Scholars argue that the term "hillbilly" originated from the Scottish dialect. The term "hill-folk" referred to people who preferred isolation from the greater society, and "billy" meant "comrade" or "companion". It is suggested that "hill-folk" and "Billie" were combined when the Cameronians fled to the hills of southern Scotland. There is also the belief that most of the settlers from Scotland and Northern Ireland were followers of King William of Orange. 'Billy' is a diminutive of 'William' common across the British and Irish isles. The term hillbilly connects the people who settled in America in the hills and who were Williamites. In the 17th century Ireland, during the Williamite War, Protestant supporters of King William III ("King Billy") were often referred to as "Billy's Boys". Some scholars disagree with this theory. Michael Montgomery's "From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English" states, "In Ulster in recent years it has sometimes been supposed that it was coined to refer to followers of King William III and brought to America by early Ulster emigrants, but this derivation is almost certainly incorrect. ... In America "hillbilly" was first attested only in 1898, which suggests a later, independent development."