- The Picti, or Pictz, have been said to 
“ome originally from Scythia, and to 
have received this name from painting 
their bodies with different colours, to ap- 
pear more terrible to their enemies. A 
colony of these is ce porieg, by Servius, 
the commentator on Virgil, to have emi- 
trated to Scotland, where they still pre- 
erve their name and savage manners. 
That the Picts painted their bodies, I will 
not dispute, although I will shew that 
they took not their name from this cir- 
cumstance, nor from being emigrants 
from Scythia; bet, that like all other pro- 
“#inces or portions of ‘this island, their 
fame is derived from the features of 
their lands which they inhabited. © 
.. The Isle of Wight, of which so much 
+has'been unskilfully said on its derivation, 
was called Jctis, Mictis, and Victis, in 
~ which the ending in is, is likely to be a 
». diminutive, although it may imply water, 
The root of the first syllable of these 
names, as well as that of Eich, Bich, 
Lrick, and Toich, is dc; and these all 
mean border-land, or land; Victis, Mic- 
tis, and Ictis, will therefore imply the lit- 
tle land. ‘The syllables Jc, Vic, and 
. Mic, took a T to strengthen their sound, 
in the same-manner .as the Gaelic word 
Direach, straight, takes a Tin the Eng- 
ish word Direct, Wight comes from 
Wicht, or Wicht, For, as G and C are 
~ convertible, Wicht and Wight are the 
same, 
- In like manner, the word Pict is writ- 
"ten Pight in Pight-land, atherwise named 
‘ent-land, the northernmost corner of 
_ ‘Beotland: the H-being dropped, which 
sis disused in many other words, becomes 
 Pigt, and this, by the change of G to C, 
~ was written Pict: and hence Pighit-land 
-was also called Pict-land. ; 
_I must here observe, that P is called 
convexity and prominence by writers 
on the puwer of letters, as in Pic, Peac, 
- or Peake; and hence P prefixed to En, 
 Jand, will become Pen, Head or Point 
* Land. In like manner, Pight, Pigt, or 
Pict, having for its root dc, may-be writ- 
~ten Pic, Peac, or Peake, a Wead, or 
Point Land. - Pigalso, to strengthen the 
” syllable, takes.a Tin Pict, as direach did 
‘in dwect. The word Pex also becomes 
~ Pent in Rent-land, which implies Point- 
~~ dand. Pic and Pen, or Pict and Pent,*# 
then will imply the same, and each mean 
+. $A. more formal proof might be given, if 
szequired- See Lloyd’s Archeologia on the 
head of D and T following NV, 
- 8811.]. Derivation of the Names “ Scots,” * Picts,” Kc. 
( 238 
head or point.Jand. The Picts. were 
therefore the Point-landers, or dwellers 
on the borders and projecting corners of 
Scotland. 
But leaving assertions.on the power of 
letters, Jet mie give a more probable 
account of their meanings, The word 
Aighe, is hill; it is often changed to 
eighe, or ey, aud to-¢e in pronunciation: 
with the prefix .B, there.is in Devon a 
sharp hill named Bee-tor. The letser B 
{Bee] being then in pronanciation a 
mame for bill, becomes, with a root for 
Jand, often a name -for hill land, as in 
‘Binn, an hill; in which the root Jn, or 
Jnn, meansJand only, And, as, Band P 
were used for each other, P also was the 
pronunciation of a word for hill; and 
therefore Pinn, Pin, or Pen, meant the 
same .as Binn, or Bin: In-like manner 
the letter D (or Dee,) with En, land, 
varied to Un, becomes a name for hill 
land, in Dee-un, which is written Dune. 
$o.also:C, (or Cee,) which is called Col in 
the Gaelic, with en, varied to aa, land, 
becomes, Cee-an, or Ceana, a Head Land. 
If we suppose ,¢n to unply water, thea 
Cegnn, will ‘be. the Water Head. But 
enough for the present on the meanings 
of prefixes. s 
There is no doubt that many letters 
are prefixed to words without giving any 
variation or addition to their meanings: 
thus Ann is called Nan. Sometimes 
also the same letter, prefixed to the'same 
word, conveys a different meaning, I 
will here instance the word Dun, which 
may jean land only, but which is often 
used for -hilbland: I think, however, ia 
this case it should always he written 
Dune, tomakea proper distinction, —Bue 
to return. 
A few plains, of no great extent, aré 
said to betound on the.coast of Scotland, 
from. whence the ground rises to great 
heights, or heads, in the middle of tha 
kingdom. Col, or Cal, then the head 
or hill, Don, land, and Za, territory, 
were appropriate terms for this Head, 
Hill, or High-land Territory. Vhe Cale- 
donit_ were therefore the High landers, as 
Ihave already shewn, Oj the contrary, 
however, it 1s.asserted in Camden that, 
from the plural of Caled, hard, er Culc- 
don, this name is derived. And in a 
note ‘* Kalt, or Kelt,” is defined “+ Cold.” 
And the word ‘* Chiltern*” follows from 
“ Gale 
* Children is often piiviinuinced Childerae 
Era is therefore a plural ending: from my 
last letters Ce/ and Ci/, or Chil, is hill, Chide 
term 
