Date
Name Scotia
Gender Feminine
Edit Status Status
Meaning & History
Derived from Late Latin Scotia, ultimately derived from Scoti or Scotti, a Latin name for the Gaels, first attested in the late 3rd century. At first it referred to all Gaels, whether in Ireland or Great Britain, as did the term Scotia for the lands they inhabited. From the 9th century, its meaning gradually shifted, so that it came to mean only the part of Britain lying north of the Firth of Forth: the Kingdom of Scotland. By the later Middle Ages it had become the fixed Latin term for what in English is called Scotland. The Romans referred to Ireland as "Scotia" around 500 A.D.
In Irish mythology, Scottish mythology and pseudohistory, Scotia is the name given to the mythological daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh. Manuscripts of the Lebor Gabála Érenn contain a legend of a Scotia who was the wife of Goidel's descendant Míl Espáine of ancient Iberia. Scotia is said to have come to Ireland in 1700 BC to avenge the death of her husband, the King, who had been wounded in a previous ambush in south Kerry. She was killed in battle with the legendary Tuatha Dé Danann on the nearby Slieve Mish Mountains. This Scotia's Grave is a famous landmark in Munster, Ireland.
According to Geoffrey Keating's 1634 narrative history of Ireland Foras Feasa ar Éirinn ("Foundation of Knowledge on Ireland" but most often known in English as "The History of Ireland"), the feminine name Scotia is derived from Irish scoṫ or scoth, meaning "blossom".
In Irish mythology, Scottish mythology and pseudohistory, Scotia is the name given to the mythological daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh. Manuscripts of the Lebor Gabála Érenn contain a legend of a Scotia who was the wife of Goidel's descendant Míl Espáine of ancient Iberia. Scotia is said to have come to Ireland in 1700 BC to avenge the death of her husband, the King, who had been wounded in a previous ambush in south Kerry. She was killed in battle with the legendary Tuatha Dé Danann on the nearby Slieve Mish Mountains. This Scotia's Grave is a famous landmark in Munster, Ireland.
According to Geoffrey Keating's 1634 narrative history of Ireland Foras Feasa ar Éirinn ("Foundation of Knowledge on Ireland" but most often known in English as "The History of Ireland"), the feminine name Scotia is derived from Irish scoṫ or scoth, meaning "blossom".