The Epidii (Greek: Επίδιοι) were a people of ancient Britain, known from a mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. Epidion has been identified as the island of Islay in modern Argyll.[1] Ptolemy does not list a town for the Epidii, but the Ravenna Cosmography (RC 108.4) mentions Rauatonium, which is assumed to be Southend.[2]
Etymology
The name Epidii includes the P-Celtic root epos, meaning "horse" (c.f. Welsh ebol, "a foal").[3] The Q-Celtic equivalent would be *ekwos, which became Old Gaelic ech. It is suggested that they were named after a horse god, whose name could be reconstructed as *Epidios.[4] The Q-Celtic equivalent would be *Ekwidios, which may be the origin of the Old Gaelic name Eochaid.[4]
The Dagda, a Gaelic god, is often referred to as Eochaid Ollathair.[5]
Language
Although their name is almost certainly is Brittonic/P-Celtic, Dr Ewan Campbell suggest they were Goidelic/Q-Celtic speakers. He says "Ptolemy's source for his Scottish names was probably from the Scottish Central Lowlands, and may have transmitted the Brittonic form of a Goidelic tribal name, or even the external name given to the tribe by Brittonic speakers".[6] Their territory later became the heartland of the Goidelic kingdom of Dál Riata. Alex Woolf suggests that the Epidii became the Dál Riata, but argues that they were Brittonic-speaking in Ptolemy's time.[4] He also suggests that the Hebrides, called the Ebudae by Ptolemy, were named after the Epidii.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Watson (1926) p. 37
- ^ Fitzpatrick-Matthews (2013) p. 69
- ^ Delamarre 2003:163–164, Dictionnaire de la Langue Gauloise
- ^ a b c d Woolf, Alex. Ancient Kindred? Dál Riata and the Cruthin. 2012.
- ^ Gods in Scotland Archived 21 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Tairis.
- ^ Campbell 2001, Were the Scots Irish?; cf. Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 9 – 10 and Armit, Celtic Scotland, pp. 21 – 24
Sources
- Armit, Ian, Celtic Scotland, (2nd ed.) London: B.T. Batsford/Historic Scotland, 2005. ISBN 0-7134-8949-9
- Campbell, Ewan (2001). "Were the Scots Irish?". Antiquity. 75 (288): 285–292. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00060920. S2CID 159844564.
- Delamarre, X. (2003). Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise : une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental (2nd ed.). Paris: Errance. ISBN 2-87772-237-6.
- Fitzpatrick-Matthews, Keith (5 August 2013) "Britannia in the Ravenna Cosmography: a reassessment." (pdf) Academia.edu. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
- Foster, Sally M., Picts, Gaels, and Scots (2nd ed.) London: B.T. Batsford/Historic Scotland, 2005. ISBN 0-7134-8874-3
- Ptolemy (150), Thayer, Bill (ed.), Geographia, Book 2, Chapter 2: Albion island of Britannia, LacusCurtius website at the University of Chicago (published 2008), retrieved 26 April 2008
- The British Section of the Ravenna Cosmography in Archaeologia 93 (1949), 108.4
- Watson, W. J. (2004) The Celtic Place-Names of Scotland. Edinburgh. Birlinn. ISBN 1-84158-323-5. First published 1926.
External links
- The circumnavigation of Scotland compares Ptolemy and the Ravenna Cosmography for the south west coast of Scotland