Pictish language

From Free net encyclopedia

Revision as of 07:55, 16 April 2006 Angusmclellan (Talk | contribs) Buchanan argued for a continuum. ← Previous diff

Current revision Angusmclellan (Talk | contribs) Buchanan argued for a continuum.

---

Current revision

{{Infobox Language

 |name=Pictish
 |familycolor=Indo-European
 |region=Scotland
 |fam1=Indo-European
 |fam2=Celtic
 |extinct=9th century or later

}}

The Pictish language is the extinct language of the Picts. Evidence of the language is limited to place names and to the names of people found on monuments and the contemporary records. At its height, it may have been spoken from Shetland down to Fife.

The problem of classification of the Pictish language was largely solved in 1582, by humanist scholar (and native Gaelic-speaker) George Buchanan, who expressed the view that Pictish was similar to languages like Welsh, Gaulish and Gaelic. The rest of research into Pictish has been described as postscript to Buchanan's work <ref>. This view may be something of an oversimplification: Forsyth, in Language in Pictland, offers a short account of the debate. Cowan, "Invention of Celtic Scotland" may be helpful for a broader view.</ref>

The evidence of placenames and personal names argue strongly that the Picts spoke Insular Celtic languages related to the more southerly Brythonic languages<ref>Forsyth, Language in Pictland, Price "Pictish", Taylor, "Place names", Watson, Celtic Place Names. For Kenneth H. Jackson's views, see "The Language of the Picts" in Wainright (ed.) The Problem of the Picts.</ref> though it has also been proposed that the language was closer to Gaulish than the Brittonic languages.<ref>Ferguson, The Identity of the Scottish Nation.</ref> Columba, a Gael, needed an interpreter in Pictland, and Bede claimed that the Picts spoke a different language from the Britons, statements which say nothing about the nature of the Pictish language. It has been argued, perhaps with more force than utility, that one or more non-Indo-European languages survived in Pictland, an argument that is considered to be primarily based on limited negative evidence and the long discarded view that languages and material cultures can spread only through invasion and migration.<ref>Forsyth, Language in Pictland; the relationship between Basque and Pictish theorised by Federico Krutwig, lacks support in English-language publications. The website of Gorka J. Palazio presents some of Krutwig's ideas in English.</ref> Pre-Indo-European elements can be found fairly frequently in northern Scottish placenames, and it is theorised that some Pictish ogam inscriptions may also represent examples of this language.

Placenames often allow us to deduce the existence of historic Pictish settlements in Scotland. Those prefixed with "Aber-", "Lhan-", or "Pit-" indicate regions inhabited by Picts in the past (for example: Aberdeen, Lhanbryde, Pitmedden, Pittodrie, Findochty, etc). However, it is "Pit-" which is the most distinctive element, and "Aber-" can also be found in places which were formerly Brythonic speaking. Some of the Pictish elements, such as "Pit-" (portion, share) were formed after Pictish times, and may refer to previous "shires" or "thanages".<ref>For place names in general, see Watson, Celtic Place Names, for shires/thanages see Barrow, "Pre-Feudal Scotland."</ref> Other suggested placename elements include "pert" (hedge, Welsh perth - Perth, Larbert), "carden" (thicket, Welsh cardden - Pluscarden, Kincardine), "pevr" (shining, Welsh pefr - Strathpeffer, Peffery).<ref>Glanville Price, "Pictish", p.128.</ref>

The evidence of place names may also reveal the advance of Gaelic into Pictland. As noted, Atholl, meaning New Ireland, is attested in the early 8th century. This may be an indication of the advance of Gaelic. Fortriu also contains placenames suggesting Gaelic settlement, or Gaelic influences.<ref>Watson, Celtic Place Names, page numbers wanting.</ref> There are a number of Pictish loanwords in modern Scottish Gaelic, such as beinn, but few have survived into Doric dialect.

Apart from personal names, Bede provides a single Pictish place name (HE, I, 12), when discussing the Antonine Wall:

It begins at about two miles' distance from the monastery of Abercurnig, on the west, at a place called in the Pictish language, Peanfahel, but in the English tongue, Penneltun, and running to the westward, ends near the city Alcluith.

Peanfahel - modern Kinneil, by Bo'ness - appears to contain elements cognate with Brythonic penn (end) and Goidelic fal (wall).<ref>Nicolasen, Scottish Place-Names, pp. 204-205.</ref>

Notes

References

pl:Język piktyjski