Editing Scotia

{{short description|Ancient Scotland}}
{{about||the Canadian province|Nova Scotia|other uses|Scotia (disambiguation)}}
{{See also|Caledonia}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
[[File:Public Schools Historical Atlas - Roman Britain 400.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|A map of the divisions of Roman Britain with the ''Scoti'' shown as a tribal grouping in the north of Ireland]]
'''Scotia''' is a [[Latin language|Latin]] placename derived from ''[[Scoti]]'', a Latin name for the [[Gaels]],<ref name="Duffy"/> first attested in the late [[3rd century]].<ref name="Duffy">Duffy, Seán. ''Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge, 2005. p. 698.</ref> The Romans referred to [[Ireland]] as "Scotia" around 500 A.D. From the 9th century on, its meaning gradually shifted, so that it came to mean only the part of Britain lying north of the [[Firth of Forth]]: the [[Kingdom of Scotland]].<ref name="Duffy" /> By the later Middle Ages it had become the fixed Latin term for what in English is called [[Scotland]].

==Etymology and derivations==
The name of ''Scotland'' is derived from the [[Latin]] ''Scotia''. The word ''[[Scoti]]'' (or ''Scotti'') was first used by the Romans. It is found in [[Latin]] texts from the 4th century describing an Irish group that raided [[Roman Britain]].<ref name="OED">{{cite web|url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Scot|title=Online Etymology Dictionary|publisher=Etymonline.com|access-date=16 February 2015}}</ref> It came to be applied to all [[Gaels]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Duffy |first=Seán |date=22 September 2015 |title=Crowning of Ireland's Last, Scottish High King |url=https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/crowning-of-irelands-last-scottish-high-king/ |accessdate=4 November 2021 |website=[[Trinity College Dublin]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://homepage.eircom.net/~kthomas/history/Histroy6.htm|title=The Story of the Irish Race|publisher=Homepage.eircom.net|access-date=16 February 2015}}</ref> It is not believed that any Gaelic groups called themselves ''Scoti'' in ancient times, except when writing in Latin.<ref name="OED"/> [[Old Irish]] documents use the term ''Scot'' ([[plural]] ''Scuit'') going back as far as the 9th century; for example, in [[Sanas Cormaic|the glossary]] of [[Cormac mac Cuilennáin]].<ref>{{cite book|editor=Meyer, K.|title=Sanas Cormaic: an Old-Irish Glossary compiled by Cormac úa Cuilennáin, King-Bishop of Cashel in the ninth century|url=http://www.dil.ie/results-list.asp?Fuzzy=0&cv=1&searchtext=%28id%20contains%20S%29%20and%20%28column%20contains%20104%29&sortField=ID&sortDIR=65602&respage=0&resperpage=10&bhcp=1|publisher=Dil.ie|access-date=16 February 2015}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[Charles Oman|Oman]] derived it from ''Scuit'' (modern Gaelic ''[[wikt:scoith|scoith]]''), 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>Charles Oman, ''A History of England before the Norman Conquest'', London, 1910, p. [https://archive.org/stream/englandbeforeno00oman#page/n7/mode/2up 157].</ref><ref>Sir Charles Oman. A History of England before the Norman Conquest.</ref>

The 19th-century author Aonghas MacCoinnich of [[Glasgow]] proposed that ''Scoti'' was derived from a Gaelic [[ethnonym]] (proposed by MacCoinnich) ''Sgaothaich'' from ''sgaoth'' "swarm", plus the [[Morphological derivation|derivational suffix]] ''-ach'' (plural ''-aich'').<ref>MacCoinnich, Aonghas. '''Eachdraidh na h-Alba''' (Glasgow 1867).</ref> However, this proposal to date has not been met with any response in mainstream place-name studies.
Pope Leo X (1513–1521) decreed that the use of the name Scotia be confined to referring to land that is now Scotland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.reformation.org/scotia.html|title=Scotia, my Scotia, or bringing back the real Scotland!!|publisher=Reformation.org|access-date=16 February 2015|archive-date=24 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924085553/http://www.reformation.org/scotia.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>Benedict's Fitzpatrick's Ireland and the Foundations of Europe, pp. 376–379.</ref>

Virtually all names for Scotland are based on the ''Scotia'' root (cf. [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ''Schotland'', [[French language|French]] ''Écosse'', [[Czech language|Czech]] ''Skotsko'', [[Zulu language|Zulu]] ''IsiKotilandi'', [[Māori language|Māori]] ''Koterana'', [[Hakka language|Hakka]] ''Sû-kak-làn'', [[Quechua language|Quechua]] ''Iskusya'', [[Turkish language|Turkish]] ''İskoçya'' etc.), either directly or via intermediate languages. The only exceptions are the [[Celtic languages]], where the names are based on the [[Alba]] root; e.g., [[Manx language|Manx]] ''Nalbin'', [[Welsh language|Welsh]] ''Yr Alban", [[Irish language|Irish]] "Albain."

==Medieval usage==
[[Image:Blaeu - Atlas of Scotland 1654 - SCOTIA ANTIQUA - Old Scotland.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|A map from 1654 illustrating the latter use of ''Scotia'' for Scotland and ''Hibernia/Ivverna'' for Ireland]]
Scotia translates to "Land of the Scots". It was a way of saying "Land of the Gaels" (compare ''Angli'' and ''Anglia''; ''Franci'' and ''Francia''; ''Romani'' and ''Romania''; etc). It was initially used as a name for Ireland, originally with ethnic connotations, for example in [[Adomnán]]'s ''[[Life of Columba]]'',<ref name="Duffy"/> or by [[Isidore of Seville]], who wrote in 580 CE that "Scotia and Hibernia are the same country" (Isidore, lib. xii. c. 6).<ref>{{cite web | url=https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/columba-e.asp | title=Internet History Sourcebooks: Medieval Sourcebook }}</ref> This is how it was used, for instance, by King [[Robert I of Scotland]] (Robert the Bruce) and Domhnall Ua Néill during the [[Scottish Wars of Independence]], when Ireland was called ''Scotia Maior'' (greater Scotia) and Scotland ''Scotia Minor'' (lesser Scotia).

After the 11th century, ''Scotia'' was used mostly for the kingdom of Alba, or Scotland, and in this way became the fixed designation. As a translation of ''[[Alba]]'', ''Scotia'' could mean both the whole kingdom belonging to the [[King of Scots]], or just Scotland north of the Forth.

[[Pope Leo X]] of the [[Roman Catholic Church]] eventually granted Scotland exclusive right over the word, and this led to Anglo-Scottish takeovers of continental Gaelic monasteries (e.g., the ''[[Schottenklöster]]'').

==In Irish sources==

One of the oldest sources recorded was from medieval Monarchy. In the year 1005, after [[Brian Boru]] was crowned king, he adopted the title Imperator Scotorum,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/crowning-of-irelands-last-scottish-high-king/ | title=Crowning of Ireland's Last, Scottish High King }}</ref> "Emperor of the Scoti" suggesting he saw himself as the overlord of all Scotia and Gaels.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tcd.ie/news_events/articles/crowning-of-irelands-last-scottish-high-king/ | title=Crowning of Ireland's Last, Scottish High King }}</ref> The title was however adopted and not formally provided. 

Within Irish Mythology, [[Geoffrey Keating]]'s ''[[Foras Feasa ar Éirinn]]'', Ireland's "ninth name was Scotia; and it is the sons of [[Míleadh]] who gave that name to it, from their mother, whose name was [[Scota]], daughter of Pharao [[Nectanebo I|Nectonibus]]; or it is why they called it Scotia, because that they are themselves the Scottish race from [[Scythia]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100054.html|title=The History of Ireland|website=celt.ucc.ie}}</ref> According to the [[Middle Irish language]] synthetic history ''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]'', she was the daughter of Pharaoh [[Necho II]] of Egypt. Other sources say that Scota was the daughter of Pharaoh [[Neferhotep I]] of Egypt and his wife Senebsen, and was the wife of Míl, that is Milesius, and the mother of [[Donn|Éber Donn]] and [[Érimón]]. Míl had given Neferhotep military aid against ancient [[Ethiopia]] and was given Scota in marriage as a reward for his services. Writing in 1571, [[Edmund Campion]] named the pharaoh [[Amenophis]]; Keating named him [[Cincris]].

==Other uses==
In geography, the term is also used for the following:
* the [[Provinces and territories of Canada|Canadian province]] of [[Nova Scotia]] (New Scotland)
* the village of [[Scotia, New York|Scotia]] in [[New York State]]
* the [[Scotia-Glenville High School]] in [[New York State]] named after a Scottish settler
* the [[Scotia Sea]] between Antarctica and South America
* the [[Scotia Plate]], a tectonic plate located to the south of South America

The term also is used/for the following purposes;
* to describe a piece of wood [[millwork (building material)|millwork]] that is used at the base of columns and in stair construction
* [[Scotiabank]], a trade name for the Bank of Nova Scotia
* (rarely) as a feminine first name
* [[Pride Scotia]], Scotland's national LGBT pride festival, involving a march and a community based festival held in June

==See also==
* [[Scotia's Grave]], in the hills, just south of [[Tralee]], [[County Kerry]]
* [[Scottish Gaelic#Name|Scottish Gaelic]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.electricscotland.com/history/genhist/hist1.html A history of Romans in Scotland]

{{National personifications}}

[[Category:Ancient Ireland]]
[[Category:Historical geography of Scotland]]
[[Category:Late Iron Age Scotland]]
[[Category:Personifications of Ireland]]
[[Category:National personifications]]
[[Category:Terminology of the British Isles]]