Editing Scone Palace (section)

===Naming of Scone===

It is not known why exactly the area is called "Scone" (pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|k|uː|n}}). The search for a meaning to the word has not been helped by the fact that throughout the last 10 centuries, Scone has been written as ''Scon'', ''Scoon'', ''Scoan'', ''Scoine'', ''Schone'', ''Skoon'', ''Skune'', ''Skuyn'', ''Skuyne'', ''Sgoin'', ''Sgàin'' and ''Sgoinde''. It is difficult thus to know where to start in terms of the etymology of Scone. It is known that Scone was at the heart of the ancient [[Picts|Pictish]] kingdom and thus one would think that the name would derive from the [[Pictish language]]. The existence of a distinct Pictish language during the Early Middle Ages is attested clearly in Blessed [[Bede]]'s early 8th century ''[[Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum]]'', which names Pictish as a language distinct from that spoken by the [[Britons (historical)|Britons]], the [[Scoti|Irish]], and the [[Anglo-Saxons|English]].<ref name="Bede">{{harvnb|Bede|1910}} HE I.1; references to Pictish also at several other points in that text.</ref>

It was thus believed that "Scone" derives from the P-Celtic word "Sken" meaning "cut" or "cutting". This has been gaelicized as "Sgàin" (pronounced "Skene"). And may be a fine example of the amalgamation of the Pictish and Gaelic cultures and languages. The Brittonic origin of the place-name "Scone" is of great importance regarding the history and status of the place, and may explain why the famous [[Kenneth MacAlpin]], first [[King of Scots]], chose Scone as his capital.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |last=Anderson |first=Marjorie O. |author-link=Marjorie Ogilvie Anderson |chapter=Kenneth I [Cináed mac Alpin, Kenneth Macalpine] (d. 858) |location=Oxford |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/15398}}</ref>

The meaning "cutting" could relate to what is now known as "the Friars' Den".<ref>Perth, the Ancient Capital of Scotland. The Story of Perth from the Invasion of Agricola to the Passing of the Reform Bill by Samuel Cowan J.P. (1904).</ref> The Gaelic origin of the place name "Scone", if not entirely discredited, is rendered more unlikely by modern analysis of [[toponymy|place names]] in the east of Scotland where Scone is situated. Such analysis supports the above argument that an [[Insular Celtic languages|Insular Celtic language]] related to the more southerly [[P-Celtic]] [[Brittonic languages]] was formerly spoken in Pictavia (and thus not a [[Celtic languages#Classification|Q-Celtic]] language).<ref>{{harvnb|Watson|1926}}; {{harvnb|Jackson|1955}}; {{harvnb|Koch|1983}}; {{harvnb|Smyth|1984}}; {{harvnb|Forsyth|1997}}; {{harvnb|Price|2000}}; {{harvnb|Forsyth|2006}}; {{harvnb|Woolf|2007}}; {{harvnb|Fraser|2009}}</ref>