Nectudad – This spelling is the
National Museum of Scotland's standardization of NAHHTVVDDADDS from an
ogham inscription on a stone now in NMS. I understand there is a newish
theory that at least some of the "Pictish" ogham inscriptions were in
fact using Norse and "daughter" was indeed one of the words this theory
turned around. I still need to hunt down the article/book where this
theory is laid out, but it may be behind the reasoning for
CRROSCC : NAHHTVVDDADDS : DATTRR : ANN...
being translated by the National Museum as “The cross of Nectudad, daughter of An...”
If
they're right, then Nectudad certainly sounds like it could be a
feminine version of Nectan. So even if "dattrr" is Norse in origin, it
still seems likely we are dealing with a Pictish name here. I think
there are other reasonable ways one could standardize the name, such as
Nechtudad or Nachtudad, but I would recommend consulting someone more
versed in ogham than I.
Of course, the Norse usually put
“daughter” as a tag at the end of the father's name, for instance Kolla
Sveinsdóttir as “Kolla daughter of Sveinn” which would give us instead
Crosc daughter of Nectudad, with “ann-” beginning some other part of the
inscription. I believe the combination of the similarity of croscc and
cross and the other neighboring languages that use an X daughter of Y
format combine toward making “Nectudad” rather than “Crosc” the daughter
in question.
On the other hand, “dattrr” need not be of Norse
origin at all, but may come into Pictland through Gaelic or even from
earlier Celtic languages parallel to its cognate in Gaelic. There are “a
series of Gaelic names for women beginning with the element Der-/Dar-
which has been shown to be a Gaelic cognate of the English word
'daughter', derived from a reduced form of the Proto-Gaelic *ducht(a)ir.
A close cognate of this word, a derivative of the Indo-European word
for 'daughter' (the English word is itself a descendant of the Germanic
derivative), has now been attested in the continental Celtic language
Gaulish as duχtir...In the inscription, χ= /χ/” (Clancy “Philosopher
King”). Given these early and widespread cognates, it is not beyond
possibility that “dattrr” could be a rendering of a Pictish term for
“daughter” or “daughter of,” though we know so little of the Pictish
language that this must remain mere speculation.
Selected Bibliography:
Clancy,
Thomas Owen. “Philosopher-King: Nechtan mac Der-Ilei” The Scottish
Historican Review, Vol. LXXXIII, 2. Oct. 2004. pp125-49.
See also Royal Irish Academy, Dictionary of the Irish Language (compact edn, Dublin. 1983), under der.
M.A. O'Brien, 'Der-, Dar-, Derb-in female names', Celtica, iii (1956), 178-9.
E. Hamp. '*dhugHter in Irish', Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft, xxxiii (1975), 39-40.
National Museum of Scotland
(This is a re-post from 2010. I would now have more to add to--and perhaps subtract from--it. I will include it for now, however, rather than omit it and will hope to offer a revision in the not too distant future.)
Musings on Pictish and related topics. A strong focus will lay with tools and speculations for reenactors and SCA use.
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Pictish Women: Drusticc or Drustric
Drusticc or Drustric – A woman in the 6th century said to be daughter of Drest and mother of Lonan, son of Talmach. She is mentioned in the Book of Leinster, the Book of Ui Maine, and Liber Hymnorum. Liber Hymnorum
includes a story about her being sent to study with Mugind, abbot of
Whithorn. Drusticc fell in love with Rioc (also studying there) and
begged to be married to him but another student, Talmach, was sent to
her instead. In the Book of Leinster, (fol. 373A?) “Drustric
daughter of Trust” is in a list of mothers of saints as the mother of
Lonan, son of Talmach. Lonan seems to be a saint in Galloway. Drest or
Trust is a common name in the Pictish king lists and probably common
through the rest of the Pictish warrior nobility.
As of yet, I've only read summaries of these accounts in secondary sources from the middle of the 20th
century. I'd love to get see the original texts or, baring that, find
more recent scholarly accounts. But the old stuff is what is available
in searchable full text and thus easier to find references in. Part of
the Book of Leinster is
available on the CELT archive, but I haven't been able to find the list
of mothers of saints or any mention of Drustric. Nor do the folio
numbers as given online approach anywhere near 373. (I tried 37A in case
there was a subtle difference in numbering practice, but to no avail.)
Another potential problem with Drustric is that her father is
apparently mentioned in at least one location as the king of the Britons
or king of the northern Britons. Nora Chadwick notes that this might
refer to the king of Strathclyde. Hector Chadwick, however, makes an
argument for Trust, Drustic's father, as a Pictish king. Key to his
argument is the fact that Trust or Drust or Drest is unattested as a
British name, but well attested as a Pictish name and, in fact, the name
of a Pictish king at the appropriate time in the 6th century.
Chadwick, Hector Munro. Early Scotland: the Picts, the Scots & the Welsh of southern Scotland. 1949. Pg 12.
Chadwich, Nora K., Kathleen Hughes, Christopher Brooke, Kenneth Jackson, Studies in the Early British Church, 1958, pp. 61-2.
Pictish Sourcebook.
(This is a re-post from 2010)
Pictish Women: Eithne
(Repost from 2010)
For a number of years, since I decided on a Pictish persona in the SCA, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for Pictish women's names. These are generally assumed to be vanishingly hard to find. Most of the web sites I came across either claimed there were none known or one or, at most, two.
For a number of years, since I decided on a Pictish persona in the SCA, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for Pictish women's names. These are generally assumed to be vanishingly hard to find. Most of the web sites I came across either claimed there were none known or one or, at most, two.
Over the years I have found
quite a few names that are worthy of, at the very least, consideration
in this topic. Many of them have some dubious or debatable aspect to
them: whether the name is really Pictish, whether it is really a woman's
name, whether it was the name of a real person and not created for a
legendary context alone. Nevertheless, given the scarcity of evidence
for female Pictish names, it seemed worthwhile to bring these names
together with a consideration of both their evidence and their problems.
But
although I've done quite a bit of research and compiled quite a few
names with shorthand notes to myself, I've been dragging my heels
actually writing it all out and putting it up for people to use.
So,
I've decided to use this space to try to edit my notes and get them out into the world. If anyone wants
to offer feedback on any of the names, or offer additional names or
documentation, etc., please feel free!
So, to start us off, one of the most famous ones:
Eithne – the death of “Eithne ingen Cinadhon” is recorded in the Annals of Ulster in 778: “Eithni ingen Cinadhon moritur” (U778.11 in the Annals of Ulster, Electronic Texts Edition, University College Cork, http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001A/). Incidentally, this stands alone as the last entry for 778. Cinadhon is most likely Ciniod son of Uuredech, an 8th
century Pictish king. His death is noted, among other places, in the
same annal at the beginning of 775: “Mors Cinadhon regis Pictorum”
(U775.1) three years before Eithne's death.
Eithne is also a Gaelic name, one relatively popular in Ireland at the
time and still in use today, the origin of the Anglicized name “Enya.”
While this might make the name less distinctively Pictish, this is one of the best documented names for a Pictish woman we have.
Whether the name would have been recognizably an Irish borrowing or
was in common use in Pictland as well is impossible to say. It's also
entirely possible that the name would have been slightly different in
Pictish and the Irish annalist altered it slightly to bring it in line
with the familiar Eithne. See the alternate spelled versions of the
Pictish king list for examples of such spelling shifts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)