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Origins of Feudalism, AD500-1100
PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background
PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
at the time of the famed battle of Mons Graupius, AD83-4, thought to have taken place
in the foothills of the Grampian mountains of Bennachie in Aberdeenshire, Caledonian
heartland. In Tacituss Agricolaa work written to extol the virtues of his father-in-law,
the Roman general and erstwhile governor of Britain, he refers to CALGACUS as the
leader of the Caledonians and put into his mouth the famous speech which in
translation is often quoted:
They create a desert and call it Peace:
solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant
There were no major cultural or volcanic/geologically-induced breaks in colonization of
Northern Britain and no signs of a large influx of people into Pictland from the end of
the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages. So it is thought Picts developed from existing
groups.
The older, non-Celtic influence was strongest in north-eastern Scotland (Aberdeenshire,
Banffshire and Moray). One theory is that Iron Age Celts may have moved into Scotland
after 500 BC, bringing culture with them. (3, 7).
However Pictish history and myth relates how the black-haired peoples came from
Scythia (old northern Persia, modern northern Iran) some time between 8thC BC and
AD2ndC.
The Pictish/Brittonic language was widespread. An analysis of Pictish personal and
place names suggests that the people spoke a Brittonic P-Celtic language, related to
Cumbric and Old Welsh and derived from an earlier (non-Celtic) Indo-European
language.
Cumbric was the P-Celtic language spoken by the Britons of Strathclyde (Drumbritton,
Dunbarton) and the Brigantes of Brigantiacovering most of Yorkshire and parts of
northern English Midlands were also P-Celtic speakers. It is likely that Lindow Man,
the Druid Prince found on Merseyside in 1984 was also a P-Celtic speaker.
The same conclusion has been drawn by many authorities: that prior to Scots
introduction of the Scots-Gaelic language for common usage (early 10thC), all high-born
and educated classes spoke Latin or P-Celtici.e. Brittonic or Pictish.
It is also likely that the great Queen-warrior-leader of the Iceni, Boudicca spoke Latin
and Pictish/Brittonic. Lands of the Iceni stretched from East Anglia on the east through
central Britain to the sacred Druidic island of Mona (modern Anglesey) on the West. It
was Boudiccas gold-rich kingdom that the Romans plundered and wiped out in AD60,
after twenty years of continuous campaigns.
Ogham inscriptions from the AD8th and 9th century show a strong presence of nonCeltic elements.
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PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
Anglian sources (Bede, AD 673-735 et al) confirm that (non-Celtic) Pictish/Brittonic was
spoken until a late date. The Votadini of present day Edinburgh and the Lothians had
their British stronghold sited on the plateau of Traprain Law, where their massive
concealed gold/silver hoard was found 20 centuries after they hid it from acquisitive
Roman armies in AD60. Their name has gone down in the history books as the famous
Pictish/British tribe celebrated in the heroic poem Gododdin.
Cumbric, Cornish, and Welsh are all Brittonic Celtic languagesas opposed to Goidelic
Celtic of Ireland and Dalriada.
Early placenames show the influence of P-Celtic or Brittonic Celtic. Later place names
show the influence of Goidelic Celtic, reflecting the Gaelic of Dalriada and Ireland. This
suggests that there was a period of bilingualism in Scotland when many people spoke
both Pictish and the Gaelic of Dalriada. (3, 6)
The Pictish language is recorded in native sources:
on ogham stones,
in insular script, and
in an unknown script.
The ogham alphabet orginated in Ireland around AD4thC and spread to Pictland via the
Church.
Originally, Pictish ogham alphabet was drawn similiarly to Irish script. As it spread
north, ogham alphabet became more ornatein Pictland, at leastdisplays on stones
give names of contemporary churchmen or peripatetic missionaries (Brandsbutt,
Inverurie; Dyce, Aberdeen and Fordoun, Kincardineshire). Most surviving ogham
stones date from an 8th century overlay.
The unknown script appears only on one stoneat Newton House in Aberdeenshire
and may be an imitation of Irish majuscule script or a 5th century Continental
manuscript hand. Some Latin texts also include Pictish names. (3)
From the time of King Nechtan (706-734), Latin was used as the language of the
educated. It was interchangeable with Pictish/Brittonic. When the Scots of Dalriada
conquered Pictland, the educated class retreated to monastic settlements and LATIN
continued to be the language of international dealings, education and trade.
PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
and Loch Linnhe. The Ebudae were the people of the Hebrides.
South of these groups, but north of the Roman wall (and main presence), were the
Damnonii, the future Strathclyde Britons. The Damnonii centred on the Clyde and the
later city of Glasgow. The Votadini (later Gododdin) lived in the East, centred at Traprain
Law and the estuary of the Forth. Their lands included the future city of Edinburgh. The
Novantae populated Galloway and Dumfries. Selgovae dominated inland hill country.
Their name comes from hunters. Like the Atecotti, this group may be part of the
original pre-Iron Age people.
The Antonine Wall was built along the Forth-Clyde line in AD142 by Antoninus Pius.
The Wall was held until AD161, when he died. The northern border then moved south
to Hadrians Wall between the Tyne and Solway. Around 180 of the northern tribes
crossed the Wall and fought the Romans. At the end of the century, they were paid off
by garrisons, not to plunder and raid. By 208, Roman presence in Britain had to appeal
to Rome for help. Septimius Severus and his sons came and restored Roman order.
Septimius Severus died in 211 in York and his son, Caracalla, returned to Rome to
become emperor. Hadrians Wall continued to represent the northern border of the
Roman Empire, the Romans periodically paying off the Picts with silver coins, from the
time of Septimius Severus until the fourth century. Pictish habit was to melt down
Roman coinage to make silver ornaments. (3)
By AD3rd century the Picts were divided into two large tribal groups, called by Romans
the Caledonii and the Maeatae.
The Maeatae lived around the Antonine Wall and the Caledonii ruled in the North. The
Caledonii , first mentioned in the early AD 1stC; the Maeatae c. AD200, had by the time of
Roman departure (AD420) become the two predominant Pictish nations north of the
Wall: later North Pictland and South Pictland.
Adomnan mentions a people called the MiathiPtolemys Maeatae.
This division lasted until the 7th century. Bede mentions a northern and southern group
of Picts. According to later authors, within historic times, there were seven regions
within Pictland.
Fortriu or Fortrenn (genitive), Forteviot: the area around Strathearn and Mentieth,
derived from the Verturiones, who were active in the 4th century.
Fib and Fothriff is associated with Fife and Kinross.
Circinn or Circhenn (Kincardinemodern Angus and the Mearns.
Fotla was the region of AthollPerthshire. Catt (Caithness).
Ce, Aberdeenshire (Grampian) and
Fidach Moray, Nairn and Rossshire
In AD305-306, Constantius Chlorus battled the Caledonians and other Picts.
Constantine the Great may have fought them in 315. His son, Constans, campaigned
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PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
against them in 343. An agreement between the Picts and the Romans was broken in 360
when the Picts allied with the Scots of Ireland and attacked. The combined armies of
Picts and Scots were defeated by the Romans.
In 364, Ammianus Marcellinus describes the enemies of the British Romans as the
Dicalydones, Verturiones, Scots, Attacotti, and Saxons. The Dicalydones represent the
Caledonii (split into two) and the Verturiones were by then known as the Southern Picts.
The Verturiones lived in Fortriu, and Forteviot is clearly formed from this Latin
derivation. The name Atecotti or Attacotti means very old ones. They may represent the
pre-Iron Age Picts.
In 367, the Picts allied with the Scots and the Attacotti and were defeated by Count
Theodosius. The Picts again fought the Romans from 382-390; defeated by Magnus
Maximus. In 396 to 398, the Picts fought and were defeated by Stilicho. The Picts
revolted again in the 420s. This was the last time that the Picts were allied with the Scots
of Ireland against the Roman regime. The Scots then returned to Ireland. And Romans
evacuated and retreated to Rome.
Pictish events are largely unrecorded in the 5th and 6th centuries. (3, 7)
PICTISH CHRONICLE
Bridei mac Maelcon is the first historically known Pictish king. He became king around
AD550, d.585. His father may have been Maelgwn, King of Gwynedd. Maelgwn was
descended from Cunedda, a leader in the area surrounding the Firth of Forth who then
moved to Wales in the 4th/5th century. Bridei reportedly defeated the Scots and ruled
the northern and southern Picts. He also had control over the King of Orkney, holding
Orcadian hostages in exchange for submission to him by the Orcadian king.
St. Columba visited his court. Bridei is recorded as dying in battle at Asreth in Circinn in
584. Power now shifted to the south. In 603, Aethelfrith of Northumbria defeated Aedan
of the Scots and ended the wedge driven by Scots into the south. Scots now turned their
attention to rich Pictish landholdings in the east as did Northumbrian kings.
Northumbria Angles conquered part of Dalriada and southern Pictland.
The remaining southern lands were ruled by Gartnait and then by Drest. Drest
attempted to throw off the Northumbrians but he was defeated. His successor, Bridei
mac Bili, defeated the army of the Orkneys and then defeated Ecgfrith of the
Northumbrians at the famed battle of Nechtansmere on 21st May 685 in Dunnichen
Moss, Perthshire.
Bridei reclaimed the land of the Picts from the Northumbrians.
Nechtan son of Derelei (706-734) ended the struggle with the Northumbrians and turned
to the Northumbrians for advice in religious matters. He then sent the advisors back to
their monastery in Jarrow and established his own version of Christianity, closely
allying himself with Rome.
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PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
Hidden from view for 12 centuries, the ogham 'fish-shape' inscription on the rear of a
Pictish carved stone at St Fergus Chapel, Dyce, Aberdeen
It is thought the cleric Fergus whose foundation at Dyce, Aberdeen holds the Fergus
Pictish stonesnegotiated with the Pope on Nechtans behalf. After a civil warlater in
Nechtans life, his successor Drust on the Pictish thronethe old king abdicated and
retired to the Darley monastery at Fyvie, Aberdeenshirehis matrilineal lands.
His successor, Drust, was deposed by Alpin and finally killed in battle in 739. Alpin was
in turn succeeded by Oengus son of Fergus. Oengus conquered the Scots in Dalriada
and then allied himself with Wessex and Mercia against the Strathclyde Britons.
The Britons killed Oengus brother, Talorcan, in battle. The Britons then defeated
Oengus army. Oengus died in 761. Dalriada defeated the Picts and regained possession
before 778.
The power of the Picts and the Scots of Dalriada fluctuated until Kenneth mac Alpin,
King of the Scots, conquered the Picts in 843, using Norse attacks on the Pictish North
Coast as a cover for his invasion from the south. While the previous rulers had co-ruled
both Dalriada and southern Pictland, macAlpin coveted the northern territories and
assumed domination over Pictland after his battle 843. Scenes of this takeover are
graphically illustrated on the (now enclosed) Suenos Stone at Forres, Moray.
Before Kenneth mac Alpins takeover, three Scots kings allied themselves with the Picts
through family ties and cross-lineage. The Pictish succession was running short of male
parental genes! Some latter day Pictish kings mentioned in the Pictish Chronicle also bear
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PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
Dalriadic names.
Dalriadic ruler Constantine, son of Fergus, was also coruler of the Picts through his mothers Derilean lineage where (in Pictland) he held the
name Custantin son of Uurguist . His name is commemorated on the famous crossstone at Forteviot. (The original cross-stone has now been removed to Edinburgh
along with the precious Forteviot arch from the Pictish palaceand a replica is in place
on the Forteviot hillside. Custatins son, Oengus II, ruled in Pictland where he was
known by his Pictish name Unuist son of Uurguist. His son Eoganan (Euan) was joint
ruler of Picts and Scots until his death in 839. Two sons of the Pictish king Oengus were
killed in battle against the Vikings in 839. This gave Kenneth mac Alpin the opportunity
to take over the lands of the Picts. (3)
Female Names
It is likely that female Pictish names were derived from matrilineal connections. Th
lineage of, e.g. Derilea from Derilei (current Darley in Aberdeenshire). Nechtan of
Derilei was the powerful 8thC Pictish King who consolidated his nation and established
first STONE Christian churches.
As one source says, there is a complete lack of Pictish female names. (4) The same
author states that for naming purposes, it would be appropriate for a Pict to have a
Celtic name and that many Pictish men did have Celtic names. (5) Thus it may also (latePictish times) have been appropriate for a Pictish woman to have a Celtic name.
Male Names
Note: When an earlier form of the name is mentioned, that form would have been used
around the 6th century and the later form refers to names used around the 8th century.
Classical names would have been used by classical authors (4).
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PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
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PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
Reply
yasir22212 Says:
September 17, 2012 at 3:38 pm
thanks for loading such an important information but still i didnt found symbols
which i have on my stone which i found in a lake i think the images above are some
what matching with my stone but there are so many symbols more which i cant find
out and what is there meaning,
Reply
1.
raymond s hislop Says:
March 3, 2013 at 4:42 pm
i would need to see the picture of the stone. Most have been deliberately
damaged to conceal the science. If one was in a loch, I would suspect it was
deliberately put there to remain hidden. once it is recoved the information can
be released.
Reply
4.
cleopasbe11 Says:
March 2, 2013 at 7:29 am
Raymondthank you for an inspired comment: there is indeed room for a new
approach to Pictish symbolssound being the all-important factor that many
academics miss. Your connection with galactic language is prescient; and now we
are in the year of the serpent!
Yasir: sorry not to be able to help on your symbols; Pictish designs are found in an
extremely limited geographical region; so perhaps you can get local help.
Robert, thank you for reading.
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PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
All three: apologies for taking so long to reply; Raymonds galactic hiccups served
me a generous helping of wirelessness/hibernation during solstice and solar flares
have done the restsince. Only now getting to communicate!
Old school insisted that to try to interpret P.symbols was the short route to insanity;
but many bright minds are starting to look more lovingly at what was an important
[deliberately suppressed] language.
Thank you all for commenting.
Reply
1.
raymond s hislop Says:
March 3, 2013 at 11:22 pm
The use of the word hiccups would tend suggest my comments are
unwelcome, inconvenient and may be ignored. I might wonder, after the delay,
if there was any need to respond.Suppressed is misleading.Reserved and
redacted is more appropriate.
Reply
5.
raymond s hislop Says:
March 3, 2013 at 8:49 pm
The difficulty is that the Galctic language is RESTRICTED and concealed in the
writing of the PYTK and MAYA. PYTK is far more advanced than the MAYA and
the Hieroglyphs.
I check the word Hiccup and the inference is that my understanding and
translation is a small problem, easily dismissed.
Said the KINGFISHER to the HUMMINGBIRD,where you you wish to go? The
PROTOKOL note was issued on 1 March 2013 and delived by FAX. I check this is
the year of the snake as understood by the Middle Kingdom That Was. I note ETNA
is active, but comment is that Etna is always active.
I am aware of the flaring HUMMINGBIRD on 31 August 2012. I am aware of KY SY
MEN and assocated Volcanoes active at north NYPPON, so the Pacific Ring of Fire
is active.
PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
You are aware HUMMINGBIRD that I can WRITE PYTK in the original and to read
it. If locals here are dismissive then RTESTRICTIONS are properly left in place.
I await the local writing in 1880s with Interest, and whether I should review my
RESTRICTION. Alice looked though the looking glass, and the mad hatter wore
10/6d, but the HEADPIECE <<>> with TWO FEATHERS is likewise weighted 10/6d,
but I leave the half sovereign at CLOSED POSITION;which means I can REFUSE the
TRANSLATION of the PYTK at this TIME, The FOOTSTOOL weighting is at 6d,but
it is in a TRIPLE YYPRAN HEADPIECE.
<<>>
<<>>
Reply
1.
cleopasbe11 Says:
March 25, 2013 at 10:34 pm
Thanks for in-depth info RHislop; much appreciated. The internet hiccups I
refer to are my own. I havent been able to monitor/input this site much; your
input is much appreciated.
Reply
6.
raymond hislop Says:
March 6, 2013 at 12:30 pm
Update.The Logie Stone AT TRANSLATION.
Update . Newton Stone AT TRANSLATION
bar coding number noted
Accompanying stone to Newton ending in L
7.
Reply
PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background | Devorguilablog: view from the Pictish citadel
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Origins of Feudalism, AD500-1100
PICTISH SYMBOLS: Names & background
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