An Comunn Gàidhealach Publications > Deo-gréine > Volume 17, October 1921 to September 1922

14
AN DEO-GREINE.
THE ETHNOLOGY OF SCOTLAND.
THE EVIDENCE OF PLACE NAMES.
Contributed to the British Association for
the discussion on the Ethnology of Scotland.
By Professor W. J. Watson.
The bearing of names of places and
of tribes on this subject admits of being
stated shortly and with considerable confid¬
ence. It is proper to say at the outset that
facts of language are no sure criterion of
race; they are, however, important indica¬
tions of influence, political, cultural, or
commercial, as the case may be.
The first great broad fact that may be
stated with confidence is that in the first
century of the Christian era the predominant
language of what is now Scotland was
Celtic. This is firmly established from the
tribal names given by Ptolemy, who wrote in
the first part of the second century. Of the
17 or 18 tribes named by him, the names of
the great majority are plainly Celtic, and it
is doubtful if any contain a non-Celtic
element. Further, the names of tribes in
the very North are as distinctively Celtic
as those of the South, or, for that matter, as
those of Gaul. We find Comavii (Folk of
the Horn or Promontory) in Caithness as in
Cheshire, and, at a later date, in Cornwall.
The Smertae of Ross and Sutherland bear a
name which forms an element in many
Gaulish names; it means “The Smeared
Folk,” with reference most probably to
their prowess in war. It is not necessary
to go through the list seriatim; the facts
of language are too plain. The evidence of
Ptolemy's place names and river names is
similar; his Nabaros (Naver) is as Celtic
as his Clota (Clyde) or his Deva (Dee). It
must be said, however, that here, among
the non-tribal names, there may very well
be some that are not Celtic but pre-Celtic.
Certain island names, for instance, includ¬
ing some still extant but not mentioned by
Ptolemy, are decidedly obscure.
The next fact which deserves note is that
there is evidence to show that the Celtic
language was no new thing in Scotland at
the time of the Roman occupation in the
first century. The proof of this ife found in
certain names which were known before the
Roman occupation. Diodorus, a contempor¬
ary of Julius Caesar, mentions a certain
Cape Orcas as one of the extremities of
Britain; it is placed by Ptolemy in the far
North, and it is to be identified with either
Duncansbay Head or Dunnet Head in
Caithness. It is obviously an adjective of
Greek formation from a noun “orcos,” and
its plural is seen in “Orcades,” the Orkney
Isles, formed on the analogy of Cyclades,
Sporades, and so forth—all Greek forma¬
tions. Now “orcos” is a Celtic word
meaning a young boar, cognate with Latin
“Porcus.” In old Gaelic the Orkneys are
“Inse Orcc, ” the Isles of Boars. From the
way in which the name is used both in
ancient and in modem Gaelic, it may be
regarded with certainty as a tribal name.
Tribal names from names of animals were
not uncommon among the Celts, and they
admired the boar for his strength and
ferocity; they also placed his figure on
shields and helmets.
The Shetlands were of old called in Gaelic
“Inse Catt, ” the Isles of Cats. The Norse¬
men found these cats on the mainland, and
called Caithness after them. They still
flourish under their old name (in Gaelic
speech) in Sutherland; for instance, the
Duke of Sutherland is styled “Duke of
Cats” in Gaelic. We ask next, Where did
Diodorus get his information? The answer
is that it was from Pytheas, probably
through the historian Timseus, who was a
younger contemporary of Pytheas in the
fourth century b.c. Another name that in
all likelihood came from Pytheas is the
island name Dumna, which may be the
ancient name of Lewis. It is Celtic, as in
Dumnorix, meaning “world” or “deep.”
Hebudes, whence Hebrides, is probably also
from Pytheas, but appears to be pre-Celtic.
There is thus what appears to me good
ground for believing that Celtic was spoken
in the Far North in Pytheas’ time, namely,
the fourth century b.c. . . .
The question whether the first Celtic
language in the North of Scotland was of
the Gaelic or of the Cymric type seems to
be of little importance ethnologically, if, as
I would hold, the rulers of the Gael were
of the same Celtic stock as those of the
Britons. I think personally that the Cale¬
donians of the first century spoke old
British, and that the Piets, whose power
began in the Far North, and who succeeded
to the hegemony of the tribes when the
Caledonians lost it in the third century,
spoke a language of the same type. But,
however that may be, it is certain that
Gaelic became the dominant language of
Scotland, at one time or another, from the
Pentland to the Solway and the Tweed. In