this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2025
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Not something I thought of a lot when I was back in US since USA is... a pretty bureaucratic name by all means. But I just realized that some countries have really fascinating names in their local language

Like how China names itself Central/Middle country in a very grandiose way (as in, we are the center of the world), or Japan being "land of the rising sun"

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[–] auraithx@piefed.social 0 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Probably a myth but interesting none the less:

https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/the-pharaohs-daughter-who-was-the-mother-of-all-scots-2507668

Scota, Iberia, Gaels, and Brutus for Britain

If we treat the medieval origin legends as literal history, the story goes far beyond just Scota — it ties the Gaelic and British peoples into a single sweeping migration narrative that connects Biblical, Egyptian, Scythian, Iberian, and Celtic threads.

📜 Medieval Storyline with Sources and Dates

  1. Historia Brittonum (c. 830)

This early British text, attributed to Nennius, combines the Scota legend with another powerful myth: that Britain itself was named after Brutus of Troy, the great-grandson of the Trojan hero Aeneas. According to this version, Brutus fled Troy after its fall, wandered through the Mediterranean, and finally landed in Albion (Britain), naming it after himself and becoming its first king.

  1. Lebor Gabála Érenn (11th century)

This “Book of Invasions” describes how Scota, daughter of an Egyptian Pharaoh, married Niul, who was connected to the legendary linguist Fenius Farsaidh. Their son, Goídel Glas, supposedly created the Gaelic language.

This Gaelic line migrated through Scythia and eventually reached Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal). In the myth, the people named the region Iberia after a leader named Ith, or in some versions, the name connects back to these same wandering Gaelic ancestors. From Iberia, the Milesians — Scota’s descendants — sailed to Ireland and Scotland, conquering the land and giving their name, Gaels (from Goídel Glas), to the people and Scotia (from Scota) to the land.

🌍 How Names Were “Transferred”

🏰 Iberia • In these legends, the Gaelic ancestors settled in Iberia before Ireland. Some texts claim the region took its name from Ith, a Milesian scout and leader, though historians see this as an invented connection. • This narrative frames the Iberian Peninsula as a stepping stone on the Gaelic migration path, reinforcing their ancient, far-ranging pedigree.

🏰 Gaels • The people are said to take their name directly from Goídel Glas, Scota’s son, who created the Gaelic language by mixing tongues during his wanderings. • “Gael” became synonymous with the Irish and Scottish Gaelic-speaking peoples, while “Scoti” or “Scotia” tied the name back to Scota herself.

⚔️ Brutus and Britain • In parallel, the Historia Brittonum and later Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (12th century) tell how Brutus, the Trojan exile, landed in Britain and founded a new kingdom. • The legend says Albion was renamed Britannia after Brutus, giving the people their name — Britons. • Together, Brutus for Britain and Scota for Scotia formed a matched pair of noble origin myths that linked the whole British Isles to classical and Biblical civilizations.

🏺 Local “Evidence” and Sites • For Scota, places like Scota’s Grave at Slieve Mish in County Kerry are shown as proof she died fighting for the Milesians’ conquest of Ireland. • Some local traditions claim wells, hills, and burial mounds mark her passage. • For Brutus, the supposed site of his landing is sometimes pointed out around Totnes, Devon, or other coastal locations in southern England.

✅ If Taken as “True”

All of this together forms a grand medieval framework: • The Gaels trace their name to Goídel Glas, their land to Scota, and their early migrations through Scythia and Iberia. • The Britons claim descent from Brutus, a Trojan prince. • Both peoples are woven into a mythic genealogy that connects them to Egypt, Troy, Spain, and the Biblical world, boosting the prestige of medieval Irish and British kings by tying them to ancient global empires.

While modern historians and geneticists view these as legendary rather than literal, they remain some of the most powerful origin stories in medieval Celtic and British tradition.

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 1 points 2 days ago

I have a personal suspicion - while recognising that I am by no means an expert on the topic and have no real evidence - that that origin story is a reflection of the Proto-Indo-European migrations as viewed through a lens of contact with Rome. The PIE homeland was roughly modern day Ukraine. When Romans show up in Britain and talk to the locals, their empire would have been the first society to have some knowledge of that area that Britons or Gaels had met in... well, forever. If they successfully described the area of the PIE homeland, a Roman with a good knowledge of the geography of the empire and its surroundings during the period of Roman arrival in the isles would say that they were describing Scythia