Il8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



discussion of the question as to who the Picts and Scots were. In his dissertation 

 on the poems of Ossian, MacPherson remarks that the Caledonians, who possessed 

 the east coast of Scotland, applied themselves to the raising of corn or to agricul- 

 ture. It was from that employment that the Gaelic name of Picts proceeded, for 

 they are called Cruithnich, i.e., the wheat or corn-eaters. I may add that the ety- 

 mology of Cruithnich is identical with that of Cruithneachd, the Gaelic word for 

 wheat; a-uth, form, and sneachd, snow, the reference doubtless being to the white 

 colour of the flour which is extracted from wheat. 



With regard to the term Caledonia, it has to be observed that it was never applied 

 by the Gaels of Scotland to their own country; and that it comprised that portion 

 of country which lies to the north of the Forth. Dunkeld, in Perthshire, has been 

 regarded as the capital of the Caledonian Gaels when the Romans first invaded that 

 portion of Scotland. Dunkeld, or Duncalden, forms the substratum of Caledonia. 

 Among the various explanations which have been given of Caledonia, the most 

 plausible seems to be Dun a' Chaltuinn, the hillock of the hazel, and not Dun Cael- 

 dhaoine, the stronghold of the Gaelic people. St. Columba is said to have resided at 

 Dunkeld for some time about 570 A.D. There rose then at Dunkeld a royal mon- 

 astery, which subsequently attained to great eminence. 



Zeuss prefers to divide the Celtic tribes and languages of Great Britain and 

 Ireland into the Irish and British branches — the former including the Celts of Ireland, 

 and of the Highlands of Scotland and of the Isle of Man, the latter including the 

 Welsh and the Armoricans in Brittany. It is abundantly evident that those in whose 

 veins the 'blood of Galgacus and his heroes, of Taliessin and Ossian, of Fingal and 

 Arthur is now flowing, are honouring themselves by taking a warm interest in the 

 language which, venerable with j^ears and use, continues to be still spoken, and to 

 have in many cases the vigour and persuasiveness of olden times. Max Midler 

 affirms " that the language of England may be said to have been in succession Celtic, 

 Saxo'n, Norman and English. The history of the Celtic language runs to the present 

 day. It matters not whether it be spoken by all the inhabitants of the British Isles 

 or by only a small minority in Wales, Ireland and Scotland. A language, so long 

 as it is spoken by anybody, lives and has its substantive existence. The last old 

 woman, Dorothy Pentreath, that spoke Cornish, and to whose memory it is now 

 intended to raise a monument, represented by herself alone the ancient language of 

 Cornwall." 



