Greg, I think Europeans probably considered some Middle Eastern peoples as 'savage', especially the nomadic tribesmen of North Africa. However, during the Dark and Middle Ages, most of the Middle East was much more advanced than Europe in almost every area, and there were many Europeans who grudgingly acknowledged that (even at that time).

As for the Picts, Gilmore is right. Most of us probably have Pictish ancestry. I doubt very much that they 'disappeared', they were more than likely assimilated. I'm sure that many of the cultural aspects that we consider 'Celtic' or 'Gaelic' today likely had Pictish origins. That, of course, opens the debate as to whether the Picts were Celts or not.