WHAT was the difference between the Scots and the Picts? - Doug McKenna, Stockton.

PICTS and Scots are thought of as the indigenous Celtic people of Scotland. However, there were actually five main groups of people who contributed to the ethnic make-up of Scotland and there is some dispute as to whether Picts were actually Celts at all. Of the five main groups of Caledonian peoples - Scots, Picts, Angles, Norwegians and Britons - the Picts are certainly the most mysterious.

There is much argument about what sort of language the Picts spoke and some theories suggest it was a pre-Celtic, Indo-European language. Basque is the only surviving language of this kind today. Others insist the Picts spoke a kind of Celtic, related to that once spoken in Gaul (France).

The origins of the Picts are also disputed, with theories placing their origins in Scandinavia, Scythia, the Basque country or the steppes of Eastern Europe. The only written clue to the language is a list of 60 Pictish kings up to the mid 800sAD and numerous Pictish place names, often begin with the word 'Pit', as in Pitlochry.

We do not even know for sure what the Picts called themselves, as the Romans gave them their name. In Roman Latin Picti means 'painted people' - a reference to the Pictish practice of tatooing.

The Pictish culture was eventually absorbed into Scotland by the expansion of the Scots. This race, originally known as the Dal Riata Scots, originated from the northern part of Ireland and had already begun to settle on the western shores of Pictland around 360AD. They spoke a Celtic Gaelic language. The islands and peninsulas of Argyll became the homeland of the Scots.

Throughout the 700s, the Norwegian Vikings began to colonise Orkney, Shetland and Caithness, and this may have helped to bring the Picts and Scots into closer alliance. In 845AD the crown of Alba (as Caledonia was by then known) passed to a Scot called Kenneth MacAlpin. MacAlpin was also the son of a Pictish princess, and, since Pictish society and inheritance was constructed along female lines, MacAlpin was an acceptable ruler to both Picts and Scots. MacAlpin's succession to the throne would, however, mark the early origins of the kingdom of Scotland. The Angles of the Lothians and Britons of Strathclyde would not be incorporated into Scotland until 1016 and 1034, while Caithness would not be acquired from the Vikings until the 1200s. Orkney and Shetland remained under Scandinavian control until 1469.

Published: Monday, January 7, 2002

If you have a Burning Question, or can improve on any of the answers above, please write to Burning Questions, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF or e-mail david.simpson@nne.co.uk