Etymology of Scotland

Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba pronounced [ˈaɫ̪apə]) is a country that occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain and forms part of the United Kingdom.

The name of Scotland is derived from the Latin Scoti, the term applied to Gaels. The origin of the word Scoti (or Scotti) is uncertain. Brian Boru famously referred to himself in an inscription in the Book of Armagh as a Scot. "Brian “Boru” MacCinneteig, Lion of Thomond, and Emperor of the Irish, was “the last great High King of Ireland” from 1002-1014; Famous for crushing the Viking oppression of Ireland in Limerick and Dublin, subduing those overbearing northern O’Neill kings, and unifying the regional kings into one great nation of peace and prosperity.... His inscription on the Book of Armagh enhanced his own legend: in conspectu Briain… Imperator Scottorum: In the presence of Brian… Emperor of the Irish." This was in the early 10th Century.

The word "Scot" is found in Latin texts from the fourth century describing a tribe which sailed from Ireland to raid Roman Britain. It came to be applied to all the Gaels. It is not believed that any Gaelic groups called themselves Scoti in ancient times, except when writing in Latin.Oman derives it from Scuit, proposing a meaning of 'a man cut off', suggesting that a Scuit was not a Gael as such but one of a renagade band settled in the part of Ulster which became the kingdom of Dál Riata but 'Scuit' only exists in Old Irish as 'buffoon/laughing-stock' The 19th century author Aonghas MacCoinnich of Glasgow proposed that Scoti was derived from a Gaelic ethnonym (proposed by MacCoinnich) Sgaothaich from sgaoth "swarm", plus the derivational suffix -ach (plural -aich) However, this proposal to date has not appeared in mainstream place-name studies.

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