Picts

The Picts were ancient Celtic people from northern and eastern Scotland.  

They are first mentioned in written records in AD 297, before the Roman conquest of Britain.Paul Wagner, Pictish Warrior AD 297-841 (Oxford; Oseola, WI: Osprey Publishing, 2002), p. 4 The name 'Pict' is from the Latin pictus meaning 'painted.' This may have been due to reports from the Romans that the Picts tattoos on their bodies, along with reports that ancient Celtic Britons during Roman times would paint themselves various terms that are now translated as "woad", but originally may have meant "glass" and "green" (vitrum and glastum, respectively). This process is described as staining the skin of battle wounds a dark color, since woad is a powerful astringent.Pliny the Elder, The Natural History. Volume 4. BOOK XXII. Chapter 2. 78-79 A.D. "https://www.gutenberg.org/files/61113/61113-h/61113-h.htm""https://exploringcelticciv.web.unc.edu/pliny-the-elder-the-natural-history" It may also refer to a name they called themselves, that was recorded by the Romans.Paul Wagner, Pictish Warrior AD 297-841 (Oxford; Oseola, WI: Osprey Pub., 2002), p. 5  

They spoke a Pictish language. It was related to the Brythonic languages spoken by the Britons living to the south.Paul Dunbavin, Picts and Ancient Britons: An Exploration of Pictish Origins (Long Eaton, Nottingham: Third Millennium Pub., 1998), p. vii Picts were possibly the descendants of the Caledonians and other tribes that were mentioned by Roman historians.Paul Dunbavin, Picts and Ancient Britons: An Exploration of Pictish Origins (Long Eaton, Nottingham: Third Millennium Pub., 1998), p. 25 

The area of Scotland called Pictland gradually merged with the Gaelic kingdom of Dál Riata.The Oxford Companion to Scottish History, ed. Michael Lynch (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007), p. 162 This formed the kingdom of Alba, later known as Scotland. Alba then expanded, absorbing the British kingdom of Strathclyde and Bernician Lothian. By the 11th century the Pictish identity had become a part of the Scottish people.

 References 

Category:Celtic peoples
Category:Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom
Category:History of Scotland