You are on page 1of 7

Some Notes to The Chronicles of the Picts

jwr1947 The Chronicles of the Picts1 Hal MacGregor Revision No 1, April-2010. Size: 164 pages ISBN: 978-0-9813983-1-0

Recension
Chronicles Of The Picts provides me with excellent information about the coloured people (the Picts) in a region full of whites (the Albiones). In a certain sense the detailed documentation adds up to the valuable overviews delivered by Jacob Grimm (in Teutonic Mythology) and Johannes Aventinus (Bavarian Chronicle and other works).

Summary of notes
Chronicles Of The Picts explains the roots for various names and words. The early names (Hengist and Horsa) might explain how important the horses may have been in several historical eras. Bird-names like raven* may be connected to black objects like jet, which has been found and traded at Whitby. Burning-expressions (like Bern*, Barn*, Bran*, Brond2, Brand, Brandi, Brando, Beornus, Beorna, Wegbrandus and others) may refer to amber-trading (including jet3, which may be considered as black amber). Bede's genealogies (which are found in the appendix to Teutonic Mythology) also might be a valuable addition to this book. Another good source for names are the days of the week, which up to now have not been documented in this work. See for example: dydd Iau, for Jupiter's Day.4 I searched for the explanation for religious roots such as the vowel-combination , which as a word in Danish dialects and old-English has been used as an ego-pronoun and a word for ternity, matrimony, etcetera. I also suggested corrections for some errors as a hint to the author, who is to be thanked for investing so much time in this work.

1 Chronicles 2 Gales' appendix for the Deiric and Westsaxonic genealogies (all these samples are quoted in Grimm's Teutonic Mythology) 3 Britain has also many veins of metals, as copper, iron, lead, and silver; it has much and excellent jet, which is black and sparkling, glittering at the fire, and when heated, drives away serpents; being warmed with rubbing, it holds fast whatever is applied to it, like amber. - Ecclesiastical History of the English People (731) - Book 1 4 Vowel-sequences have been found in a great number of divine names (such as Iu, Iao, Iah, Iau, Ieou, Iaou, Iho, Iaouh, Eewu, Ao, Au, Iee, Ia, Ie, Jupiter and Jove), ego-pronouns (such as ieu, iu m, jou, jau, eau) and days of the week (e.g. jeudi, jueves, Jovdio, joi, dydd Iau, dijous). These elements have been documented in The Key Morpheme - analyzing the PIE-concept.

Notes
The North Sea had been named Mor Alaman (map at page 6) Greek traders described them as Albiones ( pale skinned people) Ulster has been named after The Uladh (page 7) The 300 ppm CO2-level seems to be an all-time maximum (page 14) Some Basques also ventured north into a peninsula that is now the British Isles (15) Extensive DNA testing has recently verified the connections of Scandinavians, Germans, Italians and Celts to the Altai people of Central Asia. (15) Picts had a tradition that their ancestors were from Scythia5. After the Scythians were overwhelmed by the nomadic Sarmatians, many migrated into Hallstatt (early Celtic) territory in Styria, in present day Austria. (16) Both Scythians and Picts had an extreme equestrian6 culture. Julius Caesar in 55 and 54 BC reported the inhabitants decorated their bodies7. In Albann, a modified Picto/Celtic system was in place, as Pict Royalty bore unique Pict names (i.e. Alpin, Bladd, Blann, Cinnidd, Drust, Galanan, Talladd, Tallorh, Urb and Uscombuts), or foreign names translated into Pict (i.e. Brud, Kast, Nehhtonn, Onnus, Taran, Uuen, Upidd, Uurad, Uurddol and Uurgus). The Smertae8 (great painted goddess) living by the river Oykel in Sutherland. Rosmerta was the Celtic name. From Ptolemy's Geography (19) The Picts of the Northern Kingdom strictly maintained their matrilineal system until their demise in 1130AD. (20) History of Irish conquests ( building a wall and dyke) (21) Isle of Man (23) - British centre for Druidic leaning. Today, The Isle of Man is not part of the United Kingdom, and is officially a Crown dependency. The Beaker Peoples (24) The Faroe Islands' banner is red, blue and white (27)

Fig. 1: Faroe Islands' banner

5 According to Aventinus (Bavarian Chronicles) the name Scythia is related to the German word schiessen (to shoot) (probably arrows) - source (German): Die Sprache des Chronisten - Notizen zur Baierischen Chronik v... 6 Some of Bede's lists of royal names also include horses such as Hengist, etc. 7 Caesar emphasises the "barbarian" aspect of the Britons, possibly for political reasons since his expedition there was of necessity brief, describing how they wore animal skins, had wives in common, did not grow crops and dyed their skin blue: although this description does not mention the plant, subsequent commentators have supposed that woad was the source of this blue dye and though later experimentation suggests that woad is not very well suited as a skin dye nor as tattoo ink, this image, conflated with the descriptions of the Gaesatae, has nevertheless helped paint the picture of the woad-daubed ancient Briton charging into battle naked and blue. Outside Britain, small pots of orange paste have been found in the vicinity of Cerro del Castillo, which has led to the proposition that if the Celtiberians used it in a similar manner to Caesar's description, they would have painted themselves orange rather than blue 8 The meaning of the name Smertae, which occurs only in Ptolemy, is disputed, as there is no conclusive evidence from which Celtic root it might have arisen. It might mean 'Smeared Ones' or alternatively 'Far-Seeing Ones'.

Picts loved their horses, and they liked to paint9 their bodies, their horses and their weapons and utensils. (32) The reason the Pict's horses and cattle were relatively small is there were insufficient cereal crops in Albann to support a considerable number of larger sized animals. Apart from 'pit', another Pict toponym is 'aber', the old term for a confluence of rivers. Important sites such as Aberdeen, Aberlemno, Abernethy, Aberfoyle and Applecross all had Pict Royal connections. 'Dol', 'dul' and 'dal' are Pict toponyms that describe meadows, dales, and valleys. (33) In Pictish, a cow was "Bok", and in Latin it was "Bos" (35) The Romans had their Communal Baths and the Scandinavians had their Saunas - but the Celts had their Soap.(35) Pict War Weapons (37) The Trial Marriage ( a year + a day) (38). Religious Symbols on National Flags - Following the Pict lead, all jurisdictions in the British Isles, plus Brittany, the Scandinavian countries, Russia, Georgia, Greece, the Vatican, Jamaica, several of the States in the USA, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Quebec, plus every country or jurisdiction that flies the Union Jack as part of their flag, and innumerable cities and local governments plus all Islamic countries in the world now fly symbols of their religions10. We owe this tradition to the Picts, who were the first in AD832. The Cloak of Shame was a uniquely Pict device which consisted of the hide of a prize Ram sheep, marked with blood, and killed in a ceremony presided over by the Chief Clan Druid, and sent by a runner to display throughout the Clan territory as a call to arms. When Picts converted to Christianity in the 6th century AD, the fiery cross was added to the Cloak of Shame to signify that the call to arms was a religious as well as a patriotic duty as the cross was universally viewed with awe and reverence. The doctrine of predestination was taught by Druids throughout the entire Celtic world (38). Pict boys and girls were treated equally. The availability of certain dyes determined the colours in the local kilt. (Famous) Picts who made a Difference (41) Eisenhower as a clerk: "I'm sure he'll do a fine job, he was the best clerk I ever had". (46) The Ballad of Loch Lomond: "Ye take the high road and I'll take the low road, and I'll be in Scotland afore ye". (46) The most formidable weapon the Picts possessed was the war chariot. (50) Decimation ( every tenth Roman soldier was forcibly beaten to death by his comrades) (55) The rebellion of Boudica (55) Guern, the Painted one (57) - seeking terms with the Painted Ones In war, the first casualty is truth - California Senator Hiram Warren Johnson (58) Legacy of the Antonine and Hadrian Walls: great cultural schism creating two Scotlands that hated each other, Highlanders north of the line and Lowlanders to the south. Bran was High King of Albann (177-184), (60) Herodian reported the Picts fought naked and painted their bodies with designs of animals. The Picts perfected guerrilla hit and run warfare long before anyone else. (62) Vortigern in English, Gwrtheyrn in Welsh, Uuertigern in Pictish unleashed a firestorm when he brought in three shiploads of German pirates about 428AD to quell the Picts. At first, his Teutonic mercenaries were content to beat back the Picts, and collect their pay. Hengist11

9 In fact the Roman emperors and leaders painted their faces red Symbolism of Purple and Scarlet in Greek and Roman Societies. They never used blue (which has been reported as the Picts' color for the warriors' faces.) 10 The colours red, white and blue are religious symbols as well see: Bipolar Monotheism (A Historical Record of God, Colors and Vowels) 11 Hengist and Horsa

was their first leader. King Arthur is a legendary British leader who, according to medieval histories and romances, led the defence of Britain against the Saxon invaders in the early 6th century. (64) Map of Britain and Ireland in the 6 th century (65) in which Whitby (Northumbria) may be identified. Tradition has it that a British Prince, Bran (Corbidh in Gaelic), and his followers founded Dumbarton in 148AD. (66) King Gwyddno (543-547) moved the capital to Glasgow. Athelfrid, ruler of Bernicia (593616) and Saxon leader - (ca. 600AD) (68) Pictish Philology (71) In fact, the only other place in Europe, where people double up on consonants in a similar manner is in the Balkans, ( spelling error: it should be Baltics) are common where place names such as Tallinn are common. (72) The Latin name Iupiter became Upidd, appears as Guid, Uid, Uipoig, Uuid, Vipoig and Wid. It became in Udair in old Celtic, and Upatar in Gaelic. (76-78) Picts used the Greek alphabet before they adopted the Latin version. Similar to old Celtic, German and old Scandinavian, the F sound was replaced with a double U. Comparison of Germanic, Celtic and Romance words in which the German word lists does contain some errors: (of course some of the accents are missing as well: fraulein e.g. should be written frulein and some words do have variants such as boy may be written jungen and knabe): Eltern is a plural word, the singular is Elternteil A ponyis a valid German word, but may be understood as a pferdchen (little horse) instead of a pferd (a big horse). A rocking chair is a schaukelstuhl - a Schaukel is a swing (as a hanging seat). A rock however is a Fels The modern German word for island is Insel - the Dutch word however is eiland Versteh is a word for understand, and to sense is translated as fhlen in the sense of to feel The modern German word for iron is Eisen, not eisarn. According to Aventinus 12 the Suabians named Eisen after an egyptian queen named Isis13. A special herb (Common Vervain) has been devoted to Eisen14, which had been named Tears of Isis in ancient Egypt. The modern German word for wood is Holz, or maybe Wald (as a forest), but not witu, which is the old-German word. Hair in Breton was BLEV. In modern Welsh, hair is BLEWYN. The "V" sound was replaced with a "W" or "OO" sound (under the influence of English). (page 80) By the way: In Dutch the word bles describes a white spot in a horse's or a cow's hair (and: a naked spot in a tree's skin). In Brabantian dialect some use the word bles for hair, which also may describe a white-flecked horse.

12 Source: Aventinus: Werke - Bayerische Landesbibliothek Online 13 Sala, Schem, Bard, Oryz represented OSIRIS / Mizraim) & Eisen ISIS 14 The common names of V. officinalis in many Central and Eastern Europes languages often associate it with iron, for example: Echtes Eisenkraut (German: "true ironherb") IJzerhard (Dutch: "iron-hard") Lge-Jernurt (Danish: "medical ironwort") eleznk lekrsky (Slovak: ("medical ironherb") Rohtorautayrtti (Finnish: "medical ironherb")

Methodology of Names - The documented equivalence of the words Alpin Alpaidd Elphin Alpine Albinus15 (81) suggests to correlate the Alpes' name with white snow-covered mountains. Is the black raven correlating with Bran16 Cigfran Corbidh Corbett Corvus Jupiter's names: Upidd Iau17 Upatar Jupiter Iupiter (Father of the Roman gods). (81) Linguists universally agree that Proto Celtic (Gaulish) and Latin were the same language in 1500 BC. This was proven by their similarities, and the accepted rate of divergence of any related family of languages. (82) A certain Bran was a mythological Brythonic hero that any Pict mother would be proud to name her son after, and Bran is listed in one version of the king lists. (82) - Jacob Grimm 18 lists Voden's heirs. Voden had seven children, resulting in eight peoples (Kent, Eastanglia, Essex, Mercia, Deira, Bernicia, Wessex and Lindisfaran), However Bernicia and Wessex had three ancestors in common: Voden, Baldag and Brand. The name Brand however may refer to burning elements (jet ?) and jet-trading. Bran obviously related to raven. In the Annals of Bavaria Aventinus reports of four rulers named Brenner (similar to Bran) and one Pernpeist: (these kings are listed in the Wikipedia's entry: Aventinus) Brenner I 12241186 BCE, Brenner II & Koenman 589479 BCE Brenner III 399361 BCE, who may have been wearing a raven (bran) totem helmet Schirm & Brenner IV 361263 BCE Pernpeist 5040 BCE

Fig. 2: Raven totem helmet


The Celtic Helmet from Satu Mare, Romania (northern Dacia), an Iron Age raven totem helmet, dated around 4th century BC. A similar helmet is depicted on the Gundestrup cauldron, being worn by one of the mounted warriors (detail tagged here). See also an illustration of Brennus wearing a similar helmet. from the Wikimedia Commons. See: Brennus 15 16 17 18 Roman Emperor, 193-197 Brythonic Celtic hero (Raven) The Welsh name Iau for Jupiter may also be identified in a day of the week. See: dydd Iau, for Jupiter's Day. Grimm's Teutonic Mythology Anglo-Saxon Genealogies

There is a continuity many words such as the Gaulish word for sea; More, Russian and Slavic; More, Irish; Muir and the Welsh; Mor. (82) These words may correlate with the German noun Meer (the sea) and the Dutch noun meer (lake). Similarly, the Gaulish and Oscan word for people; Touto, Lithuanian;Taut a, Gothic; Thiuda, Irish; Tu'ath and the French: Tout. Gaulish versus Basque, Greek, Latin, Irish, Welsh & Breton: an age aesus adin hlikia aes ais aois oes oes. Some of these words seem to be based on the -Rune, which correlates to Greek aei (eternity), on, etc.19 (83) It can be seen from the table above that Old Irish was the most faithful Gaulish cadet. (83) Pictish Influences on Brythonic Languages (84) Ogham Inscriptions, including the -rune as a pattern of woven threads (85) The Lunnasting Stone (86) Early historical writers Bede (89) Picts Were Multi-Lingual (90) - The Pict Chronicles were written in a bilingual format, the Latin column being far more polished than the Gaelic part. The Picts had a special use for a double HH. They used it to replace a hard C, a K or a CH sound in the middle of a word. Understanding the term "Brud" (91) Pict Deities (93) Lugus: (in Gallic), Lugh (in Irish) Lleu (in Welsh) Celtic god of Light and the harvest. The most famous devoted to Lugus are the cities of Lyon and Lugdunum Batavorum (the modern city of Katwijk, 10 kilometers to the west of Leiden). Brigid: Dagda's daughter; she was the goddess of fertility. Our modern term Bride was derived from her. Dn: (From the Gallic Danu) Mother earth goddess. Many Picts felt they were the childen of Don. The Danube river was named after her. ( 94) The Picts considered some trees Der Llei (oak), MacIvar & Mac Ewen (yew). to be sacred. (94) Picto/Celtic Religious Festivals (95) Eostre : Mother Goddess of Fertility and Spring (from which Easter came). (96) Tiwaz : was a fearless Germanic god of War, and became Odins servant. (96) - Tuesday is named for Tiwaz, Wednesday was named for Odin, Thursday is named after Thor, and Friday is named for Freyja. Druids, The Celtic Intelligentsia (97). The largest conflict that converted Druids had with the new religion was their stubborn belief in predestination whereas the predominant Christian belief was that people had free will to determine their destinies. Their influence was so great that this conflict was taken to the Pope to arbitrate. Male Druids and soldiers in all Celtic societies had a particular type of shaved hairstyle called a tonsure. According to Aventinus the Druids wore wooden shoes (Druddenfue) Sacrificing bulls The First Christians (99) The Picts' belief in the power of nature appears in the thousands of detailed designs that have survived. Exquisite brooches and pins are swirled with enameled designs in deep reds, blues, greens, and golds20. (108) Duplicated line error at page 108: That none of those stories have survived lays a heavy suspicion not only on the Vikings but also on the Scottish monks who had an agenda to wipe out Pict culture.

19 for ternity - A World made of Word(s) 20 Red, blue and green are also the primary colours which are found in other ancient religions (see: Bipolar Monotheism - A Historical Record of God, Colors and Vowels)

The sole claim that Pict succession was strictly matrilineal was made by the Northumbrian historian, Bede. (109) Picts considered women as equals, and traced their ancestry through the female line, whereas the Scots considered women as property, and traced their ancestry through the male line. Picts included women in their military, the Scots did not. (111) The Isle of Mann is the geographical centre of the British Isles (112) The Miracle of the Saltern Cross (114) a new symbol of the Picts, replacing the Bos Tauros bull. The date is believed to have been 832. The Vikings (119) - The first recorded raid was in 793, on Lindisfarne. Takeover of England by the Danish King, Cnut in 1016. In northern France, they were called Normans, in Eastern Europe; they gave their name to Russia. Pict Female Circumstances (122) - Pict women were the equals of men in all things except actual accession to the throne. It was only when the Celtic Church became sublimate to the Roman church that the Mediterranean patriarchal system forced women into a position of servitude. The name of Ireland itself, Eire, is the name of one of the triune goddesses. Pict Princess Procreation Traditions (123) Where the only Parent mentioned was the Mother (124): e.g. Bran (177-184), son of Nidnets sister. Pict Women as Warriors Buddicca (126) A woman was responsible for her own debts and was not responsible for those of her husband. (127) (697): "Law of Innocents" a set of laws designed, among other things, to guarantee the safety and immunity of various types of non-combatant in warfare. (128) Women were not considered persons until the 20th century in most democracies. (128) A List of Pict Kings (In their proper Brythonic designations) (131) The Non-Historical (Mythical) King List (132) including Bran (177-184 ) (Welsh for Raven) Son of Carvorst, founder of the kingdom of Strathclyde) The primary reason the Norse established Dublin and Belfast was as slave trading centres in their thriving business of selling abducted Pict children down into the Mediterranean countries as slaves, where they were in high demand. (138) The "Prophecy" of Saint Berchan (140) Dunnottar21, the Impregnable Pict Fortress Today (143) Murder and Intrigue (145) The House of Moray - Moray was dominated by a Flemish family (147) Sueno's Stone (151) (Explanation of) Morphology of languages Chart historical summary (154-155) The End of Celtic Civilization In Britain (157) They make a desert and call it peace." - Galanan Dux Bellorum, Copiae Coniungere Pictii 84AD A Note of Realism (159) Author's Editorial (160) The Picts represented a much older civilization than did the Scots. The first "King of Scotland" was officially declared after the death of King MacBethad in 1057AD, thereby ending the long line of Pict kings, began by Galanan in 75AD and maintained by Kenneth MacAlpin & his dynasty, thereby eroding any real influence they held at court.

21 south of Aberdeen

You might also like