Jim Killman
Writer, Philosopher, Teacher of English and Math, Soldier of Fortune, Bon Vivant, Heart Transplant Recipient, Knight of St. Andrew (among other knighthoods)
Freedom is not free, but the US Marine Corps will pay most of your share.
Far NW Corner of Washington State, USA (48° 45' 51.5808" N / -122° 30' 36.6228" W)
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Interesting article. Would be cool if they could work it all out
[SIZE="2"][FONT="Georgia"][COLOR="DarkGreen"][B][I]T. E. ("TERRY") HOLMES[/I][/B][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE="1"][FONT="Georgia"][COLOR="DarkGreen"][B][I]proud descendant of the McReynolds/MacRanalds of Ulster & Keppoch, Somerled & Robert the Bruce.[/SIZE]
[SIZE="1"]"Ah, here comes the Bold Highlander. No @rse in his breeks but too proud to tug his forelock..." Rob Roy (1995)[/I][/B][/COLOR][/FONT][/SIZE]
Most interesting! As far as decyphering the language goes, a start might be made if the Picts shared some of the same legends and folk tales as the Celts.
And the scholars could also look for written complaints about the English, or the weather .
It's a bit closer to deciphering their script, (insofar as they may have identified the existance of a script), but there's still an essentially impassable gulf before we can read it. The problem is, (even if they're correct and they've identified the script) that we have little to no data about the language (we may as well call it Pictish) which the Picts spoke. Most linguists believe that it was a Celtic language and probably part of the southern Brythonic group, but we don't know for sure. We don't even know what they called themselves.
The quote from Paul Bouissac at the end of the article is exactly correct: "'We will have to wait for the discovery of what would be the Pictish equivalent of the Rosetta Stone...' he said. 'This may or may not ever happen.'"
Oh, and Lachalan: emdy wha's nae a reet schemebo canna tak up the Weegie, byraway.
Last edited by haukehaien; 3rd April 10 at 08:21 PM.
--Scott
"MacDonald the piper stood up in the pulpit,
He made the pipes skirl out the music divine."
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