Jonathan Green - Scottish Miscellany: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Scotland the Brave

The part of the mainland where the Gaels first settled became known as Airer Gaedel, meaning the coast of the Gaels, which is now more commonly known as Argyll, where the sweaters come from.

From here on in, the facts (if we can call them that) get a little hazy. Either Godel or his son Sru was expelled from Egypt shortly after the Exodus of the Israelites by yet another pharaoh that one Irish chronicler calls Intuir. After much traveling throughout the ancient world, his descendants settled in the Iberian peninsula (in what is modern Spain and Portugal). It was here that Mil Espine was born. His sonsEber Finn and Eremonestablished a Gaelic presence in Ireland.

To demonstrate just how confusing alternate versions of the same myth can be, in The Story of the Irish Race, by Seumas MacManus, Scota married Niul, who was the grandson of Gaodhal Glas. Then a completely different Scota altogetherwho was coincidentally the daughter of another pharaohmarried Miled (or Milesius, as he is also known). According to MacManus, it was this second Scota who left Iberia with her eight sons and their families, after Miled died, eventually settling in Ireland. According to this version of events, a number of Scotas sons died during the sea voyage to Ireland due to a terrible storm. Queen Scota herself, however, made it to Ireland, only to die during the battle that took place between the Milesians and the Tuatha D Danannthe tribes of the Earth Goddess who were already living in Ireland. In yet another version of the story, Scota and Godel Glas were wife and husband, rather than mother and son. Confusing, isnt it?

Whatever the truth of Scota and her familys long journey from Egypt to Ireland, and from there to Scotland, what is known is that the name Scotland comes from the Latin Scoti , which was the name given to the Gaels from Ireland by the Romans, and was their word for pirates or raiders. Scotia was the name initially used by the Romans to refer to Ireland, not Scotland, but by the eleventh century Scotia was also being used to refer to the Gaelic-dominated part of the country north of the River Forth.

These Gaels were full of energy and creative spirit, and it was they who ultimately joined together the different races of the north into one kingdom. It wasnt until the late Middle Ages that the words Scots (for the people) and Scotland (for the country) were used to describe what we now think of as the Land of the Free. At the time of the English king Edward Iknown as the Hammer of the Scotsthe Scots themselves made much of their link with the Egyptian princess Scota, even going so far as to claim that they were descended from Noah the Ark-builder.

Of course modern Scotland is part of the nation of Great Britain, which, along with Northern Ireland and various island groups such as the Isles of Scilly, the Hebrides, Shetland Islands, and Orkney Islands, make up the United Kingdom. Of the 88,795 square miles (229,979 square kilometers) of land that make up Great Britain, 30,414 square miles (78,772 square kilometers) is Scotland.

WHAT IS THE SCOTTISH NATIONAL ANTHEM?

T his is something of a trick question, since Scotland is one of the constituent countries of the United Kingdom. As such, its national anthem is God Save the Queen, just as it is for England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Scotland has no distinct official national anthem of its own. (Note the word official in that last sentence.)