Epidii
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File:Britain.north.peoples.Ptolemy.jpg
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.Watson (1926) p. 37 Ptolemy does not list a town for the Epidii, but the Ravenna Cosmography (RC 108.4) mentions Rauatonium, which is assumed to be Southend.Fitzpatrick-Matthews (2013) p. 69
Etymology
The name Epidii includes the P-Celtic root epos, meaning "horse" (cf. Welsh ebol, "a foal").{{Harvcolnb|Delamarre|2003|pp=163–164}}, Dictionnaire de la Langue Gauloise 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.Woolf, Alex. [https://www.academia.edu/1502702/Ancient_Kindred_Dal_Riata_and_the_Cruthin Ancient Kindred? Dál Riata and the Cruthin]. 2012. The Q-Celtic equivalent would be *Ekwidios, which may be the origin of the Old Gaelic name Eochaid.
The Dagda, a Gaelic god, is often referred to as Eochaid Ollathair.[http://www.tairis.co.uk/gods/gods-in-scotland Gods in Scotland] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150121003002/http://www.tairis.co.uk/gods/gods-in-scotland |date=21 January 2015 }}. Tairis.
Language
Although their name is almost certainly 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".{{Harvcolnb|Campbell|2001}}, Were the Scots Irish?; cf. Foster, Picts, Gaels and Scots, pp. 9 – 10 and Armit, Celtic Scotland, pp. 21 – 24 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. He also suggests that the Hebrides, called the Ebudae by Ptolemy, were named after the Epidii.
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See also
References
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Sources
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- Armit, Ian, Celtic Scotland, (2nd ed.) London: B.T. Batsford/Historic Scotland, 2005. {{ISBN|0-7134-8949-9}}
- {{Cite journal|last=Campbell |first=Ewan |title=Were the Scots Irish? |journal=Antiquity |issue=288 |date=2001 |volume=75 |pages=285–292|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00060920 |s2cid=159844564 |doi-access=free }}
- {{cite book |last1=Delamarre |first1=X. |title=Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise : une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental |date=2003 |publisher=Errance |location=Paris |isbn=2-87772-237-6 |edition=2nd}}
- Fitzpatrick-Matthews, Keith (5 August 2013) [https://www.academia.edu/4175080/BRITANNIA_IN_THE_RAVENNA_COSMOGRAPHY_A_REASSESSMENT "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}}
- {{Citation
|last=Ptolemy
|author-link=Ptolemy
|date=150
|title=Geographia, Book 2, Chapter 2: Albion island of Britannia
|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Periods/Roman/_Texts/Ptolemy/2/2*.html
|editor-last=Thayer
|editor-first=Bill
|publication-date=2008
|access-date=2008-04-26
|publisher=LacusCurtius website at the University of Chicago
}}
- 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.
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External links
- [http://www.kmatthews.org.uk/Ravenna_Cosmography/group25.html The circumnavigation of Scotland] compares Ptolemy and the Ravenna Cosmography for the south west coast of Scotland
{{Iron Age tribes in Britain}}