Pictish language

Pictish is the extinct language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from the late Iron Age to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographical and personal names found on monuments and the contemporary records in the area controlled by the kingdoms of the Picts. Such evidence, however, points to the language being an Insular Celtic language related to the Brittonic language spoken prior to Anglo-Saxon settlement in what is now southern Scotland, England, and Wales.

Pictish
RegionScotland, north of the Forth-Clyde line
Extinctby c. 1100 AD
Some scattered incidences of Ogham script
Language codes
ISO 639-3xpi
xpi
Glottologpict1238[1]

The prevailing view in the second half of the 20th century was that Pictish was a non-Indo-European language isolate, predating a Celtic colonisation of Scotland or that a non-Indo-European Pictish and Brittonic Pictish language coexisted. This is now a minority view, if not completely abandoned.

Pictish was replaced by – or subsumed into – Gaelic in the latter centuries of the Pictish period. During the reign of Domnall mac Causantín (889–900), outsiders began to refer to the region as the kingdom of Alba rather than the kingdom of the Picts. However the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly. A process of Gaelicisation (which may have begun generations earlier) was clearly underway during the reigns of Domnall and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, and the Pictish identity was forgotten.[2]

Language classification
Picture by Joseph Ratcliffe Skelton (1865–1927) depicting Columba preaching to Bridei, king of Fortriu in 565

The existence of a distinct Pictish language during the Early Middle Ages is attested clearly in Bede's early eighth-century Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, which names Pictish as a language distinct from that spoken by the Britons, the Irish, and the English.[3] Bede states that Columba, a Gael, used an interpreter during his mission to the Picts. A number of competing theories have been advanced regarding the nature of the Pictish language:

Most modern scholars agree that Pictish was, at the time of the Roman conquest, a branch of the Brittonic language, while a few scholars merely accept that it was related to the Brittonic language.[4] Pictish came under increasing influence from the Goidelic language spoken in Dál Riata from the eighth century until its eventual replacement.[4]

Pictish is thought to have influenced the development of modern Scottish Gaelic. This is perhaps most obvious in the contribution of loan words, but more importantly Pictish is thought to have influenced the syntax of Scottish Gaelic, which bears greater similarity to Brittonic languages than does Irish.[5]

Position within Celtic

The evidence of place names and personal names demonstrates that an insular Celtic language related to the more southerly Brittonic languages was formerly spoken in the Pictish area.[6] The view of Pictish as a P-Celtic language was first proposed in 1582 by George Buchanan, who aligned the language with Gaulish.[7] A compatible view was advanced by antiquarian George Chalmers in the early 19th century. Chalmers considered that Pictish and Brittonic were one and the same, basing his argument on P-Celtic orthography in the Pictish king lists and in place names predominant in historically Pictish areas.[8]

Personal names of Roman-era chieftains from the Pictish area, including Calgacus (above) have a Celtic origin.[9]

Celtic scholar Whitley Stokes, in a philological study of the Irish annals, concluded that Pictish was closely related to Welsh.[10] This conclusion was supported by philologist Alexander MacBain's analysis of the place and tribe names in Ptolemy's second-century Geographia.[11] Toponymist William Watson's exhaustive review of Scottish place names demonstrated convincingly the existence of a dominant P-Celtic language in historically Pictish areas, concluding that the Pictish language was a northern extension of British and that Gaelic was a later introduction from Ireland.[12]

William Forbes Skene argued in 1837 that Pictish was a Goidelic language, the ancestor of modern Scottish Gaelic.[13] He suggested that Columba's use of an interpreter reflected his preaching to the Picts in Latin, rather than any difference between the Irish and Pictish languages.[14] This view, involving independent settlement of Ireland and Scotland by Goidelic people, obviated an Irish influence in the development of Gaelic Scotland and enjoyed wide popular acceptance in 19th-century Scotland.[15]

Skene later revised his view of Pictish, noting that it appeared to share elements of both Goidelic and Brittonic:

It has been too much narrowed by the assumption that, if it is shewn to be a Celtic dialect, it must of necessity be absolutely identic in all its features either with Welsh or with Gaelic. But this necessity does not really exist; and the result I come to is, that it is not Welsh, neither is it Gaelic; but it is a Gaelic dialect partaking largely of Welsh forms.[16]

The Picts were under increasing political, social, and linguistic influence from Dál Riata from around the eighth century. The Picts were steadily Gaelicised through the latter centuries of the Pictish kingdom, and by the time of the merging of the Pictish and Dál Riatan kingdoms, the Picts were essentially a Gaelic-speaking people.[17] Forsyth speculates that a period of bilingualism may have outlasted the Pictish kingdom in peripheral areas by several generations.[18] Scottish Gaelic, unlike Irish, maintains a substantial corpus of Brittonic loan-words and, moreover, uses a verbal system modelled on the same pattern as Welsh.[19]

The traditional Q-Celtic vs P-Celtic model, involving separate migrations of P-Celtic and Q-Celtic speaking settlers into the British Isles, is one of mutual unintelligibility, with the Irish sea serving as the frontier between the two. However, it is likely that the Insular Celtic languages evolved from a more-or-less unified proto-celtic language within the British Isles.[20] Divergence between P-Celtic Pictish and Q-Celtic Dalriadan Goidelic was slight enough to allow Picts and Dalriadans to understand each others language to some degree.[21] Under this scenario, a gradual linguistic convergence is conceivable and even probable given the presence of the Columban Church in Pictland.[22]

Pre-Indo-European theory
Difficulties in translation of ogham inscriptions, like those found on the Brandsbutt Stone, led to a widely held belief that Pictish was a non-Indo-European language

John Rhys, in 1892, proposed that Pictish was a non-Indo-European language. This opinion was based on the apparently unintelligible ogham inscriptions found in historically Pictish areas (compare Ogham inscription § Scholastic inscriptions).[23] A similar position was taken by Heinrich Zimmer, who argued that the Picts' supposedly exotic cultural practices (tattooing and matriliny) were equally non-Indo-European,[24] and a pre-Indo-European model was maintained by some well into the 20th century.[25]

A modified version of this theory was advanced in an influential 1955 review of Pictish by Kenneth Jackson, who proposed a two-language model: while Pictish was undoubtedly P-Celtic, it may have had a non-Celtic substratum and a second language may have been used for inscriptions.[26] Jackson's hypothesis was framed in the then-current model that a Brittonic elite, identified as the Broch-builders, had migrated from the south of Britain into Pictish territory, dominating a pre-Celtic majority.[27] He used this to reconcile the perceived translational difficulties of Ogham with the overwhelming evidence for a P-Celtic +Pictish language. Jackson was content to write off Ogham inscriptions as inherently unintelligible.[28]

Jackson's model became the orthodox position for the latter half of the 20th century. However, it became progressively undermined by advances in understanding of late Iron Age archaeology, as well as by improved understanding of the enigmatic Ogham inscriptions, a number of which have since been interpreted as Celtic.[29]

Discredited theories

Traditional accounts (now rejected) claimed that the Picts had migrated to Scotland from Scythia, a region that encompassed Eastern Europe and Central Asia.[30] Buchanan, looking for a Scythian P-Celtic candidate for the ancestral Pict, settled on the Gaulish-speaking Cotini (which he rendered as Gothuni), a tribe from the region that is now Slovakia. This was later misunderstood by Robert Sibbald in 1710, who equated Gothuni with the Germanic-speaking Goths.[31] John Pinkerton expanded on this in 1789, claiming that Pictish was the predecessor to modern Scots.[32] Pinkerton's arguments were often rambling, bizarre and clearly motivated by his belief that Celts were an inferior people. The theory of a Germanic Pictish language is no longer considered credible.[33]

Linguistic evidence

Place names

Pictish toponyms occur in Scotland north of the River Forth.[34] They are distributed from Fife to the Isle of Skye,[35] although are rare in the extreme north.[36]

Many principal settlements and geographical features of the region bear names of Pictish origin, including:

  • Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire. Meaning "mouth of the River Don" (c.f. Welsh aber, "estuary, confluence").[37]
  • Cupar, Fife. Meaning "confluence" (c.f. Welsh cymer).[34][35]
  • Keith, Banffshire. Meaning "forest" (c.f. Welsh coed).[37]
  • Kirkcaldy, Fife. Meaning "place of the hard fort" from caer, "fort" and caled, "hard".[38]
  • Perth, Perthshire. Meaning "wood, grove" (c.f. Welsh perth).[34]

Several Pictish elements occur multiple times in the region.[34] This table lists selected instances according to the Welsh equivalent.[34][36][37][38]

Element (Welsh)MeaningPlace names
brynhillBurnbane, Burnturk, Cameron, Newburn, Strathburn
caerfort, stronghold; wall, rampartCardean, Carey, Cargill, Carpow, Carpoway, Carmurie, Crail, Kair, Keir, Kercock, Kirkbuddo, Kirkcaldy
coedtrees, forest, woodCatochil, Inchkeith, Keith, Keith Lundie, Keithack, Keithick, Keithmore, Keithny, Keithney, Keithock, Kitattie
dôlfield, meadowDalfouper, Dallas, Dallasbraughty, Doll, Dollar, Dull
llannerchclearing, gladeLandrick, Lanrick, Lendrick
mig(n)swamp, quagmireDalmigavie, Meckphen, Meigle, Midmar, Midstrath, Migdale, Strathmiglo
panthollowPanbride, Panholes, Panlathy, Panmure, ?Pannanich
penhead; top, summit; source of stream; headland; chief, principalPandewen, Pennan, Pinderachy, Pinnel
treftown, homestead, estate, townshipCantray, Cantress, Menstrie, Montrave, Rattray, Tramaud, Trefor, Trefynie, Trostrie, Troustrie

Some Pictish names have been succeeded by Gaelic forms, and in certain instances the earlier forms appear on historical record.

  • Inverbervie, Kincardineshire. Haberberui in 1290, demonstrates that a Pictish aber, "estuary, confluence" has been supplanted by Gaelic inbhir, with identical meaning.[37]
  • Strathtyrum, Fife. Trestirum in 1190, suggestive of assimilation of a Pictish tref, "estate", to (unconnected) Gaelic srath, "a valley".[38]

Ogham inscriptions

Although the interpretation of over 40 Ogham inscriptions remains uncertain, several have been acknowledged to contain Brittonic forms.[36]

An Ogham inscription at Burrian, Orkney has been transliterated as I[-]IRANNURRACTX EVVCXRROCCS.[39] Broken up as I[-]irann uract cheuc chrocs, this may reveal a Pictish cognate of Old Welsh guract 'he/she made' in *uract (Middle Welsh goruc).[39][40] (The only direct continuation in Middle Welsh is 1sg. gwreith < *u̯rakt-ū in the poem known as Peis Dinogat in the Book of Aneirin; this form was eventually reformed to gwnaeth.[41]) With the fourth word explained as spirantized Pictish *crocs 'cross' (Welsh croes < Latin crux) and the corrupted first word a personal name, the inscription may represent a Pictish sentence explaining who carved the cross.[39][40][36]

The Shetland inscriptions at Cunningsburgh and Lunnasting reading EHTECONMORS and [E]TTECUHETTS have been understood as Brittonic expressions meaning "this is as great" and "this is as far", respectively,[36] messages appropriate for boundary stones.[36]

Transliterated as IRATADDOARENS, it is possible that the Brandsbutt Stone inscription attests a Pictish form of Old Breton irha-, "he lies", in IRA-,[39] occurring at the Lomarec inscription in Brittany.[39]

Influence on Gaelic

Etymological investigation of the Scottish Gaelic language, in particular the 1896 efforts of Alexander Macbain,[42] has demonstrated the presence of a corpus of Pictish loanwords in the language.[35][42]

The following are possibilities:

  • bad. Meaning "cluster" (c.f. Breton bod)[35]
  • bagaid. Meaning "cluster, troop" (c.f. Welsh bagad)[35]
  • dail. Meaning "meadow" (c.f. Welsh dôl)[35]
  • dìleab. Meaning "legacy"[35]
  • monadh. Meaning "mountain, moor" (c.f. Welsh mynydd)[35]
  • pailt. Meaning "plentiful" (c.f. Cornish pals, Middle Welsh pallt)[35][42]
  • peasg. Meaning "gash, chilblain" (c.f. Welsh pisg)[42]
  • peit. Meaning "small area of ground" (c.f. Welsh peth)[35]
  • pòr. Meaning "grain, crops" (c.f. Welsh pawr)[35]
  • preas. Meaning "bush, thicket (c.f. Welsh prys)[35]

Linguist Guto Rhys has noted the potentially "fiscal" profile of several of the loans,[35] and hypothesized that they could have entered Gaelic as a package in a governmental context.[35]

Pictish may have influenced the sense and usage of several Gaelic words as a substrate.[34] Srath (> Strath-) is recorded to have meant "grassland" in Old Irish,[34] whereas the modern Gaelic realization means "broad valley", exactly as in its Brittonic cognates (c.f. Welsh ystrad).[34] Dùn, foithir, lios and ràth may, by the same token, attest a substrate influence from Pictish.[34]

Notes
  1. Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2017). "Pictish". Glottolog 3.0. Jena, Germany: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History.
  2. Broun 1997; Broun 2001; Forsyth 2005, pp. 28–32; Woolf 2001; cf. Bannerman 1999, passim, representing the "traditional" view.
  3. Bede HE I.1; references to Pictish also at several other points in that text.
  4. Forsyth 2006, p. 1447; Forsyth 1997; Fraser 2009, pp. 52–53; Woolf 2007, pp. 322–340.
  5. Forsyth 2006, p. 1447; Woolf 2007, pp. 322–340; Greene 1966; Greene 1994.
  6. Watson 1926; Jackson 1955; Koch 1983; Smyth 1984; Forsyth 1997; Price 2000; Forsyth 2006; Woolf 2007; Fraser 2009.
  7. All other research into Pictish has been described as a postscript to Buchanan's work. This view may be something of an oversimplification: Forsyth 1997 offers a short account of the debate; Cowan 2000 may be helpful for a broader view.
  8. Chalmers 1807, pp. 198–224.
  9. Calgacus ('swordsman') was recorded by Tacitus in his Agricola. Another example is Argentocoxus ('steel leg'), recorded by Cassius Dio. See Forsyth 2006.
  10. Stokes 1890, p. 392.
  11. Macbain 1892.
  12. Watson 1926.
  13. Skene 1837, pp. 67–87; Fraser 1923.
  14. Skene 1837, pp. 71–72.
  15. Jackson 1955, p. 131; Forsyth 1997, p. 6.
  16. Skene 1868, pp. 95–96.
  17. Forsyth 2006, p. 1447.
  18. Forsyth 1995a.
  19. Greene 1966, p. 135.
  20. Greene 1994: See Koch 2006 for alternate views.
  21. Woolf 2007, pp. 322–340; Campbell 2001, pp. 285–292.
  22. Woolf 2007, pp. 322–340.
  23. Rhys 1892; Rhys 1898.
  24. Zimmer 1898; see Woolf 1998 for a more current view of Pictish matriliny
  25. For example: MacNeil 1938–1939; MacAlister 1940.
  26. Jackson 1955.
  27. See, for example, Piggot 1955.
  28. For a general view, see Jackson 1955.
  29. See Armit 1990 for an up-to-date view of the development of proto-Pictish culture and Brochs as an indigenous development; Forsyth 1998 gives a general review of the advances in understanding of Ogham.
  30. See for example Bede HE I:1; Forsyth 2006 suggests this tradition originated from a misreading of Servius' fifth-century AD commentary on Virgil's Aeneid:
    Aeneid 4:146 reads: Cretesque Dryopesque fremunt pictique Agathyrsi.
    Servius' commentary states: Pictique Agathyrsi populi sunt Scythiae, colentes Apollinem hyperboreum, cuius logia, id est responsa, feruntur. 'Picti' autem, non stigmata habentes, sicut gens in Britannia, sed pulchri, hoc est cyanea coma placentes. Which actually states that the Scythian Agathyrsi did not "bear marks" like the British, but had blue hair.
  31. Sibbald 1710.
  32. Pinkerton 1789.
  33. For a discussion of Sibbald's misunderstanding and of Pinkerton's thesis, see Ferguson 1991.
  34. Hall, Mark A; Driscoll, Stephen T; Geddess, Jane (11 November 2010). Pictish Progress: New Studies on Northern Britain in the Early Middle Ages. Brill. ISBN 9789004188013. Retrieved 30 June 2019.
  35. Rhys, Guto. "Approaching the Pictish language: historiography, early evidence and the question of Pritenic" (PDF). University of Glasgow. University of Glasgow.
  36. Koch, John T (2006). Celtic Culture: Aberdeen breviary-celticism : Volume 1 of Celtic culture. ABC CLIO. p. 1444. ISBN 9781851094400. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
  37. Watson, W.J.; Taylor, Simon (2011). The Celtic Place-Names of Scotland (reprint ed.). Birlinn LTD. ISBN 9781906566357.
  38. Simon, Taylor; Markus, Gilbert (2006). The Place-names of Fife (Illustrated ed.). Shaun Tyas. ISBN 9781900289771.
  39. Forsyth, Katherine (1997). Language in Pictland – the case against 'non-Indo-European Pictish' (PDF). De Keltiche Draak. p. 36. ISBN 9789080278554. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  40. Forsyth, Katherine. "The Ogham Inscriptions of Scotland: An Edited Corpus". EPDF. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  41. Schumacher, Stefan (2004). Die keltischen Primärverben. Ein vergleichendes, etymologisches und morphologisches Lexikon (in German). Innsbruck, Austria: Institut für Sprachen und Literaturen der Universität Innsbruck. p. 711. ISBN 3-85124-692-6.
  42. MacBain, Alexander (1988). Etymological Dictionary of Scottish-Gaelic. Hippocrene Books. ISBN 9780781806329. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
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References
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