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The Puzzle of the PictsWere the Picts of Finnish, Baltic, Basque, Turkish or

Arabic origin?

Kai.Lindgren@metropolia.fi2nd of Aug. 2013

Much of the text and many pictures are from Wikipedia

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Britain & Ireland in the mid-late 400s CE.Red: mainly Brythonic areas.Green: mainly Goidelic areas.Blue: mainly Pictish areas.

The ancient people of Picts lived in the Britain.

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Pict (pikt) n. [LME. Pictes, pl. < LL. Picti (lit. ? painted people), whence OE. Peohtas] any of ancient people of Great Britain, driven into Scotland by the Britons and Romans. (*

Pictish (pikt’ish) adj. of the Picts, their language, ortheir culture –n. The language of the Picts: itsrelationship is not established. (*

*) Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language: Second College Edition. William Collins + World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland 1976.

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/1/ Tacitus: Germania (in Latin AD 98), Finnish edition, Otava, Keuruu (Finland) 1976.

”Thus already on the right shore of the Suebian Sea (east shore of the Baltic sea) live the tribes of Eastivi(Estonians), who are similar to Suebians in their manner of living and appearance, but their language resembles the language in Britain.” /1/ page 69.

Are the Picts of Finnish (Estonian) origin, for Tacitus says in his famous book ”Germania”:

End of Pictish Regime

• About 850 AD in a (civil) war, Scottish Kenneth MacAlpincrashed the military power of the northern Pictish area (coast and the islands) which was weakened by the new military force, the Norwegians.

• The Vikings took over the city of York in 866 and called it to ”Jorvik” and eventually took over the whole Britain.

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THE "PICTI" NAME IN PTOLEMY'S DESCRIPTIONS FROM THE ROMAN AGE

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Andres Pääbo: UIRALA - PART THREE. There has been a tradition to assume that the name of the Picts, originating from Roman "Picti" first used in the early 3rd century AD, was derived from a Latin word meaning 'painted', presumably from native British painting their bodies for war.

• However all indications are that it was an indigenous word, not one invented by Romans. The appearance of a people called Rhobogdi has been mentioned. We will look at Ptolemy's naming more closely. The map above shows the two locations of the names Rhobogdi and Epidi.

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• One can arrive at Epidi by raising the vowels and abbreviating Rhobogdi. Such names were collected in Roman times from sources who were usually not natives, but officials working for the Romans and the distortions could have been made by the official and not the natives themselves.

• Since the major occupation of the northern peoples was harvesting the sea, one could suggest that the Picti word (Bogdi in the example), had something to do with catching fish, etc. That inspires us to suggest the Estonian püükide 'of the catches' may be some sort of parallel. (We bear in mind that Estonian has a very strong sea-trader tradition and would qualify as being located on the coast of "Scythia“ which the Venerable Bede claimed was the source of the Picts!)

• The Rho at the front, would be the RA found in Rhone, Rhine, etc. which means 'way, path' and is often seen in the names of the earlier trade waterways (Ptolemy named the Volga Rha) but more often it appeared as a suffix: Lige-RA, Wese-RA, Od-RA, etc.

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• There probably were two types of historic Picts. One type were sea-harvesters and used skin boats made from walrus hides, lived nomadically on outer shores and islands, and lived in semi buried circular rock shelters (like igloos, but made of rock and covered with sod). They were of the oceanic sea-hunter stock which had ultimately come from arctic Norwegian shores, and perhaps remained tied to it.

• The other type of people associated with the term "Pict" in later history, were long distance traders of the Veneti trade network, who made their stops at the trader-Picts. Ptolemy's map even suggests these trader-Picts were established beside the sea-hunter-Picts in order to be handy to each other. To the west of the Rhobogdi were the Vennicni and on the east side near today's Aberdeen were the Vennicones. Since the term VENNE, VENTA, etc were associated with trading, they can be seen as the trader-Picts, with long distance trade links to the east Baltic coast (the coast of "Scythia")

Venetic LanguageDeciphered based on Estonian by Andres Pääbo

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Andres Pääbo: The Veneti Language:

“The Venetic inscriptions have been found around the plain at the head of the Adriatic Sea “

“from the Po around to Trieste, up the Adige,Piave Rivers, and the nearby Carnic Alps.”

“Adige (Atesis) and later Piave (Piavis) were the main Venetic trade routes bringing trade goods from both Western Europe and the Baltic Sea.”

Ideas of Andres Pääbo (or KL)

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VENE (boat): Venetic – Fennic – (Russia – Wends - Venedi)

PYYTÄÄ (to catch): Picti – (finna/find - Finland)

SUOMAA (bog land): Suomi – (Svebia – Suebi - Suevi) - Semnones

SAMOILLA (to walk): Samojed – Saami people – Häme people• In Estonian “samm” to step and “sammujad“ people who walk. • In Finnish “samoilla” to walk long distances and

“samoilija” a person who walks long distances

Writings in Ogham

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The Buckquoy spindle-whorl was oncethought to contain an indecipherablenon-Indo-European inscription. In factthe inscription, written in 8th centuryOrkney with Ogham, can now bedeciphered and was written in a language identifiable with Old Irish. The inscription is of a common benedictive type, reading Benddactanim L., "a blessing on the soul of L".[9]

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According to W. B. Lockwood (1975), the view that Pictish was a Celtic language is tentative. Referring to an inscription in Shetland, he writes: "When the personal names are extracted, the residue is entirely incomprehensible. Thus the Lunnastingstone in Shetland reads ettocuhetts ahehhttann hccvvevv nehhtons. The last word is clearly the commonly occurring name Nechton, but the rest, even allowing for the perhaps arbitrary doubling of consonants in Ogam, appears so exotic that philologists conclude that Pictish was a non-Indo-European language of unknown affinities". Jackson considered that the language of the inscriptions was a different one from that of the place-names. However, Forsyth has interpreted these inscriptions as a Celtic language. Henri Guiter in 1968 concluded that the language was a form of Basque, which might tie in with DNA studies of pre-historic migrations.

ettocuhetts ahehhttann hccvvevvnehhtons

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This is in English: Rest after eating (Ettoset) are given (annethan) deep (syvät) to Nechton. Or as my Australian Friend put it: ”A sound rest after mealtime is granted to Nechton.”

Using crude force to interpret, this could be in Finnish (very naive guess): “Ettoset annethansyvät Nechtons(ille)”

Regent (2012) recovery(John Bruce, i.a. expert in Babylonian Cuneiform)

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e tec uhet s: ah e Chtann-n: h c Fef: Nechton s (Old Irish w. Pictish pronounciation)

e tec uchet ais: ah e Chattanan: Hi co Fef: Nechton ais(Old Irish)

The Holy House from here established: His is Ardchattan: Iona as far as Fife:

Nechton erected (English translation)

”ettocuhetts ahehhttann hccvvevv nehhtons”

John Bruce thinks he has deciphered all the Pictishoghams with Old Irish.

E.g. the Bressay Stone from Orkney

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The translations were obtained with reference to eDil, the on-line dictionary of Old and Middle Irish.

CRROSCC: NAHHTVVDDADDS: DATTR: ANNBENNISES: MEQQDDRROANN

CRROS CC: NAHHT VVDDADD S: DA TTR: ANN BENN ISES: MEQQ DDRROAN (Ogham transcription)

cros c : nacht fdad s: da tr: an ben Ises: Meqq Dro'an(Spoken Pictish)

cros co: nacht fothad ais: da tir: an ben Ises: Meqq Dro'an(Old Irish)

Cross that: purity erected standing: Thy land: Glorious on high Jesus:

Son of Dro'an (English)

John Bruce and Brodie B:

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RGINNGCHQODTOSOMBS

RGIN N GCH QO DT O SOMBS Transcribed ogham

rignn pc-h qo dth o sombs Pictish Spoken

Rigan na goach co dath o somblas Old Irish

Queen of the deceitfulwith face un- pleasant English

The “queen” may well be “Aine Dubh”, a pagan goddess.

Or in the Scottish place names? Jackson considered that the language of the inscriptions was a different one from that of the place-names.

The present interpretation of Ogham is not 100% secure. – Could there be words of your language in the texts?

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Simplicity of English Grammar

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Could the simplicity of Grammar of nouns in English and Scandinavian languages and French originate from an older language which was common to all of these. Could this be the language of the Megalithic culture, see the adjacent map *). Could the language be Phoenician.– Or was the reason simply influences from many different languages: Semitic, Basque, Finnish, Celtic, Latin, Germanic; I bet for this latter explanation.

*) Norbert Strade: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Role of Uralic Hunters and Gatherers in the Ethnohistory of the Early Germanic Area. Historica Fenno-Ugriga, Turku 1997.

Celtic

Originally Romans called Picts as Caledonians

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By 210 however, the Caledonians had re-formed their alliance with the Maeatae and joined their fresh offensive. There is no further historical mention of the Caledonians for a century save for a c. AD 230 inscription from Colchester which records a dedication by a man calling himself the nephew (or grandson) of "Uepogenus, [a] Caledonian".[3] This may be because Severus' campaigns were so successful that the Caledonians were wiped out, however this is highly unlikely. In 305, Constantius Chlorus re-invaded the northern lands of Britain although the sources are vague over their claims of penetration into the far north and a great victory over the "Caledones and others" (Panegyrici Latini Vetares, VI (VII) vii 2). The event is notable in that it includes the first recorded use of the term 'Pict' to describe the tribes of the area /6/.

- It comes in mind that Severus indeed succeeded to destroy the cultivations and the language of the Caledonians; only the hunter-gatherers (therefore called as Picts) survived and started to use Old Irish, or maybe this was their language already. However, some of the old culture was preserved even in the southern Caledonia for the symbol stones of c. 670 – 870 AD depict animals there when the stones in the northern Caledonia depict geometrical motifs /7/.

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Peoples of Northern Britain according to Ptolemy's map

Old Scottish Tribe/Region Names Interpreted as Finnish

TRIBE NAMES IN EAST-SOUTHERN CALEDONIA- Vacomagi – ”Vakomäki” in Finnish or sola, cove in

English - Taexali – ”Takana olevat”, in English people behind.- Caledonii – ”Kalevalaiset”, People of Kaleva (as

Estonians call them selves).- Or ”Kalliolaiset”, the People of rocky

mountains- Brigantes – ”Bri-kanttiset” or ”Brittien vieressä olevat”,

or people near Britons. - Maeatae – ”Mäen takaiset”, People behind the hill,

could this be the same as Taexali?

- Selgovae – ”Selkäpuoliset”, People on the back side or people of the middle land.

- Otadini – ”Otsan puoleiset” or ”Etummaiset” or “Jyrkänteen ihmiset” or “Karhuihmiset. People on the front side or on the edge or people of the bear.

- Lugi – ”Luikkivat” or ”vaeltelevat”, People which wanders

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TRIBE NAMES IN NORTH-WEST CALEDONIA- Orcades – Means place of walrus /8/- Cornovii – “People of the cornu (IE)”, the northern peninsula of Scotland.- Caereni – ”Kairalaiset” so ”Metsäläiset”, the people of forest.- Smertae – “Mertalaiset”, peole who use fish-traps.- Carnonacai – . - Decantai – .- Creones – .- Ebudae – “Pyytävät” or people who hunt/catch fish.- Epidi – “Pyytävät” or people who hunt/catch fish, the Picts /2/.- Damnonii – ”Patoihmiset”, the people with dams (IE).- Novantae – ”Uudet ihmiset” or new people (novus, Latin).

IN ADDITION:- Schiehallion - the "fairy hill of the Caledonians” could come from Finnish words

“Hienokallio”. “Kallio” is rocky hill and “hieno” is fair.

It is much easier to interpret the tribe names of South-East Caledonia with Finnish than the names in North-West. So there has probably been two different languages in the early Roman time, Finnish and probably Old Irish.

Note, these interpretations are only suggestions and they should be compared with the real on-site conditions.

Newton Stone

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Runes part by Kai Lindgren:Inscription from /7/. Translation with runes, see /6/. This must be read from 45 to 1:

EQVCh QOQOA ISSE HRLI JA EGEVÖ KOVOCHOQ QMHN ILQLUA AEKA

Or as a better modern Finnish (palatilasation marked with dots):.E.go KOKOA ISSE HRLI JA EGEVÖ KOVASOK QMHN ILKUA AEKA

Or in modern Finnish (D and H quite similar in runes)JÄÄKÖÖN: KOKOA ITSESI, DRLI, JA IKÄVÄ KOVASTI MIHIN ILKKUVI AIKA.

In English:LET IT BE SO: COLLECT YORSELF, DRLI, AND SAD HARD WHERE MOCKS THE TIME.

Ogham part by John Bruce:IDDARQNNNVORRENN IKU(A) IOSIEHe [is] Darqn (=Tarkin) splendid salvation of Joshua.He [is] Darqn (=Tarkin) splendid remedy of Jesus. (Alternative)St. Tarkin’s (toponym?) splendid remedy of Jesus?

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Genetic evidence of former Finnish peopleliving in Britain

Professor, Mr. Kalevi Wiik said on TV:

• ”There are separate Finno-Ugrian nations all over northern Europe. This implies that Finnish was the most important language in the northern Europe before agriculture arrived there.”

• ”When a glass of water is poured over the table, there forms a big contiguous puddle on the surface. But soon the big puddle dries out and there remain many small separate puddles on the table. Similarly there are at the present time many Fenno-Ugrian nations all over northern Europe (mainly in the region of Russia).”

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Map 79. The frequency of the haplogroup N3 (former Tat C) in the population of northern Eurasia. The map is based on the results gathered by Richard Villems and his research group. /10/ page 173.

/10/ Kalevi Wiik, Suomalaisten juuret (The Roots of the Finnish People). Atena, Keuruu (Finland) in 2004.

Understanding the population compound

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It is good to remember that even if American Indians constitute only a proportion of 1% of the total population of 250 million inhabitants in US, their absolute number is still today the same as it was when white men first arrived on American soil. I explain this phenomenon as this:

1. When a population has lived a long time in some place, the density of that population reaches the limit which is possible for their economy.

2. When a new population with a much more powerful economy arrives in a region populated by people with a weaker economy, the density of the newcomers very rapidly reaches the limit that their more powerful economy will tolerate.

3. At the same time the earlier native population continues to live according to their old customs and their density remains constant. However, the newcomers utilize the recourses of the area so effectively that the earlier population must adapt to the economy of the newcomers to maintain their density.

4. E.g. if the population of the earlier ethnic group was 2,5 million and the economy of the new comers was 100 times so powerful as the economy of the native population, the total population grows to 250 million and the share of the original ethnic group would be 2.5 million.

Subtracting the newcomers

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If the newcomers are subtracted from the current N3 distribution above, we arrive at the supposed distribution 5000 years ago shown on the right side.• We have assumed that in

Europe the newcomers had an economy roughly 100 times more powerful than was the economy of the existing population.

• In Asia it is assumed that no newcomers with a more powerful economy has ewer arrived. Compare with the Great Wall or Mongolian borders on the next page.

The map describes the estimated N3 dominated area some 5000 years ago. The population probably arrived immediately after the ice age and thus belongs to the oldest in Europe.

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Hadrian’s Wall

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Languages of American Indians

There was circa twenty years ago an article in Scientific American about the languages of the Indians in North America.

Their languages separated from the languages on the old continent so long ago that it has been difficult to find their relatives.

• Now it seems however clear, that they originate to some extent from Europe.

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• The map of the Finnish related people on the previous page could beautifully demonstrate the route of the American Indians from Europe to America over the Bearing strait.

• In fact, Andres Pääbo has found that the language of Inuit has close relationship to Finnish; and two Amer-Indian peoples have also, one on the Atlantic and the other on the Pacific coast.

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The word ”milk” is found in many Indian languages. It does not mean exactly the same in every language but may have the meanings like:• milk (maito in Finnish)• suck (imeä in Finnish)• breast (rinta in Finnish)

The Finnish word imeä (suck) is also quite near the word milk: even more if it is pronounced like ”imiä” (emeä), as it could be pronounced in some dialects.

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Genetics and some possible migration routes of American Indians

There are genetic traits from many places in the world in American Indians. Also there might be many different migration routes:•During the ice age over the ice cover over the northern Atlantic and Pacific oceans.•After the ice age over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans with different kinds of small boats: E.g. people in Newfoundland were quit much like the Europeans when the Englishmen come to America. Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P9RscPPL4E

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Modern genetic studies have shown that Flemish people in Belgium and the people of the Netherlands are the closest relatives to Finnish people in Europe.

• This is easy to believe because those peoples live so near the land of the Picts. If there were ice cover over the North Sea – as there certainly would have been during the winters soon after the ice age - crossing by sea could be very easy.

Finnish relatives in Europe

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Also, it is another surprising result of modern genetics that Finns and Italians are close relatives to each other.• Some recent genetic studies also say that Finns and

Italians are the original peoples of Europe, which have got the least genetic influences from other peoples. – Perhaps because Italians live behind the Alps and Finns in the most remote cold North.

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Words in old English, which resembles Finnish:

"Balulalow” or "Ballulalow"

It is the same as lullaby

Could the parts be in Finnish:- Balu - Baijutus (lulling) as in dialectal Finnish

"baijuttavi poijuttansa..." (lulling her son…)- Lalow - Laulu (song). Propably onomatoboeic word.

Listen to the melody with the same name by Benjamin Britten:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL4fhwhq9KE

“Bretwalda”

Old English word. Broad+ruler, so wide ruler.

In Finnish: - Bret - Leveä, means broad. ”Lev” feels in mouth

similar to English broad or Old English Bret, “eä” means only “kind of”

- Walda - Valta, means dominion. This is also an old IE word.

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Referencies/1/ Tacitus: Germania (in Latin AD 98), Finnish edition, Otava, Keuruu

(Finland) 1976./2/ Andres Pääbo: Writings in internet. http://www.paabo.ca//3/ Andres Pääbo: The Veneti Language. http://www.paabo.ca/veneti/index.html/4/ Veijo Meri: Sanojen Synty, Gummerus, Jyväskylä 2002./5/ List of country-name etymologies. From Wikipedia; June 2013./6/ Wikipedia; June, August 2013./7/ Anthony Jackson: The Symbol Stones of Scotland. The Orkney Press, Kirkwall

(Orkney) 1984./8/ Farley Mowat: The Farfarers, A New History of North America.

Skyhorse Publishing, New York 2011./9/ Norbert Strade: An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Role of Uralic Hunters and

Gatherers in the Ethnohistory of the Early Germanic Area. Historica Fenno-Ugriga, Turku 1997.

/10/ Kalevi Wiik, Suomalaisten juuret (The Roots of the Finnish People). Atena, Keuruu (Finland) in 2004.

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