Approaching the Pictish Language: Historiography, Early Evidence and the Question of Pritenic
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Rhys, Guto (2015) Approaching the Pictish language: historiography, early evidence and the question of Pritenic. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6285/ . Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Approaching the Pictish Language: Historiography, Early Evidence and the Question of Pritenic Guto Rhys BA, MLitt. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Humanities College of Arts University of Glasgow April, 2015 © Guto Rhys, 2015 2 Abstract The question of ‘the Pictish language’ has been discussed for over four hundred years, and for well over two centuries it has been the subject of ceaseless and often heated debate. The main disagreement focusing on its linguistic categorisation – whether it was Celtic, Germanic (using modern terminology) or whether it belonged to some more exotic language group such as Basque. If it was Celtic then was it Brittonic or Goidelic? The answer to such questions was of some importance in ascertaining to whom the Scottish past belonged. Was it to immigrant Irish, conquering Germanic peoples or native Britons? The twentieth century saw the normalising of the view that it was closely related to Brittonic with some erudite scholars maintaining that another, non-Celtic language, was also spoken in Pictland. The debate subsequently shifted to focusing on just how close was the relationship between Pictish and Neo-Brittonic. Was Pictish simply a northerly dialect variant of the latter or was it indeed a more distinct and perhaps conservative form, evolving independently in an area outwith Roman power and linguistic influence? Recently, as the field of Pictish studies was subjected to both linguistic and historical scrutiny, discussions have become significantly more sophisticated, but the core question remains, as to whether Pictish distinctiveness merits the label ‘dialect’ or ‘language’, as the Venerable Bede himself stated. This thesis will investigate this core issue by providing an overview of previous thinking and scrutinising the evidence for early divergence. It is intended as groundwork for much needed further studies into this field. 3 Table of Contents Contents List of Figures ............................................................................... 7 Linguistic Practices ........................................................................ 10 Abbreviations & Acronyms ............................................................... 12 Source Abbreviations ................................................................... 12 Primary Sources ...................................................................... 12 Secondary Sources ................................................................... 13 General Abbreviations ................................................................. 14 Linguistic Abbreviations ............................................................... 14 Languages ............................................................................. 14 General Linguistic Abbreviations ..................................................... 15 County & Regional Abbreviations ..................................................... 16 Scotland ............................................................................... 16 Wales .................................................................................. 16 England ................................................................................ 16 Terminology ............................................................................. 17 Copyright ................................................................................. 20 Introduction ................................................................................ 21 General ................................................................................... 21 Background Research ................................................................... 26 The Accent ............................................................................... 28 Language Contact ....................................................................... 30 Introduction ........................................................................... 30 Historical Linguistic Geography & Contact ....................................... 32 Other Social Aspects of Multilingualism .......................................... 39 Manuscript Sources .................................................................. 41 Life of Columba ...................................................................... 42 Bede .................................................................................... 43 Ogham ................................................................................. 44 Latin Alphabet Inscriptions ......................................................... 48 Medieval Sources ..................................................................... 48 Irish Annals ............................................................................ 49 The Pictish King-lists ................................................................ 49 Contact Influence upon Gaelic ..................................................... 51 Treatment of Onomastics .............................................................. 52 Personal Names....................................................................... 52 Conclusion ............................................................................. 57 1. Historiography ........................................................................ 58 1.1 Introduction ...................................................................... 58 1.2 The Earliest Notions ............................................................. 58 1.3 Pictish Reborn - The Humanist Scholars ...................................... 64 1.4 The Battle Begins ................................................................ 69 1.5 The Battle over the Ghosts of the Picts ...................................... 73 1.6 The Shadow of Skene ........................................................... 80 1.7 Evidence and Philology - Slow and Faltering Progress ..................... 87 1.8 The Bright Light of Toponymy ................................................. 93 1.9 The Deep Roots and Long Arm of Kenneth Jackson ....................... 104 1.10 Brittonic Pictish and the Decline of Non-Indo-European ............... 113 4 1.11 Non-Indo-European .......................................................... 116 1.12 The New Consensus .......................................................... 118 1.13 Conclusion ..................................................................... 122 2. Language in Calidonia .............................................................. 124 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................... 124 2.1.1 Tacitus – Agricola .......................................................... 128 2.1.2 Ptolemy - The Geographia ................................................ 129 2.1.3 The Corpus .................................................................. 132 2.2 Personal Names ................................................................. 134 2.2.1 Calgacus ..................................................................... 134 2.2.2 Argentocoxos ............................................................... 135 2.2.3 Lossio Veda ................................................................. 136 2.2.4 Vepogenus .................................................................. 142 2.2.5 Medocio, Campesium ...................................................... 143 2.2.6 Conclusion .................................................................. 144 2.3 Group Names .................................................................... 144 2.3.1 Boresti ....................................................................... 144 2.3.2 Damnónioi .................................................................. 145 2.3.3 Dekántai .................................................................... 146 2.3.4 Epidíoi (& Epidion) ........................................................ 147 2.3.5 Kalēdónioi (et al.) ......................................................... 147 2.3.6 Karinoí (see also Kérōnes) ................................................ 148 2.3.7 Karnonákai .................................................................. 148 2.3.8 Kérōnes ...................................................................... 149 2.3.9 Kornaúioi .................................................................... 149 2.3.10 Kréōnes ................................................................... 149 2.3.11 Loûgoi ..................................................................... 149 2.3.12 Maiatai .................................................................... 150 2.3.13 Ouakomágoi .............................................................. 150 2.3.14 Oueníkōnes ..............................................................