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Pictish is the extinct language, or dialect, spoken by the Picts, the people of northern and central Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. There is virtually no direct attestation of Pictish, short of a limited number of geographical and personal names found on monuments and the contemporary records in the area controlled by the Kingdom of the Picts. Such evidence, however, points to the language being closely related to the Brittonic language spoken prior to Anglo-Saxon settlement in what is now southern Scotland, England and Wales. A minority view held by a few scholars claims that Pictish was at least partially non-Indo-European or that a non-Indo-European and Brittonic language coexisted. Pictish was replaced by Gaelic in the latter centuries of the Pictish period. During the reign of Caustantín mac Áeda (900–943), outsiders began to refer to the region as the kingdom of ''Alba'' rather than the kingdom of the Picts. However, though the Pictish language did not disappear suddenly, a process of Gaelicisation (which may have begun generations earlier) was clearly underway during the reigns of Caustantín and his successors. By a certain point, probably during the 11th century, all the inhabitants of Alba had become fully Gaelicised Scots, and Pictish identity was forgotten.〔Broun, "Dunkeld", Broun, "National Identity", Forsyth, "Scotland to 1100", pp. 28–32, Woolf, "Constantine II"; cf. Bannerman, "Scottish Takeover", passim, representing the "traditional" view.〕 ==Language classification== The existence of a distinct Pictish language during the Early Middle Ages is attested clearly in Bede's early 8th century ''Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum'', which names Pictish as a language distinct from that spoken by the Britons, the Irish, and the English.〔 HE I.1; references to Pictish also at several other points in that text.〕 Bede states that Columba, a Gael, used an interpreter during his mission to the Picts. A number of competing theories have been advanced regarding the nature of the Pictish language: * Pictish was an Insular Celtic language allied to the P-Celtic language Brittonic (descendants Welsh, Cornish, Cumbric, Breton). This theory is generally accepted.〔 * Pictish was an Insular Celtic language allied to the Q-Celtic (Goidelic) languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx). This theory, while favoured by some in the 19th century is now rejected.〔 * Pictish was a Germanic language allied to Old English, the predecessor to the Scots language. This theory, advanced in the 18th century, has long been rejected.〔 * Pictish was a Pre-Indo-European language, a relic of the Bronze Age. This theory was favoured in the mid to late 20th century but is less favoured now.〔 Most scholars agree that Pictish was a branch of the Brittonic language, while a few scholars merely accept that it was related to the Brittonic language.〔 Pictish came under increasing pressure and influence from Old Irish spoken in Dál Riata from the 5th century until its eventual replacement.〔; ; ; 〕 Pictish is thought to have influenced the development of modern Scottish Gaelic. This is perhaps most obvious in the contribution of loan words, but more importantly it is thought that Pictish influenced the syntax of Scottish Gaelic, which bears greater similarity to Brittonic languages than does Irish.〔; 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pictish language」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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