1896-97-] THE PICTS. 303 



Domelch Domnach is Domhnach, Sunday ; Elfin is Alpin Alp fhonn, 

 the country of the hills ; Fingean appears, in MacKinnon, MacFhin- 

 gein. Flocaid, Fodla, Atholl, Atth Fodhla, the ford of Fodhla ; 

 Fodhla was an ancient name of Ireland. Loc is laoch, a hero; Mailcun 

 is Maoilchon, the servant of Conn ; Nectan appears, in MacNaughton ; 

 Onnist and Unnist appear in Aonghas, Angus ; Scolofthe appears in 

 Sgalag, a farm-servant. Salen is to be found in Salen, a topogra- 

 phical word in the Island of Mull, Argyllshire, which means Sail fhonn, 

 or the land or place of the salt water. Uven seems to find its counter- 

 part or equivalent in Eoghann, the Gaelic word for Hugh or Evan. 

 Were it possible to discover many more words of an unmistakably 

 Pictish character, it may, with no small assurance, be presumed that 

 they would reveal a much closer similarity to Gaelic than to Welsh, or 

 to any other language whatsoever. Who, then, were the Picts, and 

 what was the language which they spoke ? They belonged undoubtedly 

 to the Gaels or Goidels, who were the first among the Celts to come 

 from the Continent of Europe into what is now known as Great Britain 

 and Ireland. There is no evidence that is worthy of any serious con- 

 sideration, to prove, that they belonged to a later invasion, and that 

 their appearance in Albion is to be traced to a much later date than 

 that of the Gaels and Cymru. Rather it is to be asserted with no 

 feeble certainty, that the Picts of Scotland are to be regarded as the 

 descendants and representatives of the earliest Gaels who entered 

 Albion and who absorbed or incorporated with themselves whatever 

 people, if any, whether Iberian or otherwise, who preceded them in the 

 occupation of Albion during the infantile days of human immigration. 

 The brave Caledonians who, under the leadership of Galgacus, fought 

 against the Romans under Agricola, might with abundant propriety 

 have borne the designation Picts as well as Caledonians. No better 

 etj'mology can be advanced for Caledonia than Dun nan Gaidheal, or 

 the hill or fortification of the Gaels, a name which is perpetuated in 

 Dunkeld. Scholars from whom better things might, in all reasonable- 

 ness be expected, have allowed themselves to be confused and led astray 

 by separate names, by means of which, whether with or without reason, 

 a people that was virtually one and the same amid all political vicissi- 

 tudes, came to be described and recognized at various stages in its history. 

 It is difficult at this distance of time to realize how in the far off days, 

 what are now known as Scotland and Ireland, were peopled by Gaels, 

 who owned the same lineage and who spoke an identical language, and 

 between whom there was a constant inter-communion, as if in very 

 truth they lived in one and the same country. All the evidence that is 

 available, and that can be adduced, goes to prove that the Picts were 



