Editing Scoti

{{Short description|Latin name for the Gaels}}
{{Distinguish|Scotti (disambiguation){{!}}Scotti}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
'''''Scoti''''' or '''''Scotti''''' is a [[Latin language|Latin]] name for the [[Gaels]],<ref name="Duffy">Duffy, Seán. ''Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2005. p.698</ref> first attested in the late [[3rd century]]. It originally referred to all Gaels, first those in [[Ireland]] and then those who had settled in [[Great Britain]] as well; it later came to refer only to Gaels in northern Britain.<ref name="Duffy"/> The [[Kingdom of Scotland|kingdom to which their culture spread]] became known as ''[[Scotia]]'' or [[Scotland]], and eventually all its inhabitants came to be known as [[Scottish people|Scots]].

[[File:Public Schools Historical Atlas - Roman Britain 400.jpg|thumb|A map of the Roman divisions of Britain with the Scoti shown as a tribal grouping in the north of Ireland]]

[[File:Ulster & the Hebrides.png|thumb|A map of Ulster and the Hebrides. ''[[Scotia]]'' or the "Land of the Scots". By the time of King [[Robert_the_Bruce|Robert I]], [[Ireland]] was known as ''Scotia Maior'' (greater Scotia) and [[Scotland]] was known as ''Scotia Minor'' (lesser Scotia). Following the 11th century, [[Scotia]] was used almost exclusively for [[Kingdom of Alba|Alba]] or [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scotland]].]]

==History==
An early use of the word can be found in the ''Nomina Provinciarum Omnium'' (Names of All the Provinces), which dates to about AD 312. This is a short list of the names and provinces of the Roman Empire. At the end of this list is a brief list of tribes deemed to be a growing threat to the Empire, which included the ''Scoti'', as a new term for the Irish.<ref>P. Freeman, ''Ireland and the Classical World'', Austin, 2001, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSHhfOM-5AEC&pg=PA91 91]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSHhfOM-5AEC&pg=PA92 92].</ref> There is also a reference to the word in [[Prosper of Aquitaine|St Prosper]]'s chronicle of AD 431 where he describes [[Pope Celestine I|Pope Celestine]] sending [[Palladius (bishop of Ireland)|St Palladius]] to Ireland to preach "''ad Scotti in Christum''" ("to the Scots who believed in Christ").<ref>M. De Paor – L. De Paor, ''Early Christian Ireland'', London, 1958, p. 27.</ref>

Thereafter, periodic raids by Scoti are reported by several later 4th and early 5th century Latin writers, namely [[Pacatus]],<ref>Pacatus, ''Panegyric'' 5.1.</ref> [[Ammianus Marcellinus]],<ref>Ammianus Marcellinus, ''Res Gestae'' XX 1.1; XXVI 4.5; XXVII 8.5.</ref> [[Claudian]]<ref>Claudius Claudianus, ''Panegyricus dictus Honorio Augusto tertium consuli'' [http://www.divusangelus.it/claudianus/hon3.htm 52–58]; ''Panegyricus dictus Honorio Augusto quartum consuli'' [http://www.divusangelus.it/claudianus/hon4.htm 24–33]; ''De consulatu Stilichonis'' [http://www.divusangelus.it/claudianus/stilicho2.htm II 247–255]; ''Epithalamium dictum Honorio Augusto et Mariae'' [http://www.divusangelus.it/claudianus/nupt.htm 88–90]; ''Bellum Geticum'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/l/roman/texts/Claudian/De_Bello_Gothico*.html 416–418].</ref> and the [[Chronica Gallica of 452]].<ref>''Chronica Gallica ad annum'' 452, Gratiani IV (= T. Mommsen (ed.), ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Auctores antiquissimi'' IX, Berlin, 1892, p. [http://www.dmgh.de/de/fs1/object/goToPage/bsb00000798.html?pageNo=646 646]).</ref> Two references to Scoti have been identified in Greek literature (as Σκόττοι), in the works of [[Epiphanius of Salamis|Epiphanius]], Bishop of [[Salamis, Cyprus|Salamis]], writing in the 370s.<ref>P. Rance,
[https://www.academia.edu/3676904/Epiphanius_of_Salamis_and_the_Scotti_new_evidence_for_late_Roman-Irish_relations_Britannia_43_2012_227-242 Epiphanius of Salamis and the Scotti: new evidence for late Roman-Irish relations], in ''Britannia'' 43 (2012), pp. 227–242.</ref> The fragmentary evidence suggests an intensification of Scoti raiding from the early 360s, culminating in the so-called "[[Great Conspiracy|barbarian conspiracy]]" of 367–368, and continuing up to and beyond the [[End of Roman rule in Britain|end of Roman rule c. 410]]. The location and frequency of attacks by Scoti remain unclear, as do the origin and identity of the [[Gael]]ic population-groups who participated in these raids.<ref>P. Freeman, ''Ireland and the Classical World'', Austin, 2001, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSHhfOM-5AEC&pg=PA88 88]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSHhfOM-5AEC&pg=PA106 106]; P. Rance,
[https://www.academia.edu/3676904/Epiphanius_of_Salamis_and_the_Scotti_new_evidence_for_late_Roman-Irish_relations_Britannia_43_2012_227-242 Epiphanius of Salamis and the Scotti: new evidence for late Roman-Irish relations], in ''Britannia'' 43 (2012), pp. 227–242.</ref>

By the 5th century, the Gaelic or ''[[Goidelic languages|Scottish]]'' kingdom of [[Dál Riata]] had emerged in the area of modern Scotland that is now [[Argyll]]. Although this kingdom was destroyed and subjugated by the [[Pictland|Pictish kingdom]] of the 8th century under [[Oengus I|Angus I]], the convergence of [[Pictish language|Pictish]] and Gaelic languages over several centuries resulted in the [[Edward the Elder|English]] labelling Pictland under [[Constantine II of Scotland|Constantine II]] as ''Scottish'' in the early 10th century, first attested in AD 920, viewing the Picts as speaking a [[Scottish Gaelic|Gaelic]] tongue. The growing influence of the English and [[Scots language|Scots]] languages from the 12th century with the introduction of Anglo-French knights and southerly expansion of Scotland's borders by [[David I of Scotland|David I]] saw the terms ''Scot'', ''[[Scottish people|Scottish]]'' and ''[[Scotland]]'' also begin to be used commonly by natives of that country.<ref>From Caledonia to Pictland, Scotland to 795, James E. Fraser, 2009, Edinburgh University Press</ref><ref>From Pictland to Alba, 789-1070, Alex Woolf, 2007, Edinburgh University Press</ref>

==Etymology==
The etymology of [[Late Latin]] ''Scoti'' is unclear. It is not a Latin derivation, nor does it correspond to any known [[Goidelic languages|Goidelic (Gaelic)]] term the Gaels used to name themselves as a whole or a constituent population group. Several derivations have been conjectured, but none has gained general acceptance in mainstream scholarship. 

In the 19th century, Aonghas MacCoinnich proposed that ''Scoti'' came from Gaelic ''sgaothaich'', meaning "crowd" or "horde".<ref>A. MacCoinnich, ''Eachdraidh na h-Alba'', Glasgow, 1867, p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=04AQAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18 18]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=04AQAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 19].</ref>

[[Charles Oman]] (1910) derived it from Gaelic ''scuit'', meaning someone cut off. He believed it referred to bands of outcast Gaelic raiders, suggesting that the Scots were to the Gaels what the [[Vikings]] were to the [[Norsemen|Norse]].<ref>C. Oman, ''A History of England before the Norman Conquest'', London, 1910, p. [https://archive.org/stream/englandbeforeno00oman#page/n7/mode/2up 157].</ref>

More recently, Philip Freeman (2001) has speculated on the likelihood of a group of raiders adopting a name from an [[Indo-European root]], *''skot'', citing the parallel in the [[Ancient Greek]] ''skotos'' (σκότος), meaning "darkness, gloom".<ref>P. Freeman, ''Ireland and the Classical World'', Austin, 2001, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSHhfOM-5AEC&pg=PA93 93].</ref>

Linguist Kim McCone (2013) derives it from the Old Irish noun ''scoth'' meaning "pick", as in "the pick" of the population, the nobility, from an [[Archaic Irish]] reconstruction ''*skotī''.<ref>McCone, Kim (2013). "The Celts: questions of nomenclature and identity", in ''Ireland and its Contacts''. [[University of Lausanne]]. p.26</ref>

An origin has also been suggested in a word related to the English ''scot'' ("tax") and [[Old Norse]] ''skot''; this referred to an activity in ceremonies whereby ownership of land was transferred by placing a parcel of earth in the lap of a new owner,<ref>J. Truedson Demitz, ''[[Throne of a Thousand Years]]: Chronicles as Told by Erik, Son of Riste, Commemorating Sweden's Monarchy from 995–96 to 1995–1996'', Ludvika – Los Angeles, 1996, p. 9.</ref> whence 11th-century King [[Olof Skötkonung|Olaf]], one of Sweden's first known rulers, may have been known as a ''scot king''.<ref>L.O. Lagerqvist – N. Åberg, ''Öknamn och tillnamn på nordiska stormän och kungligheter'', Stockholm, 1997, p. 23 (etymology of [[epithet]]s of Nordic kings and magnates).</ref>

==See also==
*[[Attacotti]]
*[[Caledonia]]
*[[Déisi]]
*[[Gaelic Ireland]]
*[[Name of Britain]]
*[[Picts]]
*[[Uí Liatháin]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
*Freeman, Philip (2001), ''Ireland in the Classical World'' (University of Texas Press: Austin, Texas. {{ISBN|978-0-292-72518-8}} 
*Rance, Philip (2012), [https://www.academia.edu/3676904/Epiphanius_of_Salamis_and_the_Scotti_new_evidence_for_late_Roman-Irish_relations_Britannia_43_2012_227-242 'Epiphanius of Salamis and the Scotti: new evidence for late Roman-Irish relations'], ''Britannia'' 43: 227–242
*Rance, Philip (2015), [https://www.academia.edu/12039539/Irish_in_Y._LE_BOHEC_et_al._edd._The_Encyclopedia_of_the_Roman_Army_Chichester_Malden_MA_2015 'Irish'] in Y. Le Bohec ''et al''. (edd.), ''The Encyclopedia of the Roman Army'' (Wiley-Blackwell: Chichester/Malden, MA, 2015).

{{Gaels}}

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[[Category:Ancient Ireland]]
[[Category:Tribes of ancient Scotland]]
[[Category:Gaels]]