Scottish people

This article is about the Scottish as an ethnic group. For information about residents or nationals of Scotland, see Demographics of Scotland.

The Scottish people are an ethnic group native to Scotland in northern Great Britain.

Clarifying the scope of this article

The words Scot (see Scots) and Scottish each have two different meanings.#One refers to the people who live in or come from, the northern third of the island of Great Britain, and the surrounding smaller islands: Scotland. #The second is that group of people who came themselves or whose ancestors came into that territory from Ireland: the Scoti or Scotti of Scotia or Alba. (Although the word Scottish is rarely used to denote this historical ethnic group.) This use of the word is interchangeable with the term Gaels.

In the English language the word Scotch is a term to describe someone from Scotland e.g "Jimmy is Scotch". However, the people of Scotland prefer to be called Scots and may in fact find the term offensive The American HeritageÂ® Dictionary of the English Language Scotch usage note, Encarta Dictionary usage note.. The Oxford Dictionary describes Scotch as an adjective old-fashioned term for Scottish which means relating to Scotland.Oxford Dictionary Definition of Scotch

Similar people to the second group came to other parts of Great Britain, in Wales, Devon, Cornwall, and north west England over the past 1,700 years but there, they were assimilated while their proportionately larger numbers in the north meant that they came closer to dominating the peoples who already lived there. Indeed, to the extent that Scotland is named after them, they did dominate.

This double meaning should be borne in mind when reading the following attempt to unravel the complex threads which form the modern ethnic and cultural tapestry of Scotland.

This article deals only with the first definition. For a presentation of the second topic, see Gaels.

The indigenous ethnic groups of Scotland

The indigenous people of present day Scotland are mainly descended from five named early medieval ethnic/cultural groups. Three of these groups, all Celtic in language, i.e. the Picts (disputed, may have spoken a non-Celtic language), the Gaels and the Brythons monopolized the territory of modern Scotland until the 7th century; two Germanic peoples, the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse, settled the fringes of Scotland in the following three centuries. For the period 700 to 1000, Scotland became mostly Gaelic in language, and in this period their English and French neighbours gave the territory the name "Scotland", i.e. "land of the Gaels". Not all of modern Scotland was Gaelic though, the far south-east, Lothian and the Borders, as well as eastern Caithness and the Northern Isles, preserved the Germanic languages, English and Norse respectively, that had become entrenched in earlier centuries. However, from 1200 to 1500, the lowland parts of Scotland between Galloway and the Highland line gradually became English-speaking, and from 1500 until recent years, Scotland was divided by language into two groups of people, commonly called "Highlanders" (Gaelic-speakers) and "Lowlanders" (English-speakers). Today, immigrants have brought other languages, but almost every adult in modern Scotland is fluent in the English language, and the concept of "Highlander" and "Lowlander" is rather a meaningless anachronism applied only to historical topics.

The Scottish diaspora

Today, Scotland has a population of just over five million people, the vast majority of whom consider themselves Scottish. As well as these, in the Scottish diaspora, there are more than 15 million (Scots-Irish included) in North America and a large population in Australia. Scottish culture has particularly thrived in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia (Latin for "New Scotland") where both Lowland and Highland Scots settled in large numbers and is the home of the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts. Scottish culture is also evident across North America with various Highland games festivals. Please see the articles on the Highland Clearances, the Lowland Clearances, and the Ulster-Scots for more information on the Scottish diaspora. Scots have been emigrating to mainland Europe for centuries as merchants and soldiers.See David Armitage, "The Scottish Diaspora", particularly pp. 272–278, in Jenny Wormald (ed.), Scotland: A History. Oxford UP, Oxford, 2005. ISBN 0-19-820615-1 Many emigrated to France (Auld Alliance), Poland[1] Italy (Bonnie Prince Charlie) and Holland.[2]. In Latin America there is notable Scottish populations in Brazil, Argentina[3] ,Chile[4] and Mexico. (see ). There are around 400,000 Scots In London - see www.scotsinlondon.com for details.

Anglicisation

see main article: AnglicisationThere are also many Scottish surnames which have become "anglicised" (made to sound English) over the centuries. Davis, Bruce, Campbell, Salmond, Marshall, Christie, and Joy are just a few of many examples.This arose in part from effects of the Act of Union of 1707, enacted under Queen Anne, of the Scottish House of Stuart. In this, the parliaments of England and Scotland agreed to unite to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Following rebellions in Scotland, involving invasions of England, there were attempts by the English and lowland Scots, to "anglicise" Scottish culture.

However most Scottish surnames have remained predominantly Gaelic albeit altered to suit English phonetics (as with Irish surnames). Thus MacAoidh in Gaelic is MacKay in English and MacGill-Eain in Gaelic is MacLean, O'Maolagan is Milligan and so on. Mac (sometimes Mc) is common as it once meant (son of). MacDonald, Balliol, Gilmore, Gilmour, MacKinley, MacKintosh, MacKenzie, MacNiell, MacRyan, MacPhearson, MacLear, McDonald, McKenzie, MacAra, MacNamara, MacManus, Lauder, Menzies, Galloway and Duncan, are just a few of many examples of traditional Scottish surnames. There are of course, also the many surnames, like Wallace and Morton, stemming from parts of Scotland which were settled by peoples other than the (Gaelic) Scots.

In 1603, the English and Scottish Crowns united under King James VI of Scotland (King James I of England). The border clans were banished to England, Northern Scotland, and Ireland.

Notes

[5]"Some estimates put the figure as high as 40 million. Whichever, we are talking about a lot of people â€" a lot more than the 5.1 million people who actually live in Scotland today"

References

*Ritchie, A. & Breeze, D.J. Invaders of Scotland HMSO. (?1991) ISBN 0-11-494136-X
*David Armitage, "The Scottish Diaspora" in Jenny Wormald (ed.), Scotland: A History. Oxford UP, Oxford, 2005. ISBN 0-19-820615-1
*Scotchirish.net: "Pioneers". http://www.scotchirish.net/The%20Pioneers.php4

Scottish people: Encyclopedia BETA

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