Scotia is aLatin placename derived fromScoti, a Latin name for theGaels,[1] first attested in the late3rd century.[1] The Romans referred toIreland 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 theFirth of Forth: theKingdom of Scotland.[1] By the later Middle Ages it had become the fixed Latin term for what in English is calledScotland.
The name ofScotland is derived from theLatinScotia. The wordScoti (orScotti) was first used by the Romans. It is found inLatin texts from the 4th century describing an Irish group that raidedRoman Britain.[2] It came to be applied to allGaels.[3][4] It is not believed that any Gaelic groups called themselvesScoti in ancient times, except when writing in Latin.[2]Old Irish documents use the termScot (pluralScuit) going back as far as the 9th century; for example, inthe glossary ofCormac mac Cuilennáin.[5]
Oman derived it fromScuit (modern Gaelicscoith), meaning someone cut off. He believed it referred to bands of outcast Gaelic raiders, suggesting that the Scots were to the Gaels what theVikings were to theNorse.[6][7]
The 19th-century author Aonghas MacCoinnich ofGlasgow proposed thatScoti was derived from a Gaelicethnonym (proposed by MacCoinnich)Sgaothaich fromsgaoth "swarm", plus thederivational suffix-ach (plural-aich).[8] 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.[9][10]
Virtually all names for Scotland are based on theScotia root (cf.DutchSchotland,FrenchÉcosse,CzechSkotsko,ZuluIsiKotilandi,MāoriKoterana,HakkaSû-kak-làn,QuechuaIskusya,Turkishİskoçya etc.), either directly or via intermediate languages. The only exceptions are theCeltic languages, where the names are based on theAlba root; e.g.,ManxNalbin,WelshYr Alban",Irish "Albain."
Scotia translates to "Land of the Scots". It was a way of saying "Land of the Gaels" (compareAngli andAnglia;Franci andFrancia;Romani andRomania; etc). It was initially used as a name for Ireland, originally with ethnic connotations, for example inAdomnán'sLife of Columba,[1] or byIsidore of Seville, who wrote in 580 CE that "Scotia and Hibernia are the same country" (Isidore, lib. xii. c. 6).[11] This is how it was used, for instance, by KingRobert I of Scotland (Robert the Bruce) and Domhnall Ua Néill during theScottish Wars of Independence, when Ireland was calledScotia Maior (greater Scotia) and ScotlandScotia 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 ofAlba,Scotia could mean both the whole kingdom belonging to theKing of Scots, or just Scotland north of the Forth.
Pope Leo X of theRoman Catholic Church eventually granted Scotland exclusive right over the word, and this led to Anglo-Scottish takeovers of continental Gaelic monasteries (e.g., theSchottenklöster).
One of the oldest sources recorded was from medieval Monarchy. In the year 1005, afterBrian Boru was crowned king, he adopted the title Imperator Scotorum,[12] "Emperor of the Scoti" suggesting he saw himself as the overlord of all Scotia and Gaels.[13] The title was however adopted and not formally provided.
Within Irish Mythology,Geoffrey Keating'sForas Feasa ar Éirinn, Ireland's "ninth name was Scotia; and it is the sons ofMíleadh who gave that name to it, from their mother, whose name wasScota, daughter of PharaoNectonibus; or it is why they called it Scotia, because that they are themselves the Scottish race fromScythia".[14] According to theMiddle Irish language synthetic historyLebor Gabála Érenn, she was the daughter of PharaohNecho II of Egypt. Other sources say that Scota was the daughter of PharaohNeferhotep I of Egypt and his wife Senebsen, and was the wife of Míl, that is Milesius, and the mother ofÉber Donn andÉrimón. Míl had given Neferhotep military aid against ancientEthiopia and was given Scota in marriage as a reward for his services. Writing in 1571,Edmund Campion named the pharaohAmenophis; Keating named himCincris.
In geography, the term is also used for the following:
The term also is used/for the following purposes;