An gaidheal - National Library of Scotland

!September, 18" THE GAEL. 219who preceded them. Arguing thatif their descendants wei-e to speakthe language of the mother—themother tongue—that language wouldin time prevail ovei' their own, theycruelly think fit to slit the tonguesof all their AvivesSeveral of the chronicles givingan account of the Pictish kings andtheir battles, state that shortly afterthe Picts became allied to the Scots,Redda, a Scottish prince from Hibernia,set out for Pictavia with a formidablearmy. He landed in Gallowiijand formed a treaty with hiskinsmen the Dalriadic Scots, who,under the leadership of Alpin, hadestablished themselves there someyears previous. They conquer thegreater part of the southern dominionsof the Picts and the whole ofArgyle and the islands, which wereoccu])ied by the Picts since theexpulsion of Alpin. The DalriadicScots are thus again jmt in possessionof their ancient kingdom.Connected with this invasion thereis an account of a conspiracy, wherebyit was said the chiefs and noblesof the Picts were destroyed. Thekings, nobility, and soldiei-s, of thePicts and the Scots assembled in theCouncil House at Scone, at the requestof the latter, for the purpose,it was alleged, of entering upon negotiationsof peace. Immediately onbeing assembled the Scots, who wereprivately armed, attacked the defencelessPicts, and slew every oneof them. From this time the kingdomof the Picts, which had lastedfor 1190 years, was struck out ofthe list of the empires of the earth,and the kingdom of the Scots M-asre-established.E. Mac-ax-Eothaich.fTo be continued.)CELTIC ETYMOLOGY.8iK,—In The Gael for last month Mr.P2dmuncls attempts to make what heHadcalls "a reply" to the notice given inyour June number of his many ridiculousmistakes, when he wrote respecting theGaelic language of the Highlanders ofScotland, hut it is no reply whatever,only a miserable failure of showing thatwhat he had written of the Gaelic languagewas according to truth and fact.Mr. Edmunds acknowledged that he hadmade some mistakes, there would havebeen an end of the matter, and probablyit would have been soon forgotten ; insteadof which he pertinaciously adheresto all the blunders he has made in comparingwords which he most wronglycalled Gaelic with Welsh ones.Mr. Edmunds commences by statinghe does not propose to discusa "the longstring of etymologies " given, he states,by the writer hereof. It was not etymologies,but a collection of mistakes andgross errors in words, given by Mr.Edmunds as Gaelic ones, and which everyHighlander who read your June numberknew to be untrue. INIr. Edmunds had mihesitation in writing these words, andhis object was to depreciate the Gaeliclanguage, and wrongfully exalt theWelsh over it his argument for this;purpose being founded upon pretendedGaelic words, and he evades my examinationof them. As to the Welshword imagined by Mr. Edmunds, and alsoChalmers, as the origin of "Lanark," theancient forms of it given in your Junenumber refute them both. Chalmers isno authority whatever, because, as Skene(our best Celtic writer) informs us, hehired a Lexicon writer to furnish himWelsh words for the names of places inScotland. Regarding Benlomond, as Bfiiiis not derived from the Welsh, which allHighlanders know it is not, then it waslike all the other Bens of Scotland givenby a Gaelic speaking race, and refutesMr. Edmunds. A statement is madeby him as to the word " mam," thaX" in all European languages in which itoccurs," it means "breast " or "mother."This assertion is contrary to truth andfact ; the Gaelic language is a Europeanone, it is spoken l)y hundreds and thousandsof people, and in it "mam" doesnot mean either "breast" or "mother,"which fuUy refutes Mr. Ednumds;besidesthere are many hills in .Scotlandcalled "»(aHt," proving that in the Gaeliclanguage no such meaning of the wordever existed.