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The Pictish Language: Celtic or Otherwise? - Page 2

© Kelly Vincent

Early historic Scotland was a jumble of cultures. There were four distinct cultures from the fifth to tenth centuries, before the Vikings arrived: the Picts, the Gaels, the Britons and the Angles. In the earliest centuries of this period, the Angles, one of the 'Germanic' tribes, were based in the Northumbrian area (south-eastern Scotland and northern England). The Britons were based in Strathclyde, the area around Glasgow. The Gaels, specifically called the Dál Riata kingdom, were based in the Argyll region. The Picts originally had everything else.

It is fairly well established that the Picts were an amalgamation of several tribes known in the second century AD, tribes which were "descendents of the native Iron Age tribes of Scotland" (Foster). They were dominant in northern Scotland even after the coming of the Gaels (around 500AD) and the other kingdoms. But soon the situation between the differing kingdoms was like a constant tug-of-war taking place all over what is now Scotland. Certain areas would pass back and forth between the groups; Dunadd, a Dál Riata stronghold in the Kilmartin area of Argyll, was at one point taken by the Picts, before the Gaels regained it. Regardless of the back-and-forth nature, the Picts kept most of the land north of modern-day Glasgow and Edinburgh, except for the Dál Riata kingdom in Argyll. Then, rather suddenly, they 'disappeared', with the ascension of Kenneth MacAlpin in 842.

MacAlpin is usually considered the first 'Scottish' king, in other words the first of a united nation of Gaels and Picts. There is more to the story than this, but the point is that the Picts had virtually disappeared completely as a separate culture by the tenth century. There is disagreement over whether aspects of Pictish culture were maintained within the new Scottish culture, or if the Gaelic culture completely smothered it (Foster). But over the long term it is clear that Gaelic language and culture prevailed, as Pictish aspects were completely gone by the 12th century (Forsyth). Why was it that this culture survived, rather than that of the Picts? This is the question that has been plaguing Pictish historians. And of course it means that learning about the Pictish language is extremely difficult.

The Pictish Language

Bede said it was Scythian (Dunbavin). A 19th century writer claimed it was related to Basque. Some people thought it was an ancestor of Old Scots. Other commentators thought it was a Gaelic language. And of course there was always the belief that it was a hitherto unknown language, developed by the supposed non-Indo-European, prehistoric people living in the country.

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