Pictus

See also: pictus

Latin

Etymology

Superficially from Latin pictus (“painted one”), but probably rendering a Pictish autonym, probably related to the origin of another Celtic tribe, the Pictones (compare Poitiers); perhaps from a Proto-Celtic *Kʷritanī, *Kʷritenī, the Goidelic/Q-Celtic version of the Brittonic/P-Celtic *Pritani, whence Welsh Prydyn (“Picts”), Old Irish Cruthne, Cru(i)then-túath (“Picts”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷer- (“to do”). Guto Rhys has noted a possible connection to Old Welsh Peithan, perhaps attesting the same element as Welsh gobaith (“hope”), although the etymology is uncertain, it would presumably derive from a Proto-Brythonic *pext-. More at Wikipedia.

Proper noun

Pictus m

1. a Pict, a resident of early Scotland

Derived terms

• Pictavia, Pictauia

References

• Rhys, Guto (2015): Approaching the Pictish language: historiography, early evidence and the question of Pritenic
• Hudson, Benjamin (2014): The Picts
• Smith, J.R. (1864): History of the Names of Men, Nations, and Places in Their Connection with the Progress of Civilization, Volume 2