Nicholas B. (Nicholas Boyter)Aitchison
s. xx–xxi
Theses
Contributions to journals
Calgacus is famous as the Caledonian leader who, according to Tacitus, addressed British forces before their defeat in battle against the Romans at Mons Graupius in AD 83. Very little is recorded about Calgacus, giving his name added significance. The Celtic personal name *Kalgākos, Latinised as Calgacus, has traditionally been interpreted as ‘swordsman’ following two of the leading Celtic scholars of the twentieth century, William J. Watson and Kenneth Jackson. More recently, *Kalgākos has been either elevated to a title or dismissed as merely a nickname, contributing to growing doubts about Calgacus as a historical figure. After considering the socio-political standing and ethno-linguistic identity of Calgacus, his historical status and the authenticity of *Kalgākos as a personal name are evaluated and confirmed. The etymology of *Kalgākos is then reassessed. The widely-accepted interpretation of *Kalgākos as ‘swordsman’ is challenged on the grounds that its root *kolg- occupies a wider semantic field. Instead, *Kalgākos may have an adjectival sense describing the personal quality ‘sharp, pointed, prickly, spiky’, literally ‘pertaining to stinging, piercing’, perhaps nominalised as ‘stinger, piercer’ or even ‘spearman’ and, metaphorically, ‘angry, fierce’.
Calgacus is famous as the Caledonian leader who, according to Tacitus, addressed British forces before their defeat in battle against the Romans at Mons Graupius in AD 83. Very little is recorded about Calgacus, giving his name added significance. The Celtic personal name *Kalgākos, Latinised as Calgacus, has traditionally been interpreted as ‘swordsman’ following two of the leading Celtic scholars of the twentieth century, William J. Watson and Kenneth Jackson. More recently, *Kalgākos has been either elevated to a title or dismissed as merely a nickname, contributing to growing doubts about Calgacus as a historical figure. After considering the socio-political standing and ethno-linguistic identity of Calgacus, his historical status and the authenticity of *Kalgākos as a personal name are evaluated and confirmed. The etymology of *Kalgākos is then reassessed. The widely-accepted interpretation of *Kalgākos as ‘swordsman’ is challenged on the grounds that its root *kolg- occupies a wider semantic field. Instead, *Kalgākos may have an adjectival sense describing the personal quality ‘sharp, pointed, prickly, spiky’, literally ‘pertaining to stinging, piercing’, perhaps nominalised as ‘stinger, piercer’ or even ‘spearman’ and, metaphorically, ‘angry, fierce’.
This paper sheds new light on an enigmatic text preserved within the Pictish regnal list. Traditionally known as ‘The 30 Brudes’, the Brude list is the longest surviving Pictish text and is usually interpreted as a regnal list, genealogical record, or list of Pictish territories. By contrast, analysis of its textual history, structure, and contents reveals that the Brude list is, instead, a panegyric, in the form of a catalogue poem in the Insular Celtic tradition, to a Pictish king named Brude, the Irish or Gaelic form of the Pictish personal name Bredei or Bridei, a name shared by several Pictish kings. The contents of the Brude list are compared with cognate terms in other Insular sources, its format reconstructed, an edited text proposed, and a provisional translation made. The mode and possible contexts of performance of the Brude list as a call and response chant poem are then inferred.
This paper sheds new light on an enigmatic text preserved within the Pictish regnal list. Traditionally known as ‘The 30 Brudes’, the Brude list is the longest surviving Pictish text and is usually interpreted as a regnal list, genealogical record, or list of Pictish territories. By contrast, analysis of its textual history, structure, and contents reveals that the Brude list is, instead, a panegyric, in the form of a catalogue poem in the Insular Celtic tradition, to a Pictish king named Brude, the Irish or Gaelic form of the Pictish personal name Bredei or Bridei, a name shared by several Pictish kings. The contents of the Brude list are compared with cognate terms in other Insular sources, its format reconstructed, an edited text proposed, and a provisional translation made. The mode and possible contexts of performance of the Brude list as a call and response chant poem are then inferred.
Moni Iudeorum is recorded in Annales Cambriae as St David's place of death. The first element of this place-name may be identified with Middle Welsh Mynyw, modern St David's. Its second is obscure but has traditionally been interpreted as referring to the early Irish population group the Déisi, attesting early Irish settlement in south-west Wales. However, this interpretation rests only on a scribal emendation when others are equally, if not more, plausible. This paper reassesses the evidence, proposes a new, more minor, emendation, Moniu Deorum '*Moniu of the Gods', and examines this within a wider early Christian context.
Moni Iudeorum is recorded in Annales Cambriae as St David's place of death. The first element of this place-name may be identified with Middle Welsh Mynyw, modern St David's. Its second is obscure but has traditionally been interpreted as referring to the early Irish population group the Déisi, attesting early Irish settlement in south-west Wales. However, this interpretation rests only on a scribal emendation when others are equally, if not more, plausible. This paper reassesses the evidence, proposes a new, more minor, emendation, Moniu Deorum '*Moniu of the Gods', and examines this within a wider early Christian context.
