where did scotland get its name from?

Question

Ive read a theory that scotland got its name from a egyptian princess scotia her husband a persian prince traveled through france across to ireland and then he discovered scotland and named it after his beloved .Is this true or does anyone else have any theories

Answer 1

I have never heard the story of an Egyptian Princess named Scotia...however...

"The word Scot was borrowed from Latin and its use, to refer to Scotland, dates from at least the first half of the 10th century, when it first appeared in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as a reference to the Land of the Gaels, analogous to the Latin Scotia. Scottish kings adopted the title Basileus Scottorum or Rex Scottorum (meaning High King of the Gaels), and Rex Scotiae (King of Gael-land) some time in the 11th century, likely influenced by the style Imperator Scottorum known to have been employed by Brian Boru in Ireland in 1005."

"Scotia was originally the Latin name for Ireland (also known to the Romans as Hibernia). Use of the name shifted in the Middle ages to designate Scotland, since many of the Irish Scotii colonised that area which the Romans referred to as Caledonia.

Scotia was never in the middle ages one fixed place. It was a way of saying "Land of the Gaels"; compare Angli, Anglia; Franci, Francia; Romani, Romania; etc. Hence, it once could be used to mean Ireland, as when Isidore of Seville says "Scotia eadem et Hibernia, "Scotland and Ireland are the same country" (Isidore, lib. xii. c. 6)", but the connotation is still ethnic. This is how it is used, for instance, by King Robert I of Scotland and Domhnall Ua Neill during the Scottish Wars of Independence, when Ireland was called Scotia Maior, and Scotland Scotia Minor. In this way, the usage of the word Scotia in the Middle Ages might be compared with the 21st century usage of the word Gaidhealtachd. They both mean the same thing descriptively; and like Scotia, Gaidhealtachd has obtained an official and fixed meaning whilst retaining something of a descriptive meaning (i.e. the territory of Highland Council or the Highlands in general coincides with no linguistic frontier; and neither do the Gaeltachtaí of Ireland).

However, after the 11th century, Scotia was used mostly for northern Britain, and in this way became fixed. As a translation of Alba, Scotia could mean both the whole Kingdom belonging to the rex Scottorum, or just Scotland north of the Forth.

In the bureaucratic world of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo X eventually granted Scotland exclusive right over the word, and this led to Anglo-Scottish takeovers of continental Gaelic monastaries (e.g. the Schottenklöster).

It is from Scotia that all Romance names for Scotland derive, names such as the French Écosse."

Answer 2

A cat named Scot moved to a land unknown and decided to name the land "the land of Scot" and the name evolved into Scotland.

Answer 3

The Viking God Meir & Differ saw a land but a few cubits away, full of savages, deep frying their catch and not in any way contributing to world sport or world economics, culture etc etc.

Scoot away from this land of has beens was a common quote from the educateded free world, hense the answer to your question.

Answer 4

In ancient britain there were many tribes, the original (aboriginal) people were the picts, they were joined by immigrants from Ireland that were called the Scots, I think this is basically the correct answer.

Answer 5

Was it got given by the Roman Empire? Britannia, Scotia?

Answer 6

I was taught that it came from the Scot's tribe who had their origins in Ireland, but came to Scotland to fight the Pictish people.

Answer 7

I have no clue, but I do know the Roman name for Scotland is Caledonia so maybe its a translation from that

Answer 8

I've always heard the story of the Egyptian princess, too.

Answer 9

Scot

Answer 10

scotland got it's name because its were scots live i believe that it was a english king that called it scotland but i could be wrong