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276 Proceedings of the Society, April 12, 1915. The 276 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, APRIL 12, 1915. I. THE CELTIC NUMERALS OP STRATHCLYDE. BY DAVID MACRITCHIE, E.S.A. SCOT. At the present day the term "Strathclyde " is generally understood denoto t e regioth e n drainee riveth ry s tributariesb dit Clyd d an e ; and this, indeed, must be the oldest application of the name. In his "f o Scotlan p ma d wit Anciene hth t Division e Land,"th f so l Skene gives a slightly wider interpretation, for he indicates that the districts of Cunningha Kyled me whole moderan s welth th a , s f a eo l n countief so Renfrew and Lanark, came within the bounds of Strathclyde. At one period, however e countrth , y belongin e Britonth o t f gStrathclydeo s , otherwise known as the Strathclyde Welshmen, or the Cumbrians, was of much greater extent constituted an , importann da t kingdome th n I . beginning of the seventh century, according to Skene, the sway of the Strathclyde Welsh extended as far north as Glen Falloch, taking in a considerable slic f westereo n Stirlingshir e whole Lennoth th f d eo ean x —tha sayo t e countr s ,th i t y lying between Tarbet, Arrochar, Loch Long, ane Clydeth d . Loch Lomond was, therefore, almost entirely under e dominioth e Strathclydth f no e sevente Welsth n hi h century. From Loch Long their territory stretched due south through the modern countie, as f nearlr Dumbartonr o o s fa , s as ya r fa s a , Renfrewr Ay d an , Loch Ryan. The boundary then turned eastward, skirting the northern frontiers of Wigtown and Kirkcudbright, until it reached the Nith, after whic t i hcrosse e Solwath d d a toogrea yan n i k e t th par f o t country lying on the west side of the Pennine Range. Its eastern e borderth limis f Northumbriawa o st r Berniciao , , followin ga fairl y straight line northwar e Moorfootth o t dd Peiitlands an s d thean ,n slanting north-westward into Stirlingshire. informatioe Sucth s hi n supplie Skene'y db s coloured map, showing the boundaries of the four kingdoms of Scotland in the beginning of e seventth h century.2 Skene's written description doe t quitsno e tally with his map, for he says3 that the Strathclyde kingdom " extended from the river Derwent in Cumberland in the south to the Firth of Clyde in the north." Thus he limits the northern frontier to the Firth of Clyde, whereapushemap s shis tha tArrocha as frontie far as and r Ardlui. Skene's verbal accoun , howeveris t f muco , h interesd an t value, and it has such a distinct bearing upon the question of language 1 Prefixe volo dt . iii Celticf .o Scotland, Edinburgh, 18SO. 2 Opposite p. 228 of vol. i. of Celtic Scotland. 3 Celtic Scotland, i. 235. THE CELTIC NUMERALS OF STRATHCLYDE. 277 tha t seemi t s very desirabl quoto t e t heri e t lengthea kingdoe Th . m e Strathclydoth f e e seventWelsth n i h h century, Skene inform, us s " comprehended Cumberland and Westmoreland, with the exception of the baronies of Allerdale or Copeland in the former and Kendal in the latter, and the counties of Dumfries, Ayr, Renfrew, Lanark, and Peebles, in Scotland. On the east the great forest of Ettrick separated them from the Angles, and here the ancient rampart of the Catrail, which runs fro south-ease mth t corne f Peeblesshireo r , near Galashiels, through e countth f Selkire o yPee th lo t kHil le soutth [Fell n ho ] sidf o e Liddesdale, probably marke e boundardth y between thempopue Th . - latio f thino s kingdom [Greater Strathclyde] seem o havt s e belonged varietieo e Britistw th e f th o s h o t race—the southern half, including Dumfriesshire, being Cymric or Welsh, and the northern half having been occupie e Damnoniith y db belongeo e Corniswh , th o dt h variety. The capital of the kingdom was the strongly fortified position on the rock on the right bank of the Clyde, termed by the Britons Alcluith, Gadhelie th y b d c peoplan e Dunbreatan e Britons th e for f th w o t r ,no o , Dumbarton; but the ancient town called Caer Luel or Carlisle in the southern part must always have been an important position. The kingdom Britone t thioa th f sd timsha territoria o en l designation monarchs it t bu , s were termed king f Alcluitho s d belongean , thao t d t party amone gth Briton boro e peculiaswh th e r nam f Romanso e d claimean , d descent from the ancient Roman rulers in Britain. The law of succession seems to have been one of purely male descent."l In the beginning of the seventh century, therefore, the people who ruled this dominio f Strathclydeno r Cumbriao , , wer e "Strathclydeth e Welsh," a name by which they were known in the ninth century, if not earlier. This appears fro followinmthe g reference: " Simeo Durhanof m tells us that in 875 the host of the Danes who had ravaged the east coast of Britain . destroyed the Picts and the people of Strathclyde. The people here calle f Strathclydo de Saxo th n i n e Chroniclear e n i , recordin e samth g e event, termed Strsecled Wealas thid an s, nams i e rendere y Ethelwerb d d inte Latith o n Cumbri, whice firs- th ap ts i h pearanc tere th f mCumbr f o e o r Cumbriano i s applie a se Briton th o dt s of Strathclyde."2 Although undergoing certain vicissitudes,3 this kingdom of the Strathclyde Welsh maintaine s nationait d l characte r fullfo r y four hundred years. Under their king Owen, son of Domnall [otherwise Eugenius the Bald], an army of these Strathclyde Welsh co-operated Celtic2 i Scotland,Celtic Scotland, . 325-328i . 235-236i . "destructione 3Th beed ha n5 e Dane precedeth 87 y n "i sb temporary db y conqueste th y b s Angles of Northumbria in the eighth century. See Celtic Scotland, i. 267, 295-296, 325. 278 PROCEEDING E SOCIETYTH F O S , APRI , 191512 L . wite armth h f Malcolo y m II., Kin f Scotias o invasioghi n i ,f o n Northumbria 1018 n aidei d ,an d Malcol greas hi mn ti victor t Carhamya - on-Tweed, which resulted in the cession to Scotia of all the territory betwee e Forth e Tweeth th nd . an d Owen's e samdeatth en i h year' ended the direct line of the kings of Strathclyde, and that kingship thereupon reverted to Malcolm II. as nearest heir. Malcolm afterwards mad grandsos ehi n Duncan "Cumbrians,e Kinth f go titl"a e subsequently borne by Malcolm Canmore. It is stated by Sir John Rhys that Strathclyd estils "wa l more closely Scottisjoinee th o dt h crown when 1 David became s kinpeopleit n 1124 i o formegt bu wh ,; a distincd t battalion of Cumbrians and Teviotdale men in the Scottish army at the Battle of the Standard in 1130, preserved their Kymric characteristics long afterwards." Of these Kymric characteristics one of the most notable was their language, and with regard to it Sir John Rhys further observes (loc. cit.): late w Wels th e"Ho h language lingered betwee e Merseth n y and the Clyde we have, however, no means of discovering, biit, to judge fro ma passage Welsth e surmiseb n i he y Triadso ma t d t i , have been spoken as late as the fourteenth century in the district of Carnoban, wherever between Leeds and Dumbarton that may turn havo t t e ou been." A discussio r JohSi ny nb Rhy f thio s s passag Welse th n ei h Triads would be of much interest, and it may yet be forthcoming. In the meantim enougs i t ei o notht e tha e seeh t s reaso believo nt e thaa t Cymric speech survive somn di e regio f Strathclydno e fourteentth n ei h century. Languages generally die a lingering death, and the Cymric of Cornwall was still a spoken language in the eighteenth century, although it was then only known to a few. What is more to the point, however, is that a series of Cymric numerals, from 1 to 20, is still in us varioun ei s district f Strathclydso epresene eveth t na t day. This serie firss swa t brought unde e noticth r f modero e n scholarn i s Alexander D 186 y 6b . EllisJ r , Vice-Presiden Philologicae th f o t l Society. He then referred to it as " a method of ' scoring sheep,' as used in the dale f Yorkshireo s , written down fro e dictatio mth Yorkshiro tw f no e ladies." Thes o versiontw e e reprinteh s e Transactionsth n i de th f o Philological Society r 1870fo ; and, continuin accumulato gt e variantse h , was able to submit no less than twenty-five of these to the same Society Februarh on6t y 1874. Thes beed eha n obtained from Yorkshire, Durham, Northumberland, Westmorland, Roxburghshire, and—in three instances —from North America, obviously importations from Great Britain. By 1878 he had increased his stock to fifty-three versions, and at a still 1 Celtic Britain, . 149p . E CELTITH C NUMERAL F STRATHCLYDEO S .
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