus and Ljodhus.
O. Ic. Ljodus, song-house, will not do at all for the
name of an island. The name, as it appears in the
Orkney Saga, must be a Norse rendering of a pre-Norse
word. 5 In several early forms (one being as early as
the thirteenth century), Gae. Leog, a marsh, or a place
full of lochs, is distinctly visible; while another form
(also thirteenth century), shows in Lodoux, the same
form as Leodus. Plainly there is an equation here be-
tween Lod and Leog ; and so, in fact, there is, for both
signify a marsh in modern Gaelic. Lod, in Irish Gae-
lic, means a puddle, and Lodan, a thin puddle; and the
latter is alive in Scots dialect as Loddan, a small pool.
That is also one of the meanings of Lod in Scots Gaelic.
In Leodhas, modern Gaelic preserves, approximately,
the old form of " Lewis."
I find an English author using the expression "lakes
or lodes," which suggests that Lod is a well-distributed
root. It is related to Lat. Lutus, which means, liter-
ally, "what is washed over with water"; hence mire
and bog. The Celtic source of the root is probably
5 There was a Ljodm in Bohuslan, Sweden (a famous resort of Vikings),
and if the first arrivals of the later Scandinavian colonists of Lewis came
from that district, it is quite intelligible how the Scandinavian rendering
of the name of the island took that form. The O. Ic. affix hiis, tacked on
to the name by the Northmen, persists in all the forms of " Lewis" down
to the present day. It appears in the names of large districts in Norway
and Sweden. I think it will be found that each of these districts had a
fortified castle, from which hus may have been originally derived.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 271
Cyrn. 6 Llaid, mire; Llaith, moist; or perhaps Llyddus,
diffusive, pouring. Leodus thus means a boggy place,
and the later forms Leogus, Leoghuis, and Leoghas
mean the same thing, being derived from Leog, a marsh
(Ir. and Scots Gae.). The name is completely appro-
priate.
Leeds, in England (early form Loidis), has the same
meaning as Lewis. Leeds was, in fact, as discoveries
have shown, the site of a lake-village. Louth, in Ire-
land, and in Lincolnshire, may also be derivable from
Lod. Lothian, an early form of which is Loidis (like
Leeds), is probably referable to the same root. All
these places were no doubt characterised originally by
marshy soil.
Lismore: usually translated "big garden," an unlikely ety-
mology. Early forms are Lesmoir and Lesmor; later
Lismoir. The prefix is probably the Irish Lis, a forti-
fied dwelling, Gym. Llys, a palace. There are vestiges
in the island of several fortified camps, and an old castle
with a fosse and drawbridge, attributed by tradition
to a Danish origin.
Luing : O. Ic. Lyng, Swed. Ljung, heather, the Heather
Isle. But perhaps from Gym. Llong, ship, i.e., a place
of call for ships (Cormac says that Long is a " Saxon "
word).
Muck : an unlovely name for the romantic atmosphere of the
Isles. Possibly derived from O. Ic. Mjukr, fertile, but
it may be a late Gaelic name meaning " swine-island "
(Eilan-nan-Muchd) . Buchanan calls it Insula Porcorum,
and says that an islet called " Horse Island " adjoins
it, a narrow channel separating them.
6 Perhaps this root Llaid is to be found in some of the " Lady " pre-
fixes in Scottish names (cf. Ladybank in Fifeshire, formerly Ladybog).
But cf. Cym. Lleddy, flat. In some names, e.g., Ladykirk and Lady well,
"Lady" is the Virgin Mary.
272 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Oronsay or Oransay (several): St. Oran's Isle. The parent
church was in Oronsay adjoining Colonsay.
Pabba or Pabbay (Hebrides) and Papa (Orkney and Shet-
land) Isles : as a rule, erroneously translated as " priest-
isle." These names, as already pointed out, denote the
habitations of Christian anchorites. O. Ic. Papi, her-
mit (not priest) (cf. Gym. Pab, father).
Papill and Paplay (Orkney and Shetland): mean " hermit's
cave," the "1" being the remains of 0. Ic. hoi, Dan.
hul, cave, as shown by early forms. The name appears
in Lewis in the form of Bayble. Paplay has the
additional ey, isle.
iRaasay. This name may mean the " Channel Isle "
(Raasay Sound), from 0. I. Rds, a channel. But with
perhaps greater probability, it may mean Raga's Isle,
a personal name that appears in the Saga of Burnt
Njal. The elision of the " g " would be according to
rule in a Gaelicised name.
Rona: not St. R/onan's Isle, but from O.Ic. Hraun, wilder-
ness.
Rum : a queer name, which has served Punch usefully . It
comes, perhaps, from 0. Ic. Rumr (O. Fris. Rum),
wide or broad, the island being broad in proportion to its
length. Or, it may be 0. Ic. Rum, a place, or seat,
though the island can never have been a desirable settle-
ment, except for pasturage.
Shetland: called Hjaltland in Norse Sagas. A personal
name, but Hjalt (Swed.) = Hjelte, hero (? Viking).
The Shetlands were long a rendezvous of Vikings. The
names of the islands in the Shetland group are decidedly
Norse.
Shiant, or Slant, Isles : in the Minch. Cym. Sant, a saint.
One of the isles, Eilean-na-Kily, had a hermit's cell.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 273
Staff a: 0. Ic. Stcef, a perpendicular rock, a name suffi-
ciently descriptive of the celebrated columns of basalt in
this island.
Tiree : anciently Terra Hith. Adamnan calls it Terra
Ethica, and the Norse name was Tyrvist (" food-
island "). Other forms are " Tiryad " and " Tereyd."
The literal meaning is corn-land : Cym. Tir-yd, to
which the Cornish Tiraeth or Tyrath, territory or
country, may be allied. Martin remarks on the " extra-
ordinary fruitfulness in corn " of Tiree.
Uist : this name appears in many forms (see History of the
Outer Hebrides). The source is usually attributed to
0. Ic. Vist, an abode, and one of the old forms is actually
Vist-ey. Another form, Guiste, is decidedly Cymric.
This suggests that the name may be Cymric after all,
and the Welsh word Gwyst, what is low, would fit, topo-
graphically. But the Gae. form Uibhist is clearly the
later (Gaelic) expression of Ivist ; and the most probable
source of the name is Scandinavian.
Viva : probably a personal name, " Ulf ," rather than "Wolf"
(0. Ic. Ulfr), the former being, of course, derived from
the latter. "Ulva's Isle" is therefore correct. The inci-
dence of the names of the former Scandinavian posses-
sors of the Hebrides, as they appear in the nomenclature
of islands, villages, and even mountains (hill-pastures),
is strongly suggestive of a social system based upon
pronounced individualism.
18
CHAPTER XXIV.
An analysis of characteristic prefixes in Scottish place-names.
FROM the river, island, and mountain names of Scotland, we
turn now to the names of districts and towns. This is not
a book of place-names; and all that I can hope to do, by
means of selecting for analysis a few of the oldest and most
outstanding of the district and town names, is to illustrate
their general character. First of all, however, we may glance
profitably at some of the most characteristic of the prefixes
in Scottish topography (which are of more importance than
the descriptive syllables), and see what ethnological sugges-
tions they may offer. Many of these are common to Ireland
and Scotland, and a certain degree of overlapping is therefore
unavoidable.
Aber and Inver : a battle of words has been fought over these
prefixes, in support, mainly, of the various theories held
about the racial affinities of the Picts. Aber has gen-
erally been regarded as a characteristically Cymric
word, while Inver, by common consent, has been
accepted as denoting, in a peculiarly emphatic way, the
presence of a Gaelic people. But Gym. Ynfer, an in-
flux, has a similar meaning to Cym. Aber.
The oldest forms of Aber that have been preserved
are Aebber, Abur and Apur. It is a compound of
Cym. Ab, denoting either quickness of motion (hence
" ape "), or with perhaps greater probability, Eb, signi-
fying issuing out, and Cym. ber, which is a mutation of
mer, meaning what is dropped off, or parted, or received;
the compound thus conveying the idea of a confluence.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 275
Aber in Wales is usually applied to the mouth of a
river, where the fresh water mingles with the sea. It is
translated as " confluence," or (with a more extended
meaning) " port."
Ynfer is compounded of Gym. Yn, in, and Gym. fer,
another mutation of mer (meru, to drop), indicating
where the water drops into another river, or the sea.
Aber has thus rather a more extended meaning in Welsh
than Ynfer. But the root is essentially the same.
In Scotland, Aber usually denotes a confluence of
waters as in Wales, but occasionally there is no confluence
to explain the prefix. Yet, a junction with a loch, or a
confluence of two insignificant burns, now dried up, per-
haps, or having an altered course, would be sufficient
to explain a prefix that is sometimes applied simply
to marshy ground. We find a curious application of
Aber in the place-name Lochaber, which acquired that
name from the fact, apparently, that there is a chain
of lochs in that district connected with one another.
But in the hands of the Gael, Inver (Scots Gae.
Inbhir) has acquired a distinct secondary meaning, viz.,
that of pasture. The ground enclosed by a river con-
fluence, or (less obviously) where a river falls into the
sea, would possess natural advantages for pasturage;
hence, probably, the reason for the transition of
meaning. In Irish Gae. Inbhear means both the mouth
of a river and pasture, and one form of the Irish word
Iniur (pi. Inuir) is reflected in the early spellings of
Inver, which are generally Inner and Inner.
Inver in Scotland is evidently a transplantation from
Ireland, where it also figures in topography. It has a
tendency to displace the earlier Aber (e.g., Inverin qui
juit Averin) 1 and sometimes the two are found in close
1 Evidently a form of Aberin, though Skene (Celtic Scotland, i., p. 221),
thinks Averin was the name of a person ; he reads qui as que.
276 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
proximity (e.g., Abernethy on the Nethy in Perthshire,
and Invernethy on the same river).
Ach or AucJi : Irish form Agh or Agha. Invariably,
I think, interpreted as Gae. Achadh, a field (see Irish
prefixes).
It is frequently applied to water (e.g., Auchen-
beatty, a stream, Loch Achall or Auchall, Loch Auch-
lossen, Loch Achray, Loch Achenreoch), and to villages
that are situated near loch or rivers (e.g., Achnasheen,
etc.); and sometimes to islands (e.g., Aghinish in Ire-
land). Water cannot be a field, nor does " field "
designate an island-name convincingly.
Achadh, a field, is clearly inapplicable in other in-
stances (e.g., Auchingeith, Auchengelloch, Auchinleck,
Auchensaugh, which are all hills). A hill and a field
cannot be the same thing, nor is " field " a fit descrip-
tion of the dells and valleys that have the prefixial Auch.
I am persuaded that the vague word " field " cannot
have been the original meaning of Achadh or Agh
(Irish), or Ach or Auch (Scottish). I believe that
Haugh (gh guttural) in the Lowlands and Auch in the
Highlands of Scotland are essentially the same words,
derived from the same source, 2 viz., 0. Ic. Hagi, pas-
ture, with which A. S. Haga and Ger. Hag, signifying
an enclosure, are cognate. If the test of " pasture "
is applied to land-names with the prefix Agh or Auch,
it will be found that they yield in all cases a satisfying
meaning. The places so described must have been, and
in many cases still are, pasture-grounds.
But Ach or Auch, " pasture," must be carefully dis-
tinguished from Ach or Auch (also Eck\ " water,"
which as a prefix frequently appears, as I have shown,
3 Auchencrow (Berwickshire) has an early form Hauchincrew, and
Auchincruive (Dumbarton) appears as Hackencrow. This is the Lowland
Haugh.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 277
in the names of rivers and lochs. Sometimes, too, a
river-name like Avich or Avoch is contracted to Auch
(cf. Avoch in Ross-shire, pronounced locally " Auch,"
which takes its name from the Avoch rivulet in the
parish, where, also, occurs the name Rosehaugh).
" Avie " applied to a river appears in Aviemore (i.e.,
River (the Spey) moor).
Ard, Aird, or Ord: a height, or promontory, or dwelling
(according to the topographical sense), already dis-
cussed in the Irish names. A frequent prefix in Scot-
land. The root of Ard, dwelling, is 0. Teut. Ar, to
plough (0. Ic. Ardhr, a plough, and Ord, ploughing.
Cym. Ardd, ploughed land, would seem to be a borrow).
Ard, therefore, would seem to convey in certain in-
stances the idea of a settlement by agriculturists. The
other meanings are from Lat. Arduum.
Am : sometimes interchanged with Ard, showing that they
are related. We have Teut. Am, a dwelling; A. S.
Erne, a habitation.
Auchter : one of Skene's characteristically ".Pictish" pre-
fixes. There is nothing specially " Pictish " about it,
unless we assume (contrary to Skene's view) that
"Pictish" and "Cymric" are synonyms. For Auchter
is the Cym. Uchder, height, or rising ground, incor-
porated in Gae., it is true, but the form is purely Cym.
One of the best known of the " Auchters " is Auch-
terarder in Perthshire. Its earliest forms are Eutrearde
and Outreart. The suffix seems to show Ard, a dwell-
ing, already analysed (it cannot be " the high height ").
From that analysis we saw that the root of Ard is Ar,
to plough, from which O. Ic. Ardhr, a plough, is de-
rived. The later forms of Auchterarder (Huchtirardor,
Ochterardour, etc.), appear to discover this word, or
its Cym. relative, Arddwr, a plougher.
278 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Another favourite of the " Auchter " species, particu-
larly beloved by deep-throated Scots as a test in Scottish
gutturals, is Auchtermuchty in Fife. Early forms are
Hucdirmukedi, Utermokedy, and Utremukerty, which
have a sufficiently appalling look to deter aspiring
Southerners from excessive ambition in the pronuncia-
tion of Scottish place-names. This may be a hybrid:
Gym. Uchder, to which is appended what seems to be
(in the last form cited) O. Ic. mjukr, soft, or fertile.
The terminational ti or dy is Gym. for " house " (ty),
or (with a more extended meaning), village. An alter-
native derivation suggested by some of the other forms
is from Gym. moch, swine, and ty, house.
Auchter is not peculiar to Scotland: it is found as
Ochter and Ochtar in some ancient place-names in Ire-
land. The form Ochter, as shown by early records, is
an older form in Scotland than Auchter.
Bal : one of the commonest prefixes in Scottish topography.
Another form of the Irish Bally already analysed.
Bel, Belly, and Billy : 0. Ic. Bil, an open space. Unlikely
to be corruptions of Bal.
Blair: Gae. Blar, a plain. Probably the root is to be
found in Gym. Ble, a plain.
Cat, or Caith, Ket, and Keith. An examination of the place-
names containing, or composed of, any of these variants
betrays the existence of a pitfall in lumping together,
under one meaning, names of a similar spelling or
pronunciation. Cat and its variants have several dis-
tinct interpretations in British place-names. I use the
word " British " advisedly, because the Cat names are
found in England, as well as in Scotland, sometimes
in the form of Ket (e.g., Rothket or Rothketh, Penket
or Penketh, Hesket or Hesketh). We find that form
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 279
in Scotland in the names Keith, Inch'-Keith (Firth of
Forth and Peterhead), Inverkeithing, and Dalkeith
(anciently Dalchet); the last shows that Bathgate
(anciently Bathchet) belongs to the same category. The
most outstanding name in the " Cat " group is Caith-
ness; and Pencaitland (Ket appears in an old form of
the same name, showing the identity of "Caith" and
" Ket ") shows the same root.
I have seen five explanations of " Cat " or " Keth "
as applied to Caithness. (1) It got its name from the
fact of its being infested with wild cats, exterminated
after a struggle ! (2) From the German Catti.
(3) From Cat (Gae.), a battle. (4) From Caith or
Got, one of the seven legendary sons of Cruithne, the
eponymous of the Picts. (5) From Cym. Coed (Coit),
a wood.
The first may be quietly ignored ; 3 the second has not
a shred of evidence in its support and is inherently im-
probable; 4 the third is a vague guess; the fourth is the
eponymic method of escaping from a difficulty; and
the fifth, though by far the most rational of these
etymologies, is not satisfactory. It will not do to
assume that a name like Chetwood, or Chatwood, is a
pleonasm, composed of Cym. and A. S. equivalents.
" Cat " is sometimes associated with stones. There
is the celebrated Catstane at Kirkliston, Edinburgh-
shire, which formed the subject of a notable essay by
Sir James Y. Simpson. There is also a Catstone at Ash-
nagh in West Meath, mentioned by Mr. Borlasc, who
3 The wild cat figures in the arms of Clan Chattan.
4 One of the Keiths (Earls Marischal) is said to have been entertained
by a Prince of Hesse on the assumption that they had a common ancestry
in the Catti In the names Catti and Hesse, we see an example of the
C and II mutation. A further example is provided by Cym. Corn and
English Horn, a butt or point (see * Edington," chap. xxv.).
280 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
describes also a dolmen at Castlemary in Cork, called,
among other names, the Catta Stones. 5 The same
author mentions the " Duyvels Kut " at Drenth in
Holland, a dolmen which got its name from the passage
under the covering stones. The Irish Cat-stones re-
ceived their name for the same reason: the existence of
a passage-way, or a hole. It seems, therefore, that in
this sense of the word, " Cat " comes from the same
source as the English word " gate," viz., A. S. geat,
a gap, or opening. The Cat-stanes of the Roxburgh
peasant are upright stones supporting the old-fashioned
grate, i.e., they enclose a space or hole.
Mr. M'Clure (who supports the Coed origin of
" Cat ") 6 states that Cett is equated in an early charter
with " tumulus," and it is a fact that the inscrip-
tion on the celebrated Catstane at Kirkliston commences
with the words, In oc tumulo. A tumulus formerly
existed about sixty yards from the stone, and it would
appear likely that, for some reason, the stone may have
been removed to its present site from its original posi-
tion at the tumulus. The association of Catstones with
dolmens and tumuli, taken in conjunction with the
meaning of Cat (opening or hole) shows that Catstones
were simply gravestones.
Now, in Scottish topography, we find this idea ex-
emplified in such places as the Cat Law, one of the
Grampians, where there is a very large circular cairn
on the summit, and Catachol (or Catagill) in Arran
(O. Ic. gily ravine or gully), where there is a green
mould said to be the grave of a famous sea-king, Arin
(the eponymic method once more), slain by Fionn. In
favour, however, of the Cat Law (for example), being
derived from Cat, a battle (Cym. Cad}, there is the
* Dolmens, pp. 372 and 758. 6 British Place-Name*, p. 181.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 281
fact of the existence of such names as Battle Law, Battle
Hill, Battle Knowes; but these names may be corrup-
tions of A. S. Botl, a house or dwelling.
There is a Cats Hill in Staffordshire with a tumulus,
from which the hill evidently got its name.
I come now to a second meaning of " Cat." I find
that in numerous instances, it is associated in Scottish
topography with a fort.
The Catrail, or Pictsworkditch, is a trenched fortifi-
cation, of which traces are said to remain, extending
from the vicinity of the junction of the Gala and Tweed
to the mountains of Cumberland. 7
Cat - castle at Stonehouse (Lanarkshire) ; Catcune
Castle at Borthwick, Edinburghshire; the Castle of
Cadboll (or Catboll) Ross-shire; Cadzow, the ancient
name of Hamilton, Lanarkshire (the castrum nostrum
de Cadichou of Alexander II. and Alexander III.);
Cademuir, Peebles-shire (where there are four hill-
forts); and Druiin-chat in Ross-shire, where there is
the remarkable vitrified hill-fort of Knockfarrel; all
these may point to a connexion between " Cat " and
fort.
There is one place, however, that shows this connexion
suggestively, viz., Cathcart, which may take its name
from the ancient castle on the river Cart. The oldest
forms of the name is " Kerkert," thus equating Cat
or Cath t apparently, with Cym. Caer or Car, a fort.
Even at the present day, Carcart is probably a more
common pronunciation than Cathcart. Place-names
with the prefix Caer or Car, like the towns with the
Dun prefix, were originally hill-fortresses. It should
be added that in Scottish topography, " Cat-Hill "
sometimes takes the form of " Kettle."
1 understand that the very existence of the Catrail is now questioned.
282 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Apparently, Cat in this sense is a relative of Gym.
Cader (probably derived from Cadyr, strong), which
word we find in Gadder, Lanarkshire, where there are
remains of Antonine's Wall. But the most notable
example in Scotland of Cader, a hill-fort, is Caterthun,
where we find the Gae. dun Anglicised as thun, and
tacked on to the Gym. Cader, Caterthun thus meaning
by a pleonasm, the hill-fortress. Caer is a variant of
Coder, and as we have seen, Cat and Caer are equated.
The members of this group are probably related, either
to Cad (Gym.), a battle (the Gae. form of which is
Cat}, or, more probably, to Gym. Cadw, to keep, pre-
serve, or guard.
Nennius mentions a place in Wales which he calls
Cetgueli, the modern Kidwelly in Caermarthenshire.
There was an old fort at Kidwelly, and there can be
little doubt that we have here another form of Cat, a
fort or castle.
The third and most important meaning of Cat is
associated with a word in Scots dialect, Ket, which
means exhausted land, or a spongy peat (Ketlands).
To this category Caithness, Keith, and other place-
names of a kindred character belong. The English word
" heath," originally meaning a treeless, untilled plain
in the Teutonic languages, has been evolved, in Skeat's
opinion, from an Aryan base, kaita, a pasture, or
heath. Kluge is in practical agreement with this by
bringing the Teu. heide from the pre-Teut. Jcditi. In
O. French, gatine means a desert. 8
A further meaning of " Ket " in Scottish nomencla-
ture is associated with water. There is a streamlet in
8 In old maps of Sutherland, the word Chatt appears in the topo-
graphy as signifying, evidently, the nature of the land which it defines.
Ketfcings, Coupar-Angus (old forms Kethynnes and Kathenes), seems to
mean]" heath-pastures." There may be some association between land
of this character and the Tir Caeth, bondsmen's land, of the Welsh.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 283
Wigtownshire called the Ket; there are various Keith
waters; and a stream in Lanarkshire called the Kittock.
The Ketlochy, a small burn, runs through Dunkeld
like a sewer. The word comes from 0. Ic.
Keyta, foul water. This etymology seems to be con-
firmed by the method formerly followed of catching
salmon on the Keith in Blairgowrie. Clay was thrown
into the river, and the fish were caught in nets while
the water continued muddy. Finally, " Keith " is
applied in Scots dialect to a bar laid across a river, to
prevent salmon from getting up. This meaning may
be allied to Ger. Kette, a chain.
Decidedly, there is more in the roots Cat and Ket
than meets the eye.
Dal : a prefix frequently met with in Scottish topography. It
may be, in some instances (as I have suggested ; see Irish
prefixes) the Teutonic word for a share or portion, which
has played so important a part in the ethnological argu-
ments I have used, being incorporated in the name of the
Gael, in the Gaelic language, and in Scots dialect. It
is not easily distinguished from dal, a dale, or valley
(0. Ic. dalr), for, unlike the Scandinavians, the Gael
used the latter word as a prefix instead of a suffix.
In a recently published book on Middle English
place-names, it is stated (Lindkvist I., p. 30) that in
M. E. records previous to the fourteenth century the
deill suffix in these place-names means "share." Sub-
sequently it meant "dale" or "valley."
Drum : also noticed in the Irish names. Frequently applied
to ridges in Scottish topography.
Dun : one of the most common of all Scottish prefixes. Fully
discussed in the Irish section.
Fin is apparently O. Ic. Vin, a meadow or pasture, or O. Ic.
Fen, a bog. Probably the words are relatives (cf.
284 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
O. Fris. Fenne, pasture-land; see Irish prefixes).
Finhaven has one early form (the earliest recorded)
" Fothynevyn," which suggests a development of
"Fin" from " Fothyn." But this appears to be an
isolated example, which is not confirmed by any later
form of that or any other name in the group. It is
impossible therefore to attach much weight to it. Foth
may be an equation with Fin, by being derived from
O. Ic. Foda, to feed.
For: a prefix that is always called "Pictish." The use
of the latter word is like the eponymic method of
settling etymologies: an explanation that leaves every-
thing unexplained.
For is a development of the early forms Fodre,
Fothar, Fethir, and Fetter. What do these words
mean?
We have the same root, I think, in 0. French Forre,
translated by Eoquefort as paille, fourrage, as well as
in Forriere, translated as paturage des bestiaux. The
oldest form of the Scottish place-name, viz., Father, is
derived in all likelihood from O. Ic. Fodr, fodder (foda,
to feed).
Thus For may be translated as food for cattle, or
pasturage. The Gae. fothar (Irish), or -foithre (Scot-
tish), meaning forest or woods, is sometimes claimed as
the source of this prefix, 9 but this assumption leads to
insurmountable difficulties in explaining some of the
names in the category.
In early charters, names like Fortre de Inverurie, and
Fortray, vie. Aberdeen, are to be found. Here we
have the prefixial For with the Gym. suffix tre,
meaning a village or homestead. Tre sometimes inter-
changes with tryf, or tref, showing the Gym. forms un-
* Fothar is said to be a dialectic equivalent of Fid. The latter root may
be from O. Ic. Vidhr, forest or wood, or Cym. Gwydd, trees.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 285
mistakably (e.g., Fintre, and Fyntryf, Stirling). Tre-
town in Fife is also on record; and there was a Treif in
Galloway, and a Treyf in Ayr. (See Reg. Mag. Sig.)
The derivation that I have given to the prefix For is
supported by the fact that in modern Gae. fetir means
grass or herbage; feurair, fodderer; and feuraich, pas-
ture. Possibly, therefore, For is the later and Gael-
icised form of 0. Ic. Fodr in its various early forms, as
they show themselves in Scottish place-names. This
assumes, what is probably the fact, that Gae. feur,
herbage o-r pasture, is related to 0. Ic. fodr.
It may be possible to get behind the earliest recorded
forms, and discover in Fother and Fetter an original
Cym. word gwydyr, green or verdant, and in For, Gym.
gwyr, also meaning green or verdant. The forms of
f these Cym. words" may have been influenced by
Scandinavian contact. The idea of pasturage runs
through all the etymologies I have suggested.
Glen : a characteristically Gaelic word. But it is simply
Cym. Glyn, a deep vale.
Inch: already discussed. Cym. Ynys, an island.
Inver : see Aber.
JLel and Kil : it has already been observed that in Irish place-
names, confusion is apt to arise between prefixes deriv-
ing their meaning from Cym. Cell (Corn. Kelly, Gae.
Coill), a wood or grove, Gae. Kil (Cello), a church, and
Kil, an ancient bury ing-ground. The same confusion
sometimes occurs in analysing Scottish names with
these prefixes, and it is therefore necessary to know
the topography and the history alike of each place before
pronouncing on its meaning.
Kin : a prefix of great frequency in Scotland (see also Irish
names). What does it really mean? Is it related to
286 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Cym. Pew, a head, or chief, or end; or to Gym. Cyn,
denoting priority; or to Teut. Kin, a tribe?
Even in Wales there seems to be an interchange be-
tween Pen and Cyn. The Welsh word Cyndber means
head of a stream, and in Scotland it is reproduced as
Kinaber. The Welsh Pentir means headland, and is
reproduced in Scotland as Kintyre, old forms Ciunn-
tire, and Cindtyre.
It would seem that some at least of the Kins in Scot-
tish topography (invariably connected with Cym. Pen)
may be Cym. Cyn with the same sound. As already
observed, it is sometimes difficult to disentangle the
Pens and Cyns.
Pen is a common prefix in Welsh town-names, and
whatever its original meaning, it now denotes, like the
Scottish Kin, simply a settlement or village. It is
conceivable that, while in most of the examples, Kin
undoubtedly meant, primitively, the head or point, or
end, of whatever is described by the qualifying root,
in others the primary sense may have been priority in
time or importance. Thus, the earliest settlement in
a district would also be the head village, and its posi-
tion would thus justify the prefixial Kin (Cym. Cyn).
How difficult it is to disentangle this idea from a topo-
graphical fact, is shown by the name Kinkell, which
is found in several districts in Scotland. Skene and
others interpret the name as " head-church," Kinkell
church on the Don having several churches subordinate
to it. But it is not improbable that there may be a
double confusion here, alike in the prefix and the suffix.
In one instance, the name is spelt Kingkell, and in
others Kynkelle and Kynkellee. The name might be
plausibly interpreted as " King's Forest," for in some
place-names there has clearly been confusion between
the Celtic Kin and the Teutonic King (if indeed their
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 287
origin is not radically the same). For example, Kings-
cavil, which means the King's lot (cf. Scots " kaveling
and deling," casting lots and dividing), a decidedly,
Teutonic name, is sometimes written Kincavil; and con-
versely, a parish in Banffshire, the original name of
which must have been Kinedre, from the stream flowing
through it (A. S. Edre, a water-course), has now the
name of " King Edward."
One of the most notable of the " Kins " is Kincar-
dine, of which there are several in Scotland. The usual
prefix of this name is " Kin " or " Kyn," but there is
at least one " Kynge." Have we here, therefore, a
" head " (or " end "), or a " king " ? And is Garden
Gym. Cardden, a brake, thicket, or wild place, or Gym.
Cerrdin, mountain ash; or is it a word of Teutonic
origin, similar in meaning to the Eng. word " garden "?
Each of these etymologies might be plausibly argued
as tenable (though the first is the most likely); but
Kincardine O'Neil was certainly not the property of
an Irish O'Neil, as is sometimes supposed. It simply
means Kincardine on the Neil (a stream in the parish),
and in Neil we find the river-root El.
There may be something to be said for Kin, a tribe,
signifying, as a topographical prefix, tribal lands; and
Skene cites a passage which almost seems to support
that view. 10 But we are on much safer ground in con-
necting the prefix with the Gym. Pen and Cyn in the
senses I have suggested.
Kir (less frequently Car}: a form of Gym. Caer, a fort,
later a city. Here, again, care must be exercised to
distinguish this meaning from that of 0. Ic. Kjdrr,
brushwood; Kaer, a marsh (Swed. Karr, a fen or
marsh). But Carse comes from Gym. Cors, a bog or
10 Celtic Scotland, Hi., p. 254.
288 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
fen, a related meaning (see Irish names). Occasionally,
too, Kir appears as Kirk.
Kirk : a significantly Scandinavian prefix, mainly found in
Galloway. It is noteworthy that in England it is con-
fined to the sphere of Danish influence. It is derived
from O. Ic. Kirk j a, a church.
Knock: 11 applied as in Ireland, to a large number of the
smaller hills. Gym. Cnwc, a lump, is the relative of
Gae. Cnoc, a hill.
Lang and Long : corruptions of Gym. Llan, in its original
sense of an open, flat place (land).
Lath and Leth : probably Gae. forms of Gym. Lledd, a
plain. Gym. Lied, half, takes the Gae. form of Leth.
The Laths and Leths may conceivably have been half-
penny lands; but the connexion is improbable.
Logie and Logan denote a hollow surrounded by rising
ground. It is derived from 0. Ic. Laegd, a hollow or
low place, Liggja, to lie (Lectus). Logie is a fairly
common prefix in the heart of Pictland.
Gae. Lag, a hollow between two knolls, expresses the
idea, but what is the source of Lag ? It has no Cymric
affinity, and must, I think, be referred to the word I
have suggested.
Mark and Mork : 0. Ic. Mork (gen. and pi. Merkr), forest.
Found in Banffshire, Dunfries-shire, Fifeshire, Inver-
11 One of the most interesting of the Knocks is Knockfarrel in Ross-
shire, on which are the remains of an excellent example of a vitrified fort.
Meeting an old shepherd on the summit, I asked him what "Parrel"
meant. " Och," he said, " isn't it just called after Farrel, one of Fionn's
men ? " The hill is sometimes called Knock Farrel na-Fion, the tradition
being that this was a fort of the redoubtable champion. Similarly, the
name of Fionn figures in connection with hills elsewhere in Scotland. It
is conceivable that in all these instances the legend may have arisen from
the fact that the hills so called were for pasture (O. Ic. Fin, O. Fris. fetin).
44 Fionn's Seats" may be really Vin scetr^ mountain-pastures.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 289
ness-shire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Ross-shire and Suther-
land. This distribution is suggestive of Scandinavian
contact.
Meikle (sometimes Meigle) can only be the familiar Scots
word Mickle, Mekyl, or Muckle, meaning " large."
These forms are more closely allied to O . Ic . Mikill, than
to A. S. Mycel. It is applied to hills (Meigle Hill,
Galashiels; Meikle Ben, Lennox; Meikle Cess-Law,
Berwickshire; Meikle Warthill or Ward Hill, Aber-
deenshire) ; to lochs (Meikle Loch, Inverness-shire) ; and
to rivers (Meigle Burn, Perthshire; Meikleholmside
Burn in Dumfriess-shire; and Meikle River, Loch
Broom, Ross-shire). It is also applied to an island,
Meikle Roe in Shetland, which name must certainly be
of Scandinavian origin. In 0. Ic., Mikill means
"prominent," as well as "large," and when applied to
rivers, it has the force of " swollen."
There is no escape from the conclusion that Meikle
was applied to Scottish places by a Teutonic, and (at
any rate, outside the Anglic sphere of influence), a
Scandinavian people. As will be seen by the examples
I have given, its incidence is widely distributed.
Men, Min, Mon and Mun: possibly from the 0. Norse
"M-dinn (see Irish names) meaning " dwelling on a
moor." (Gae. monadh, a moor; moine, a bog). See the
early forms of such names as Menmuir, and Menteith, or
Monteith . 12 The latter name suggests the simple manner
in which these names may have been given. The new-
comers may have settled in the moorland by the River
Teith; so they called the settlement " the moor-dwelling
12 Sometimes, however, this prefix means a mountain (Cym. Mynydd] :
.f/., Moncrieff (Gae. JMonadh) means either a moor or a mountain.
Another name for Moncrieff, viz., Mordun, or moor-hill, supports the
etymology that has been given for Mon.
290 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
by the Teith " (see Irish "Money"). Alternatively,
Gae. moine may be derived from Gym. mawn, peat; and
Monteith may thus mean simply, " Teith Bog."
Mill and Miln: mark the places where the com grown in
the district was brought to the ground. (Gym. Melin,
a mill or grinder.)
Muck : as a prefix must, I think, be assigned to O.Ic. Mjukr,
fertile. Thus, names like Muckairn (Mocairn) and
Muckhart (Mukard), would mean " the fertile dwell-
ings," and Mugstat in Skye " the fertile place." They
can hardly be derived from Gym. Moch, swine, or its
Gaelic equivalent.
Mull : in the sense of a cape (cf. Mull of Kintyre, Mull of
Galloway, etc.), is derived from 0. Ic. Muli, a beak.
The " Mules " in Orkney and Shetland are insulated
headlands projecting into the sea.
Pan and Pen : the Welsh Pen. A name like Penicuik in
Midlothian, early form Pen-y-coke, is aggressively
Gym. in its form. It means the Red Hill (Gym. coch,
red) probably from the sandstone of the Pentlands.
The " Pens " are of wide distribution in Scotland,
being found even in so Gaelic a district as Argyll.
Pet, Pett, and Pit: the most distinctive prefix in Pictland.
Not found in Wales, though of Cymric origin. Its
original meaning is shown by the Book of Deer to have
been " a portion of land," or a homestead; and like so
many other prefixes, it acquired a secondary meaning
as a dwelling-place, or village. Its source is traceable
to a Gym. root, which appears in Welsh as peth, a part,
and more distinctly in Corn, as peth or peyth, a share or
portion. In 0. Ic. petti means a piece of field, but this
is believed to be an imported word of a comparatively
late date. Probably " smallness " underlies the idea
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 291
of the share, because one of the meanings of peth is " a
little.""
Rait, Raith, Rath, Reay, Roth, and Ruth : all these prefixes
may be assigned to the word Rath, which I have already
analysed. In Scotland its original meaning, as a rule,
may probably have been a plain, or a place cleared, or
" ridded," of trees. The source is O. Ic. Rjodr, a
cleared space, found as an element in Scandinavian
place-names (Eng. Royd). I have already suggested
that Cym. Rhath, a cleared spot, must be a loan word;
but it is certainly connected with Rhathu, to rub off or
strip.
Rath sometimes takes in Scotland, as in Ireland, the
forms of Ra (e.g., Reay in Sutherland), and Raw or
Row, e.g., Rotten Row in Glasgow and Carnoustie.
The meaning of all the " Rotten Rows " may be " the
red-coloured plain," " Rotten " being probably a cor-
ruption of Cym. Rhuddain, reddish.
One of the Scottish Calders is called the " Rotten
Calder," a name that suggests a putrid stream, instead
of a pure flow like the fact. In this instance, the
shallow bed is porphyritic, and the reddish hue makes
Rhuddain (but not " rotten "!) an appropriate descrip-
tion.
The Scan, form, Rjodr, seems to be retained in such
names as Rutherglen, Ruthrieston; and possibly
Rutherford, though for the last-named, Rother (A. S.
Hryther), an ox (Oxford), is to be preferred. In Scan,
names, Rjodr often becomes Rud (Ruth).
'Ross : a moor, or wood, or promontory. Analysed in the
Irish section (which see).
13 What appears to be the same root is found in England in such names
as Pett, Pettaugh, and Petworth (Domesday, Petiorde), all in Sussex; and
in Ireland there is at least one example Pettigoe, near Lower Lough
Erne.
292 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Shaw: an A.S. word; Shaiv, a wood.
Strath: (See Irish names, where the difference between
" Strath " and " Glen " is shown). It is noticeable in
Scottish topography that the dales are chiefly south of
the Firths of Forth and Clyde; the straths are mainly
distributed in the east and the centre; and the glens in
the west.
Tilli, Tuly, Tully, and Tulloch : a prefix applied in Scot-
land to hills (see Irish names).
Tor: Gym. Twr, a tower or a heap. These meanings seem
to cover the topographical varieties of the prefix in Scot-
land.
Tra, Tre, and Tref (Cym. for homestead, or hamlet), are
to be found occasionally in Scotland, sometimes in a dis-
guised form. Traquair is the homestead on the Quair
Water (one form is Trefquer). A decidedly Cym.
form is shown in Tranent, the suffix of which is Cym.
nant, a brook.
Note on terminations. It should be observed that the
suffix yn is frequent in the older forms of Scottish place-
names, sometimes as an intervening syllable (like the Cornish
definite article an) . This is a characteristic ending in Welsh
words, sometimes denoting a diminutive. But yn is a ter-
mination in Scandinavian place-names; following a con-
sonant, it stands for Vin, pasture. Also, most Scandinavian
place-names have the definite article appended, which
accounts for their frequent endings in an or in, etc.
In considering Scottish place-names, therefore, ending in
yn and en (which in later forms, usually become y or ie),
e.g., Pet-yn, now Petty, Kosmark-yn, now Rosemarkie, we
have to decide whether we are dealing with a Cymric or a
Scandinavian affix; and we may further have to disentangle
it from a similar syllable belonging to the Gaelic category,
i.e., the definite article, a diminutive, or a plural number.
CHAPTER XXV.
An analysis of the oldest or most noteworthy of the provincial and town
names of Scotland.
WE shall now examine a few of the oldest, or most note-
worthy, or most interesting (from an etymological stand-
point), of the provincial and town-names, and then see what
conclusions can be reached from a purview of Scottish
topography generally.
Angus 1 (e.f. Engus and Anegus): usually associated with
the Pictish (and Danann) name Angus, or Oengus.
Gym. form is Un-gwest, or Unnust.
But the place-name Angus must surely have a
different origin. Its most probable congener is O.Ic.
Engi (A. S. Eng), a meadow, and hus, house, or dwell-
ing.
Arbroath : a contraction of Aberbrothwick. Early forms
show the name with and without the termination ach
or oich, water (e.g., Aberbrothoc and Abbir broth).
The river-name Brothock comes from O. Ic. Brdthr,
swift, Eng. "Broth" and " Braith." Borthwick =
Brothock.
Argyle (e.f . Erregaithle and Arregaithle). The Latin form
was Ergadia. Gerald of Cambria tells us the meaning
of the word: mar go Scottorum. The prefix " Erre "
is obviously a Gae. form of Gym. Or, a margin, or
limit. Oirthir = coastland, and Gaithle G&el.
l e.f. denotes "early form."
294 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Assynt : takes its name from the remarkable ridge of rock
near Loch Assynt. It is derived from 0. Ic. ass, a
rocky ridge. In old maps it is usually spelt Assen,
though the earliest forms are Asseynkt and Assend.
The second syllable of the name is probably a corruption
of O. Ic. endi, an end or border.
Athole : the eponymic method is usually applied to this
name. E.f . of the word are Athfoithle, Adtheodle, and
Athotla. It is evidently a compound of Ath and fodla,
or fothell. Fothell is found in other Scottish place-
names. The name Athole is usually translated as the
ford (Ath) of Fodla, one of the legendary seven sons
of Cruithne, the sons whom Skene, with indifferent
success, endeavoured to identify with the seven provinces
of Scotland (described by Gerald the Cambrian), and
whom, by an amazing effort of perverted ingenuity, he
tried, but wholly failed, to identify with Ptolemy'^
tribal names.
Fodla is one of the old names for Ireland, which was
the country of high places (Banba), green pastures
(Erin), and woods (Fodla). These three names for
Ireland (Bariba, Erin or Eire, and Fodla or Fodhla)
are legendised as daughters of Fiacha of the Danann
race.
It is probable that fothell is a Gae. form of Cym.
gwyddle, a woody place (gwyddeli, brakes), Ath, a
Cymric prefix, denoting a characteristic. Athole (Lat.
Atholia) thus means a wooded country, or a place
covered with brushwood.
Badenoch (e.f. Badenach, Badenaghe, Badenau, Badgenoch,
and Badzenoch) . One of the forms of the name, Baunagd
(if not a contraction of " Badgen "), seems to contain
the Goth. Baun, a dwelling, which has the same mean-
ing as the Scots Bade and Baid (0. Ic. Bygd}.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 295
The second syllable (gen), still retained in the local
pronunciation, may be derived from Gym. genu, to
be brought forth, and the last syllable is the familiar
Cym. ach, a fluid or water. The idea seems to be
" a dwelling on a site originally covered by water."
The explanation of this etymology is that the greater
part of Badenoch's fertile plain was at one time a lake,
having been flooded by the Spey.
Balj our : the suffix four, joined to the very common bdl,
is a peculiar one. Gae. fuar, cold, will not do. It seems
to be a Gae. form of Cym. pawr, meaning pasture or
grazing. The personal name, Balfour, is, of course,
derived from the place-name, but the accent is, as a
rule, wrongly placed upon the prefix instead of the
suffix, except by the Scottish peasantry, who know
better.
Banchory-Devenick, and Banchory-Ternan: here we have
the Welsh and Irish Bangor reproduced on Scottish soil.
The name " Bangor " has proved a puzzle, and many
suggestions have been made as to its original meaning.
I think it likely that George Borrow's suggestion (I
should amend the word to " pronouncement," for
Borrow Was never troubled with doubts), that it is
derived from " Druidical " remains may be correct.
The same idea had occurred to me when studying the
topography of the Scottish Bangors. " Devenick "
relates to the Dee, and " Ternan " is probably derived
from O. Ic. Tjorn, pool or tarn. There is no real
ground for believing them to be saints' names. Ban-
cor (Cym.) means literally high circle, an extended
meaning being a circle on high ground. That describes
exactly the so-called Druidical remains at Banchory;
and the principal Bangor in Wales has similar relics
of antiquity. It is quite in accordance with other pre-
296 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
cedents, and with the popular beliefs about the Druids
as instructors and philosophers, that Christian colleges
and monasteries should be founded near the sites of
stone circles, the latter being frequently on eminences,
thus explaining the association of height with these
circles . In this way the secondary and modern meaning
of Bangor, vizt., college, may have originated.
Banff : e.f . Banb, Banef , and Bamphe = Ban-va or Ban-fa,
high place, which appropriately describes the sea-town.
Banva is a word compounded of Gym. Ban, high, and
ma, place, the latter in combination becoming va or /a,
of which ef is a metathetic form (see "Moray").
Banavie (e.f. Banvy) is evidently the same word as
Banff.
The name is usually referred to Banba (see A thole),
or is associated with totemism: (Banb, a sucking pig).
Bannockburn (e.f. Banoc and Banox). The suffix " burn "
is a redundancy. The word means apparently the high
river (Gym. Ban-ach), being derived from the declivity
of the banks of the Bannock in one of its sections.
Beauty: the same name as the Hants Beaulieu, and it has
the same meaning. Monasteries at both were founded
in beautiful places, as was the monastic custom. The
old name of the Beauly was the Farrar or Varar
(Ptolemy).
Beath, Beith, and Dalbeattie: are derived from O. Ic. Beit,
pasture.
Berwick-on-Tiveed and North Berwick : A . S . Berewic,
lit. barley (bere), village (wic), a demesne farm. There
are Berwicks in England.
Blantyre: Gym. Blaendir, hill-country. Blantyre Priory
was situated on the top of a rock rising from the Clyde.
THE K ACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 297
Brechin (e.f. Brecini and Brechne): from Gym. Brycini,
a braky place, or O. Ic. Brdkne, brake. The Gym.
word is probably a loan. 2
Buccleuch (e.f. missing; Bockcleugh seventeenth century):
O. Ic. Bole, beech-tree, and Scots cleugh, a ravine,
derived from O. Ic. klofi, a rift in a hill.
Buchan : an ancient and important name, which has been
variously interpreted. E.f. Buchan, Bouwan, etc.,
suggest a derivation from Gym. Buck, cattle, and Gym.
gwaen, a plain or meadow.
Buchanan : probably from the same source as Buchan, with
an affix. E.f. are Buchquhanane and Bowhanan.
Burntisland : is situated on a peninsula, and may thus have
been loosely called an " island." An e.f. is Brunt-
island, which may have a meaning similar to Scots
Brintlin or Bruntland, a moor with the heather burnt
off.
Callander (e.f. Calentare and Callanter): the name seems
to be derived from Gym. Celyn, holly wood, and Gym.
tir, land. There are two Callanders, one in Perth-
shire and the other at Falkirk.
2 In Celtic Scotland (ii., 36), Skene has a lengthy note on place-names
connected with the root brycli (Gae. breacc), which he finds in the name
of the Welsh saint Brychan. He includes Brechin with the rest of the
*' speckled " group. He includes, also, Briechness, now Bridgeness, but
the modern name shows that Briech is here simply the Scots Brig. (See
Falkirk).
A word curiously similar to Brecini, as above, is Breccini, meaning
"foaming." It is found in the name of the whirlpool of Corrievreckan
(e.f. Corbrekane). Adamnan mentions a " Whirlpool of Brecan," but
this is apparently the whirlpool in the channel between Ballycastle and
Rathlin. Both the Scottish and the Irish Whirlpools of Brecan are
believed to take their name from Brecan, grandson of Niall of the Nine
Hostages : the usual method of explaining a name that presents ety-
mological difficulties. These Cymric words, relics of the oldest Celtic,
puzzled the Irish etymologists, who had to invent romances to account
for them.
298 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Cambus: Cam. (Cym. and Gae.) means crooked ; and Cam-
bus, a derivation from Cam, means a place at a
river-bend, with the extended meaning of a creek, or
a bending harbour. Cambus is in Scotland associated
in a peculiar way with personal names (e.g., Cambus-
kenneth, Cambusnethan, Cainbuswallace, etc.), and the
inference is that these names represent the ownership
of the land at the bend. Probably land so situated was
of special value.
Adamnan has the form Cambas for Cambus. This
suggests that the original meaning of Cambas may have
been " f ord at the bend " (cam, bend, and bas, ford).
Cargill (e.f . Kergill): probably a Scandinavian name, Kaer-
gil, marsh-ravine; or, in view of the fact that there are
Roman remains in the parish, the prefix may be Cym.
Caer, fort, thus making the name a hybrid.
Carmichael (e.f. Karemigel): see Cargill for the prefix.
Migel is not " Michael," a personal name, as it is
usually translated, but O. Ic. miJcill, large, of which
the modern form is, I think, a corruption.
Carrick (e.f. Carrawg and Karic): the rocky character of
the district connects the name with Cym. Car eg, a
stone, and especially with Cornish CarricJc, rock. The
Irish " Carricks " are also rocky places.
Carriden: the Kair Eden of Gildas, meaning the "slope-
fort" (see "Edinburgh"). Bo'ness or Borrowstoun-
ness in the adjoining parish contains the Scots duplica-
tion of " burgh," namely " burrows-toun " (see prefix
Dun).
Clackmannan and Slamannan (e.f. Clacmanant and Clac-
mana; Slethmanin): the prefix Claclc is a Saxon pro-
nunciation of Gae. Clach, a large stone, itself a deriva-
tion from Cym. Clog, with the same meaning. The
prefix Sla is a contraction of Sleth, meaning " Sleuth "
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 299
or "Slough" (c.f. "Sleuth-hound"). The affix in
both names is Gym. mawnen, peat-land.
The large stone from which Clackmannan takes its
name stands in the centre of the village; it is of un-
certain origin. Not improbably, Clackmannan is
Wyntoun's " Stanemore."
Crail (e.f. Caraile): " Cliff -fort," from Gym. Caer, a fort,
but the Gae. form of the affix aile, a cliff (Gym. alii)
is distinct. There are traces of an old castle on the
top of the cliff.
Cramond (e.f. Caramon th) : a metathetic form of the
original name. It means the Almond (River) fort.
Criech (e.f. Creech and Crech): referable to Gym. Crech,
rugged.
Crieff : this name has caused a good deal of fumbling among
trees (Gae. craobk), and other natural objects for an
etymological root.
It is an adjectival form meaning "strong"; and in
Scotland appears to have been used sometimes as a
substantive to denote what was frequently called a
" strength," or fortified place (c.f. Pittencrieff). It is
derived from Welsh Cryf (Corn. Cref and Creif)
meaning "strong": one of the old forms of Crieff is
" Crefe." Crieff was near the centre of Pictish
authority at one period, and the district must have been
strongly fortified. Fortrenn, the name applied by the
Irish Annalists to this district, is believed by Sir John
Rhys to be allied to Ger. verder, an embankment (Sans.
varta, a dyke). He points out that Fortrenn is always
used in the genitive, 3 and should give a nominative
3 Instances can be cited where the form " Fortrenn " is not in the
genitive. The Irish Annals mention a Foirtrinn in Leinster under the
date A.D. 763. Possibly the ultimate source of the name is Cym. fficyr,
green, and trdn, a district. (See the prefix For; cf. also, Cym. yweirdir,
hay -land, and gwerydre, cultivated land. )
300 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Fortriu, later Foirtre. That seems to be the name
(Fortra and Fortre) which I have noticed under the
prefix For as occurring in charters. It can perhaps bear
the interpretation of "pasture-homestead," and Fortrenn
may be a plural form. 4 Fortroende means in Swed.
" confidence," and in O. Irish Fortren means powerful;
but the connexion of either with the Fortrenn of the
Picts is more than doubtful.
Dumcrieff (Duncrieff), at Moffat, means the strong
fort, and Moncrieff in Perthshire means the strong or
fortified hill (the Monaigh Craebi of Tighernach),
where a battle was fought in 728 A.D. The form Crew,
as in Ireland, is found in such names as Bunchrew
and Crewe (cf. Crewe in England). Criffel (a hybrid),
a mountain in Kirkcudbright, and Grieve Hill in Dum-
fries-shire, belong to the same category. There was
a Creif in Forfar, and a Creifechteris in Strathearn,
the latter name showing "Crieff" in combination. (See
Reg. Mag. Sig). Pittencrieff (see Dunfermline) is so
called from Malcolm Canmore's stronghold.
Cromarty : an instructive name. E.f. are Crumbathyn,
Crumbauchtyn (the yn is an affix), Crumbawchty, and
(nearly simultaneously with the last form) Cromardy,
the last representing the modern form approximately.
The prefix of the early forms of the name is Crumb,
which is exactly the 0. Sax. word for crooked or curved.
The Cym. form Cnvm, and the Gae. form Crom, are
both probably loanwords, for the peculiarly Celtic Cam
represents the same idea.
The second part of the word is ath or audit, both
variants of ach, the Cym. root for water, so frequently
4 That tre in these names is the Welsh ire or trcf, a homestead, is
suggested by a similar name in Scottish topography, F'tntre (Fintry),
which has an alternative form of Fijntryf.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 301
found in different shapes (ch and th in old documents
are sometimes indistinguishable).
The form Cromardy differs from the earlier forms
in the substitution of ard for aucht. The earliest forms
mean literally " the curved water," in allusion to the
shape of Cromarty Bay. The later forms substitute for
" water " either the ard (0. Sax.) or dwelling-place on
the curve, or Gym. ardd, ploughed land; or they may
represent Gae. ard, promontory (the Sutors). The
terminational yn here takes, as usual, the form of y
or ie: Cromarty was sometimes spelt " Cromartie."
Cromdale : the winding valley (that of the Spey). For
Crom see " Cromarty."
Culloden : means the marsh-ridge or summit (Kollr (0. Ic.),
summit, and lodden, a marsh, fully discussed under the
names "Lewis" and "Lothian"). Drummossie, the
alternative name for Culloden, has the same meaning;
and the etymology agrees with the topographical facts.
Cumlodden: Cym. Cwm, a hollow, and lodden (see "Cullo-
den.").
Cunningham: sometimes "Cunning" is derived from
Coning, a rabbit, and sometimes from Cyning, a king.
Probably it means " king," and the name denotes a
Royal manor during the Anglo-Saxon sovereignty over
Galloway.
Cupar, Fife and Angus (e.f. Cupre, Coper, and Cubert):
the source of this name is discoverable in O. Ic. Ku-
bcer, cow-farm. Beer also means town.
Deer: Old Deer is on the Deer (Cym. Dwr, water), rivulet,
which thus gives the place its name. The derivation
stated in the Book of Deer an incident in St.
Columba's life connecting the name with " tear "
(weeping), is a good example of imaginative etymo-
302 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
logy. Irish Gae. deor, and Scots Gae. deur, a tear, have
been confused apparently with dwr, water. (Possibly
dtvr is the real source, as well as the source of the
various Teut. variants of " tear ").
Dingwall: the meeting (Parliament) ground. O.Ic. Ting
or Thing, and vollr, ground, or level field. Dingwall
in Ross-shire is called by Gaelic-speakers, Inverpefferon,
the River Peffer running into the Cromarty Firth at
Dingwall. Here are two words, one characteristically
Scandinavian (Dingwall), and the other just as char-
acteristically Cymric (pefyr, radiant), near the capital
of the Highlands; a significant circumstance.
The existence of a Ting pre-supposes the presence
of an important Scandinavian settlement in the dis-
trict, an element intruding upon the Cymric inhabitants
who gave its name to the Peffer. There is no record,
and no tradition, so far as I know, of the Scandinavians
having penetrated, as permanent settlers, so far south
during the historical period, though I do not forget that
Thorstein the Red, and Sigurd had possession of Caith-
ness, Sutherland, Ross, Moray (including Inverness),
and "more than half Scotland" (Landnama Book II.,
14). I suggest the possibility of Dingwall being a
relic of a Scandinavian colony during the Pictish
period. But whatever the period, the name points un-
takably to the presence in the district of such a colony,
some time before the Scottish monarchy exercised
effective authority over the North.
There are several names in England of a similar 1
import. Tingwa'll in Shetland, Tinwald in Dumfries-
shire and in the Isle of Man tell the same tale.
Dollar (e.f. Dolor): O. Ic. Dalr, dale.
Dornoch in Sutherland (e.f. Durnach and Durnah) and
Dornock in Dumfries-shire have obviously the same
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 303
name: from Cym. Divrn, a knob, applied to hillocks or
knolls; cognate with Cym. Cnap (see Knapdale). The
hillocks in this instance are sand-heaps. Dornoch thus
means a place with hillocks or knolls. (Cf. Durn, a
hill in Fordyce, and Dundurn, L. Earn).
The horse-shoe in the arms of Dornoch may have
brought good luck to the town by the golden guineas
of golfing guests; but the story upon which it is
founded, describing the feat of the local Thane, who,
with the leg of a horse (Dorn-eich} rivalled Samson's
exploits with the jawbone of an ass, is another of the
numerous etymological fables.
Drumalban: " The Dorsal Ridge of Britain"; also called
Brunalban, which, of old, divided the Scots from the
Picts. Brun is thus equated with the Celtic Drum, a
ridge. It seems to be derived from O. Ic. Brun, the
projecting edge of a hill, for that is a nearer equivalent
of Drum than Cym. Bryn, hill.
Dull: believed to be only conspicuous example in Scotland
of Cym. dol, dale. But there are other examples, e.g.,
Dallas, formerly Delias; Dalkeith, formerly Dolchet,
which show the same form. In England, the Scand.
dalr sometimes shows a similar interchange of form.
It is doubtful, therefore, whether the place-name
" Dull " (e.f . Dul) has any primary connexion with
Cym. dol. The primary meaning of Cym. dol is a
loop or ring. The meaning of "dale " is secondary,
and probably imported.
'Dumbarton (e.f.. Dunbretane): the Britons' dun or fort.
An older name was Alcluith, i.e., the Clyde Rock (Gae.
al, a rock, Cym. allt, a cliff). Bede calls Alcluith
" the strong city of the Britons."
The A. S. word for rock is dud, one of the early
forms of " Clyde." But there is no real ground for
304 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
supposing that the river took its name from the rock:
that would be contrary to rule.
Dumfries (e.f. Dounfres and Drumfreiss, another example
of Dum and Drum for Dun}: Skene's view, which is
probably correct, was that the suffix indicates a Frisian
occupation of the fort. (" Freskin," the name of the
founder of the old Earldom of Sutherland, means " of
Frisian descent.").
Dunbar (e.f. Dynbaer and Dunbarre): Dun and barre appear
to be duplications, like Dun barrow and Dunborerraig
(dun and burgh ; see the prefix Dun}] cf. " Barra."
Dunblane: Skene (Celtic Scotland, ii., 402) cites evi-
dence for a foundation here by St. Blane. If that
evidence is conclusive, Dun must have here the force
of " town." St. Blane's " fort " is unthinkable. E.f.
of the name are Dumblin and Dubblain. In topo-
graphy, Gym. blaen, top, is sometimes applied to hilly
land.
Dundee: a name that has occasioned much controversy.
E.f. are Donde, Dunde, and Dundo. On the
assumption that " De " is a Gae. form of " Tay " (Gae.
"D" = Gym. "T"; and " Tay " appears as " Tey " and
"Toe"), which is quite warrantable, the meaning of the
. name is plain, viz., the Tay fort. Otherwise, it is
difficult to explain. " Hill of God " is, and has been
from the days of George Buchanan onwards, a familiar
but absurd derivation. The people of the Tay are on
record as Lucht Toi (Celt. Scot., iii., 211).
Dunfermline (e.f. Dumfermelyn and Dunfermelyn, Dum-
ferlin, Dunfermelitane, Dunfermlin, Donffermelyn; a
curious assortment): the prefix Dun represents " Mal-
colm's Tower," i.e., the stronghold erected in Pitten-
crieff by Malcolm Canmore in the eleventh century.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 305
One of the earliest forms of the name, viz., Dumferlin
(i.e., Dunferlin), suggests the possibility that the land
in the vicinity of the dun was farthing-land (mod. Gae.
feoirling), a small piece of land, cognate with Eng.
" farthing," one of the meanings of which is a division
of land (A. S. feorthling, i.e., feoiver, four, and dirnin.
suffix ling, the fourth of a penny. Cf. also Nor.-
French ferling, a farthing.) Most of the forms, how-
ever, have the root ferme (A. S. feorme}, an old spelling
of " farm," and that seems to be the essential root in
the name. It appears likely that the land granted to the
monastery which was founded by Malcolm Canmore,
in the vicinity of his stronghold, was farmed out to
tenants. (If it was farthing-land, the confusion in the
forms would be explained). In this example of ferme,
it would have the original meaning of rent (still pre-
served in Scots), consisting of payment, not in money,
but in food. Lyn may mean marsh (Old Welsh Linri) f
or a low strip of land (Gym. Lleyri).
Dunipace: the affix shows Gym. bais or bas, a ford. (See
Paisley). The Hill of Peace (Pax) is the usual fanci-
ful derivation. Gael. Dun na bhais, Hill of Death, is
quite as unlikely. Before there was a bridge over the
Carron, the river was usually forded at Dunipace.
One of the e.f. (Dunypais) shows the Gym. definite
article "y."
Durikeld (e.f. Duincaillen, Duncalden, and Dunkeld, also
Dunkaldync): Windisch makes cold the root of Gae.
coille, wood. Cald-Cym. celt, a shelter, celydd, a
sheltered place: words already discussed (Caledonia).
Dunnottar: a famous fort in Scottish history. An early
form (Irish) of Dunnottar (Duinfoither) and an early
form (Irish) of Fordoun (Fothardun) in the same
county (Kincardine) show that both names must have
20
306 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
the same meaning, Dun being in one case a prefix,
and in the other an affix. For father, see the prefix
For.
It may be suggested, however, that, as in the case
of Fortingall (which see), the form j other may here
be really a corruption of forter (Cym. gicerthyr, a
fortification), though the latter form is missing.
Dunoon : an e.f. is Dunhoven. The ancient dun was on a
rocky knoll, projecting into the Firth of Clyde.
Oon = O. Ic. hofn, harbour.
But Denoon (also a personal name) in Glammis
means Dean-avon, from the River Dean (cf. owen, so
frequently found in Irish place-names as a form of
awon, a river).
Dunvegan : in Skye, where stands MacLeod's historical
castle, the oldest inhabited house in Great Britain.
E.f. are Dunbegane and Dunveggane. " Begane " and
" Veggane " mean " the settlement " (cf. O. Ic. Byggja,
to settle in a place as a colonist).
DuppUn : the same name as Dublin. Both names suggest
Cym. Dulyn, black water (the Earn and the Liffey
respectively; Cym. Du has become Gae. Dub (variant
Dup"). Perhaps a preferable derivation for the suffix
of Dupplin and Dublin is from O. Welsh linn, a marsh.
The names would thus mean "black marsh." An e.f.
of Dupplin is Duplyn.
'Durness : e.f. Dyrnes. Possibly a tautological name in two-
languages: Cym. Duryn, a snout, and 0. Ic. nes, a,
headland (see Kinghorn).
Dyke : a root that enters into several names on the east
coast. From 0. Ic. Diki, dike or ditch. The " Dykes "
are situated just where we should expect to find them.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 307
Edinburgh or Dunedin : Dun is the Celtic prefix, originally
Gym. Din (cf. Taliessin's Dineiddyn), subsequently
modified to Dun by the Gael. Eden (as in the Irish
names) means a hill-slope (obsolete Welsh Eiddyri). b
The Castle hill slopes gradually down to Holyrood.
The Welsh bards (jailed the hill Mynyd (or Mount),
Agned (? Cym. Agen, a cleft or fissure).
In the seventh century, Edinburgh was in the hands
of King Edwin of Northumbria, and this fact has in-
fluenced the form of the name, and has led to the
belief that " Edwinsburgh " originally meant Edwin's
town, instead of " the fort on the slope " (burgh =
dun).
Edinburgh was one of the " Maiden Castles," of
which there are a number both in England and Scotland,
the best known being perhaps the great fort near
Dorchester. Isolated rocks in the sea are also called,
in some instances, "maidens." Edinburgh actually
appears in charters as Castellum puellarum, and
Oppidum puellarum. From this arose the legend of
the Pictish maidens of high birth who were shut up
in the castle. Strangely enough, it is said that it was
the custom in ancient Scandinavia to shut up in fort-
resses women of noble birth for security when their
fathers and husbands were away reiving. 6
Edington: this is the same name as Haddington (e.f. of
Edington is Haedentun, and of Haddington, Hadyn-
ton and Hadintun). These names belong to an
extensive group in England, all having the same
meaning, viz., townships on heaths (O. Ic. held), not
3 The English words "hade" and "hading" (the etymology of which
is obscure), meaning, in mining, the dip or slope of a vein, have their
source, not improbably, in this word eiddyn, a slope.
6 Crichton and Wheaton, pp. 195-6.
308 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
necessarily sites on which the heath-plant grew, but
wild, open spaces suitable for pasturage.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle has the forms Hat, Had,
Heding, and Eding for heath, and we find all these
forms in Eng. place-names. The form corresponding
with the word " heather " (Scots " hadder ") also ap-
pears in Eng. place-names as Hatter and Hadder. In
Scotland the place-names Hatton, Edington, and
Haddington belong to the first group, and the second
group is represented by such names as Edderton (in
Scottish names Edder is invariably associated with Gae.
eadar "between," with surprising results).
But these groups present a further remarkable
feature in the resemblance between the words they
comprise, and those in what may be called the Cat
group. Thus, Hatton is paralleled by Catton; and
names containing Hatter by those containing Gatter.
That the letters " H " and " C " are here equations
cannot well be doubted. It is proved by the fact, for
instance, that Keadby in Lincolnshire appears in early
forms as Heidebi, Haytheby, and Keteby. The initial
letter "C" or "K" for "H" is probably a legacy
from the primitive Aryan root.
Such place-names in Scotland as Catter, Catrine,
Loch Katrine (correct pronun. " Kettrin "), and Cater-
line belong apparently to the "heath" category.
Elgin (spelt Helgyn on an old seal of the burgh): if a
compound, the name is probably derived from Gym.
Hel, a holme or dale, and gwyn, what is fair an
appropriate name. It may be observed that the Scots
Haugh (which has the same force as Gym. Hel} some-
times takes the form of Halche (cf. Glenelg, e.f . Glen-
halk). This form, with the yn affix, may conceivably
be the source of " Elgin." The situation of the town
supports either of the etymologies.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 309
Gym. Elgain, supremely fair, is more fanciful, and
(for that reason) more doubtful as the source of the
name. The Elgin people used to call the environs of
their town " the Garden of Scotland."
Falkirk: anciently Egglesbreth and Eiglesbrec, and Varie
Capelle, the speckled church. 7 This must surely be
a perversion of the original name. Brec may have been
confused with 0. Ic. brekka, slope, or Gym. brig, sum-
mit, and the confusion may have been perpetuated.
Ecclesbrae, the brae (Scots) church, is said to have
been one of the old names of Falkirk; it describes the
position of the church and town correctly. But the
"speckled" idea persists in the local pronunciation
"Fawkirk"; and " faw " in Scots means " of diverse
colours." The theory is that the church was built of
stones of different colours.
Falkland: e.f. Falecklen, means Hawkland, Folk or Faleck
being a Gae. form of Gym. Gicalch, a hawk. Thus
Falkland, a favourite residence of Scottish kings, takes
its name from " the sport of princes."
Fasque (e.f. Fasky) and Fassiefern (e.f. Faschef arne) : from
Gym. Gwasg, a waste. Fame = Gym. gwern, a swamp.
The original form Gwasg is still to be found in the
place-name Gask.
It is difficult to see how these Cymric names (Falk-
land, Fasque, Fassiefern, and others belonging to the
same category) in Gaelic garbs are to be explained,
except on the hypothesis that they were the names given
by the predecessors of the Gael, and that the latter
perpetuated the names, while substituting Gae. F for
Gym. Gw. The F or V sound in Gaelic may be an
inheritance from Latin, or from Teutonic contact.
7 Gae. Eaylai* breac and Cym. Eglwys brech have the same meaning.
310 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Fife (e.f . Fib (Gae.), Fifi (0. Ic.), Fif and Fyf): in O. Ic.
Fifi means cotton-grass, which plant may have been a
characteristic feature of the marsh called the Moor of
Fife. But this derivation is unlikely. The usual
derivation is eponymic: Fib, one of the seven sons of
Cruithne, by whom some etymologists have been
obsessed. A more rational derivation is from Gym.
Gwyf, what extends; Gwyjo, to run out, which is
descriptive of the contour of the county; Fyj or Fib
is the Gae. equivalent of Gwyf. Fife was also called
Ross (of which name Kinross and Culross are relics), and
it included the modern Fifeshire, Kinross-shire, Clack-
mannanshire, and part of Perthshire. It is probable
that " Ross " should here be read with the meaning of
" peninsula," which practically agrees with the meaning
that I have suggested for " Fife."
Forfar (e.f. Forfaire): this name evidently means verdant
or pasture-hill: For, the prefix already discussed, and
Gym. flair, an eminence. The nucleus of the town
must have been close to the old castle, which stood on
an eminence. The Hill of Fare (perhaps a tautological
name) on the borders of Aberdeenshire and Kincardine-
shire, is famed for its sheep-pasture. 8
Forgan and Longforgan (e.f. Forgrund): shows an 0. Ic.
affix grund, grassy plain, or green field. Long pro-
bably = 0. Ic. Lond, land (see "Lumgair").
Forres (e.f. Forais, Forthirres, Forderris): perhaps For (see
prefixes) and Gym. tir, land; or possibly the Gae. form
of Gwerydre, cultivated land, or an inhabited region.
There is here an instance of the Eng. " s " to form a
plural. Another alternative derivation is from Gym.
Gweirdir, hay-land (see " Fortingall ").
8 The Hill of Fare may derive its name from the same source as the
Faroe (Sheep) Isles (cf. Fara in Orkney and the Outer Hebrides and
Pharay in Orkney) : O. Ic. Fjdr, gen. of Ft, cattle, especially sheep.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 311
Fortingall (Perthshire) (e.f. Forterkil, Fortyrgill, and
Fothergill): in Fortyr we find probably Cym. Giver-
iJiyr, a fortification, with Ml, a bury ing-ground (but see
" Forres "). Fortingall was a Roman camp and station,
and there are numerous traces of fortifications. There
is a celebrated churchyard in Kirkton (made famous by
its ancient yew-tree) which may explain the suffix; but
conceivably it may relate to a tradition about the Roman
remains. 0. Ic. gil, a ravine, does not fit topographi-
cally. (Yew-trees were ordered by Act of Parliament to
be planted in burying-grounds, in order to provide
material for the bows that were so formidable in the
hands of Scottish archers before the English learned
the art of effective archery).
Fort-rose : this town is a combination of the old towns of
Chanonry and Rosemarkie, the latter being an ancient
and celebrated foundation. The old form of Fortrose is
Fortress, and ross in this instance means a promontory.
Fort is probably to be equated with Cym. Gwyrdd, a
green (perhaps the Cathedral Green).
Gairloch and Gareloch: usually derived from Gae. gedrr,
short, a very doubtful etymology. See " Lumgair," an
e.f. of which shows that gair is Ic. Icaer, a marsh.
Galashiels : a Scand. origin is shown by shiels (O. Ic. skdli,
a hut, a shed for temporary use). " The shielings on
the River Gala."
Galloway: there is a variety of e.f., comprising Galweya,
Galeweia, Galwodia, Gallovidia, Gallweithia, and the
Welsh form Gal wy del.
The last form supplies the key to the name, which,
in my opinion, is derived from Cym. Gallt-givyddle
(i.e., Gallt, an ascent, and gicyddle, a woody place),
signifying a hilly and wooded country, which exactly
describes old Galloway. The prefix Gallt appears in
312 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Cornish as Gale, a high place. The Welsh form Gallt
is preserved in the place-name Galtway (anciently
Galtweid) in Galloway. Galloway and Galltweid are
variants of the same word. Gwyddle appears in the
Teutonic roots vid and wod (wood), jshown in some of the
forms (as above) of Galloway.
Dr. Skene's etymology, Gall Gaidheal, " the foreign
Gael," is an astonishing name to apply to a pro-
vince, especially when it is not supported by any
form, early or late, of the name. Yet, as in other in-
stances of the same kind, he wrote history on this false
etymology. He seems to have confused the Cyni.
Gwyddle, a woody place, with Gwyddel, the Welsh
corruption of the word " Gael."
Garioch: an old name, of which an e.f. is Garvyach. It
seems to mean "rough pasture": Gym. Garw, rough,
and ach (achadh), which has been discussed as a prefix.
Geanies : a curious name. E.f. Genes. It means "the
cleft headland," from O. Ic. Gjd, a cleft, and nes, a
headland. At Geanies there is a rocky precipice
pierced with caves.
Glasgow (e.f. Glasgu, Glasgow, Glaschu): the totemistic
(cu, hound) theory has been at work over this name,
with extraordinary results. Gym. Cu, dear, has also
been tried with no better success . Neither Glaschu,
" greyhound," nor Glascu, " dear green," will do at
all.
The name, I suggest, means River-town, or River-
district. It is composed of Glas, the river-name already
analysed, and gau or govia, a district (pagus}, a
Tent, word (also already noticed), which appears in
0. Fris. as go, signifying a town (cf. West ergo and
Estergo), and in various place-names of Teut. origin
as gau (cf. Aargau, Rheingau, etc.).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 313
The suffix "gu," " gow," or " cu," is also found in
names like Linlithgow, Lesmahagow, and others.
Glas or Glass is usually applied to small streams,
and may therefore seem inappropriate for the Clyde.
But Dunglass on the Clyde must take its name from
that river. I am inclined, however, to believe that the
Glas in Glasgow refers to the Molendinar Burn (men-
tioned by Jocelyn (Mellindonor), twelfth century),
below the Cathedral. It may be assumed by analogy
that the nucleus of Glasgow is to be found in the site
of the Cathedral. The settlement that was formed
around that site would be appropriately named the Glass
(Molendinar Burn), village or district. It has already
been shown that no factor was more potent in giving
names to settlements than the rivers of the valleys where
the settlers made their homes.
Glassary, Glasserton, Glastry, and Glasterlaw: the "Glaster"
in these names is probably Cym. Clasdir, glebe-land.
An e.f. of Glassary is " Glaster."
Glencoe (e.f. Glencoyne, Glencoan): the Pap of Glencoe,
a huge conical mountain at the entrance to the Glen,
gives it and the river their name (Cym. Con, a peak
tor cone). Loch Con is bounded on the south by a
precipitous mountain.
Glenelg (e.f. Glenhalk): this name has apparently the same
meaning as Glendale (see Elgin).
Golspie (e.f. Goldespy and Golspi): the termination shows
the Dan. by, town. A personal name, that of the
original settler probably, is shown by the prefix. By
originally meant a farm.
Govan : perhaps from Cym. Gowanu, to divide, in allusion to
the division of the parish into two parts by the river.
An e.f. is Guvan.
314 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Gowrie (e.f. Gowrin and Gouerin): perhaps Gym. Gower,
croft or enclosure, with an affix; but more probably
Cym. Gwyran, coarse rushy grass.
Greenock: a Cym. compound word derived from Graen,
gravel, or coarse sand, with, the " water " suffix ach,
first Gaelicised to oich or och, and then Anglicised to
ock. The significance of the name is seen when it is
remembered that Greenock is opposite what Clydesiders
call the " Tail of the Bank." The latter is a sandbank
extending from the vicinity of Dumbarton Castle to
Greenock.
The prefix Graen occurs in other names, e.g., Grenan
(Bute), Grennan (Galloway), etc., and is also found
in the form of Grain, applied to streams. In Ireland
it appears in several " Greenoges " (Greenock). It will
probably be found that the soil, in every case, is sandy.
This prefix is almost invariably attributed to Gae.
Grian, the sun, and so we have " Sun-spots " in dif-
ferent localities. 9 But Grian, the sun, is itself derived
from Cym. Greian, what gives light, thus affording
(a good exainple of the process of development that
Gaelic has undergone.
The name Gruinard, or Gruinort, or Greinord (for all
three forms are used) is found in Islay, Gairloch (Ross-
shire), and Shetland. Its incidence in Shetland at once
suggests a Norse origin, which is probably to be found
in O. Ic. Grunnr, shallow, rather than Cym. Graen,
sand. The suffix of Gruinard, etc., seems to be a form
taken by fjord, firth, in composition.
Hawick: the meadow, (Haugh) village (wick), E.f. Hawic
and Hawich.
9 As a good example of this sort of etymology, I may mention a name
like Culnagrein (Culnagreen), meaning the sandy or gravelly height, or
rising ground. Invariably this is interpreted as ** Back of the sun." (See
Irish "Cool.")
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 315
Helmsdale: another Scandinavian settlement like Golspie,
is signified by this name. Helm (Hialm, Helim) is still
a living surname in Scotland.
Holy r ood = Holy Cross (" Ecclesia Sancte Crucis"), so
called from the Abbey.
Huntly : a name taken by the Gordons (like their own name)
from their original property in Berwickshire: " Hunt-
lea " (A. S. huntiari). Huntly thus means "hunting-
valley/'
Inchaffray : a curious name with a Celtic prefix, ~Ynys or
Innis, island, and a Latin suffix, offer ens, altered in
Gae. to aifrinn : the island of the Mass. Inchaffray
was a celebrated foundation. There is a Scottish
surname Afren (Galwegian origin).
Inch, in this instance, has a meaning that is fre-
quently met with in Perthshire: a " wet " meadow,
or a meadow that was at one time insulated by water.
The same meaning attaches to the Scand. ey in some
London place-names, e.g., Batters-ea (Patrick's Isle),
Bermonds-ey, Chels-ea, etc.
Jedburgh : the burgh on the Jed. The name is written
in a variety of forms: Gedwearde (=Gedworth),
Gedword, Jaddeword, from which forms we see the
origin of Jeddart in the grim expression, " Jeddart
justice." Jed^Gdd, rambling (Eng. "Gad" from
O. Ic. Gaddr, a goad). Possibly, however, the name
relates to the briskness of its current.
Kelso : this is an interesting name, as exemplifying the
divergence from original forms that modern topography
in Scotland sometimes assumes. The e.f . of Kelso are
Calkou and Kelcou, and these forms explain the name
as the modern name Kelso is quite unable to do.
316 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
The old form is still alive in the Chalkheugh Terrace,
overlooking the town, which is situated on the Tweed.
Calkou = Chalkheugh, i.e., the chalk or limestone heugh
or height (A. S. Cealc, Dan. Kalk, etc., limestone).
This is confirmed by the old Welsh name of Kelso,
" Calchvynyd " (Gym. Calch, lime, and vynyd, being
Gym. mynydd, a mountain, in composition).
Marnoch
Dalmarnock
Inchmarnoch
Kilmarnock
Kilmaronoclc
E.f. Kelmernoke.
E.f. Kilmerannok.
Whether a saint named Marnoch ever lived or not
at the best he is a shadowy saint it is doubtful whether
any of these places took its name from him, though that
is believed to be the origin of Kilmarnock; and Inch-
marnock (Rothesay) has the remains of a chapel said
to have been dedicated to him. The " Marnochs "
are meadow-lands, derived from Gym. Maranaivg,
" having holmes," or flat land along the side of a river.
Kilsyth = Kelvinside. E. f . Kelvinsyth, Kelnasydhe.
" Syth " or "sydhe" are from 0. Ic. sida (pron.
"eeetha "), a side or coast.
Kilwinning (e.f. Kynwenyn): Wenyn looks like Gym.
gwaen, a plain or meadow, with an affix. Freemasonry
in Scotland originated at Kilwinning.
Kinghorn: Kin-korn, one of the e.f., irresistibly suggests
tautology: Gae. Kin, and Gym. corn, a horn or butt.
Kinghornness is a triplication, by the addition of O. Ic.
nes, a headland.
Kinross (e.f. Chinross): this name is probably a relic of
the old name for Fife (Ross). Chin is Gae. Ceann,
head.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 317
Kirkcaldy : Kirk = Gym. Caer, influenced by the Scots
" Kirk " or church. E.f . of the name are Kircaladin,
Kirkaldin, etc. Caer here has probably the meaning
of " City."
For "calad" and " kald " see " Dunkeld " (Gym.
celydd, a sheltered place). In this instance, the
" sheltered place " may be the harbour.
Kirkcudbright: " Cuthbert's Kirk": the Church of St.
Cuthbert. 10
Kirhintilloch : Gae. form of the original Gym. name
Caerpentaloch (Nennius), meaning the fort on the knoll-
summit (the Peel).
KirJcwall : Church Bay. O. Ic. vdgr, bay, as shown by e.f.
The old name of the parish was St. Ola (Olaf).
Kirriemuir ("Thrums"): e.f. Kerimure and Kermuir (cf.
Kerriemore, Glenlyon), O. Ic. Kjarr-myrr, marsh
ground with brushwood.
Knapdale : 0. Ic. Knappr, a knob, perhaps a loan from
Gym. (and Gae.) Cnap, with the same meaning. A. S.
Cncep means the top of a hill, showing a derived mean-
ing from Knop, or Knob. Knap has the same force
as knoll (see Dornoch). Knapdale means the hillocky
dale.
Knoydart, Moidart, and Sunart : I take these three names
together, because they are associated both geographi-
cally and etymologically.
E.f. discover the A. S. suffix worth, an enclosure,
or dwelling, in Knoydart and Moidart (" Cnudeworth "
and " Modworth "), which sometimes takes the form
10 It is noteworthy that the prefix Kirk in Scottish names is chiefly in
Galloway. The origin of Kirk is undoubtedly O. Ic. Kirk/a, a church.
How did the Galloway names receive this prefix if not through its Scan-
dinavian connexion ? In England the " Kirks " are found in the districts
occupied by the Danes.
318 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
of ord in compounds (cf. Petiorde in Domesday Book
for Pettworth, Sussex). On the other hand, O. Ic.
jjordr, firth, sometimes combines as ort (cf. Snizort,
Skye, which appears on record as Snesfurd and Sneis-
port).
Knoyd (Cnud or Canute or Knud) and Sun or Sweyn
(Sunart is Swynord in an early map) are probahly the
names of the Scandinavian settlers at Knoydart and
Sunart. By analogy, Moid (e.f. Mod and Mude)
should also be a settler's name. The A. S. worth
appears to be a late rendering of 0. Ic. gardr (garth),
a dwelling (cf. Rogart, e.f. of which are Rothe-garthe
and Roart).
Kyle : a district in Ayrshire. The name is probably taken
from the Coyl, one of the streams running through the
district (Cym. Cul, narrow). E.f. are Cyil, Chul, and
Kyi. No connexion (as has been supposed) with King
Cole, " the merry old soul."
As applied in such examples as the "Kyles" of Bute, or
Lochalsh, the word means a strait or channel, from the
same derivation (Cym. Cul, Gae. Caol).
Lammermuir (e.f. Lambremor): the lambing-moor (0. Ic.
Lembdr, with lamb, and mor, moor. Cf. Lamba (Lamb
Isle), Shetland, Lamb Isle (Firth of Forth), Lamb
Head, and Lamb Holm (Orkney). The Lammermuirs
have always been celebrated for their sheep.
Lanark: possibly Cym. Llanerch, a clear area. But an e.f,
Llanrig suggests that Lanark may be a metathetic form
of Lanrig or Long ridge, from the mountain ridge of
the Clyde basin (cf. Lanrig or Longridge).
Larg Hill, Largs, Lairg, Largo, and Largoward : associated
with all these names may be Gae. Learg, a green slope r
but Learg may be the same as Scots Lea-rig, meaning
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 319
a grassy ridge (Lairg in Sutherland is pronounced
" Layrig "). Learg in Irish Gae. means a boggy field.
It has the meaning of a plain in Scots Gae. as well as
a slope.
Lassivade, Leslie, Leswalt : show apparently A.S. Laese,
meadow, as a descriptive prefix. Leslie (e.f. Lessly)
would thus mean meadow-land.
Leith : BO called from the Water of Leith. See prefixes Lath
and Leth, the latter being an early form of Leith.
Lennox (e.f. Levenax, Levenach): the Leven pasture-
ground. The guttural suffix ach has here taken the form
of 03.li
Linlithgow (e.f. Linlitcu, Linlidcu, Lenlithgow, and some-
times without the prefix as Lithcowe or Lythgow): in
Scots, Lithe means "sheltered from the blast" (A. S.
hlithe)', and that exactly describes the situation of
Linlithgow. Scots Lithe also means a " ridge " (A. S.
hleoth, and O. Ic. hlid, slope). Linlithgow is sheltered
by ridges. Cu or gow is the Teut. gau or govia, some-
times meaning a district, and sometimes a town (O.
Fris. go, a town). The prefix suggests an allusion to
the situation of the town by the lake (Gym. Llyn, lake),
but possibly Lin or Len = marsh (0. Welsh Linn)', or
it may be Gym. Lleyn, a low strip of land.
Lochwinnoch (e.f. Lochynoc): an old name given to the
parish by the loch in the centre. The local pronuncia-
tion throws the accent on the first syllable. The name
probably means dusky water, Gym. Llychwin, dusky,
and ach, water.
11 The A.-S. rendering of Ox for Ach may be seen in the river-names
Axe (Dorset and Somerset) and Exe (Devon), which represent Cym. Ach,
river (not Wyntrf^ as Canon Taylor supposed).
The a.r termination is also seen in the name of the stream Sannox
{Glensannox in Arran), early forms of which are Sannoc and Sannoch.
320 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Lorn : this name is usually attributed to Loarn, one of the
three sons of Ere, who, at the end of the fifth or the
beginning of the sixth century, led the Scots from Ire-
land to Dalriada in Scotland, where they established
themselves. The eponymic method is always to be re-
garded with suspicion, and this is no exception to the
rule. Lorn (e.f. Laern and Loren) may be derived
from O. Ic. Leira, muddy shore, Leir, mud (Scots Lair
or Lare, a bog), with an affix. Gordon of Straloch spells
the name Laern. Cowal in Argyllshire is similarly
derived by this eponymous method from Comgall, the
grandson of Fergus, another of the sons of Ere. This
name is probably the same as Coul, which, as we have
seen, is to be interpreted as high or rising ground (Gym.
Col, a peak, O. Ic. Kollr, top or summit). By this
reading, the attributes of Lorn and Cowal are in con-
tradistinction.
Lothian (e.f. Lodene, Laudonia, Louthion, and the con-
tracted form of Loonie) (see " Lewis "): Lodene seems
to be Llod with an affix. The ia termination means
" country."
Lumgair : an e.f. Lunkyrr suggests marsh-land as the mean-
ing (Ic. Jcaer, a marsh). 12
Luss : the name is derived from the Luss rivulet (cf. R.
Lussa and Lossie). O. Ic. Ljoss, bright or clear.
Mar (e.f. Marr): the same root as in " M earns " (which see).
An old province lying mainly between the Dee and the
Don in Aberdeenshire. It is subdivided into Braemar,
Midmar, and Cromar. Gym. Mar, what is flat.
12 I suggest that the puzzling prefix Lum and Lun (variants Lon, Long)
may have their source in O. Ic. Loud, a nominal form of Land. In com-
bination there would be a tendency to drop the final " d." An alternative
suggestion is O. Ic. Lon, a lagoon.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 321
The name relates to the meadow-land between the
Dee and the Don. Midmar lies midway between the
two rivers. One of the meanings of Cym. ystrad
(strath) is a flat.
Marchmont : here we have the Teut. mark or boundary,
derived from O. Ic. MorJc, a wood (showing the fre-
quency of forest boundaries), and in this example
applied to a hill. These marches or boundaries gave
titles to their defenders, e.g., Marquis and Margrave.
Rivers forming boundaries are exemplified, as we
have seen, in Scottish topography by the names
" Mark " and " Markie," applied to streams in Banff-
shire, Forfarshire, Inverness-shire, and Perthshire.
Maree : this loch-name deserves examination.
As a rule, lochs take their names from the rivers that
flow from or into them. But Loch Maree, the Queen
of Highland lakes, has a saintly reputation, and its
name has been persistently associated with those of
saints. Formerly it was believed to mean the Virgin
Mary's Loch, but Dr. Reeves and Sir Arthur Mitchell
have between them established a proprietary right in
the name for St. Maelrubha. The latter, the apostle
of Wester Ross in the seventh century, had his sphere
of work in the neighbourhood of Loch Maree, and one
of the numerous corruptions of his name takes the form
of " Maree." But it is by no means clear that this cor-
ruption was not influenced by the name of the loch,
rather than the contrary process.
The name of the loch was formerly (see Blaeu's Map)
Loch Ew (Cym. Aw, fluid), hence the name of the
village at its head, Kenlochewe. E.f. of Maree are
" Maroy " and " Mourie." " Ewe " was sometimes
written " ow," and I think that this root may be found
in the suffix of " Maroy. I suggest that Maree simply
21
322 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
means " Loch Ewe/' (Eng. mere, lake, is cognate with
O. Ic. marr, Cym. mor, Gae. muir, all meaning " sea ";
cf. Windermere, Grasmere, etc., where "mere" appears
as a suffix). 13
Markinch and Merkinch : in this prefix we may find from
e.f . the Cym. word March (Gae. Marc), a horse, rather
than 0. Ic. Mo'rk, a wood, the name thus signifying
a meadow (at one time insulated by water), used for
pasturing horses. (This seems to be a more likely
derivation than from march, a boundary).
Maybole : probably from Cym. Mai, a field, and pwll, a
puddle or pool (e.f. Mayboile, also Minibole). (See
Mon, prefix). The name may relate to the boggy part
of the parish. This derivation is supported by an old
couplet :
" Minnibole's a dirty hole:
It sits aboon a mire."
M earns : Dr. Skene believed that this name was a shortened
form of Magh Girghinn, a name that appears in the
Irish Annals; and on that supposition, he made essays
in localisation that were otherwise baseless. There is
not a vestige of authority in early forms for the belief
that the name has anything to do with Magh Girghinn,
and even on the face of it, the supposed contracted form-
is unlikely.
Mearns, the old name for Kincardineshire, and there-
fore situated in a characteristically Pictish district,
appears in an e.f . as Meorne, and an Irish (Book of the
Dun Cow) form as Mairne. Mearns in Lanarkshire
appears in e.f. as Mearns, Meorns, and Mernis.
I derive the name from Cym. Mar an, a holme, which
would take the form of Mern in Scottish names (see-
1 ! There is reason to believe that the present sea-loch (Loch Ewe) and
Loch Maree originally formed one lake called Loch Ewe.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 323
Kilmarnock, Kilmaronock, where the same root appears
as mern and meranri). As applied to Kincardine, the
name derives its appropriateness from the Howe (or
hough, or marran} district and the Deeside district.
The " Mearns " therefore simply means " the
meadows" (see "Mar").
Melrose (e.f . Mailros and Melros): a Cymric name meaning
the sodden moor (Mallu, to sodden, Mall, softness, and
rhos, a moor). The valley of Melrose must have been
originally a marsh.
But the prefix Mel, when applied to sandy places on
the coast, comes from 0. Ic. Melr, sandbank.
There is a Melrose in Banffshire, which is probably
from the same source as the better-known Melrose in
the south.
Methven: there are several Meths in Scotland. The most
obvious derivation of this name is from 0. Fris. Meth,
a meadow, and fenne (0. Ic. vin), pasture-land. This
accords with early forms of the name, and is entirely
appropriate. Corn, meath means a plain. 14
Minto: a hybrid. Cym. Mynydd, a mountain, and haugh,
a meadow (e.f. Mynetowe).
Moffat : (e.f. Moffete; a difficult name): Canon Taylor says
that the names Moffat and Mowat are derived from the
name of the Norman family of Montealt. It is rarely,
however, that places take their names from persons:
the contrary is the rule, to which exceptions are few,
and, in any case, the equation between Moffat and Mon-
tealt is obscure. I suggest that Moffat means the
14 Meath in Ireland, a province carved out of the four older provinces
to provide the mensal-lands of the High Kings, may be derived also
from meath, a plain. But the early forms suggest the usual derivation
'* middle," from its situation. If that is the correct derivation, the source
must be O. Ic. midr, lying in the middle.
324 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
gravelly place (which accords with the fact), the root
being 0. Ic. Mol, gravel. The place-name Moll in
Eoxburghshire (a name to which the same origin may
be assigned) is locally called Mow.
Montrose (e.f. Munros, Montrose, Monross): these forms
at first suggest the prefix Mon (which see), and ros,
a peninsula, in allusion to the site of the town. But
Monhose, a thirteenth century form, suggests that the
hill of Montrose is intended, unless the " t " is a Gae.
intrusive letter, which it probably is. The accent being
on the suffix, it is the defining element in the name,
which means, in all likelihood, the peninsula bog (mon)
or moor dwelling.
Moral/ : previous to the consolidation of the Scottish
dominion over what is now Scotland, Moray, as distinct
from Scotia, was one of the great divisions over which
the King of Scots exercised a nominal suzerainty.
Gradually Moray was shorn of its former importance,
and shrank to its present dimensions. The elucidation
of the meaning of its name may be of some ethnological
value.
It appears in various shapes, including Muireb and
Muref (Irish), Moravia (Latin), Maerhaefui (Norse),
and Morref (Scottish).
The e.f. of the name are alive in Welsh as Morfa,
sea - brink, or salt marsh, and in Cornish as Morva,
land by the sea. That Moreb = Morfa is shown by
a charter of 736, included in Dr. Birch's Cartularium
Saxonicum, where the place-name Morfe is written
Moerheb. Moray thus means sea-place, being derived
from Gym. Mor, the sea, and tyna, a place, the latter, in
combination, becoming va, fa, af, or ef (see "Banff").
Morven and Morvern in Argyllshire, and Morven in
A berdeenshire contain the same prefix as Moray.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 325
Morven is Gym. Morfin, strand, or sea-shore, or sea-
brink, and Morvern (e.f. Morwarne) has, as an affix,
apparently, Cym. gwern, swamp.
Musselburgh : a curious name. E.f. Muxelburg and
Muschelburg. The old name was Eske-muthe (Esk-
mouth), and Mussel appears to be " Muzzle," or
"Moeel," with the meaning of mouth (O. "Fr.-musel).
I do not think the name has anything to do with
mussels, although the Firth of Forth is an important
source of supply.
Nigg (e.f. Nig): Cym. Nig, what is narrowed. There are
two Niggs in Scotland, and both answer this descrip-
tion. Nigg in Koss-shire is a peninsular " strait "
between the Moray Firth and the Cromarty Firth, and
Nigg in Kincardineshire has also a peninsulated form
in one section of the parish. Both Niggs are thus
"corners" or "nooks"; and the latter word is probably
derived from Cym. Nig, as well, perhaps, as the
associated words " nick " and " notch."
Oban: = Harbour; O. Ic. Hop, haven of refuge, with an
affix, perhaps the definite article.
Ochiltree : the name that appears in the Ochil Hills. Ochil-
tree means the highly situated homestead (Cym. Uchil,
high, and tre, a homestead).
Paisley : a name that has given scope to a good deal of
ingenious guessing. To understand its significance, it
is necessary to glance at the history of Paisley.
As already suggested, there is good ground for
identifying Ptolemy's Vindogara or Vanduara with the
site of old Paisley or its vicinity, the Roman name being
apparently a Latin rendering of Gwyndwr, or clear
water. The White Cart, upon which river Paisley is
situated, was locally known, it has been stated, by the
326 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
same name (Gwyndwr}; and the latter, in the form of
Wendur, seems to have been applied to the original
settlement on the Cart, thus confirming the suggestion
that Vanduara = Gwyndwr.
The earliest forms of the present name are Passeleth
j and Paisleth, of which names, Paisley is a softened
pronunciation. There is no record of the name older
than 1157, the date upon which Malcolm IV. confirmed
to Walter, High Steward of Scotland the progenitor
of the Royal Stewards or Stewarts a grant by David I.
of certain lands which included "Passeleth"; and on
the lands of Passeleth (on the right bank of the River
Cart) Walter founded Paisley Abbey.
Bearing in mind the importance of river-fords in
determining the sites of towns before bridges were built,
I am inclined to think that ias Dunipace (the same root)
was the place for crossing the Carron, so Paisley may
have been the place for crossing the Cart. That cir-
cumstance would easily explain " Passeleth " as " the
ford of the plain," i.e., the flat land below the ridge
on which Paisley was built (Cym. Bais or Bas, a ford
or shallows, and lledd, a plain or flat. " P " and " B "
interchange, and Cym. Lledd Gae. Leth).
Paribride and Panmure : are two names in the same part
of Scotland Arbroath and Forfar that may repay
examination. The prefix " Pan " is probably the same
prefix as " Pean," in Peanfahel, already discussed, and
may be derived originally from the rocky coast. But
it may have the secondary meaning of ''dwelling" (soe
Kin). Bride is St. Bridget, to whom the ancient
church of the parish was dedicated.
Panmure means literally " Muirhead " (cj. the
personal name Muirhead), from "Cym. Pen and O. Ic.
mor, moor; and, in a secondary sense, moor-dwelling.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 327
The forms Pean and Pan seem to be those taken by
Pen in the Pictish language. E.f. give no counten-
ance to the suggestion that Paw = Gae. Ballin or Gym.
Llan.
Particle (e.f. Perdyec and Pertheck): Gym. Perthawg,
having bushes. Partick therefore means " bush-land."
Peebles (e.f. Pobles and Pebles): from O. Welsh Pebyll,
a tent ; Pebyllaw, to encamp. Peebles thus means
an encampment.
Pentland: the Firth is called after the Picts, as shown by
the name, Petland Fiord, given to it by the Norse in
the historical era. Probably they found the name there
before them .
The Pentland Hills, according to Bollenden, got their
name for the same reason as the Pentland Firth. This
seems probable from all that is known of the history of
Lothian. But there is no e.f. to confirm the suggestion.
Perth (e.f. Pert and Perth): Old Perth, the site of which
is about two miles from the present town, is called by
Boece " Bertha," and Camden confirms that form, but
does not give the source of his information. If the
form was, in fact, Berth, 15 it may be referred to Gym.
Berth, fair or pleasant (the Teut. personal name has
the same meaning). But if the original name was
Pert or Perth, we have to look to another Gym. word
Perth, bushland, or brake, as its source. Camden says
that old Berth, with " a Royal infant and all the in-
habitants," was destroyed by an inundation of the Tay,
and that the modern Perth was founded by William
the Lion.
15 The Bartlia-firdi of the Lwlhrokar-timda is believed by Skene to
mean (Celtic Scotland, i., 311) the Firth of Tay.
328 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Pluscarden (e.f. Ploschardin and Pluscarty): " Chardin "
has already been examined (see Kin and Kincardine).
The prefix is apparently a Pictish form of Gym. Plds,
a hall or palace.
Pollokshaws and Pollokshields : " Pollok " in these names
iseems to mean " puddly " (Cym. Pwll, a puddle); shaw
= wood; and shields, shielings. Pol appears in other
place-names, e.g., Polmadie, Polmont, Polton, Pol-
warth, etc. The last name gives an e.f., Powelsworth,
suggesting a personal name: the owner of the ivorth.
Polmaise (e.f. Pollemase): Cym. Pwll, a puddle, and maes,
a plain or open field.
Portree (earlier Portri) : usual explanation Port righe,
Harbour of the King, being associated with James V.,
who visited the Hebrides in 1549 to tame the chiefs.
Why Portree should be selected from the other stopping-
places to commemorate the visit, or what its name was
before the visit, nobody can say.
This derivation is not satisfactory. Probably the
name means the stream (Raasay Sound), port: Cym.
Porth, a port, and rhead, a running or current (rhe,
fleet). We find the same idea, doubtfully, in the name
Raasay itself (O. Ic. Rds, a channel), but certainly
in Kyle Rhea, the narrow channel that forms the
northern portion of the Sound of Sleat.
Prestwlck : this name means priest-wick or priest-hamlet,
and is thus a purely A.S. name. This is an ancient
burgh, whose " barons " or free-men long had certain
peculiar privileges.
Quir aing : 0. Ic. Kvi, pi. Kviar, folds or pens, and eng,
meadow. This valley, which stands at an altitude of
nearly 1,000 feet, seems to have been used by the Skye-
'men, when invaded by their enemies, as a place of
concealment for their cattle.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 329
Rannoch (Loch Rannoch): this celebrated loch may have
derived its name from its natural advantages as a
boundary (Welsh Khan, Corn. Ran, Gae. Rann, a share
or division). But what is perhaps a more likely and
more appropriate etymology is 0. Ic. Hraun, wilder-
ness. Och water.
Renfrew (e.f . Eenfrew, Renifry, Reinfrew): this name may
be derived from 0. Ic. Rein, a strip of land, and Gym.
ffrau, a flux; a hybrid, apparently. The flux is the
confluence of the Black and White Cart, and the Gryfe
with the Clyde.
Rosemarkie (e.f. Rosmarkyn): a probable hybrid; Gae.
Ross, promontory (Fortrose Point, see " Fortrose "),
and O. Ic. mork, forest (gen. markar), with the affix
(perhaps the article) " yn " now " ie." Rosehaugh,
also a hybrid (see 4-Uch), has its prefix from the same
source. In John Speed's Map, Rosemarkie appears
without the affix as "Rosermark."
Roslin (e.f. Roskelin): probably from Cym. Rhwsg, large
or rank. The suffix is probably 0. Welsh linn, in
the sense of "marsh," or, possibly, lleyn, a low strip
of land.
Rosneath (e.f. Rosneth and Rusnith): Cym. Rhus, a
promontory (Gae. Ross}, and noeth, bare.
Rothesay (e.f. Rothersay): this name looks like O. Ic.
Rjodrsjd, signifying a forest-clearing by the sea.
Rothiemurchus (e.f. Rathmorchus) : prefix Rath (which see),
and O. Ic. mork, forest, with Jim, house or dwelling.
The name means, therefore, " dwelling in a forest-
clearing."
Roxburgh: e.f. Rokisburc, Rochesburh, suggest a deriva-
tion from O. Fr. Roke or Roche, a rock; but if so,
330 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
they must represent one of the earliest Norman-French
names in Scotland, for Roxburgh appears on record
as early as the reign of David I., and is believed to
have existed before the twelfth century.
Ruthven (e.f. Ruthewen, Rothuan, Rothfen, and Ruven):
these forms point to O. Ic. Rud (Ruth), a clearing in
a wood, a prefix which appears in Scandinavian place-
names (see Rath), and 0. Ic. vin, pasture, or Gym.
gwaen, a plain or meadow.
Sanquhar (e.f. Sanchar and Senewhare): a difficult name.
The " old fort " (Gae. Sean cathair) is not convincing.
It may be a Scandinavian name, meaning " sandy
marsh " (Sand-kaer), for in composition, the " d " in
" sand " is sometimes dropped.
Scone : perhaps the most important of all these place-names
from an ethnological standpoint. For Scone was the
Pictish capital before the Scots took possession of it.
This is stated by John of Fordun, and confirmed by
collateral evidence. The name, therefore, must surely
have a Pictish origin.
Scone is clearly the word expressing " beautiful "
that is common to all Teutonic languages. It is found
with that meaning in numerous place-names all over
the Teutonic area on the Continent. Kluge believes
that the original meaning was "noteworthy," or "worth
seeing," a verbal adjective from the Teut. root Skau,
to look. The modern Ger. word is Schon, 0. H. G.
Sconi, O. Sax. Skoni, A. S. Seym (from which is
derived the Eng. word " sheen ").
The 0. Fris. form is Scone (sometimes Skin and
8chin), and the O. Ic. is 8km (Swed. Skon). The e.f.
of the Perthshire Scone are Sgoinde (Gae.), Scoine,
Scoan, Scon, and Scoon, the last form representing the
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 331
correct pronunciation of the name (cf. " Scoonie "
(Leven)). 16
It is a curious coincidence that we have here a purely
Teutonic word, having the same meaning in an
adjectival form as Cym. Berth, also an adjective, which
I have examined in connexion with Perth; and the same
adjectival form, as I have shown, meets us in the name
of Crieff.
It is difficult to resist the conclusion that the name
Scone, one of the ancient capitals of Pictavia, is strong
evidence in favour of the Teutonic element in the Picts
that I have been insisting upon. Whether the name
was originally given by the Scandinavians, or the Low
German people who, I have suggested, were super-
imposed upon the Picts, and became included in the
name " Pictish," it is difficult to say. But it must
be observed that it is only in Scandinavia that we find
this place-name as an adjective, e.g., SJcon (North
Sweden). In the numerous instances provided by
Germany, where it takes the form of Schon, and in
the Netherlands, where it appears as Schoon, it is
always, I believe, a prefix in place-names.
Selkirk : see Selgovae in the Ptolemaic names (Kirk =
church).
Shandon: 0. Ic. Sendinn, sandy.
Bleat: O. Ic. SUtta, a plain, or level field.
Spittal: a Gae. form of "hospital,'' also found in O. Ic.
(Spitall) and in Ger. (Spital). There are several
" Spittals " in Scotland, the best known being the
Spittal of Glenshee. The source of the word is Lat.
hospitdle.
16 The New Statistical Account states, however, that the old inhabitants
of Scone pronounced the name like '* Scin " or ** Skuyn." (Cf. the place-
names Skene and Skinflats.)
332 THE BACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Stirling: e.f. Strivilen, Estriuelin, Estrevelyn, Strewelyn,
and Striviling, the last a common form before the name
became stereotyped as Stirling. This name is com-
pletely Cymric, consisting of Ystre, or Ystred, a village
(Ystref, what forms a dwelling), and gweling, a clear
space, the " g " being eliminated by combination with
a prefix. We find examples in Wales which may be
cited in illustration, e.g., Kilvellen, Llanvilling (both
in N. Wales). On the other hand, we find Gwelyn
Island (Carnarvon), which is probably the same word
as vellen and villing in the cited forms of Stirling.
I do not think that vellen or velyn is derived from a
personal name, as is sometimes supposed. " Stirling "
denotes a village built on a forest clearing ; ling
is the relic of gweling.
Stornoway (Lewis): the earliest form is Stornochway, but
that form is no earlier than the beginning of the six-
teenth century. At the end of that century, it is
Stornova, and at the beginning of the seventeenth,
Stronway. Later it appears as Steornway, Stornway,
Stronbay, and Sternbay. In a charter of incorporation,
dated 1629 (which never took effect), it is spelt Stron-
way throughout except once, when the spelling is
Sternoway. The variations are evidently metathetic.
The usual derivation of the prefix is from O. Ic.
Stjorn, steering, or its derivation, O. Ic. Stjorna, to
govern; or the source of both, O. Ic. Stjarna, star, a
suggestive word, by the way, for it shows how the
Norsemen steered (starred) at night, and that the star-
board was the steering side. It links together, more-
over, the ideas of "steering" and "governing."
But " Steering Bay " (O. Ic. Vdgr, bay) is far from
being a satisfactory etymology, and I prefer to regard
Stron as the true form of the prefix, and Stiorn as a
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 333
inetathetic form. The name of the Island of Stronsay
in the Orkneys appears as Strjonsey in the Orkn.
Saga. Stronsay means, I think, the island of promon-
tories, or peninsulas, the latter being a conspicuous
feature, owing to the numerous bays in the island. 17
Similarly, Loch Stornoway in Argyllshire probably
takes its name from the promontory of Ardpatrick that
divides it from West Tarbert. Stornoway in Lewis,
in all likelihood, gets its name from the contour of the
parish, which (as may be seen on any map) stands out
like a nose from the island.
The ultimate source of these names is Gym. Trwyn,
a nose or point (see Troon), which in Gae. becomes
Sron, and in Scots dialect Strone, the last-named mean-
ing the end or point of a ridge. The Strone form has
prevailed in Scottish topography (see the names Stron,
Strone, Strone Hill, etc.). 0. Ic. has Trjona (Dan.
Tryne), a snout, and O. Ic. Rani means a hog's snout.
Thus, Sron and Sir on, with an intrusive " S," may have
either a Gym. or a Scand. origin. Probably, however,
the Scand. Trjona is borrowed from Gym. Trwyn.
The suffix (way) in the name Stornoway is simply a
phonetic rendering of the Gae. bdgh, a bay (0. Ic.
vdgr}, the latter a word of many cognates. Some of
the forms, as I have shown, have the Eng. " bay "
(e.g., Stronbay).
Strachan: a place and personal name. It is pronounced
" Strawn." E.f . show that it may mean " pasture-
strath " (Strathauchin).
Stranraer (e.f. Stranrever and Stranraver): this name ap-
pears to be derived from O. Ic. Strond, a strand (the
17 A Celtic prefix in Orkney may be accounted for by the fact that
Celtic anchorites dwelt there; they were in Stronsay before the later
Norsemen, as shown by the name Papa Stronsay.
334 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
margin of Loch Kyan), and 0. Ic. hrjufr, rough. The
final " d " in " strand " is dropped as in " sand " (see
"Sanquhar").
Struan and Strowan (Stroan in Ireland): probably Gym.
Ystref, or Ystre, dwelling (see Stirling), and owen
(awon), river.
Sutherland (e.f . Suthernelande) : means the land to the south
of the Ord or Mound (Mount), which forms a natural
barrier between Caithness and Sutherland. In the
twelfth century, Caithness and Sutherland were in-
cluded in the name Cathanesia. The Gae. name for
Caithness is Gallaobh, and for Sutherland Cataobh, the
latter thus retaining the old name of the combined
districts. The Norse sometimes designated Caithness
by the name of Nes. The Book of Deer has the name
as Catness, and the Irish " Nennius " as Cat. The
old Earls of Sutherland were known as Morfhear, or
Duic (duke), Chatt (see the prefix Cat or Cait, already
fully discussed).
Tain (e.f. Tene and Tayne): the derivation from 0. Ic.
Ting (see Dingwall) is phonetically inadmissible. The
word is probably referable to Cym. Tain, what spreads
out, and Taen } a spread, in allusion to the outlet of
Tain Water into the Dornoch Firth. The word has
really the same force as Tay, that river, as we have seen,
receiving its name from Tdf, a spread. Tain is situated
on the margin of the Dornoch Firth, the sandbanks of
which, however, render it harbour-less. It is celebrated
for its ancient church, dedicated to St. Duthus, a
favourite saint of James IV. (Cf. Taendore
(Cromarty) and Tayinloan (Argyllshire.)
Tarbat or Tarbert : quite a number in Scotland. From
Gae. Tairbeart, an isthmus, lit. " boat-drawing," from
the practice of drawing boats across isthmuses to shorten
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 335
a journey. Tarbert (properly Tarbat) is derived from
Gae. T arming, to draw, and bata, boat (O.Ic.bdtr, in-
corporated i n Gae . ) .
Tarland (e.f . Tarualand), Tarradale (e.f . Taruedal), Tarves
(e.f. Tarvas), Torphichen, Torphins, Turriff (e.f.
Turbruad), and similar names may, with warrant, be
ascribed to a Scandinavian source : either O. Ic. Tor/,
turf or peat, Tyrfa, to cover with turf; or, with perhaps
greater likelihood, to Torf - vidr, resinous fir-tree,
variants of which are Tyrvi and Tyri. The latter
derivation is suggested by the early form of Turriff, a
name that seems to mean a clearing in a fir - wood :
Turb ( Torf), fir-tree, and rud, a clearing in a wood.
Still more clearly is this etymology suggested by the
place-names Torwood and Torwoodlee.
Tillimorgan : I mention this name on account of the suffix,
for the prefix Tilli has already been dealt with.
Morgan is not derived from a personal name, the con-
trary process applying here as usual. The word is
Cym. morgant, sea-brink (cf. Glamorgan), Tillimorgan
thus meaning the high place by the sea-brink, which
agrees with the fact.
This place was also called Knock Morgan.
From the " Tullis " I select Tullibardine (e.f. Tuly-
bardyne), of which there are two in Scotland, one at
Crieff and the other in Moray. The Murrays, who
became Earls, and afterwards Dukes, of Atholl, may
have taken the name to Perthshire; it gives the title of
Marquis to that family. The name Is a hybrid, meaning
" the summit " (Scand. bard, a summit or projection,
with the usual affix. Tulli is a Gae. redundancy).
Tobermory Lady well : Gae. Tobar Moire = Well of Mary.
That is the usual derivation, and probably the correct
one.
336 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Tongue (several): ranging from Sutherland to Lewis, and
from Lewis to Galloway; the name is also found in
England. It is derived from 0. Ic. Tunga, a spit of
land.
Traquair : e.f. (a great variety) show that the prefix must
be Gym. Tref, a homestead; the homestead on the Quair
rivulet.
Troon (e.f. Trune, Truyn, and Trewin): Gym. Trwyn, a
nose or point. Troon is situated on a promontory (of.
Duntroon, Argyllshire, and Dundee).
Trossachs : the celebrated pass at Loch Katrine. Many
thousands of tourists must have asked what the word
means, and it must be admitted that it is a difficult
name.
It may be derived from the fact that the stream
called the Achray, running through the valley of the
Trossachs, connects the water of Loch Katrine with
that, of Loch Achray. Apparently the suffix is the
familiar ach, water or river, and the prefix may be
Gym. Traws, a traverse or a cross. Trossachs may thus
be translated as " the crossing or connecting water."
The terminational " s " is probably intrusive; it is like
the " Ax " and " Ox " forms of Ach. Ben Aan, on
one side of the stream, may take its name from that
circumstance (Avon).
Urquhart (several, e.f. Urchard, Urquhart, Owrchard, and
Urchurd): Adamnan's form, Airchardan, is the earliest
form of the name.
I derive this name from Gym. Orch, a rim or limit,
and ard, a dwelling, or ardd, ploughed land (see prefix
ard). Adamnan's form has an affix. This etymology has
its force from the fact that the various Urquharts
stretch along the rim either of the sea, or (as in the
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 337
case of the Inverness-shire representative) a loch, viz.,
Loch Ness.
\Wemyss: Cym. Wm, hollow (Gae. Uaimh)', Scots Weem,
a natural cave, with the Eng. plural.
Whithorn (Candida Casa, e.f. Hwitherne, Whitherne, etc.):
white dwelling (A. S. Hivit, white, erne, a habitation).
Applied to St. Ninian's house, from which the town
took its name.
Wigtown (e.f. Wyggeton and Wigston): Bay-town, from
O. Ic. ~Vik, a small bay.
Wick in Caithness (e.f. Wick and Vik) is the same
word. The Vik-ings (not Vi-kings) were either the
" bay-men," or originally the men from the Vikin
district, viz., Bohuslan (Sweden), a favourite resort of
Vikings.
The word Vik sometimes takes the Gaelicised form
of Uig, e.g., in Lewis and Skye.
22
CHAPTER XXVI.
Conclusions to be drawn from the foregoing analyses The earliest
colonisation of Scotland from Ireland A settlement of the Scots in
Wales The tradition in the Life of St. CWroe The Kingdom of
Fife The Dalriadic kingdom in Argyll A Scottish settlement in
Fife The three sons of Ere The extent of the Dalriadic sovereignty
The Northumbrians and the Scots Fife an appanage of Dalriada
The relations between the Picts and the Scots The nature of
Kenneth MacAlpin's rights to the Pictish Crown.
IT will now be useful to see where these analyses of place-
names conduct us. If they carry conviction and I
have exposed to view every part of the etymological
machinery they cannot fail to lead to four con-
clusions : (first) that the oldest names in Scotland are-
mainly of Cymric origin ; (secondly) that they are
intermingled with a substantial proportion of Scan-
dinavian names ; (thirdly) that these names sometimes
combine a Cymric prefix with a Scandinavian suffix, and
vice versa; and (fourthly) that contrary to the generally
received belief, the oldest Celtic names (even in the Gaelic-
districts) are of Cymric rather than Gaelic origin. It is
perhaps unnecessary to add, that the later names in the Gaelic
districts, such as the names of villages, small streams, and the
less prominent features of the landscape generally, are pure
Gaelic: they are names obviously given by a later stratum of
population. But the failure to discriminate between Cymric-
and Old Gaelic is intelligible, wlien it is understood that
Cymric is the mother of Gaelic. And the failure to dis-
criminate between Cymric and Pictish, Gaelic and Pictish r
and Teutonic and Pictish, is also intelligible when it is
understood that all of them are relatives in varying degrees-
of kinship.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 339
Having established these theses, as well by analogy as by
direct proof, I shall sketch briefly the historical events that
led to a partial fusion of the Picts and Scots, and the causes
that hindered a complete amalgamation. The first event
that demands attention is the colonisation of districts in
Scotland by bands of Scots from Ireland.
Dismissing as a baseless fiction, the establishment of a
Scottish monarchy in Britain hundreds of years before the
birth of Christ an invention of John of Fordun we may
glance at the traditional settlement, in the third century of
our era, by Irish colonists whom Bede calls the Dal
Reudini. Their leader is said to have been named Cairbre
Riada, an eponym which need not detain us. The presump-
tion is, that these immigrants Richard of Cirencester calls
them " Picts " proceeded from the north of Antrim, where
the Irish Annalists place a district which they call Dalriada.
The name Dal Reudini reads literally " the Reudings " part
or share "in the Scots language," says Bede, " dal means a
part " and it bears a striking resemblance to a tribal name,
the Reudigni or Reudingi, Reud's descendants (ing) men-
tioned by Tacitus. The oldest settlement of this tribe was
on the sands of Luneberg, this side of the Elbe; but in the
time of Tacitus, they dwelt in part of the present duchy of
Mecklenburg, and of Lauenburg. I do not wish to labour
the resemblance of these tribal names, but their similitude
is not a little remarkable.
Skene and others reject the tradition of this Irish
settlement in Scotland, but it must be confessed that the
reasons for the rejection are not conclusive. Obviously, this
is the colonisation of Dalrieta, under the leadership of
" Istoreth," which Nennius mentions: 1 the name " Istoreth "
suggests the supposed Danubian origin of the Picts.
But whether the colony was Pictish or Scottish, that
some such emigration from Ireland to Scotland took
1 Nennius, sec. 14.
340 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
place, perhaps in the third century, is likely enough. It is
impossible to believe that there were no emigrations from
Ireland to Scotland, before the historical establishment of
the Scottish monarchy at the end of the fifth, or the be-
ginning of the sixth, century.
The Scots who, in alliance with the Picts, harassed the
Britons in Scotland during the later Roman epoch, were not
wholly a band of Irish adventurers, who returned to Ireland
with their plunder. Ammian describes the Scots as a rest-
less, wandering people; and no doubt it was the normal
occupation of some of them to cross to Scotland, rob the
Britons, and return to Hibernia with the booty; just as at
the present day, Irish labourers cross the Irish Channel on an
honester errand, returning home with the golden guineas of
the Saxon. But we know from Nennius that a Scottish
colony settled, at an early period, in South Wales (Pembroke,
Carmarthen, and Glamorgan), whence the descendants of the
colonists were afterwards expelled by Cunedda and his sons. 2
If we had inference alone to guide us, we should certainly
look for similar settlements among the Picts of Scotland.
Gildas clearly implies by the language he uses that the
nature of the common tie between the Picts and the Scots,
who harried the Britons, was not merely predatory, but was
cemented by vicinage. 3 And when Bede says that both
peoples so associated were " transmarine " nations, he ex-
plains the expression by the fact that they both dwelt
benorth the Firths. 4 There is thus every justification for
believing that there were Scots from Ireland settled among
the Picts of Scotland, long before the three sons of Ere
landed in Argyllshire.
There is a remarkable account of a Scottish settlement in
Colgan's edition of the Life of St. Cadroe, the authorship
2 These colonists are called by Nennius (sec. 14) " the sons of Liethali,"
denoting, apparently, people from a flat country.
3 Gildas, sec. 19. * B. i., c. 12.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 341
of which is assigned to the tenth or eleventh century. The
tradition is embodied in the original preface, and is evidently
of considerable authority. I have already alluded to the
tradition in an earlier part of this book, and shall now ex-
amine its historical value. It states that the Chorisci, after-
wards called Scots, crossed from Ireland to lona and pro-
ceeded to Rossia, where they had two cities, Bigmoneth and
Bellochor. Now, Rigmoneth (which means the King's
mountain) is the modern St. Andrews, and Bellochor, or
Bal-Lochor, may perhaps be identified with Leuchars, early
form " Locres," near St. Andrews. An ancient Chronicle
of the Scottish Kings states that Donald, the brother and
successor of Kenneth MacAlpin in the sovereignty of the
combined Picts and Scots, died at his palace of Belachoir 5
(also spelt Bellochor), which, if my surmise is correct, must
mean the Old Castle at Leuchars. Skene thought that
Rossia means Ross in the Highlands, and in that belief con-
structed an explanation of the tradition which is entirely
hypothetical. 6 But the ancient name of Fife was " Ross,"
and there can be no reasonable doubt that the Rossia of the
tradition means Fife, as indeed, the whole story tends to
show.
What, one may fairly ask, is the origin of the expression,
" the Kingdom of Fife "? That some sort of sovereignty
was exercised there is suggested by the name Rigmoneth, its
principal town, 7 which probably denotes a Moot Hill, like
the Moot Hill at Scone, the seat of government successively
of the Picts and the Scots. One of the two hills at St.
Andrews, called the East and West Balrymonts, is evidently
the original Rigmoneth. The legend which relates that
Angus, the King of the Picts who is to be identified with
5 Innes, App. iii. 6 Celtic Scotland, i., p. 320.
7 Another ancient name for St. Andrews was Mucross or the Boar
Wood, an allusion perpetuated by the village of Boarhills (in a district
formerly called the Boar Chase), as well as by the arms of the city.
342 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
the powerful king of that name who died in 761 gave St.
Regulus, or St. Rule, a gift of land as a reward for bringing
the bones of St. Andrew 8 to Scotland, presupposes the exis-
tence of the name Rigmoneth before the time of Angus.
The church founded by Angus on this land bore the name of
Kilrymont, afterwards changed to Kilrule, or the Church of
St. Regulus, which name was also applied to the town itself,
in substitution for Rigmoneth.
A document quoted by Skene, and regarded by him as
ancient and authentic, throws some light upon this
monarchy in Fife. It states that from Eachach Buidhe,
son of Aedain, the King of Dalriada, inaugurated by St.
Columba, there branched off two clans, " the clan Fergusa
Gall, son of Eachach Buidhe, or the Gabhranaigh, and the
clan Conall Cerr, son of Eochaid Buidhe, who are the men
of Fife in the sovereignty; that is, the clan of Kenneth, son
of Alpin, son of Aidan." 9 If this means anything at all,
it implies a Scottish monarchy in Fife: the name Eathelpin
(Rathelpie) in Fife suggested to Skene that Alpin, the
father of Kenneth, had a fort in that district.
If we assume that a genuine historical fact underlies the
story of a Scottish settlement in the Life of St. Cadroe, it
is not difficult to believe that co-existing with, and perhaps
anterior to, the Dalriadic Kingdom founded by the Scots, the
centre of which was in Argyll, there was another Scottish
Kingdom on the east coast, the centre of which was in Fife.
The tradition dates back the establishment of Scottish in-
fluence in Fife, prior to the time of Patrick, for it states
that many years after the arrival of the Chorisci in Fife,
they received the Christian faith by that saint. 10 This,
of course, pre-dates by a substantial period the arrival of
the sons of Ere, who are believed to have crossed from
8 St. Andrew ousted St. Peter as the patron saint of Pictland, and has
since remained as the patron saint of Scotland.
9 Celtic Scotland, i., p. 322. 10 Innes, p. 118 (1885).
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 343
Ireland at the end of the fifth, or the beginning of the
sixth, century.
Of the three sons of Ere, viz., Fergus, Loarn, and Angus,
the last two are suspiciously like tribal eponyms, though all
three are said to have been buried in lona. 11 One meets
" three brothers " in tradition so frequently in the eponymic
capacity, that unless there is historical evidence to the con-
trary, it is usually safe to attach a non-personal meaning to
their names. Loarn probably means the tribe that took
possession of Lorn, and Angus (more doubtfully) may be
referable to the eponym of the tribe that settled in Islay
and Jura. From the three brothers were descended the three
tribes named Cinel Gabran (not, be it observed, the Cinel
Fergus) the Cinel Loarn, and the Cinel Angus. The Cinel
Gabran were in Cowall; the Cinel Loarn in Lorn; and the
Cinel Angus in Islay and Jura.
The historical existence of Fergus is supported by a strong
body of consistent tradition, which makes him the first king
of all the Scots dwelling in the country that is now called
Scotland. The possessions of the three tribes formed the
Kingdom of Dalriada, which was separated from Pictavia
by the ridge or watershed called Drumalban, bounding the
present counties of Argyll and Perth. There was thus a
natural barrier dividing the two nations, but the encroach-
ments of the Scots at a later period placed them temporarily
in possession of a more extended territory, the exact limits
of which it is difficult to define. The Chronica Regum
Scotorum, compiled in the reign of William the Lion, makes
their limits from Drumalban to the Irish Sea, and the Inche-
gall, i.e., the foreigners' (Scandinavian) isles (the Western
Isles). 12 A register of the Church of St. Andrews, compiled
at the beginning of the reign of Alexander III. (confirmed
11 Celtic Scotland, ii., p. 290.
12 Innes (1885), p. 361, and Appendix, p. H8.
344 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
by a transcript dating from the reign of William), 13 gives
them the same extent of territory, but substitutes "Sluagh
Muner " for the Irish Sea. Wyntoun 14 gives " Stanemore "
in place of Sluagh Muner (or Sluaghmorre, as the transcript
has it). Fordun makes the limits from the mountains
(Drumalban) ad mare Scoticum, which he explains by stat-
ing that Fergus, the first King of the Scots, gained some
lands beyond Drumalban towards the end of his reign. 15
All this plainly suggests that the Dalriadic sovereignty
was more extensive than has generally been supposed. The
Scottish Sea was a name given by old English writers to the
Firth of Forth; and Sluaghmore (which means Slough or
Boggy Moor) may be identified with the district of Manau
or Manann, represented by the modern names of Clack-
mannan (which has the same meaning as " Stanemore ") and
Slamannan 16 (which is equatable with Sluaghmore) , 17 Skene
states that King Aidan, before his accession to the throne of
Dalriada, " seems to have had claims upon the district of
Manau or Manann, peopled by the Picts." 18 Aidan did not
ascend the throne of Dalriada until 574, but for six years
previously, as shown by Tighernach, he was reigning else-
where; and Skene is at a loss to know of what district he
was king. May it not have been the Kingdom of Fife?
A similar difficulty appears when we come to the reign of
Kenneth MacAlpine. "Where," asks Skene, " was the
kingdom of his father Alpin, and where did Kenneth rule
during the first six years after his father's death in 832?
Not in the kingdom of the Picts, for he only obtained the
13 Innes (1885), p. 362, and Appendix, p. 421.
14 Ibid., Appendix, p. 433. u lbid., p. 364.
16 An early form of Slamannan is Slethmannin (Scots Sleuth and Slough).
17 The Welsh word Manau is connected with Cym. maton, peat.
18 Celtic Scotland, i., p. 160. Skene (Celtic Scotland, i., p. 238), identifies
the Welsh Manau Gustodin with the district of Manann in Scotland, but
the Manau Gustodin of Nennius, from which district Cunedda ejected the
Scots (Nennius, sec. 62), was in South Wales.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 345
Pictish throne in the twelfth year of his reign in the year
844. Not in Dalriada, for he did not obtain that kingdom
till after the year 839, and two years before he became King
of the Picts." Skene suggests that " it must have been in
some part of Scotland, south of the Firths of Forth and
Clyde, or else he must have been in Irish Dalriada, or else-
where in Ireland." 19 Again, why not in the Kingdom of
Fife?
This point deserves investigation, for if a correct con-
clusion is reached, it cannot fail to throw light upon the
mystery surrounding the conquest of the Picts, and the estab-
lishment of the Scottish dynasty over Pictavia.
We find from Bede, that Ethelfrid, King of the Northum-
brians, " expelled the Scots from the territories of the
English." Ethelfrid had waged a successful warfare against
the Britons, and Aidan being concerned at his success, came
against him with "an immense mighty army," but was
beaten at Degsaston (Dawston, near Jedburgh), and put
to flight. " From that time," adds Bede, " no King of the
Scots durst come into Britain to make war on the English, to
this day." 20
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in relating this battle, under
date 603, makes the astonishing statement that Aidan fought
" against the Dalreods," and against Ethelfrith, King of the
Northumbrians; and makes the same comment as Bede, that
" since then no King of the Scots has dared to lead an army
against this nation." It can only be supposed that there is
an error in transcription here, for it is unbelievable that the
King of Dalriada should have as his opponents the " Dal-
reods." But the important facts to be noticed are: j(l) that
at this period when, as some writers suppose, the Dalriadans
were a mere handful of settlers in Argyll, one of their kings
should be capable of leading an " immense and mighty
19 Celtic Scotland, i., pp. 316-7. B. i., c. 34.
346 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
army " against the English; and (2) that, if, as is generally
believed, the Scots were confined to a corner on the west
coast, we should find them struggling for supremacy in the
Lothians with the powerful King of Northumbria.
All this seems to show that the Scots were strongly estab-
lished on the east coast as well as the west; and that from
their settlement in Fife, they had crossed the Firth of Forth
and encroached upon the Anglian possessions in the Lothians,
whence they were expelled by Ethelfrid, and driven back to
their kingdom benorth the Firth. This kingdom must have
been an appanage of Dalriada, where the throne of all the
Scots residing in Britain, established by Fergus, 21 con-
tinued to be the supreme authority; just as the Dalriads in
Scotland acknowledged the supremacy of Dalriada in Ire-
land, until the Convention of Drumceatt, held in 575, during
the reign of Aidan, proclaimed their independence.
That Fife was a peculiarly Scottish district, is shown by
the allusion in the Pictish Chronicle to the Scotti, who were
defeated by the Danes at Dollar in 877 ; the first appearance
in the Chronicle (as Skene remarks) to the Scots in Pictavia;
and the reference is to the Scots of the province of Fife in
particular. 22 After the establishment of the Scottish
dynasty over the Picts, this province was singled out for
special favour by the new line of kings. It was the lead-
ing province of Scotland; its earls occupied the first place
among the seven earls of the kingdom; and the right of
placing the king on the Coronation Stone, and of heading the
van in the army, were privileges which seem to have been
vested in the province; 23 while the importance of the dis-
trict is equally typified by the mystical Thane of Fife, who
figures so prominently in Shakespeare's " Macbeth."
21 This must be the meaning of Fergus having been the first king of
the Scots. (See Innes, pp. 359-360.) He was "the first king over the
Scots," says Fordun.
- Celtic Scotland, i., p. 3-28. '*Ibid., iii., p. 306.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 347
If, then, there was, in fact, a Scottish kingdom in Fife,
subordinate to the Ard - king in Dalriada, what were its
relations with the Pictish monarchy, which undoubtedly in-
cluded the whole eastern country north of the Firth of Forth?
The same question may well arise in relation to Dalriada, for,
as Bede tells us, the Firth of Clyde formerly divided the
Picts from the Britons; and the Scots having settled on
the north side of the Firth must necessarily have intruded
on Pictish territory. No certain answer can be given
to this question, for there are no proved facts on which to
base a conclusion. Inferentially, however, it would appear
that the ancient alliance between the Picts and the Scots,
secured for the latter territorial rights on a basis of indepen-
dent sovereignty, after the Dalriadic kingdom had been
firmly established. The Scots were useful buffers on the
west against the Britons, and on the east against the Angles;
and although for a certain period during the seventh century,
Scots and Picts alike (as well as the Britons) fell temporarily
under the sway of the all-conquering Angles, the common
interests of both nations were exemplified by the common
relief that followed the crushing defeat of the Angles by
the Picts at the battle of Dunnichen, fought in the year 685.
This question of the relations existing between the two
peoples, and the bounds of their respective territories, is
curiously illustrated by the uncertainty that attaches to the
donation of lona to St. Columba. Bede's statement is that
the Picts were the donors; but the Irish Annals ascribe the
gift to Conal, son of Comgall, the King of the Scots. The
question acquires importance only as fixing the bounds of the
two nations; and the discrepancy between the authorities is
best explained by the assumption that the gift was actually
made by Conal, but was confirmed by the King of the Picts
as his suzerain. The Picts must have been the paramount
power throughout Alban (i.e., north of the Firths) during
the sixth century ; and it may well be that a stricter assertion
348 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
of suzerain rights may have been the basis of the struggle for
supremacy between the two peoples that form so arresting a
feature of Albanic history during the eighth and ninth
centuries.
If, as I have sought to show, this Scottish sub-monarchy in
the province of Fife, prior to the union of the Picts and
Scots, had a real existence, the relations of that monarchy
with the neighbouring power in Fortrenn must have been
of a more or less intimate character. The friendship be-
tween the two Crowns seems to have been cemented by the
marriage of Achaius, King of the Scots, to Fergusia,
daughter of Hungus, or Angus, King of the Picts; and
their son Alpin, after the death of his brother-in-law, Uwen,
and on the failure of an heir in the Pictish line of succession,
claimed the throne of the Picts in right of his mother. This
claim was resisted; and a Pict named Wrad, the validity of
whose title is unknown, ascended the throne. After the
death of Alpin, who was killed in battle in 834, his son and
heir, Kenneth, seems to have pressed with energy his claim to
the throne, and I find in the abstract of Pictish Kings em-
bodied in the text of Innes's " Essay," 24 that the name of
Kenneth MacAlpin, Rex Scotorum, appears in conjunction
with that of Wrad, whose reign commenced in 839, and
lasted only three years. This conjunction of names seems
to imply, not a joint reign, but the contemporaneity of a
holder of, and a claimant to, the throne. But we do not
find the same conjunction of names in the case of Brude, the
successor of Wrad, who reigned but one year, during which
Kenneth MacAlpin used the sword so vigorously in the
prosecution of his claim, that in the year 843, he ascended the
Pictish throne, and became the first ruler of the combined
nations of the Picts and Scots.
The exact nature of Kenneth's rights to the Pictish Crown
is not stated by Fordun. He says, however, that the
"InnesflSSo), p. 92.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 349
cause of the last war between the Picts and the Scots was the
claim made by Kenneth as heir to the Pictish throne. But
the later Scottish historians from Boece onwards, describe
the grounds of Kenneth's rights as I have stated them.
The correctness of this description is rendered not a little
suspicious, by the fact that the precise basis of Kenneth's
claim had apparently escaped the investigations of so in-
dustrious a collector of traditions as Fordun; but there is
no inherent improbability in the assertions of Fordun's suc-
cessors, such as would justify us in rejecting them as ficti-
tious. There is sufficient evidence, at any rate, to warrant
the belief that Kenneth's claim was founded upon the rights
acquired by his father through his (Alpin's) mother.
Obviously, it was another instance of a kingdom being
acquired by marriage, in the old Scandinavian and Pictish
way. It was a system that was exploited to the full by the
Norman adventurers, who subsequently acquired vast posses-
sions in Scotland by marrying native heiresses. Long before
their ancestors had settled in the fertile plains of Gaul, they
had learned, under the colder skies of their northern home,
the commercial value of marriages of convenience.
But we must now examine, with brevity, the fundamental
facts that governed the polity of the Picts during the cen-
turies that preceded their domination by, and partial amalga-
mation with, the Scots; and endeavour to ascertain the real
character of what is known as the " Scottish Conquest."
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Romans and the Picts The Attacots St. Columba's mission to
the Picts non-political The Picts at Loch Ness The Shamanism of
the Picts The Pictish monarchy on the banks of the Earn The
relations between the Picts and the Angles The extent of the
Anglic sovereignty over the Picts The population of Lothian The
struggle for the possession of Lothian The ** Commendation of
Scotland " The English claims analysed The cession of Lothian
to Scotland The Scottish victory at Carham.
THE allusions to the Picts throughout the writings of the
Roman authors are vague and unsatisfying. From the
Roman standpoint, they were a race of troublesome savages
on the skirts of the Empire, who annoyed with irritating
persistence the Romanised and enervated Britons with their
unwelcome attentions, and whose waspish tactics could only
be checkmated by an exasperating expenditure of Roman
blood and treasure. Their associates, now the Scots, and
again the Saxons, were at times equally troublesome, but
the Picts were the chief offenders. The identity of a fourth
element of the league, the Attaootti, mentioned by Ammian,
has provided scope for a good deal of speculation. Who and
what were the Attacots? They have somtimes been identi-
fied with the Aitheach TuatJia, the servile, tribute-paying,
Firbolgic people in Ireland, who, under the leadership of
Cairbre Cinnceat, 1 rose in successful revolt (the date of which
is uncertain), and for a time ruled their former masters. 2
1 Cairbre Cinnceat was a Firbolg. The Coir Anmann says that he was
head (Cinn) of the Catraige, by which name must be meant the servile
tribes (Cym. Caeth, bondman). Aitheach Tuatha probably denotes
" skulking people " (Cym. Athech, " skulking " or ' lurking").
2 This revolt bears a striking resemblance to the insurrection of the
Bagaudians, the peasant slaves who, in 285, ravaged North Gaul. Perhaps
the revolt of the Aitheach Tuatha is an Irish version of the Bagaudian
rising. The Irish texts mention two rebellions of the same people.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 351
There is nothing, however, except a fancied resemblance be-
tween the names, to connect the Aitheach Tuatha with the
Attacotti. The latter name seems to denote a wandering
people (Gym. Altai, a vagabond), and the suffix cotti pro-
bably means that they were forest - dwellers (Gym. coed,
wood). A fierce, barbarous people they were, beyond doubt,
if we are to believe St. Jerome, who tells us that they were
cannibals: he had seem them in his youth, he says, eating
human flesh at Treves, where the Attacots who, as " bonnie
fechters," had been recruited for the Roman armies, were
then stationed. In all probability, they were Britons who
had lost their tribal rights like the " broken men " of the
Highlanders in historical times and were ready to offer
their swords wherever chances of plunder were available.
They would naturally drift to the side of the Picts in attack-
their former associates; and their habits breeding hardiness,
while their condition induced recklessness, they would easily
develop into the " warlike tribe of men " described by
Ammian.
Until the time of St. Columba, we get no clear view of
the Pictish monarchy. The nature of Columba's mission
to the Picts in 565 was never in doubt, I believe, until Skene
suggested that its object was " partly religious, and partly
political." 3 The only evidence he adduces in support of the
political theory, is the so-called prophecy of St. Berchan,
a poem of the eleventh century, in which the author makes
the following cryptic allusion to the Saint's mission:
" Woe to the Cruithnigh to whom he will go eastward
He knew the thing that is
Nor was it happy with him that an Erinach
Should be king in the east under the Cruithnigh." 4
Dr. Skene reads into these wholly ambiguous words, an
allusion to the political character of Columba's mission.
3 Celtic Scotland, i., p. 142, and ii., p. 83.
4 The Prophecy of St. Berchan, p. 82.
352 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Even if the words were capable of bearing that construction
(which in my opinion they are not), it is surely asking too
much that we should accept the evidence, on that point, of
a writer who lived five hundred years after the event. No
previous author, so far as I know, has given even a hint that
Columba's visit had a political complexion. Neither Bede
nor Ethelwerd, nor the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, nor (above
all) Columba's biographer, Adamnan, gives any warrant
for that belief; 5 nor is there proof, either evidential or in-
ferential, that any political issue flowed from Columba's
visit to King Brude. Yet Skene (followed by others), has
not hesitated to assume that the mission was prompted
by " the hazardous position in which the small Christian
colony of the Scots were placed, in close contact with the
still pagan nation of the Northern Picts under their powerful
monarch Brude." 6 Argyll and Inverness are not exactly
contiguous, and the " close contact " of the quotation is
not obvious. Nor is it obvious how the Dalriadic
Kingdom could be in the east (of Alban), though a King-
dom in Fife would be appropriately so described. 7 Skene's
suggestion I believe to be a wholly mistaken view. Bede
tells us that the Southern Picts, " who dwell on this side
of those mountains (the Grampians), had long before, as is
reported," been converted to Christianity by St Ninian (or
5 "He (i.e., Columbai converted that nation (the Picts) to the faith
of Christ by his preaching and example" (Bede). "Christ's servant,
Columba, came from Scotia (Ireland) to Britain to preach the word ot
God to the Picts " (Ethelwerd). ** Columba the presbyter came from the
Scots among the Britons to instruct the Picts, and he built a monastery in
the island of Hii " (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle). ** The holy man preached"
(in the province of the Picts), says Adamnan (who describes his missionary
work), '* through an interpreter " among the Picts. But he has nothing
to say about a political mission to King Brude.
8 Celtic Scotland, i., p. 142.
7 St. Berchan's " east " cannot mean the geographical situation of
Dalriada in relation to Ireland, for he states that Kenneth MacAlpin was
the first Irish king that possessed "in the east" (Prophecy, p. 83), by
which Pictland is clearly indicated.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 353
Ninias), " a most reverend bishop and holy man of the
British nation." 8 There is nothing more probable than that
Columba, fired by missionary zeal, designed to supplement
Ninian's work by converting the Northern Picts; and it is
derogatory to his memory to suggest that his great work was
mainly, or partly, intended to serve the political interests of
his friends.
The Northern Picts had their seat of government at the
north-east end of Loch Ness. The exact site has not been
satisfactorily determined, Dr. Reeves suggesting Craig
Phadrick, a vitrified hill two miles west of Inverness, and
Dr. Skene, Torvean, a gravelly ridge about a mile south-west
of Inverness. Both are mere guesses. But if we do not know
where King Brude's capital was, we are not left in doubt by
Adamnan about the exact extent of his dominion, and the
character of Pictish paganism. Columba met at the Court
of King Brude an " under - king," or regulus, of the
Orkneys, whose protection he successfully invoked for a
missionary named Cormac, who had set out on a voyage to
the Orkneys, there to seek "a solitude on the pathless sea."
The inference is, that the Pictish territory north of the
Grampians was governed by sub-rulers, all of whom acknow-
ledged the supremacy of King Brude. Whether he exer-
cised effective authority over the Southern Picts as well,
we have no means of knowing; but that he was the nominal
King of all the Picts, is proved by the Pictish Chronicle,
where he appears as the occupant of the Pictish throne.
The account given by Adamnan of the paganism of the
Northern Picts, shows that it was not easily distinguishable
from Shamanism. Their Druids, or magi, were believed
8 B. iii., c. 4. The personality of St. Ninian (fourth-fifth century) is
rather shadowy, but there is no reason to doubt that Bede's statement is
correct. Ninian is said to have written a comment on the Psalms ; to
have corresponded with St. Martin, Bishop of Tours ; and to have been
an opponent of the Pelagian heresy. His see, named after St. Martin,
was at Whitherne, in Galloway.
23
354 THE II ACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
to have control over the elements, their feats of black magic
being exactly analogous to those accredited to the Dananns
by the Irish texts. The armour of faith possessed by the
Christian saints always proved invulnerable to magic arts
(see the allusion in St. Patrick's Lorica to "Druidic spells");
and thus we find St. Columba confounding King Brude's
Druids with his superior skill in miracle-working. The
Druidism of the Picts was similar to the Black Art, a know-
ledge of which may have been acquired by the Scandinavians
from the Lapps : the Pictish magi performed the same offices,
and laid claim to the same supernatural powers, as the
Finnish Shamans. The Picts also worshipped springs,
but their worship was inspired by fear, for according to
Adamnan, those who drank of the springs or washed in them,
were rendered " leprous, or purblind, or else weak, lame, or
beset by some other maladies." St. Columba blessed one
of these springs, and washed in it, whereupon " many
diseases among the people were cured by the same foun-
tain." 9 Thus, some of the holy wells may be a legacy from
paganism, with this important difference, that the blessing
of a saint robbed them of their former noxious effects; and
gave them healing properties in substitution. Under
paganism they killed; under Christianity they cured.
In the seventh century, we find the seat of the Pictish
sovereignty shifted from the banks of the Ness to the
banks of the Earn in Perthshire. This seems to imply a
change in the relative importance of the Northern and the
Southern Picts, the explanation of which may have been
the growing aggressiveness of the Angles.
After the Romans had finally left the enfeebled Britons
to their own devices, the Picts seem to have taken possession
of part of Valentia (the district lying between the two Walls),,
ejecting the Britons, or, what is more probable, subjecting
9 The Life of St. Columba, B. ii., c. 11.
THE BACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 355
them to their rule. The Kingdom of Bernicia, established
by Ida in 547, was gradually extended northwards, until
it reached the Firth of Forth, the Picts in Valentia being
forced back by, or rendered tributary to, the Northumbrians.
The possession of this district continued to form a fruitful
source of dissension between the two peoples, which reached
its climax in the second half of the seventh century. In 670,
the Picts attacked the Angles, but were repulsed with great
slaughter by King Egfrid. In 685 Egfrid retaliated, by
attacking the Picts in their own country north of the Forth.
But at Dunnichen he met with a crushing defeat at the
hands of King Brude, 10 which crippled the Northumbrian
power so effectively, as to leave the Picts in undisputed pos-
session of the debatable lands between the Walls. As may be
inferred from Bede's statement, that the Firth of Forth
divided " the territories of the Angles and the Picts," the
Northumbrians continued to claim a nominal sovereignty
over the district they had lost; but its effectiveness is at least
doubtful. After the battle of Dunnichen, some of the
Angles fled southwards, and those who remained were en-
slaved by the Picts. The Lothians are not so English as
is generally believed; and it cannot be doubted that there is
a strain of Pictish blood intermingled with the undoubted
Anglic and other elements.
The decay of the Northumbrian power coincided with an
increase of Pictish influence, and it is significant that we
find a Northumbrian king, on two separate occasions (in the
second half of the eighth century), seeking an asylum with
the Picts. Innes believes that it was soon afterwards that
10 The site of the battle is believed to be Dunnichen in Forfarshire.
But the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle places it " near the North Sea." Bede
tells us that Egfrid's attack on the Picts was undertaken "much against
the advice of his friends," and particularly of St. Cuthbert. Bede
criticises, also, Egfrid's action in sending his general Beort to Ireland,
where "he wasted that harmless nation, which had always been most
friendly to the English."
356 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
the latter absorbed Galloway, 11 where there may have been
a previous colony of Irish Picts, though the proofs of the
settlement are entirely inferential. Further conflicts be-
tween the Picts and the Angles are recorded, but they do not
seem to have affected the firm hold obtained by the Picts
over the province they had wrested from Northumbria.
Bede and Tighernach mention that the Picts, in 698,
killed Berctred, a duke, or leader, of the Northumbrians;
and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that in 699, the Picts
slew Beort; while all three authorities concur in recording
under date 710 or 711 (the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and
Ethelwerd say 710), a battle fought between the Picts and
Berctfrid) between the Avon (Hsefe) and Carron (Caere), in
which, according to Tighernach, the Picts were defeated.
We are told by English and Scottish historians alike, that
for thirty years from the time of Oswiu of Northumbria to
their victory at Dunnichen in 685 the Picts, or at any
rate, the Southern Picts, lay under the dominion of the
Angles. The only authority cited is Bede's assertion 12 that
Oswiu made tributary the greater part of the Picts, a vague
statement at best. What Picts, it may be asked, were thus
brought under his dominion? If they were the Picts north
of the Forth, there must surely have been an effective Anglic
occupation of their territory. There is nothing in Bede or
any other writer to bear out that assumption; nor, it may
be added, is it warranted by any traces of ancient place-
names of English origin.
It would seem to be the fact that Bede's " greater part
of the Picts " is an exaggerated form of speech for the Picts
of North Bernicia, known later as Lothian. We find that
in 681, Trumwine was consecrated Bishop of the Picts. 13
Bede's statement is that Trumwine was ordained " in the
province of the Picts, which at the time was subject to the
11 Innes (1885), p. 70. 12 B. ii., c. 5, and B. iii., c. 24.
13 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 357
English." 14 Now Trumwine's see was at the monastery of
Abercorn (anciently Aebbercurnig or Abercurnig) ; 15 Aber-
corn is in Linlithgowshire ; and Linlithgowshire is south of
the Forth. Surely the diocese of a province would be
situated within the province. And how could Trumwine,
or any other bishop, exercise effective control over the Picts,
who dwelt on the north side? After the overthrow of the
Angles at Dunnichen, Trumwine " withdrew with his
people that were in the monastery of Abercurnig, seated in
the country of the English, but close by the arm of the sea
which parts the lands of the English and the Picts." 16
The correct conclusion would therefore seem to be, that
the province of the Picts over which Oswiu secured
supremacy was Lothian; and that this supremacy was
dissipated by the Pictish victory at Dunnichen. " The
Picts," says Bede, " recovered their own lands," while " some
of the Britons," and the Scots who had also been placed
under tribute by Oswiu, recovered their " liberty." 17 This
statement clearly implies an Anglic occupation of Pictish
territory, and the inference from the phraseology seems to
be, that while the Picts were the owners of the land so
recovered, the Britons and the Scots, in the same land, were
freed from English bondage, and permitted by the Picts
to occupy the status of freemen. It is difficult to see why
the Britons of Strathclyde and the Scots of Dalriada (if,
as is generally supposed, they were subjects of the Northum-
brians), could recover their freedom, as the result of a cam-
paign in which they were not concerned, and as the outcome
of a victory in which they took no part. There is no hint
by Bede or any other author, of an Anglic conquest, or an
Anglic occupation, of Strathclyde or Dalriada. Is it con-
14 B. iv.,c. 12.
16 Abercurnig, i.e., the mouth of the burn called Cornac (Cym. Cornig,
a whirl, Cornant^ a brook).
16 Bede, B. iv., c. 26. 17 Ibid.
358 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
ceivable that two nations would suffer themselves to be en-
slaved by the Northumbrian Kings, unless they had been
conquered, and their territories occupied by the conquerors?
The truth is, that the population of Lothian at this period
must have been composed, not only of Angles and Picts, but
of Britons and Scots. The Britons were there before the
other races. If there were no Scots, why should Aidan,
King of the Scots, have marched to Dawston in 603, because
(as Bede expressly states) he was " concerned at the success "
of Ethelfrid's campaign against the Britons? That the
latter were in Lothian is shown by Bede's further statement
that Ethelfrid, " a most worthy king and ambitious of glory
. conquered more territories from the Britons, either
making them tributary or driving the inhabitants clean out,
and planting English in their places, than any other king
or tribune." 18 This must have been the most important
epoch of the English settlements in Lothian. The only
record of an English conquest on the west coast is that con-
tained in the additions to Bede, under date 750, in which
year, we are told, " Eadbert added the plain of Kyle
(Ayrshire) and other places to his dominions." 19
From the tangle of confusion in which this subject is
involved, one fact seems to emerge: that the possession of
Lothian formed for centuries a bone of contention, first be-
tween the Northumbrians and the Picts, and later between
England and Scotland. A remarkable statement, attri-
buted by Lines to Giraldus Cambrensis, " no friend to the
Scots," and to other authors, " of whom Eanulfus Cestrensis
gives us extracts in his Polychronicon," 20 tells as that
Kenneth MacAlpin was master of all the territories from
18 B. i.,c. 34.
19 If " Pentland " means Petland or Pictland, it would imply that the
hills so named were in, or bounded, Pictish territory.
20 Innes (1885), p. 329. The reference is Polychronicon, edit. Galas.,
pp. 194, 209, 210.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 359
the Firths of Forth and Clyde to the Tweed, and that he
had vanquished the Saxons six times. The latter statement
is confirmed by an extract of an ancient Chronicle of the
reigns of eleven Kings of Scotland, from Kenneth MacAlpin
to Kenneth III., son of Malcolm I., covering a period of
about one hundred and thirty years. 21 This is the source 22
extracted, in the opinion of Innes, from an Irish
Chronicle of the most notable statement, that in the reign
of Indulph (954-962), Edinburgh was evacuated and left
to the Scots, " in whose possession it is at this day."
So, if Kenneth MacAlpin was really in possession of
Lothian, that province may have been retaken once more
by the English, within a century after his death. This is
not necessarily the fact, for the evacuation of Edinburgh
by, presumably, an English garrison, may mean that the
garrison was placed there by Athelstan during his triumphal
progress through part of Scotland in 933. In 937, we find
the Scots and the Britons of Strathclyde leagued with the
Danes in an effort to recover for the latter the sovereignty of
Northumbria; but the combined forces were shattered by
Athelstan at the battle of Brunanburgh. King Constantino,
the " hoary warrior " of the Scots, left his son dead on the
field.
According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in 945,
Athelstan's successor, Edmund (bent, it is supposed,
upon detaching the Scots from the Danes), invested
Malcolm I., who succeeded Constantine on the Scottish
throne, with the fief of Cumberland, on condition that
Malcolm was to become his '" fellow- worker " (the phrase
is important) by sea and land. There is no suggestion of
overlordship here; and the statement by Simeon of Durham
that Malcolm III. in 1092 held Cumberland by " conquest,"
21 Innes, Appendix iii.
22 One writer after another gives the source as the Pictish Chronicle.
This is an error.
360 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
further weakens the argument that the cession, or the con-
quest, of Cumberland whichever it was implied English
suzerainty over Scotland.
This claim brings us back to the celebrated Commendation
of Scotland in 924, which has formed the subject of an
animated duel between Freeman and E. W. Robertson.
The Winchester Chronicle is the authority for the statement
that " the King of the Scots and the whole nation of the
Scots " chose King Edward the Elder " to father and lord "
whether at Bakewell in Derbyshire (an unlikely place)
or elsewhere, is not of prime importance. What was the
" consideration " for this submission, or what events led up
to it? The Chronicle does not say, and its palpable
anachronism regarding Reginald, the leader of the Irish
Danes, does not inspire confidence in its authority. Yet it
was mainly upon this supposed Commendation that
Edward I., in 1291, based his untenable claims to the
vassalage of Scotland, which were revived by Henry VIII.
in the sixteenth century.
There is nothing more likely than that the ambition of
Edward the Elder aspired to become the Emperor, or
Basileus, or Kaiser, of the whole of Britain. He was by
far the most powerful king in the island; and he ruled a
nation whose resources greatly exceeded those of all the
sister states. The formation of a league, composed of the
whole of the national elements of Britain, with England as
natural head, was sound policy at a time when all were
threatened by a common foe, the Danish " barbarians," or
" heathen," or " pagans," as they were variously designated
by the Christianised inhabitants of Britain and Ireland.
Beyond doubt, therefore, the policy of Edward was directed
towards that end; and the attempt seems to have met with
a measure of success.
It will be observed that the English Chronicles makes no
suggestion of a forced submission to Edward on the part of
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 361
the other nationalities. On the contrary, it is explicitly
stated that the lordship of the Anglo-Saxon King was volun-
tarily sought by them. In 922, according to the Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle, " the Kings of the North Welsh, Howel,
and Cledauc, and Jothwel, and all the North- Welsh race
sought him to be their lord." Similarly, in 924, the King
of the Scots and the whole nation of the Scots " chose him
for father and lord." 23 But we find that a year after Athel-
stan succeeded Edward (926), the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
goes a step further by asserting that he (Athelstan) " ruled
all the kings who were in this island"; and the name of
"Constantino, King of the Scots," is included in the list.
The Chronicle adds the amazing statement, that these kings
tl renounced all idolatry " ; a clerical touch absurdly inapplic-
able to a nation that were Christians long before the Anglo-
Saxons had emerged from heathendom. Thus we see the
process by which the " father and lord " rapidly became
the "ruler."
If the choice of the Anglo-Saxon King as " father and
lord " was entirely voluntary (and, as we have seen, no more
was originally claimed), it follows that the Scottish Kings
and the Scottish nation were equally free to renounce this
" fatherhood " and " lordship " when they so desired. And
(assuming that the whole claim is not a fiction) that was
what occurred, when the daughter of Constantino married the
nephew of Reginald the Dane, and the Scots and Danes
entered into a league, thus striking at the very roots of the
English policy, and calling forth Athelstan's ruthless
chastisement of the Scots in 933 . Nor is there any evidence
that, even after the crushing defeat of the allies at Brunan-
burgh in 937, the Scots or their King showed any disposition
2$ The association of the people with their kings in this matter is
suggestive. The elective principle, with all that it entailed, was operative
in the Scottish succession. It is implied by the title " King of Scots "
not " King of Scotland."
362 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
to acknowledge the lordship of Athelstan, or the suzerainty
of England.
Athelstan was succeeded by his brother Edmund, and his
grant of Cumberland by which must be understood the
modern Cumberland to Malcolm, King of the Scots, has
already been noticed. A " fellow- worker " is not a subject;
and the attempts that have been made to show that the phrase
is the language of diplomacy for a vassal, are futile.
Edmund was succeeded by his brother Edred. The Anglo-
Saxon Chronicle states (946) that " the Scots gave him oaths
that they would do all he would." This has been in-
terpreted as an act of vassalage; and no doubt the words
are capable of that interpretation; though the meaning of
a voluntary promise to be his " fellow-worker " is equally
arguable. But the relations between Edred and the Scots
are shown by the wording of Edred's charters. In these,
the imperial scope of his throne is defined as the " four-fold
empire of the Anglo-Saxons and Northumbrians, Pagans,
and Britons." The Northumbrians were the mixed people
of Northumbria, including the population of Lothian; by
the " Pagans " are to be understood the Danes among the
East Anglians and the East Saxons; and by the " Britons,"
the people of Wales and Cornwall. Whether the word
" Britons " included also the inhabitants of Cumberland
and Strathclyde is perhaps doubtful. But it will be
observed that there is not a word here about the Scots; and
the omission proves that no claim was made to the suzerainty
of that people. It is difficult, therefore, to resist the con-
clusion that the Anglo-Saxon scribes, influenced by pride
of race, went beyond the facts in their repeated assertions of
Anglic dominance over the Scottish people and their Kings.
It may well be that there was an acknowledgment by the
latter of English supremacy over Lothian, during the time
that the English rule over that district was effective. That
would have been a mere recognition of facts; and could not
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 363
be in any way construed as a national act of vassalage. As
already stated, the population of Lothian must have in-
cluded a strong admixture of Britons, Picts, and Scots, and
for the welfare of these Picts and Scots, the Kings of the
Scots were directly responsible. That welfare could only have
been secured by an admission of English suzerainty over
Lothian; however vigorously the superior rights which the
Scottish Kings conceived that they possessed over the province
may have been reserved. In Ethelwerd's Chronicle, it is
stated that the Scots gave Edred " oaths of allegiance and
immutable fidelity." That would accurately describe the
attitude of the Scottish and Pictish population of Lothian
on the accession of a new king, " to whom all the Northum-
brians became subject "; but it cannot be true of a nation
over whom Edred, as shown by his charters, did not claim
even a nominal suzerainty.
The English version of the cession of Lothian to Scotland
is, that King Edgar of England granted it to Kenneth II.,
King of Scots (971-995), on condition of Kenneth's recogni-
tion of English superiority ; and a dubious tale (accepted by
Freeman as authentic) that Kenneth was one of the six
(or was it eight?) kings who rowed Edgar's barge on the
Dee, is cited as proof of Scottish vassalage. If the trans-
ference of Lothian took place during the reign of Edgar, it
is strange that so important an event should have entirely
escaped the cognisance of contemporary writers, or writers
who lived anywhere near that time.
It is clear (1) that the Picts persistently claimed, and at
various periods occupied, Lothian; (2) that the Kings of
Scots who inherited the whole of the Pictish possessions no
less persistently maintained those claims; and (3) that
finally, the English withdrew their opposition to the Scottish
demands. The statement of John of Wallingford that, when
the cession took place, provision was made for the retention
by the English inhabitants of Lothian of their old customs,
364 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
language, and name, is probably substantially correct. The
whole question of the possession of Lothian was settled once
for all by the great victory of the Scots over the English at
Car ham in 1018. What may have been previously lacking
in entire independence of English superiority, was secured
by " the strong hand."
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A concluding survey The different strata of the population of Scot-
land The Britons of Strathclyde The Northumbrian settlements
in Lothian The Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Danish, and Norman adven-
turersThe heterogeneous Scottish people The effect of segrega-
tion The amalgamation of the different peoples a gradual process
The "Scottish Conquest" The decline in the Pictish power
The Keledei and their influence Scandinavian invasions prior to
the eighth century The Lochians Gael and Gall Fingalls and
Dugalls The Gall-gaidel The Danes and the downfall of the
Pictish monarchy The nature of the so-called Scottish Conquest
Kenneth MacAlpin as King of the Picts Later allusions to the
Picts The Picts called " Galwegians " The ancient divisions of
Scotland The Mormaers and Toisechs The racial affinities of the
Picts of Galloway as shown by Jocelyn's account The incidence of
Gaelic in the Lowlands The cleavage between East and West
The Gaelic tribes in the West The Clan Donald and their influence
The Gael of Scotland and their language called " Irish "Racial
characteristics in Scotland The process of unification.
IT is now necessary, in a concluding survey, to examine the
various elements of which the Scottish people are composed;
and to trace briefly the fusion of a racially distinguished
congeries of warring tribes into " Scotland a nation."
Leaving out of account the prehistoric folk, who are repre-
sented sporadically by groups throughout the country that
are physically divergent from the historic types, we find
ample evidence of certain distinct strata of population, the
order and distribution of which can be defined with some con-
fidence, by means of the place-names and other proofs that
have been accumulated in the preceding chapters. The
earliest layer discoverable by means of place-names is un-
doubtedly Cymric, upon which the later strata were super-
imposed in varying degrees of importance. It has been
366 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
shown that the original Picts of tradition were apparently
Scandinavians; that the later Picts were composed of a
mixture of Scandinavians and Cymri; and that still later,
a Low German element was intruded. The result of this
admixture of peoples was, that when the Pictish nation
reached the zenith of its power, its component parts were
predominantly Teutonic; and the Pictish language had
become correspondingly modified in a Teutonic direction,
its latest phases (at any rate on the east coast) exhibiting
substantially the same peculiarities as characterise the speech
of the eastern counties at the present day.
To the Pictish factors in the population, were added
the purely Cymric element of the British tribes. 1
These tribes, particularly in Strathclyde, long retained
a separate national existence, until they were absorbed
in the broad stream of Scottish nationality. The Scot-
tish tribes from Ireland who eventually dominated the
whole country, introduced the Gaelic language, which
was mainly cognate with, but structurally different from,
the Cymric, and possessed features akin to the elements
of the Pictish language. The Northumbrian settlements,
chiefly in Lothian, added an important Anglian factor to
the population of the south; and the latest wave of Scandin-
avian immigration, possibly in the eighth, and certainly in
the ninth century, permanently modified the Celticism of
the north and north-west. This ethnic admixture was sup-
plemented by the stream of Anglo-Saxon, Anglo-Danish,
and Norman adventurers, who found a refuge in Scotland,
particularly during the reigns of Malcolm III. and David I. ;
and to these may be added some Flemish settlers at different
1 There was a British element in Fortrenn, according to the Irish
Annals. If the Picts were purely Cymric, why should these Britons be
distinguished from the Cruithne ? And, above all, why should contem-
porary authors tell us that the Pictish language was different from the
British language and the Gaelic language ?
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 367
periods. Also, English thralls, in Malcolm's reign, provided
a plentiful harvest of that king's reaping.
In face of these facts, it can hardly be contended, as is
frequently done, that the population of Scotland is mainly
of Gaelic origin; and the corollary of that contention, that
the true national language of Scotland is Gaelic, can only
be maintained by those who have imperfectly grasped the
significance of the evidence furnished alike by place-names
and the correct reading of history. The Gael and their
language are only one set of factors, among many, in the
heterogeneity of the Scottish people.
It is impossible to estimate with any degree of exactitude,
the relative preponderance of the different proto-historic
and historic elements in the population of Scotland
at the present day. The evidence that I have adduced
would appear to suggest that the most important element,
numerically, is Cymric : it is found in every part of
the country ; and its distribution proves the substantial
correctness of the Welsh traditions which affirm that
the Cymri were at one time in possession of the whole
island of Britain. I have shown that they were also in
possession of Ireland until the arrival of the Teutons in that
island. Contrary to the segregating policy in England of
the Anglo-Saxon invaders (who were colonists, accompanied
by their wives), the Teutonic settlers in Ireland and Scotland
coalesced with their Cymric predecessors, marrying their
women and adopting their customs and, in varying degrees,
their language. The fusion between these peoples was not
necessarily of uniform completeness. The earlier Teutonic
(Scandinavian) settlers in Scotland were adventurers who,
as we have seen from the evidence supplied by tradition, were
unaccompanied by wives, and had to find them in Ireland.
In this instance, the amalgam of races would be more or less
complete; and in course of time, there would be nothing to
368 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
distinguish one race from the other except physical differ-
ences; and even these would gradually disappear. 2
Segregation would naturally have the result of perpetuat-
ing physical differences, and thus discriminating the races,
even if their language and customs were exactly the same.
As an example of this, I may cite an instance well within
my personal knowledge. The people at the Butt of Lewis
living in a parish which takes its Norse name of Ness from
the Butt are in no way distinguishable physically from the
inhabitants of Scandinavia. Yet their language is Gaelic,
and their customs are what is loosely called " Celtic." The
explanation is that these people are descended from the
Scandinavian colonists of Lewis, and their segregated posi-
tion, geographically, has resulted in a breed of men and
women whose physical characteristics are the same as those
of their ancestors ten centuries ago. In an adjoining parish
of the same island, a striking contrast is shown by an
appreciable proportion of the inhabitants being short, dark,
and rather broadheaded, instead of being tall, fair, and long-
headed, like the men of Ness. 3
The amalgamation of the different peoples into a nation-
ality, the units of which ultimately called themselves by
the common name of " Scots," was necessarily a gradual
process. The nation was not built up in a day; nor did it
come into existence without a persistent struggle for hege-
mony. We find in the earliest records, the Picts and the
Scots preying upon the Britons; later, we find the Scots
and the Britons ranged against the Picts and Angles; then
2 But the Frisians, or Old Saxons, who arrived in Scotland during the
historic period, probably effected their settlements much in the same
way as the Anglo-Saxons in England; their social contact with the Celtic
inhabitants cannot have been close.
3 Dr. Beddoe noticed the same fact about the Ness men after a visit to
Lewis (The Races of Britain, p. 240). Beddoe points out (p. 243) that
from Nairn to the Forth, two elements in the population are conspicuously
strong the Teutonic, and another vaguely described as "Pictish."
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 369
we discover the Scots quarrelling among themselves, and the
Scots and Britons, divided doubtless by territorial jealousies,
flying at one another's throats; a further stage shows us a
sanguinary state of warfare between the petty kings of
Fortrenn and Atholl and the supreme monarch of the
Pictish nation, in which execution by drowning was the
fate of the captured kings. The last picture reveals a con-
test for supremacy between the Picts and Scots, which ended
in the domination of the Scots by their formidable competi-
tors. A record of these events has been preserved by the
Irish Annalists, chiefly Tighernach and the compilers of the
Annals of Ulster. They consist of bald statements of battles
and their dates, with an occasional comment that throws only
fitful gleams of light on events that are for the most part
buried in obscurity. Skene has endeavoured to construct
from this scanty material, a continuous historical account
of the political strings by which these wars of races and
factions were moved; but based as they are upon so slender
a foundation, it is conceivable that his inferences are not
always correct. The main facts of the later relations
between the Picts and the Scots are however tolerably clear;
and they enable us to form a just idea of the true nature of
the so-called " Scottish Conquest."
Unquestionably, the zenith of Pictish power was reached
during the reign of Oengus, or Angus, who is described
in the additions to Bede's History as " a bloody, tyrannical
butcher." Originally King of Fortrenn, or the district
bounded on the south by the Forth, 4 he snatched the
4 The puzzling name Fortrenn has already been analysed, and it has
been suggested that no satisfactory etymology has been given. Pos-
sibly the name is due to the situation of the district the Forth border.
"Fort" is a common form of "forth" (cf. Seafort for Seaforth), and
rand = border. Tighernach spells the word indifferently as Fortrenn
and Fortrend.
Perhaps, however, the source of "renn" is O. Ic. rein, a strip of land.
It is a curious fact that in the Manorial Rolls of the Isle of Man, balla, or
24
370 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
throne of the Ard-King from Nectan, and for thirty years
(731-761), reigned as undisputed monarch of the Pictish
nation. An act of " profanation " by the Dalriadic Scots,
who dragged his son from a sanctuary in Tory Island, gave
him a pretext, or a cause, for "smiting" Dalriada ; and he-
smote her mercilessly. He captured her capital, Dunadd (in
the Moss of Crinan), burnt a fort called Creic, and chained
the two sons of Sealbach, the head of the Cinel (tribe) Loarn,
Whether he annexed Dalriada to the Pictish kingdom, and
whether it remained an appanage of the latter for a century,
as Skene believes, 5 are questions of much obscurity. The-
Chronicles are not in agreement with the Albanic Duan and
with other lists of kings, and the inferences to be drawn
from later events are liable to mistake. But it is not im-
probable that the loss of Dalriada in the west 6 may have-
coincided with the consolidation of Scottish power in the
east, where a foothold may have been gained which facili-
tated the acquisition of the Pictish throne by the rival
dynasty in the ninth century. Oengus, the masterful King
of the Picts, died in 761, and a few years later (767), we
find Aed Finn, a Scottish King, invading Fortrenn, a
fact complementary to the statement in the Annals of
Ulster that the kingdom of Oengus had ''waned" before
his death.
There is justification, therefore, for assuming that a rapid
decline in Pictish power followed the death of the
townland, is called treen. The Manx "treens" were strips of land nearly
always divided by natural bounds (see Moore's History of the Isle of Man),
If treen is the true suffix of Fortrenn, the prefix may be the familiar
For, pasture.
Fortrenn is thus one of those names for which there is a choice of
plausible derivations.
5 Celtic Scotland, i., pp. 292-3.
6 The Kingdom of Dalriada cannot have passed permanently from the
Scots, for Kenneth MacAlpin was King of Dalriada for two years before
he succeeded to the Pictish throne.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 371
" sanguinary tyrant," and that the Scots were not slow in
availing themselves of the opportunity to shift the balance
in their favour. Probably they had the Church at their
backs; and ecclesiastical support was at that time an engine
of formidable driving power. The Scottish Church had its
own quarrel with the Picts, for King Nectan (Bede's Naitan,
to whom the Abbot Ceolfrid of Jarrow addressed a lengthy
disquisition on Easter and the tonsure) had driven (in 717)
the Columban monks from his dominions, on their refusal
to accept the new views of this Romanised zealot. 7 After
the expulsion of these monks from Pictland, we find the
Keledei) popularly named Culdees, coming into prominence
for the first time. They were originally a community of
anchorites; and it would appear from the history of St. Serf,
or Servanus, that they were associated primarily with the
province of Fife, where their residence is perpetuated by
the place-name Dysart (desert). In course of time, the
simplicity of their lives gave way under the deadening in-
fluence of increasing power and wealth. Kings were their
liberal patrons (notably Shakespeare's MacBeth); they
waxed fat; they abandoned their self-imposed hardships as
hermits; and latterly, we find them comfortably installed as
secular canons. Their appearance in the east of Scotland
coincided with that of the secular clergy; and both were
brought under the canonical rule. 8 Gradually, the honour-
able name Keledei, now wholly inapplicable, sank into
deserved oblivion.
If we assume that the Keledei and the secular clergy in
Fife used their influence on behalf of the Scottish kingdom
which seems to have been established there, it can be readily
7 The monastic church in lona conformed to the Roman usages about
this time (716-718) after a spirited resistance to the change.
8 Celtic Scotland, ii., p. 277. Skene equates the name Keledei with
Deicolce, or God-worshippers, but his arguments are not altogether con-
vincing. I suggest that Serf (St. Servanus) may be an equation of the
Irish gilla, of which the earliest form was probably chele (Scots "chiel").
372 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
understood that in these allies, the Scots possessed an asset
of considerable potential value, in their later relations with
the Picts. And the decay of the once powerful Pictish
monarchy, coinciding as it did with the growing strength of
the rival dynasty, was forcibly accelerated by the arrival of
a new foe, the piratical and merciless Danes.
Historical manuscripts are silent about any Scandinavian
invasion of these islands prior to the end of the eighth cen-
tury. It has been assumed, therefore, far too hastily, that
there were no Scandinavian incursions, much less settlements,
in Britain or Ireland before that time. The evidence of
place-names alone disposes of that assumption ; and if Gaelic
tradition counts for anything at all, its numerous allusions
to the Lochlans (who were demonstrably Scandinavians)
supplement the etymological proofs, which are additionally
reinforced by the statements in the Welsh Triads. 9
If, indeed, no tangible evidence either way of these earlier
visits of the Scandinavians existed, they would still be in-
ferentially probable. In the time of Tacitus, the Suiones
or Swedes had the most effective navy in all Germany. Is
it likely that this navy, manned as it was by the best sailors
probably in Europe, never ventured to the British Isles, as
early as the Saxons and the Franks, who appeared on the
coast of Gaul in the third century, and visited Britain before
the end of the fourth?
In the Irish Annals, the Northmen receive a variety of
names. They are called Lochlans, Gentiles (heathen), and
foreigners. The Lochlans are sometimes distinguished from
the Danes, and the name would therefore appear to have
9 The Triads embodied in the Ancient Laws of Cambria (p. 376) state
that the first of the three invading tribes in Britain were the Scandinavians.
The Triads go on to say that the Cambrians drove the Scandinavians over
the sea to Germany. The second invasion was that of the Scots from
Ireland, and the third that of the Caesarians (Romans). Elsewhere
(p. 377) it is stated that the three " treacherous" invasions were those of
the Red Irishmen, the Scandinavians, and the Saxons.
THE BACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 373
meant originally the Norwegians or Swedes; probably the
latter, for the explanation of the word Lochlan is to be found
in Cymric Llychlyn, a gulf (literally the " dusky water "), 10
by which must be understood the Baltic, including probably
the Gulf of Bothnia. The Welsh name for Scandinavia, it
may be observed, is " Dulychlin," literally " black gulf," the
idea of blackness being duplicated.
In the Irish Annals, also, there are two strongly contrasted
words: " Gael " and " Gall." The " Gael " were the mixed
race who jointly owned Ireland. The "Gall" 11 (Gaill)
were the Scandinavians. But of these " Gall," there were
two divisions, the Fingalls and the Dugalls, always trans-
lated as the "fair foreigners" and the "dark foreigners."
The ^ fair foreigners," we are assured, were the Norwegians,
and the " dark foreigners," the Danes. This distinction
however, is purely arbitrary, and has no authority from the
Irish records. But the Dugalls are clearly identified both
by the Irish and the Welsh Chronicles with the Danes. 12
The Fingalls and the Dugalls figure in the Irish Annals
most prominently about the middle of the ninth century. The
Fingalls were already settled, apparently, in Ireland, near
Dublin, but the Dugalls were new-comers. Were it not that
the Annals clearly apply the meaning of fairness or white-
ness (Finn or Find) as a personal characteristic (e.g., Finn-
lochlans and Findgenti are sometimes used as substitutes for
10 Cym. Ltychw, obsolete Gae. Loch, dusky, preserved in the name of
the river Lochy (Adamnan's Nigra).
11 The word "Gall" is derived most probably from Cym. Gal, a foe.
That would be the primary sense of the word. Every stranger would be
regarded by the natives as a foe ; and thus the two ideas of " foe " and
" stranger " would become inseparable. Gradually the word would come
to acquire the meaning of " stranger" or "foreigner" alone (cf. "host"
and hostis, showing the fundamentally different standpoints of the
Teutons and the Latins regarding strangers).
12 In Brut y Tywysogion (the Chronicle of the Princes) the arrival of
of the " black Normans," or Northmen, is recorded under the date 890.
These were Danes.
374 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Fingaill), it would be reasonable to suppose that the place-
name Fingall, near Dublin, was the source of this name
as applied to a people. " Fingall " is found as a place-
name in Yorkshire as early as 788, a Synod having been
held there in that year; 13 and gal appears as a suffix in
ancient place-names in Wales. 14 It cannot be supposed that
the difference between the two peoples rested upon an ethno-
logical basis. The Danes may have been, as some writers
suppose, a more heterogeneous race than the Swedes and
Norwegians, and it is possible that their fairness may have
been modified by a dark strain. But that this difference
(assuming its existence) would originate the name under
discussion, is in the highest degree improbable.
Light is thrown upon the difficulty by a tale in the Red
Book of Hergest. 15 A troop of Norwegians is represented
as being " of brilliant white," and a troop of Danes,
" whereof each man wore garments of jet black," completes
the picture. Also, the banners of the Norwegians were
"pure white," and those of the Danes " jet black." This
tale, which belongs to the Arthurian cycle, and is believed
to contain reminiscences of a reconstruction in pre-Norman
times, clearly shows that in the earliest Welsh folklore, the
Norwegians and the Danes were differentiated by the colour
of their apparel and banners. It may be reasonably inferred
that the Irish Annalists similarly discriminated between
them, thus explaining their frequent allusions to the " white
foreigners" and the "black foreigners." An ancient Irish
poet 16 alludes to the " Danes of the black ships," which seems
13 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
14 From Cym. gdl, a plain. We may contrast Fingall (Fairfield) with
Donegal (Brownfield), where the prefix is probably from Cym. Dtcra,
dusky, or dun. At any rate, the "strangers' fort" will hardly do as an
etymology for Donegal.
16 ** The Dream of Rhonabwy " (in the Mabinogion).
16 Beg Mac De, quoted by Todd in his Wars of the Gael.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 375
to add force to the suggestion that the Danes affected a dark
colour as a distinguishing mark from the Norwegians. And
Saxo Grammaticus writes about " black mein," who, as the
context shows, must have been Scandinavian rovers. 17
The Fingalls may have been settled in Ireland for an
indefinite period, before they were disturbed by the Dugalls
in the middle of the ninth century; and their manners had
possibly been softened by contact with the gentler Irish,
as well as by the change from continual sea - roving to
occasional cattle-rearing. The Dugalls attacked them with
peculiar ferocity, regarding them perhaps as renegades, or
desiring to oust them from their possessions. The battles
fought between them were stiff contests, in the principal of
which, victory rested with the Dugalls. The Danish eagles
fixed their sharp talons in the unhappy Irish nation, and
did not relax their hold for centuries. The battle fought on
the plain of Clontarf on Good Friday in 1014, did not free
the Irish from Scandinavian oppression. And even at
Clontarf they were divided, for Irishmen fought on both
sides ; and a divided nation they continued to be, right
through the ages.
Soon after the Dugalls first appear in history, we find
records of another combination called the Gall-Gaidel, a com-
pound name signifying a blend of Scandinavians and Gael.
The fragments of Irish Annals already quoted tell us who
these Gall-Gaidel were. The Gaelic portion of the combina-
tion "were a people who had renounced their baptism, and
they were usually called Northmen, for they had the customs
of the Northmen and had been fostered by them, and though
the original Northmen were bad to the churches, they were
by far worse, in whatever part of Erin they used to be." 18
17 Elton, pp. 275-6.
18 Fragments, p. 139. On page 129, the writer says that the Gael were
Scoti and foster children to the Northmen, "and at one time they used
to be called Northmen."
376 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
The Gall-Gaidel had no special connexion with Gallo-
way 19 until centuries after the combination was formed,
when (1199) a Lord of Galloway, Rolant Mac Uchtraigh,
is styled their king. The country of their inception must
have been Ireland, but they are subsequently associated in
a special way with the Western Isles of Scotland. The Gaelic
sections are called Vikingr Skotar by the Sagas. The
association of these apostate Gael with the heathen Scan-
dinavians is a fact of some significance. What was the
common bond between them? Was it merely a lust for
plunder, or does it suggest the recognition of a common
origin, and consequently the existence of a racial affinity?
It is noteworthy that the Annalist discriminates between
these renegade Scots and the Erinach or Irishmen. 20
The dreaded Danes played an important part in the final
downfall of the Pictish monarchy. In 839, the " Gentiles "
(heathen) dealt Fortrenn a crushing blow " Eoganan, son
of Angus, and almost countless others were slain," says the
Annalist from which the Pictish nation possibly never re-
covered. 21 Kenneth MacAlpin seems to have seized the
opportunity to turn his arms against them, and a few years
later, achieved the object of his desire. The statement in
the Chronicle of Huntingdon, that " Kenneth encountered
the Plots seven times in one day, and having destroyed many,
confirmed the kingdom to himself " need not, however, be
taken too literally.
The facts of the " Scottish Conquest " are obscure, but
its main features emerge from the obscurity with sufficient
19 The Annals of Ulster show them battling in Munster in 806. Skene's
elaborate attempt, in The Highlanders of Scotland, to deduce the origin
of certain Highland clans from the Gall-Gaidel is futile.
20 Fragments, p. 129.
81 The Danes continued their depredations after the accession of the
Scottish dynasty to the Pictish throne. We find them again in Fortrenn
in 866, when they plundered all the Pictish people and " brought away
their pledges." For many a day they were the pests of Scotland.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 377
clearness. Kenneth had the whole nation of the Scots be-
hind him; and it is at least conceivable that he was also
supported by a section of the Fiats. He seems to have been
an able commander; and his enterprise is undoubted. He
applied his gifts to the task that lay before him with con-
siderable vigour, and with conspicuous success. Beyond
doubt, he had to fight for the Crown ; but it may be a
question whether the resistance he met was of so serious a
nature as late historians suggest. The Pictish succession
had fallen into hands that lacked the strength to cope with
the accumulation of troubles by which the throne was beset.
It was the accepted belief at one time that Kenneth made
a clean sweep, root and branch, of the Pictish people. That
belief is no longer entertained; and in fact, there is not the
slenderest historical ground for asserting its credibility. 22
John of Fordun, the earliest of the Scottish historians, makes
no such suggestion; and it is quite certain that if Fordun
had believed that the Pictish people had been wiped out of
existence, he would /have mentioned, emphasised, and perhaps
amplified the fact. He says, indeed, that Kenneth crushed
the Picts in several battles and mercilessly slaughtered them ;
but that after his victory was assured and most of the Pictish
leaders killed or dispersed, 23 the common people submitted
to him; and that Kenneth received the harmless people into
peace and allegiance. 24 That is exactly in accordance with
probabilities, though the assertion about Kenneth's crush-
ing victories may be received with some reserve. There was
32 The words Cinadhis delevit in the Chronicle of the Kings of Scotland,
as applied to the Picts, and destructis Pictis in the Register of St. Andrews
(Innes, Appendices iii. and v.), give the popular but erroneous impression
to which allusion is made in the text.
23 There is a tradition (mentioned by Giraldus) that the leaders of the
Picts were treacherously massacred at a banquet by the Scots ; and this
may have given rise to the belief that there was a slaughter of the entire
nation.
24 Fordun, B. 4, c. 8.
378 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
really no reason why the Picts should not accept Kenneth
as their king. His claims were probably sound; and the
nation that had accepted the son of an Angle (Talorcan,
son of Ainfrait, in 653) as their ruler would not boggle at
a Scot of Pictish lineage. There is thus no justification
for believing that the Scottish Conquest was of the revolu-
tionary character that it is usually represented to have been;
and it is quite certain that the destruction of the entire
Pictish nation is a myth. It would be just as truthful to
say that the Normans destroyed the entire Anglo-Saxon
nation in 1066.
It is a striking fact that there is no allusion by contem-
porary (or nearly contemporary) writers to these stirring
events in Pictavia. A knowledge of them could not well
have escaped the cognisance of Asser, or Ethelwerd, or the
compilers of the Irish Annals and the Anglo - Saxon
Chronicle. Yet, in none of these sources, is to be found even
a passing allusion to the supposed extermination of a neigh-
bouring and powerful people. More than that: Kenneth
MacAlpin is styled by the Irish Annals Rex Pictorum, and
Aedh, his son, is described as the son of Cinad, 25 " King of
Picts." Flann Mainistrech says of Kenneth that he was
the first king " who possessed the Kingdom of Scone of the
Gaidhel," showing a recognition of the fact, elsewhere Avell
attested, that Scone was the Pictish capital at the time of
the Scottish Conquest. As the greater includes the less, it
is obvious that the description of Kenneth as " King of the
Picts " implies that the latter were numerically of greater
importance than the Scots, who are comprehended in the
designation of " Picts." And thus was forged the first link
in the chain of national unity.
- 5 In the name Cinad, we see the original form of "Kenneth." It is
derived from Cym. Ct/nlad, a principal, which is allied to Cun, a leader,
and Cunach, a noble lineage. The last form resembles the modern Gaelic
form of Kenneth, viz., Cointteach. The Scottish name MacKenzie and the
Irish name MacKenna are softened forms.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 379
Not suddenly but, on the contrary, after the lapse of cen-
turies, did the name " Pict " disappear from history.
Ethelwerd mentions the Picts in 939. In the eleventh cen-
tury, the name appears in the laws attributed to William
the Conqueror. 26 In 1122, they are named by Radulf , Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, in a letter to Pope Callixtus. 27 Later
allusions to them are made by Richard of Hexham and John
of Hexham, both of whom state that they fought at the
Battle of the Standard in 1138; 28 while, as we have seen,
Reginald of Durham, at the end of the twelfth century,
asserts that their language was still alive. Against these
statements is that of Henry of Huntingdon (c. 1080 or
1090), who says that " the Picts, however, have entirely dis-
appeared, and their language is extinct." 29 But his
authority on Scottish affairs is not equal to that of the
Northumbrian monks.
Richard of Hexham tells us that the Picts were commonly
called " Galwegians." And that brings us to the Pictish
connexion with Galloway. The name " Galloway," in its
earlier meaning, comprehended a much larger territory than
the later district of that name. Galloway and Lothian be-
tween them embraced the whole country south of the Firths,
but were separated by the British kingdom of Strathclyde
previous to its absorption by Scotland. North of the Firths,
Scotia included, besides the territory lying between the
Forth and the Spey, the southern part of Argyll, the
northern part (extending as far as Sutherland) being a por-
tion of the province of Moray; while Caithness, Sutherland,
and the Western Isles from the eighth (or ninth) to the
thirteenth century, were in the hands of the Scandinavians.
In the reign of David I. (1124-1153), Galloway included
Carrick, Kyle, Cunningham, and Renfrew, and as late as
the reign of William the Lion (1165-1214), the limits of
26 Innes, p. 101. 27 /^., p. 101.
28 Stevenson, p. 10, and pp. 43, 45-46, 50-51. Forester, B. i., pp. 8-9.
380 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Scotia were still between the Forth and the Spey, with
South Argyll. 30
The state of semi-independence occupied by the provincial
kingdoms is shown by the fact that when Canute invaded
Scotland in 1031, three "kings" submitted to him:
Malcolm II., King of the Scots, Maelbeth (MacBeth), and
Jehmarc. MacBeth must have represented the province of
Moray, and Jehmarc may have been the lord of Galloway.
The Kings of Scotia were the suzerains of these petty rulers,
but their authority must have been of a limited character, for
the special laws and privileges enjoyed by Galloway until its
incorporation in the Kingdom of Scotland in 1235 show the
slenderriess of the tie that had hitherto linked the lords of
Galloway with their suzerain. 31
We get a glimpse of the mixed nature of the population
of Scotland, in Royal charters to the inhabitants of the
diocese of Glasgow who, in the reign of William the Lion, are
described as Franks (Norman-French), Angles, Scots, Gal-
wegians, and Welsh, the last-named being the descendants
of the Britons of Strathclyde. The welding of these units
into the Scottish nation was a task that demanded states-
manship of a high order; and the comparatively slow
process by which the kingdom of the Scottish monarchs was
consolidated is quite intelligible. The most troublesome of
the provinces were Moray and Galloway; for they were the
Pictish districts furthest removed from the seat of authority.
The territorial divisions into which Scotland was divided
during the twelfth century, were ruled by governors who
were called Mormaers, a purely Cymric compound word,
meaning Great Steward (Mawr-maer] , 32 The title must
* Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. i., p. 372.
31 See Robertson's Index of Missing Charters, pp. 13 (80) and 33 (26), on
the ** laws and liberties of the men of Galloway."
:!2 Toisech, another title concurrent with that of Mormaer, is also a Cymric
word, being the Gaelic form of Tywytawjf, a leader or prince. The Mor-
maers were afterwards represented by the Earls, and the Toisechs by the
Thanes. The Scandinavians called the Mormaers by the name of Jarls.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 381
have been given by the Kings of the Scots, as signifying the
dependence of the provincial rulers upon the Scottish Crown,
and is frequently employed by the Irish Annals, the com-
pilers of which would have a tendency to magnify the im-
portance of the Scottish dynasty. But these Great Stewards
of the Crown were by no means the humble servants of the
monarchy that their title would imply. The rulers of
Moray and Galloway were in a state of chronic insurrection,
and in the reign of Malcolm IV. active measures were taken
to curb their rebellious spirit. About 1159, Malcolm took
the drastic step of transplanting the leaders of the rebellion
in Moray, and parcelling out their lands to newcomers. 33 The
Galwegians were assisted by Somerled (a thoroughly Scan-
dinavian name), the celebrated lord of Argyll, from whom
were descended the Lords of the Isles and the chiefs of what
was at one time the premier Highland clan, the MacDonalds.
Somerled was killed in Renfrew in 1164. This was the
beginning of the strife between the western clans and the
Scottish Crown, which was persistent and implacable, long
after other parts of Scotland had been incorporated in Scot-
land, and their people had become loyal subjects of the
reigning dynasty.
When we turn back to the sixth century, we can see how
it was that " Pict " and " Galwegian " became synonymous
with later writers. For there is clear evidence that in the
time of Kentigern, the population of Galloway contained an
element other than the predominant British. In the Life of
Kentigern, by Jocelyn of Furness, the latter tells us how
that saint cleansed from idolatry and heresy, " the home of
the Picts which is now called Galwiethia, with the adjacent
parts." And the racial affinities of these Picts of Galloway
with the Scandinavians is shown by the fact that when
M The accepted version is that the inhabitants of Moray were ejected
wholesale from the province, but that is incredible. Innes (p. 101) gives
as his authority for the story of this transplantation, Chron. Paslat, 3fS.
Biblioth. Rec/ice, Lond., lib. S, c. G.
382 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Kentigern addressed the people of Rydderch Hael (who
became King of Cumbria 34 in 573) at Hoddam, in
Dumfries-shire, he directed his sermon specially against
the worship of Odin, in the following words, which
Jocelyn attributes to him : " But Woden, whom they,
and especially the Angles, believed to be the chief deity
from whom they derived their origin, and to whom the fourth
day of the week is dedicated, he asserted with probability
to have been a mortal man, King of the Saxons, by faith
a pagan, from whom they and many nations have their
descent." 35
The people whom Kentigern addressed were Picts, for he
was in " the home of the Picts, which is now called Gal-
wiethia." They were also worshippers of Odin; and they
" derived their origin " from Odin. They could not have
been Angles; for he discriminates between them and the
Angles. They could not have been Celts; for the Celts
were not Odin-worshippers; 36 nor could Celts possibly claim
descent from Odin. The conclusion is therefore irresistible
that the Picts whom Kentigern 37 addressed were the Scan-
dinavian subjects of the British King of Cumbria. 38
34 In the sixth century, Cumbria extended from Dumbarton to the
Derwent in Cumberland. Subsequently, the name Cumbria was confined
to the portion south of the Solway, the remaining portion being called
Strathclyde.
35 Jocelyn (Forbes), p. 92.
36 Skene meets this difficulty (which strikes at the very roots of his
theories about the Picts) in an ingenuous manner. He suggests (Celtic
Scotland, ii., p. 191) that the "Celts" whom Kentigern addressed had
become infected with paganism by their neighbours, the Angles ! But
even if that were the fact, how could a Celtic people claim descent from
Odin?
The Picts attacked by Halfdene (modern name, Haldane) the Dane, in
875, must have been Galwegians.
37 The name Kentigern means "chief lord" (Cym. Cyn, chief, and
teyrn, literally a sovereign). "Mungo" is a pet name (Cym. Mwyn,
gentle, and ctt, beloved).
38 The name Gal-walenses, sometimes applied to the Galwegians, seems
to suggest a mixed people of Galls (Scandinavians) and Walenses (Welsh).
Bede mentions, in his Life of St. Cuthbert, "the Picts who are called
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 383
It has been frequently asserted that Gaelic was spoken in
Galloway as late as the sixteenth century; and the authority
of George Buchanan is cited for the statement. What
Buchanan actually said was, that " a great part of this
country (Galloway) still uses its ancient language." Seeing
that Galloway of the sixteenth century was of old included
in Cumbria, the " ancient language " to which Buchanan
alludes, may have been Cymric. It has also been
asserted, that when the Highland Host were quartered upon
the people of Ayrshire in 1678, the natives were able to
converse with the Highlanders in their own (Gaelic)
language; but there is no contemporary writer that I can
trace who makes any statement of the kind. 39 The presence
of Gaelic place-names and Gaelic clans in the south-west of
Scotland seems to be due to late immigrations from
Ireland, long after the settlements of the Scots in Dalriada.
The names of the Galloway clans are not those of the High-
landers; or, in instances where they are the same, it is
inconceivable that they were offshoots from, say, clans in
Badenoch. 40 It cannot well be doubted that there was a
Niduari;" and Skene (Celtic Scotland, i., p. 133) endeavours to prove
that by this name must be meant the Picts on the River Nith. But it is
by no means clear how the scene of St. Cuthbert's adventure, as described
by Bede, could have been on the Nith. Cuthbert travelled from Melrose
to the country of the Niduari Picts, where he and his companions had to
wait for three days between the highland and the shore waiting for a fair
wind. It is impossible to believe that the narrative fits in with the
assumption that his journey lay between Melrose and the Nith. It is far
more probable that he crossed the Firth of Forth, and that the country
of the Niduari Picts lay on the north of the Firth. May it not be that
Niduari simply means " nether," and that it implies the country of the
Lower or Southern, in centra-distinction to that of the Upper or Northern
Picts ? Niduari may be a Latin form of O. Ic. nedarr, lower, which
perhaps was a colloquialism applied to the Picts south of the Grampians.
The analogy between Niduari and Vectuari and Cantuari is plausible, but
there the probability of Niduari meaning the Nith people seems to end.
** Nether" is frequently used for *' lower" by old Scottish writers (cf. Bar-
bour's Bruce, etc.).
39 It would be equally bold to assert that at no time was there a Gaelic-
speaking people in Ayrshire.
40 See Lang's History of Scotland, vol. i., Appendix C.
384 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
silent but steady stream of immigration from Ulster to the
opposite coast; and here we have another factor in the
mixture of races which cannot be ignored.
The Dalriadic Scots left their mark mainly (and
naturally) on the West Highlands. They spread over the
Isles and the adjacent mainland, mixing with whatever
Pictish and other elements may have preceded them, and
subsequently with the Scandinavians who followed them;
the combined races forming the restless and turbulent clans
of West Highland history. There was probably a clear-
cut division of the Scots after the succession of Kenneth
MacAlpin, one division comprising the West Highlanders,
and the other the subjects of the ''Fife sovereignty," to whom
would fall the chief spoils of Kenneth's successes. At an
assembly of the Scots held at Forteviot, Kenneth's brother
and successor, Donald, agreed with the Goedeli (Gael) for
the adoption of the ancient laws and statutes of Aed Finn,
framed in the eighth century. 41 This implies, apparently,
that some of his Scottish subjects were not Dalriads; for
these statutes were already recognised by the Dalriads, and
had been the law of Dalriada for a century.
There is thus some ground for the suggestion that there
was a cleavage between the Dalriadic Scots in the west and
the Scottish tribes in the east; and beyond doubt, the cleft
was subsequently widened by the introduction of feudalism
under the Scoto-Saxon Kings of Scotland, who succeeded
the MacAlpin dynasty. If this cleavage first showed
itself during the sway of that dynasty, it explains circum-
stances that are otherwise obscure. Friction could hardly be
avoided between the tribes who received lands in the fertile
plains of the east and the centre, and those that had to be
content with the barren hills of the west. A feeling of
antagonism, due to a sense of unfair treatment, would be
aroused in the west against the Scottish Crown. That
41 Innes, Appendix iii.
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 385
feeling may have inspired the rise of a kingdom of the
Isles and the West Highlands under the hegemony of the
Heads of Clan Donald (who signed treaties as independent
monarchs); the coquetting with England, and the actual co-
operation with that country at intervals against the Scottish
Crown; the anti-national attitude of the west during the
War of Independence until the firm statesmanship of
Bruce 42 allayed the spirit of discontent; the fight for supre-
macy between east and west at Red Harlaw; the campaigns
under Montrose and Dundee against the Lowlanders; and the
Stewart risings, culminating in the " Forty-five " and the
final rout at Culloden. It would be absurd to assert that a
grievance having its inception in the ninth century, was the
only cause, or even the mainspring, of this persistent spirit
of revolt against the centre of authority in the south. But
all nations (and the Celts in particular) have long memories
for national injuries; 43 and it is impossible to ignore the
patent existence of a feeling of rancour which found its ex-
pression not only in deeds, but in actual words. How are
we to explain otherwise the fact that the West Highlanders
not merely repudiated the name of Scots they called them-
selves Albinnich (a territorial name) or Gael (a racial name)
but in 1545 professed themselves to be the " auld enemies "
of the realm of Scotland? 44 Here we have the anomaly
of the "auld Scots," as the Highlanders were called in the
south, proclaiming to the world their enmity towards the
realm of Scotland; and similarly (in 1543) we find their
leader, Donald Dubh, expressing his willingness to take up
arms against "all Scotishmen his enemies." John Elder,
42 The descendant of a Yorkshire family, in the person of Robert Bruce,
saved the independence of Scotland. The Stewarts were probably of
Pictish descent.
43 I have already cited the instance quoted by Douglas Hyde (chap. iv. )
of the Picts of Ireland cherishing a national grievance for nine hundred
years.
44 The letter of the chiefs to Henry VIII. appears in State Papers, iv.,
pp. 501-4.
25
386 THE BACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
himself a native of Caithness, in a letter to Henry VIII.,
describes the Highland chiefs as the " Yrische lords of Scot-
land commonly callit the Reddshanckes, and by historio-
graphouris Pictis." Elder's knowledge of racial facts was
no better than that of many more enlightened students in
later years, but his statement suggests that the chiefs may
have believed that they had inherited rights from the Picts
which the Scottish Crown had ignored. 45 His designation
of the chiefs as " Irish " lords is a curious contradiction of
their alleged Pictish descent, if Scottish Picts are meant;
but it shows that by this time, not only were the Gael of
Scotland and their language called " Irish " by the Low-
landers (which was the fact), but also by natives of the
north. The Scots people in the sixteenth century were the
Lowlanders; and the Scots language was " quaint Inglis."
As a distinction, the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders and their
language were called " Irish," in recognition of the origin
of both.
For, long before the sixteenth century, the Scots of the
eastern and central districts had been absorbed by the
more numerous Pictish people, whose language they had
gradually adopted while shedding their own Gaelic speech.
They remained, however, the dominant caste, and were thus
able to perpetuate and impose upon their Pictish neighbours
their distinctive name of " Scots," which gradually displaced
the name of " Picts," though both peoples were called by
the latter name for an undefined period after the accession
of Kenneth MacAlpin. 46
45 It is by no means improbable that some of the chiefs may have been
descended from Irish Picts. There was, of course, a distinctively Scandi-
navian leaven in some West Highland families, but it was introduced in
post-Pictish times.
46 If we are to accept as literally accurate the accounts of the Battle of
the Standard given by Richard of Hexham, there was little to choose,
in point of ferocity, between the Picts, the Scots, and the Angles in
the Scottish army. The Scots, particularly, are accused by Henry of
THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND. 387
The name of the Picts disappeared; but the people them-
selves remained. And their descendants are to be found at
the present day in greatest number in the eastern counties,
where the inhabitants are sharply divided in dialect and
customs from the descendants of the Angles in the Lothians;
and more strongly contrasted with both, are the Gael of the
north and the west. The difference is not one of language
alone, but of temperament as well. Partly due to environ-
ment, it derives much of its vitality from racial traits of
character, the existence of which it would require some
hardihood to deny. The temperamental gulf which divides
the inhabitants of north-east Ulster from those of south-west
Cork, is no wider than that which separates the people of
Sutherland from those of Selkirk. One may go further,
and assert that there are strongly marked distinctions even
between dwellers in the same county. A native of Easter
Ross is different in temperament from a native of Wester
Ross; and between Inverness on the east and Glenelg on the
west, there is a border line whence racial traits diverge. The
further east one goes, the more does the Pictish blend betray
its presence ; the further west one goes, the more do-
characteristics appear which, for convenience, may be
described as " Celtic."
But the process of assimilation, greatly accelerated by
the dissolution of the clan system, and particularly by
Huntingdon of atrocities of a kind to which recent wars have accus-
tomed us. The curious statement is made by John of Hexham that,,
after the battle, the King of Scotland took hostages from the Scots and
Picts to stand by him in every conflict and danger ; and it is added that
he fined them in a large sum of money. In the burgh seal of Stirling a
town with a Cymric name the words Bruti Scoti (Scots brutes !) are
applied in 1296 to dwellers benorth the Forth. The Stirling burghers
were probably of Anglic descent, if Beddoe's surmise (Races of Britain*
pp. 243-4) is correct, that the Angles of Lothian pushed en masse in the
direction of Stirling to the ford of the Forth and the Campsie Fells. This
is one more illustration of the racial admixture that had to be unified, and
the racial animosities that had to be allayed, in the work of consolidation.
388 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
the steady development of educational machinery throughout
the country, has blunted the edge of racialism since the
eighteenth century, and has removed one by one the barriers
that formerly divided the north from the south, the east
from the west. Temperamental distinctions remain, and
will continue to remain, to lend variety to the component
parts of the nation, and prevent (not unfortunately) the
attainment of an ideal of dull uniformity. A blend of
temperaments is a good thing for a nation, if they are not
conflicting but complementary. It has been shown that
the welding together of the diverse racial units, from Shet-
land to the Tweed, into the Scottish nation, was a long and
arduous task. It could only have been accomplished by
the hand of Time; and in the development of a national
ideal, the realisation of a community of interests, the hand
of Time continues to work beneficently by moulding the
different elements into a state of more complete unification.
CITATIONS FROM MODERN WORKS.
Acts of Parliament of Scotland, 380
Bannatyne Miscellany, 136
Beddoe The Races of Britain, 26, 42, 43, 368, 387
Betham The Gaul and Cymbri, 87
Birch Cartularium Saxonicum, 138
Borlase The Dolmens of Ireland, 32, 41, 42, 72, 91, 280
Bosworth The Origin of English, Germanic, and Scandinavian Languages
and Nations, 95, 212, 251, 252
Bryant (Mrs.) Celtic Ireland, 90
Buchanan Travels in the Hebrides, 237
Cambridge Modern History, 8
Campbell West Highland Tales, 118, 155.
Carmichael Carmina Gadelica, 8
Chalmers Caledonia, 230
Comparetti The Traditional Poetry of the Finns, 40
Crichton and Wheaton Scandinavia : Ancient and Modern, 307
Gumming (Miss Gordon) From the Hebrides to the Himalayas, 11
Deane The Worship of the Serpent, 13
Dixon Gairloch, 37, 60
Du Chaillu The Viking Age, 44, 45, 137
Dunham Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, 57, 59, 166
Elton Origins of English History, 202, 375
Ferguson The Teutonic Name System, 146, 244
Frazer - The Golden Bough, 7, 13, 29, 232, 233
Haddon and Stubbs Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, 55, 86, 103
Henderson Survivals of Beliefs among the Celts, 1 1
Hewitt Primitive Traditional History, 17
Huxley Prehistoric Remains of Caithness, 21, 22, 23, 42
,, Critiques and Addresses, 81
Hyde Literary History of Ireland, 59, 147, 385
Innes The Ancient Inhabitants of Caledonia, 216, 341, 343, 344, 346, 348,
356, 358, 359, 377, 379, 381, 384
Jamieson Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Languaye, 6, 230, 251
Joyce The Origin and History of Irish Names of Places, 130, 145, 252
Keane The Lapps, 37
,, Ethnology, 75, 76
Keating History of Ireland, 6, 26, 31
Kitchin History of France, 175
Lang History of Scotland, 383
390 CITATIONS FROM MODERN WORKS.
Latham The Germanla of Tacitus, 97, 104
,, Ethnology of the British Islands, 108
,, The English Language, 217
Lockhart Life of Sir Walter Scott, 48, 85, 135
MacBain Ptolemy's Geography of Scotland, 230
M'Clure British Place-names, 280
MacRitchie Fians, Fairies, and Picts, 62
Mallet Northern Antiquities, 43, 45, 57, 61, 137, 155
Martin Description of the Western Islands, 8, 9, 136
Menzel History of Germany, 94, 108
Moore History of the Isle of Man, 46, 370
Nansen In Northern Mists, 20, 34, 140
New Statistical Account of Scotland, 331
Nilsson Primitive Inhabitants of Scandinavia, 34
O'Curry Lectures on the MS. Materials of Ancient Irish History, 13, 14,
22, 23, 28, 43, 58
O'Grady History of Ireland, 14, 15, 21, 23, 44, 45, 49
Silva Gadelica, 17, 34, 61, 87, 117
Picard . . . de prisca Celtopcedia, etc., 214
Pinkerton Voyages and Travels, 38
,, An Enquiry into the History of Scotland, 214
Proceedings of the British Academy, 31, 59, 81
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 35, 188, 241
Rhys Celtic Britain, 100, 139, 150
Rhys and Jones The Welsh People, 129, 179, 232
Robertson Index of Missing Charters, 380
Roquefort Glossaire de la Langue Romane, 178, 284
Seebohm The Tribal System in Wales, 245
Skene Celtic Scotland, 21, 193, 222, 229, 230, 236, 237, 240, 241, 275, 287,
297, 327, 341, 342, 343, 344, 345, 346, 351, 352, 370, 371, 382, 383.
Skene Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, 215, 221, 242
The Highlanders of Scotland, 81, 100, 229, 230, 376
,, Four Ancient Books of Wales, 229
Stanley Lectures on the Jewish Church, 13
State Papers, 385
TalbotEnglish Etymologies, 63, 199
Taylor Words and Places, 319
Thorpe Northern Mythology, 39, 49, 51, 53, 139
Todd The War of the Gaedhil with the Gaill, 102, 374
Tudor The Orkneys and Shetlands.
Ua Clerigh History of Ireland to the Coming of Henry IL, 106
Webster The Basque and the Celt, 87
Wentz The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries, 50, 53
INDEX.
Abravannus, 193
Adamnan, 02, 110
Adder, 256
A lisa Craig, 264
Alauna, 193, 208
Alban, meaning of, 183
Almond, 256
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Picts,
211
Angus, 293
Annan, 256
Aray, 256
Arbroath, 293
Ard-righ of Tara, 103
Argyle, 293
Dalriadic Kingdom in, 342
Arran, 264
Assynt, 294
Athole, 294
Attacots, the, 350
Awe, 256
Aj'r (see Aray)
Badenoch, 294
Balfour, 295
Balor of the Evil Eye, 25
Banchory-Devenick 295
Banchory-Ternan, 295
Banff, 296
Bangor, 295
Bannatia, 208
Bannockburn, 296
Banshees, the, 31
Barra, 265
Barrow, the, 127
of the Boyne, 51
folk, 48
Basques, the, 87, 117
Beauly, 296
Bede, 111.
on the Picts, 211, 219
Beith, 296
Belgae, the, 80
Beltine, 5
Bel worship, 9
Benbecula, 265
Ben Lomond, 263
Ben Nevis, 263
Berwick-on-Tweed, 296
Blair, 278
Blantyre, 296
Boderia, 193
Bodotria, 188
Book of the Invasions, 3
Brahan, 256
Brander, 256
Brechin, 297
Brehon Laws, 113
Broadheads, the, 76
Brora, 257
Buccleuch, 297
Buchan, 297
Buchanan, 297
Bulgarians, 19
Burntisland, 297
Bute, 265
i Buvinda, 125
I Caerini, the, 204
I Cairns, 262
! Caithness, 279, 282
; Calder, 257
j Caledonians, the, 184
i Calgacus, 185
; Callander, 297
Carbantorigon, 208
| Cargill, 298
Carham, Scottish victory at, 364
I Carmichael, 298
Carnonacae, 205
i Carrick. 160, 298
Carriden, 298
Carron, 257
Cart, 257
, Cashel, 160
; Catini, the, 204
Cavan, 160
i Celnius, 194
Celtae, the, 77
Celts, the, 73
Cerones (see Creones)
"Cesair,"3
Chauci, the, 94
Cherusci, the, 97
! Clackmannan, 298
I Clan Donald and their influence, 385
Claudian on the Picts, 216
Clota, 188, 194
Colonsay, 266
Comrie, 266
Conan, 257
Conn of the Hundred Battles, 58
Cormac, King, 5
Cornavii, the, 204
Craill, 299
Cramond, 299
Creeves, Irish, 145
Creones, 205
392 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
C'riech, 29t>
Crieff, 299
Croraarty, 300
Crom Cruaich, the idol, 10, 15
Cromdale, 301
Cruithne, the, 43, 132, 147, 211-
and Dananns, 61
Cuchullin, 115
Cuchullin Saga, 48
Culdees (see Keledei)
Culloden, 301
Cumbernauld, 266
Cumbraes, 266
Cumlodden, 301
Cunningham, 301
Cupar, 301
Cymri, the, 267
Cymric Laws, 114
Dagda, the, 29, 51
Dalaradia, 141
Dalbeattie, 296
Dalriadic Kingdom in Argyle, 3
in Fife 342
Sovereignty, extent of, 344
Damnonii, 205
Dananns, the dominant power in Ire-
land, 27
in Scandinavia, 27
physical features of the, 43
in the Irish Texts, 44
medireval notions of, 50
and Cruithne, 61
Danes' Cast, the, 148
Danes and the downfall of the Scottish
Monarchy, 376
Decantae, 207
Deer, 301
Derry, 163
Deskford, 257
Deva, 194
Devana, 208
Deveron, 257
Devon, 257
Dingwall, 302
Dinnsenchus, the, 84
Dollar, 302
Don and Doon, 358
Dornoch, 302
Douglas, 358
Druidism and its significance, 54
Druid stones, 58
Drosten Stone, 243
Druids of Gaul, 54
Ireland, 55
Drumalban, 303
Dugalls, 373
Dull, 303
Dumbarton, 303
Dumfries, 304
Dumna, 200
Dunbar, 304
Dundee, 304
Dunedin (see Edinburgh)
Dunfermline, 304
Dunipace, 305
Dunkeld, 305
Dunnichen, battle of, 355
Dunnottar, 365
Dunoon, 306
Dunvegan, 306
Dupplin, 306
Durness, 306
Dusk Water, 257
Dwarfs, the, 50, 61
Dysart, 163
Earn, 258
Ebuda, 200
Eden, 165
Edinburgh, 307
Edington, 307
Eigg, 267
Eilean Dunibeg (see Luchruban)
Elf-myth, the, 139
Elf-worship, 46
Elgin, 308
Elliott, 258
Elves, the, 44, 49, 61
of the Scandinavians, 33
Emania, destruction of, 146
Epidium, 201
Ere, the sons of, 342
Ericht, 258
Erin, meaning of, 86
Esk, 258
Ewe, 259
Fairies of Ireland and Scotland, 33-
Falias, 28
Falkirk, 309
Falkland, 309
Fasque, 309
Fearn, 165
Feini, meaning of, 119
Fianna, the, 116, 117
Fife, 310
Dalriadic kingdom in, 341, 342
an appanage of Dalriada, 347
Scottish settlements in, 342
Findhorn, 259
Fingalls, 373
Finnias, 28
Finn-men, the, 140
Fionn, 166
Fionn Saga, 47
Fionn the serpent-destroyer, 14
Firbolgs. 4, 18, 26
Fire -customs, 6, 7, 8, 9
Fir-Sidh, the, 31
Flannan Isles, 267
Fleet, 259
Fodla, 294
Fomorians, the, 4, 25
Forfar, 310
Forgan, 310
Forres, 310
Forth, 259
INDEX.
393
Fortingall, 311
Fortrose, 311
Frey, the god, 52
Frisian settlement in Scotland, 223
Gael, the, 110
descended from four stocks, 82
origin of the, 91
and the Saxon, 179
Gaelic language, how formed, 122
evolution of, 179
peculiar characteristics
of, 180
Gaelic tribes in the west, 384
Gairloch, 311
Gala, 259
Galashiels, 311
Galcacus (see Calgacus)
Gall-Gaidel, the, 375
Galli, the, 77
Galloway, 311
and the Picts, 379
Garioch, 312
Garry, 166
Gartnait, 242
Geanies, 312
Geotfrey of Monmouth, 219
Gigha, 267
Gildas on the Picts, 218
Giraldus, Cambrensis, 223
Girvan, 259
Glasgow, 312
Glassary, 313
Glencoe, 313
Glenelg, 313
Goidel (see Gael)
Golspie, 313
Gorias, 28
Goths, the, 69
Govan, 313
Gowrie, 314
Greenock, 314
Hawick, 314
Helmsdale, 315
Hibernia, meaning of, 85
Hill-folk, 48
Holyrood, 315
Horesti, 189
Huntly, 315
Iberians in Ireland, 90
lena, 195
lerne, meaning of, 85
Ila, 195
Illusionism and the Dananns, 59
Inchaffray, 315
lona, 267
Ireland, different names for, 85
earliest notices of, 93
in the second century, 93
Teutonic settlement in, 94
Heroic Age of, 104
Gael in, 121
Ireland, St. Patrick and education,
122
tradition and ancient tongue of,
123
place-names of, 158
Irish genealogies, 82
Irvine, 259
Isla, 259
Island nomenclature, 264
Islay, 268
Itis, 195
Jedburgh, 315
Jura, 268
Keith, 282
Keledei, the, 371
Kelso, 315
Kelvin, 259
Kerrera, 268
Kilsyth, 316
Kilt as a Gothic dress, 108 n
Kilwinning, 316
Kinghorn, 316
Kinross, 316
Kirkcaldy, 317
Kirkcudbright, 317
Kirkintilloch, 317
Kirkwall, 317
Kirriemuir, 317
Knapdale, 317
Knock, 288
Knotted cord, custom of the, 36
Knoydart, 317
Kyle, 318
Laighin, meaning of, 119
Lairg, 318
Lammermuir, 318
Lanark, 318
Lapps, the, 32, 36
Shaminists, 39
Larg Hill, 318
Lasswade, 319
Lauder, 259,
Layamon on the Picts, 220
Leeds, 271
Leinster, the Book of, 3
Leith, 259, 319
Lemannonius, 196
Lennox, 319
Leslie, 319
Leven, 259
Lewis and Hariis, 269
Lia Fail, the, 55, 56, 57
or Stone of Destiny, 28
Linlithgow, 319
Lismore, 271
Lochlans, the, 372
Lochwinnoch, 319
Longheads, blonde, 75
Longus, 195
Lorn, 320
Lothian, 320
394 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Lothian, struggle for possession of,
3o6
ceded to Scotland, 363
- Northumbrian settlements in,
366
Loxa, 195
Luchruban, 34
Lug, 29, 52
Luing, 271
Lumgair, 320
Luprachan, the, 45
Luss, 320
Lyon, 260
MacAlpin, Kenneth, as King of the
Picts, 377
Macpherson, James, 143
Mailcu, 242
Maitai, the, 149
Maleus, 202
Mar, 320
Marchmont, 321
Maree, 321
Markie, 260
Markinch, 322
Marnoch, 316
Maybole, 322
Mearns, 322
Melrose, 323
Menapii, the, 95
Mertae (see Sniertae)
Methven, 32c
Miledh, 66
Milesian legend, the, 83
names, 85
Milesians, the, 65
and Spain, 83
Minto, 323
Modana, the, 128
Moffat, 323
Moidart, 317
Mona, Money, 168
Monceda, 202
Montrose, 324
Moray, 324
Mormaers, the, 380
Mora stone near Upsal, 56 n.
Mount-folk, 48
Moy, 168
Moytura, battle of, 25, 28
Muck, 271, 290
Mull, 29o
Murias, 28
Musselburgh, 325
Nabarus, 195
Nairn, 260
Naitan (see Nectan)
Nectan, 241
Nel, 66
Nemedians, the, 4
Nennius, 216
on the Picts, 21!)
Nigg, 325
Novantae, 206
Novius, 195
Oban, 325
artificial mound near, 11
Ochiltree, 325
Odin, 51
Ogam Script, the, 58
Orcades, 203
Oronsay, 272
Otalini, 206
Oykell, 260
Pabba, 272
Paisley, 325
Panbride, 326
Panmure (see Panbride)
Papill, 272
Partholen, 3
Partick, 327
Peanfahel, 237
Peebles, 327
Peffer, 260
Pentland, 327
Perth, 327
Phoenicians and the sun-god, 12
Picars, 133
Pictish Chronicle, the, 216
Pictish Power, decline of, 370
Pictones of Poitou, 156
Picts, the, 131
houses, 136
Irish, various names of, 141
Golden Age of, 143
Ulster, 147
historical, 149
origin of name, 150
tattooers, 152
historical notices of, 152
and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
211
Bede on the, 211, 219
two great divisions of, 213
Claudian on the, 216
Gildas on the, 218
Nennius on the, 219
Geoffrey of Monmouth, on the,
219
Layamon on the, 220
theories about the, 228
succession system of the, 231
and Scots, relations between the,
347
and the Romans, 350
Shamanism of the, 353
at Loch Ness, 353
and Angles, 355
Kenneth MacAlpin as King of
the, 377
called Galwegians, 379
Pigmies' Isle, 34
Place-names, Irish, 125-8, 158-174
Scottish, 188-208, 266-337
INDEX.
395
Pluscarden, 328
Pollokshaws, 328
Polmaise,328
Portree, 328
Prestwick, 328
Provincial and town names of Scotland,
293-337
Ptolemy's place-names, 125-8, 193-208
Quiraing, 328
Raasay, 272
Rannoch, 329
Red Branch Knights, 143
Renfrew, 329
Rerigonius, 197, 208
Rhicina, 203
River-names, Ptolemy's, 125
and their value, 192
Scottish, 256-273
Romans and the Picts, 350
Rona, 272
Rosemarkie, 329
Roslin, 329
Rosneath, 329
Ross, 170, 291
Rothesay, 329
Rothiemurchus, 329
Roxburgh, 329
Rum, 272
Rury the Great, 141
Ruthven, 330
St. Columba and his mission to the
Picts, 351
St. Kilda, 269
St. Patrick, 46
Sanquhar, 330
Saxon and the Gael, 179
Saxons in Scotland, 324
Scandinavian champions, 117
incursions, 372
Scollofth, 236
Scone, 330
Coronation Stone at, 56
Scot, the word, 68
meaning of, 99
Scota, daughter of Pharaoh, 66
Scotland in legend, 182
earliest name of, 182
Invasion of, by Agricola, 181
colonisation from Ireland of, 339
the Commendation of, 360
strata of population of, 365
Scots and Scythia, 68, 211
Scythians, the, 68
Selgovse, 206
Selkirk, 331
Senchus Mor, the, 119
Serpent- worship, 12
Shaman, the, described, 40
Shamanism, 39
of the Picts, 353
Shanachies, the, 2
Shandon, 331
Shannon, the, 127
Shetland, 272
Shiant Isles, 272
Shield-painting, 155
Shin, 261
Shira, 261
Siabhras, the Irish, 48
Sian, 59
Sidhe, the, 62
Sketis, 203
Skraelings, the, 34
Skull, the ancient Irish, 41, 42
Skulls, ancient, 21, 75
Slamannan, 298
Sleat, 331
Smertse, 207
Spain and the Milesians, 83
Spean, 261
Spittal, 331
Staifa, 273
Stirling, 332
Stone of Destiny, 55, 56, 57
Stornoway, 332
Strachan, 333
Stranraer, 333
Strathclyde, Britons of, 366
Sunart, 317
Sun-worship, 9
Sutherland, 334
Tacitus and Ireland, 96
Tacitus' place-names, 188-191.
Txali, 206
Tain, 334
Talorg, 242
Tamia, 208
Tarbat or Tarbert, 334
Tarland, 335
Tarvedum, 198
Taus or Tavaus, 188
Teamrah or Tara, 103
Teith, 261
Teutonic and Celtic folk-lore, coin-
cidences between, 52
Laws, 113
Teviot, 261
Thurso, 261
Tighernach, 66
Tillimorgan, 335
Tilt, 261
Tina, 195
Tiree, 273
Tobermory, 335
Tongue, 336
Town names of Scotland, 293-337
Traditions, Irish, 1
Traquair, 336
Trimontium, 208
Trolls, the, 49, 61
Troon, 336
Trossachs, 336
Tuatha de Danaan (see Dananns)
meaning of name, 30
396 THE RACES OF IRELAND AND SCOTLAND.
Tuessis, 196, 268
Tummel, 261
Uist, 278
Ulidia, Wall of, 148
Ullie, 261
Ulster Picts, 147
Uluid or Ulta, meaning of, 119
Ulva, 273
Urquhart, 336
Uxellum, 208
Vacomagi, 207
Vandogara, 197, 208
Varar, 196
Venicones, 206
Vecturiones or Verturiones, the, 150
Verubium, 199
Vidua, 127
Vinderius, the, 125
Volsas, 197
Wales, Scottish colony in, 340
Walloons, the, 79
Wemyss, 337
Whithorn, 337
Wigtown, 337
Winds, selling, 38
Witchcraft among the Scandinavians,
Ythan, 262
