Colm, Colum, Columb, Golub

In Irish we have a word "colm" which means pigeon, dove. Official etymology of this word is that it comes from Middle Irish "colum", from Old Irish "columb", from Latin "columbus", from Ancient Greek "κόλυμβος" kolumbos. 

In Serbian we have a word golub which means pigeon. Official etymology of this word is that it comes form proto Slavic golǫbь, of unknown origin. Possibly related to Latin columba, columbus.

I would like here to propose an alternative etymology for these two words from Irish and Serbian language. 

I believe that both Irish "columb" and Serbian "golub" come from the same root "golub, gulub" which comes from some old Central European language. I believe that  both Irish "columb" and Serbian "golub" predate Latin words columba, columbus, and that Latin columba, columbus are actually based on the root word "golub" with "a" ending added for feminine dove and "us" ending added for masculine pigeon. I also believe that Old Greek word "κόλυμβος" kolumbos has nothing to do with pigeon or dove. 

Serbian word "golub" is direct cognate of old Irish word "colum(b)". The difference is only in the pronunciation of the interchangeable undifferentiated consonant groups kghj and pvbmf. 

Let me explain what I mean.  

Undifferentiated sound group is a group of sounds, which can all be produced by the same gross mouth position. The differentiated sounds are produces by tiny variation of lip, tong and throat position and pressure. The sounds from the same undifferentiated sound group are interchangeable. Like baba, papa meaning father. Or ban, van meaning white. Or this, dis meaning this. Or pana, bana meaning bread. Of foot, put, meaning foot and road. 

Originally all sounds were undifferentiated, as human ability to speak developed. There was no m,p,b,v,f there was something like mpbvf which is basically undifferentiated sound which is the root sound of the above consonant group. The whole group is produced by the same gross mouth position. The differentiated sounds are produced by tiny variation of lip position and pressure. As people developed their speech abilities, as they used speech more and more, their genes changed, enabling them to control their speech apparatus more and more precisely. This lead to sound differentiation, and  mpbvf turned first to diphthongs, like bv, mp, pf and then to individual sound m,p,b,v,f. And because these sounds are so close together, tiniest change in our ability to hear them and to pronounce them will lead to additional sound changes which can then be propagated to the rest of the family and clan...

As babies learn how to speak they start by using undifferentiated sounds, they bubble. As they developed their speech abilities, as they use speech more and more, their control of their speech apparatus becomes more and more precise. This lead to sound differentiation. What used to be bhfabhfa is now baba. 

These are undifferentiated sound groups:

Vowels can change through these undifferentiated sound groups:

uo
oa
ae
ei

Consonants can change through these undifferentiated sound groups:

m,p,b,v,f - Slowly reduce pressure between your lips while slowly opening your mouth. You will go through all these sounds one after the other.
g,k,h,j - Slowly move pressure in your throat backwards while slowly opening your mouth. You will go through all these sounds one after the other. Difference between j and h is just in tiny adjustment in the shape of the back of your throat. 
r - slowly move your tong backwards while reducing pressure between you tong and the roof of your mouth. You will go from hard to soft r. French r is produced in the throat and is related to Arabic h more than European r. 
l,d,n,t, c(ts) - Put tong in starting position. Slide it outward you get L. Pop it lightly you get T. Apply more pressure and pop it you get D. Don't move it and you get N. Don't move it and slowly reduce pressure and you get C(ts)
s,z,ž,š - Slide your tong backward and you will go through all these sounds one after the other.
č, dž - Pronounce the sound with your teeth apart you get č.  Pronounce the sound with your teeth touching you get dž

dj, lj, nj, tj - These sounds are all produced by sliding tong forward from original J position. 

v,w,u are also interchangeable sounds. The original sound for v was probably undifferentiated wu sound which later became differentiated into v.

m and n are also interchangeable, as you can produce either one of them with the same position of your mouth, by changing slightly the position of your tong.

So depending on pronunciation "golub" can become "colum(b)" through transformation of g --> c and b --> m(b). This means that these two words are effectively one and the same and both come from the same undifferentiated root (kgh)olu(mpbv). 

Latin columba meaning dove and columbus meaning pigeon, are actually based on the root word "(c)golu(m)b" with "a" ending added for feminine dove and "us" ending added for masculine pigeon. Official etymology is that this word is derived from Ancient Greek κόλυμβος. However word κόλυμβος, kolumbos means “a diver”, from κολυμβάω (kolumbao, “dive, plunge headlong, swim”). If you look at Old Greek dictionaries you will see that this word is never applied to pigeon. 

Aristophanes [Birds, 304] lists various birds one of them is pigeon and another one was diver. This is the excerpt in question:

Epops, Pointing to the various species:

Here is the magpie, the turtle-dove, the swallow, the horned-owl, the buzzard, the pigeon, the falcon, the ring-dove, the cuckoo, the red-foot, the red-cap, the purple-cap, the kestrel, the diver, the ousel, the osprey, the woodpecker . . .

Old Greek dictionary gives us this list of pigeon words. κόλυμβος, kolumbos is not one of them:

φάσσα, φάψ, πέλεια, περιστερά...

The last word περιστερά (peristera) is modern Greek word for pigeon, dove.

The result is the same for dove words. κόλυμβος, kolumbos is not one of them:

πέλεια, τρυγών...

So Latin words columbus, columba could not be derived from old Greek κόλυμβος. 

If we look at Evroasian languages, we see that the only language groups in which word for pigeon is (c)golu(m)b are Slavic and Gaelic - Gallic languages groups. 

All Slavic languages use word "golub" for pigeon (golub, holub, holb, golob, gulab). 

Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish, Breton all use version of "colum". 

Welsh colomen
Cornish colom 
Breton coulm

This shows clear transformation of g-->c and b-->m. 

It is very interesting that word for pigeon, brakes the P Celtic - Q Celtic transformation rule of C transforming to P. 

Apart from Slavic, Gaelic and Gallic languages, these languages also have a word based on the root (c)golu(m)b:

French: colombe - white dove, not pigeon. Word for pigeon is pigeon. Probably from Breton.
Italian: colomba - dove, not pigeon. Word for pigeon is piccione.
Hungarian: galamb - pigeon. Probably from surrounding Slavic languages.  
Romanian: columbă, columbofil - pigeon. Probably from surrounding Slavic languages. Romanian has another word for pigeon: porumbei.
Catalan: colom - pigeon, dove.

Compare this with Germanic words for pigeon, dove:

From Middle English dove, douve, duve, from Old English *dūfe (“dove, pigeon”), from Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ (“dove”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeubʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, be obscure”). Cognate with Scots doo, dow (“dove”), West Frisian do (“dove”), Dutch duif (“dove, pigeon”), Low German (Low Saxon) Duuv (“dove, pigeon”), German Taube (“dove, pigeon”), Danish due (“dove”), Swedish duva (“dove”), Icelandic dúfa (“dove”), Gothic dubo.

Apparent root for all the above words is apparently "Proto-Indo-European *dʰeubʰ- (“to whisk, smoke, be obscure”)" which is frankly very unlikely. The real root is probably something like Proto-Germanic *dūbǭ (“dove”). Please compare this with the word for pigeon, dove from the most westerly Slavic languge, Polabian: ďölǫb. We see how here Slavic, Gallic, Gaelic golub becomes dolQb. This word sits between Slavic golub and Germanic dūbǭ. This is one example of the linguistic Slavic - Germanic continuum with Polabian language being the link which shows how languages mixed.

I believe that the original word golub (colum) arose somewhere in the Balkans or in Central Europe. I also believe that the word is very old, probably even dating from neolithic times. 

Common pigeon or wood pigeon is common to all of Europe. 

It is the same for European dove:

The call made by wood pigeon sounds like cucu, gugu, gogo, huhu. The name for Eurasian collared dove, of just dove in Serbian is gugutka, which means bird that says gugu. Eurasian collared dove call does sound like cucu, gugu, gogo, huhu. 

This is probably the oldest onomatopoeic name for pigeon, dove. "gugu" - a bird that says "gu". If we look at Sanskrit we find these words for pigeon, dove: kokathu, kaukkuTika, kokadeva, ghughukRt... 

So where does the word "golub" come from?

Pigeons and Doves are monogamous, they mate for life. Their courting includes head-bobbing, coo-ing and "kissing". So pigeons and doves are birds which kiss, which are in love. 

If we look at Indoeuropean dictionary we find this word root: *lewbʰ- to love, to desire. We find that all "derived" words, mean desire, praise, love, have sex. 

Albanian: lyp - beg, ask, need, pleadLithuanian: liaupsė - praiseGermanic: *lubō, *leubō, *lubą, *leubaz: love, affectionLatin: libet - it is pleasing; it is agreeableOscan: laufit (could not find this word anywhere)Sanskrit: lubhyati - desire greatly, long for, be interested in, covetSlavic: ljubav - love

What is interesting is that only in Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovenian, in Western Balkan Slavic languages, the word "lub", "ljub" also means kiss. This is the root of the word "ljubav" meaning love which we find in other Slavic languages. ljubav = ljub + bav = kiss + do, perform. It literally means "doing kissing". The word "ljub" is actually an onomatopoeic word.  It actually describes the act of kissing. You can only produce sound "lj" by sticking your tong out. So "lj" means sticking tong out. Sound "u" means in, into, putting into. So sound "u" means putting tong into. Sounds "b,p,m" are sounds made by smacking your lips, like when sucking. Sound "mama", "baba", "papa" are all made by babies when they are looking for breast to suck, to put into their mouth. So sound "b" means mouth, suck. 

All together "ljub" literally means: stick tong out, put it into someones mouth and then suck it = kiss. When you say "ljub", you are actually going through all the mouth movement involved in kissing. Try it.

It is interesting that only in Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovenian languages and in Sanskrit, word "ljub" has this old, physical love meaning, but only in Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovenian languages it means to kiss. 

These are main meanings of word "ljub" in Serbian:

Ljubiti, poljubiti - love, kiss
Ljuba, ljubovca, ljubavnica - mistress, female lover, wife
ljubavnik - male lover
Obljubiti - have sex with
Preljubnik, preljubnica -  adulterer
Ljubav, ljubva - love
Ljubimac - favourite person, pet
Ljubomora - jealousy, literally love dread 
Ljubazan - pleasent
Ljubak, ljubi, ljubljen, ljuven - dear
Priljubiti - stick close together, like when kissing, having sex
Rodoljub - patriot, literally tribe lover

In wiktionary you can find that Latin word Columba means dove, but also is a "term of endearment". In Serbian Golub, Golubica are also terms of endearment. And you can see why. Golub = go + ljub = it, him, her + love.


So where does the word golub come from?

Is golub = coo(goo) + ljub = "sound of cooing" + "kiss, love" = a bird that says cu, gu, co, go and kisses, loves? Maybe. But if we look at South Serbian dialects, the etymology becomes even simpler go lub(i) = it, him, her + kisses, loves = birds that kiss, love each other?
 
Is this the origin of word Golub? And if so, is old Irish Colum(b) come from Golub and is Latin Columba, Columbus derived from Golub or its derivation Colum(b)? And if this is the case, how old is word Golub? And why is it that again we find that Slavic, Gaelic and Gallic languages seem to be in the same group, even though they are supposed to belong to different distant branches of Indoeuropean language?

There is actually good reason to suspect that "kissing bird" is the actual etymology for word golub. I have written in my post about bran, vran, that word gavran, govran meaning raven can be broken into gav, gov + vran = speaking + blac, crow. This is a perfect description of a raven, as it is the only European talking bird. Golub, bird that kisses is a perfect description of a pigeon, dove, as they are the only European kissing birds.


What does this mean for our St Columban? I wrote in my last post that his name means white dove. Columban = Colum + ban = pigeon + white. His name stay Irish and is not Latin. Which is in keeping with what we find when we look at the list of early Irish saints. All of them have Irish names. So Columban being derived from Latin would have been a glaring exception impossible to explain. 

So Columban is an Irish name, but Irish name with root in some old Balkan language, which is preserved in Western South Slavic languages, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Slovenian...

More and more questions...

Gavran and Golub ban

 
In Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Makedonian and Bulgarian word for raven is "gavran". Other languages where we find similar word for raven are other western Slavic languages like Polish, Czech and Slovak, where word for raven is "havran" and Welsh where word for raven is cigfran (lit. meat-crow) but because bran is feminine, the raven = y gigfran. The Breton is marc'hvran. In Welsh, the element march- (lit. horse, stallion) is often used to indicate great size, assuming Breton does the same, marc'hvran = great crow

In Irish, word for raven is fiach. Yet when we look at the Irish and Scotish old personal names which appear in old chronicles we find many people with personal name Gavran, Gavra, Gewran, Gabran. 

In Gaelic we have a word gabhar meaning goat. It comes from Old Irish gabor (“goat, horse, white hued, bright”), from Proto-Celtic *gabros (“he-goat”), from Proto-Indo-European *kapros (“male hooved animal”), *kapro-. Cognate with Latin caper (“goat”) and Ancient Greek κάπρος (kápros, “wild boar”). So Gabhran whould then mean little goat or little horse. We also have a word gabhrán meaning traveler. 

I have searched old Irish texts and could not find one example of Gabráin, Gabrán, Gabhran being used with a meaning little goat, little horse. It was always ever used as a personal or place name. Can anyone point me to a source which i can quote for this meaning. I know it is grammatically possible but I would like to be able to quote a source. It is interesting that in Serbian there is an expression "ružna kao gabor" used for women meaning "ugly like a gabor". No one knows what gabor means exactly, only that it is something ugly. Does it mean as ugly as a goat?

Do these names mean raven or goat, horse?

One of these people was Gabrán mac Domangairt, king of Dál Riata in the mid-6th century:

Gabrán mac Domangairt (Old Welsh: Gawran map Dinwarch) or Gabrán the Traitor (Gwran Wradouc) was king of Dál Riata in the mid-6th century. He is the eponymous ancestor of the Cenél nGabraín. Gabrán's chief importance is as the presumed ancestor of the Cenél nGabraín, a kingroup which dominated the kingship of Dál Riata until the late 7th century and continued to provide kings thereafter.

Dál Riata kingdom

 
It is very interesting that Gabran, Gavran had a son, Áedán mac Gabráin, who was, according to "Encyclopaedia Londinensis, or, Universal dictionary of arts ...", crowned by St Columba on the Island of Iona.

Áedán mac Gabráin (pronounced [ˈaiðaːn mak ˈɡavɾaːnʲ] in Old Irish) was a king of Dál Riata from circa 574 until circa 609. The kingdom of Dál Riata was situated in modern Argyll and Bute, Scotland, and parts of County Antrim, Ireland. Genealogies record that Áedán was a son of Gabrán mac Domangairt. He was a contemporary of Saint Columba, and much that is recorded of his life and career comes from hagiography such as Adomnán of Iona's Life of Saint Columba. Áedán appears as a character in Old Irish and Middle Irish language works of prose and verse, some now lost.

Áedán mac Gabráin the son of Gavran was crowned by St Columba, who belonged to the same tribe, and whose name is said to mean dove and whose symbol is a white dove.  Áedán's ordaining as king by Columba, was the first example of an ordination known in Britain and Ireland.

Saint Columba (Irish: Colm Cille, 'church dove'; 7 December 521 – 9 June 597) was an Irish abbot and missionary credited with spreading Christianity in present-day Scotland. He founded the important abbey on Iona, which became a dominant religious and political institution in the region for centuries. He is the Patron Saint of Derry. He was highly regarded by both the Gaels of Dál Riata and the Picts, and is remembered today as a Christian saint and one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.

Another Irish saint from the same period with a similar name is St Columbanus. His name also means dove and his symbol is dove:

Columbanus (Irish: Columbán, 543 – 21 November 615) was an Irish missionary notable for founding a number of monasteries on the European continent from around 590 in the Frankish and Lombard kingdoms, most notably Luxeuil Abbey in present-day France and Bobbio Abbey in present-day Italy. He is remembered as an exemplar of Irish missionary activity in early medieval Europe. Columbanus (the Latinised form of Columbán, meaning the white dove) was born in the Kingdom of Meath, now part of Leinster...

What is interesting is that in Serbian Golub means dove, pigeon. Goluban is a Serbian personal name. Golubić, Golubović are Serbian surnames, meaning son of Golub. Golubac, Golubnjak, Golubinja, Golubić are names of mountain tops in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia. Golubinci, Golubac, Golubovac, Golubinje, Goluban are place names in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia...I wrote a separate article about words golub, colum here.

King Gabran ruled in the North East of Ireland and southwest of Scotland, where even today we find a lot of I2a people.

Áedán mac Gabráin belonged to Dal Riata who we are told were Gaels. Next to Dal Riata we find Dál nAraidi. 

 They are accepted to be Picts and we are told that we should not confuse Dál Riata and Dál nAraidi. However several Welsh works claim a Brittonic pedigree for Áedán. It has even been suggested that Gartnait son of Áedán could be the same person as Gartnait son of Domelch, king of the Picts. This means that there are claims that Áedán mac Gabráin was a Pict. This forces me to ask this question: Were Dal Riata and Dál nAraidi one and the same people, Cruithin, Picts? Or were Pictish kings of Dál nAraidi ruling Dal Riata? Was Áedán mac Gabráin a Pict? He could well have been. It has been suggested that Picts 
used matrilineal inheritance. A very good article called "The Female Royal Line: matrilineal succession amongst the Picts?" discusses this issue in detail. This is what Bede had to say about Picts:

Bede recounts the following colourful origin legend for the Picts:

    ….the nation of the Picts, from Scythia, as is reported, putting to sea, in a few long ships, were driven by the winds beyond the shores of Britain, and arrived on the northern coast of Ireland, where, finding the nation of the Scots, they begged to be allowed to settle among them, but could not succeed in obtaining their request. Ireland is the greatest island next to Britain, and lies to the west of it; but as it is shorter than Britain to the north, so, on the other hand, it runs out far beyond it to the south, opposite to the northern parts of Spain, though a spacious sea lies between them. The Picts, as has been said, arriving in this island by sea, desired to have a place granted them in which they might settle. The Scots answered that the island could not contain them both; but "We can give you good advice," said they, "what to do; we know there is another island, not far from ours, to the eastward, which we often see at a distance, when the days are clear. if you will go thither, you will obtain settlements; or, if they should oppose you, you shall have our assistance." The Picts, accordingly, sailing over into Britain, began to inhabit the northern parts thereof, for the Britons were possessed of the southern. Now the Picts had no wives, and asked them of the Scots; who would not consent to grant them upon any other terms, than that when any difficulty should arise, they should choose a king from the female royal race rather than from the male: which custom, as is well known, has been observed among the Picts to this day.

--Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book I Ch.1 

If we look at the royal line of Dal Riata to which Áedán mac Gabráin belonged we find this:

Áedán mac Gabráin, son of Gabrán mac Domangairt, son of Fergus Mór, son of Eirc. This is where it gets interesting: 

Erc son of Eochaid Muinremuir was king of Irish Dál Riata until 474. He was the father of Fergus Mór and Loarn mac Eirc, and may have been the great-grandfather of Muirchertach mac Muiredaig. Confusion arises from the latter's matronym, Macc Ercae, said to come from his legendary mother Erca, daughter of Loarn mac Eirc. She married Muiredach mac Eógain. 

So was Eirc actually Erca? And was the line of Dal Riata based on a woman not a man? And ultimately were then Dal Riata actually Picts on their male side but Gaels on their Female side?

Here is something interesting about I2a2a1-M284 (formerly I2b1a) in Ireland. Ireland is very good for genetic genealogy research because of its clans and a long written history. I2a2a1 (M284) seems to have arisen in Britain, where it is most common. It is very rare in Continental Europe. M284 is comparatively rare in Ireland. Where it is found in those of Irish descent with Gaelic surnames, and particularly in baronial families with a credible pedigree back to a Cruithin (Pictish) origin. For example it is found in McGuinness and McCartan men descended from the Uí Echach Cobha, a lineage considered Cruithin in the 6th century AD. 

The Cruthin; Middle Irish Cruithnig or Cruithni; Modern Irish: Cruithne were a people of early Ireland, who occupied parts of the present day Counties of Down, Antrim and Londonderry in the early medieval period.

Their ruling dynasties included the Dál nAraidi in southern Antrim and the Uí Echach Cobo in western Down. Early sources preserve a distinction between the Cruthin and the Ulaid, who gave their name to the province of Ulster, although the Dál nAraide claimed in their genealogies to be na fir Ulaid, "the true Ulaid". The Loígis, who gave their name to County Laois in Leinster, and the Sogain of Connacht are also claimed as Cruthin in early Irish genealog

Early Irish writers used the name Cruthin to refer to both the north-eastern Irish group and to the Picts of Scotland.[5] Likewise, the Scottish Gaelic word for a Pict is Cruithen or Cruithneach, and for Pictland is Cruithentúath. It has thus been suggested that the Cruthin and Picts were the same people or were in some way linked.

What is also interesting is that many other Irish cepts, including Ui Neill have been found to contain families with I2a genes as well. Particularly interesting are the Loígis of the Laigin. 

The Loígis, Laígsi or Laoighisi, were mercenary tribes of the Laigin and possibly of Cruithin (Pict) origin. The Loígis claim descendancy from Lugaid Loígsech, son of Conall Cernach. From Conall's line also descend the Dál n-Araide of Ulster. Beginning in the 11th century, the Annals cite the Ua Mórdha (O'More, Moore) as chiefs of Laíghisi. They are later represented by the 'Seven Septs of Leix', i.e. O'Moore, O'Kelly, O'Deevy, O'Doran, O'Lalor, O'Dowling and McEvoy. As legend and history cite, this confederation began after the 3rd century CE, when the family group that would become the O'Mores came from Ulster to Leinster under the leadership of Laoighseach Cean More, son of Connall Cearnach of the Red Branch, and helped to defend Leinster under the kingship of Cu chorb, and expelled the Munster forces from the region. They continued to hold principality over what became Leix (Laois), so named after Laoighseach, and this confederation continued through the Elizabethian wars of the 1500's.

O'Donovan in the Ordnance Survey letters cites that "Laoighis really contained about half the Queen's County. Take away the Baronies of Upper Ossory, Portnahinch and Tinahinch, and the remaining part of the Queen's County will be Laoighis or Leix."

The genetic data shows that Loígis belong to I2a Y haplogroup.

So it is assumed that Cruithin were Picts and Cruithin have turned out to be I2a people. So it seems that there is a definite link between Cruithin (Picts) and I2a Y haplogroup. 

Here is an obelisk (of unknown age, but possibly medieval) found in the mountains in Bosnia, another I2a land. If it was found in Scotland, would it have been declared as Pictish?

If we look at the I2a distribution maps from Eupedia, we see that there are two major sub groups of I2a: I2a1 (Balkan) and I2a2 (Baltic). 

I2a1 has its hot spot in the Balkans among the so called Serbs, Croats and Bosnians. Extremely high percentage is found in all territories around lower Danube river valley, lower Volga river valley and north Black Sea coast where we find oldest European cultures. It is also extremely high in old Hittite lands.
 

I2a2 has its hot spot right below the Jutland peninsula, right at the area of Laba (Elbe) river. This is the place where once lived Polabian Slavs, northern (White) Serbs, Sorbs and Northern (White) Croats. These were the Pomorjani, Pomori, Fomori from Irish legends, and Wilti, Volci, Wendi who were part of the Anglo Saxon tribal federation as described in the book "The origin of the Anglo Saxon race". This is also the line of the old border between the Franks and the Slavs. This is the place where we find Cauci, Chauci, Καῦκοι, Caülci. And where we find Longobards, the people with long beards who have been linked to Obodrites. Being the border area, people who lived there probably mixed, so I think that most of the people from this area were of mixed genetic makeup, probably mix of R1b, R1a and I2a.

"Encyclopaedia Londinensis, or, Universal dictionary of arts ..." says that Áedán mac Gabráin ruled in Valentia, the area between Hadrian and Antonin walls. This is also the area which is said to be inhabited by "sceites". 

The area ruled by Áedán mac Gabráin in both Northern Ireland and Scotland is the area where we find higher percentage of I2a and R1a genes. This is the area inhabited by Picts but also by "sceites". Are these "sceites" Scots (Irish) or are they actually Scythians, or are Scots and Scythians one and the same? And were they the same as Crutheni, Picts? 

We have seen that gaelic name for picts was Cruithin. Variations of the name Cruithin include Cruthen, Crutheni, Cruthin, Cruthini, Cruthne, Cruthni, Cruithni and Cruithini. It is generally accepted that this is the Goidelic languages version of the Brittonic term *Pritani or *Priteni. From the latter came Britanni, the Latin name for those now called the Britons. Current accepted oppinion is that the name Variations of the name include Cruthen, Crutheni, Cruthin, Cruthini, Cruthne, Cruthni, Cruithni and Cruithini. Original Greek chronicles record the name as Prettanoi. In Latin usage from the first records Britanni was standard, with -tt- spelling also in the later Impérial period. In the Celtic speech of these islands, beside official Britanni introduced by Latin speakers at the conquest of A.D. 43, older *Pritani naturally survived, and from it came eventually Welsh Prydain. From Latin Britanni. It is generally accepted that this is the Goidelic languages version of the Brittonic term *Pritani or *Priteni, both derived from an earlier Insular Celtic form *Qritani or *Qriteni "Painted/tattooed people".

What If Gaelic *Qritani or *Qriteni was not the original word from which *Pritani or *Priteni was formed? What if Crutheni was created from some existing actual ethnic name by conversion of P into C in Gaelic? If that was the case then the original name of the Scottish Crutheni would not have been Prithani, but Pruteni. What if Pruteni were not the same people as Pritani? Were there any people anywhere at the time of Crutheni which were called Prutheni, Pruteni? 

There were. In south Baltic again.

The Old Prussians or Baltic Prussians (German: Pruzzen or Prußen; Latin: Pruteni; Latvian: Prūši; Lithuanian: Prūsai; Polish: Prusowie; Kashubian: Prësowié) were an ethnic group of autochthonous Baltic tribes that inhabited Prussia, the lands of the southeastern Baltic Sea in the area around the Vistula and Curonian Lagoons. They spoke a language now known as Old Prussian and followed pagan Prussian mythology.

Is there anything apart from a similar name, that we can use to connect Pruteni of South Baltic with Crutheni in North of Ireland? Well there is quite a lot of stuff which points to potential link. But the most striking one is this:

 Prussian baba stone

Do you remember my article about Scythian baba stones? And how in Ireland, these baba stones are all found only in the area of Ulster inhabited in early medieval time by Crutheni, Picts? So in South Baltic Scythian, Slavs, Prussians (Pruteni) make Baba stones. In Ireland only Ulster Crutheni make Baba stones. So let me ask the same question again:

Are the "sceites" Scots (Irish) or are they actually Scythians, or are Scots and Scythians one and the same? And were they the same as Crutheni, Picts? 

Were Pruteni Prussians? In Prussian mythology both Goat and Horse were holy animals linked with the thunder god Perkunas. Prussians, Crutheni and Serbs have strange beliefs and customs related to men and horses. I will write about this in a separate post. So Gabran could mean a little mare or son of a mare. In Serbian word for mare is kobila and greatest Serbian epic hero is called Kobilic, the son of a mare. Is Uffington white horse linked to this belief system?

 Does it stem from the old Celtic horse worship which is evident from Celtic coins?
  This is not all that is strange about Áedán mac Gabráin and what links him to South Baltic people.

What is interesting is that in Slavic religion white horse is associated with Svetovid and summer solstice.

Some sources say that Áedán mac Gabráin had a twin brother called Brandub mac Echach and that Aedáin is actually the son of the Laigin king of Leinster:

The Rawlinson B 502 manuscript, dated to c. 1130, contains the tale Gein Branduib maic Echach ocus Aedáin maic Gabráin (The Birth of Brandub son of Eochu and of Aedán son of Gabrán). In this story, Áedán is the twin brother of Brandub mac Echach, a King of Leinster who belonged to the Uí Cheinnselaig kindred. Áedán is exchanged at birth for one of the twin daughters of Gabrán, born the same night, so that each family might have a son....

Áedán additionally appears in a variety of Welsh sources, making him one of the few non-Britons to figure in Welsh tradition.One of the Triads records Áedán's host as one of the "Three Faithful War-Bands of the Island of Britain", as they "went to the sea for their lord". This may point to an otherwise lost tradition concerning one of Áedán's sea expeditions, such as to Orkney or the Isle of Man. Additionally, several Welsh works claim a Brittonic pedigree for Áedán. It has even been suggested that Gartnait son of Áedán could be the same person as Gartnait son of Domelch, king of the Picts. This shows the importance of Áedán.

If the story is true, the real Áedán mac Gabráin's fater belonged to the clan Uí Cheinnselaig.

Uí Cheinnselaig descended from Labraid Laidech, son of Bressal Bélach, son of Fiachu Baicced, son of Cathair Mór. The Uí Cheinnselaig dynasty branched out into the powerful sept of the Sil Fáelchán (Mac Murrough), as well as the septs of the Uí Felmeda Thes (Murphy), the Uí Felmeda Tuaid (O'Garvey), the Sil Chormaic, the Sil Máeluidir (Hartley), the Uí Fergusa of Wexford, the Clann Guaire, and the Clann Fiachu meic Ailella.

Alfred Smyth (Celtic Leinster) provides an interesting theory on the rise of the Uí Cheinnselaig. He cites an early center of power of Uí Cheinnselaig based at Rathvilly in Carlow, as shown by early tradition in the Vita Tripartita of St. Patrick, as well as by earlier documents in the Book of Armagh. The monastery of St. Mullins in southern Carlow had earlier claims to Uí Cheinnselaig patronage than did the house of Ferns in Wexford, which by the 11th century became the overall center of their dynastic power. He speculates the Uí Cheinnselaig 'invaded', not earlier than the 5th century, through the pass of Gowran from Ossory, in order to explain how St. Mullins had earlier connections to the group, as well as to explain how the Uí Cheinnselaig broke the power of Uí Bairrche... Smyth goes on to speculate the Uí Cheinnselaig expanded into Wexford down the Slaney valley through a pass between the Balckstairs and the Wicklow Mountains.

So Brandub mac Echach, the alleged twin brother of Áedán mac Gabráin belongs to a clan that comes from Ossory and which invaded Leinster through the pass of Gowran. What a lot of people don't know is that the capital of the kingdom of Ossory was in a place called Gowran, and that kings of Ossory were also known as Kings of Gowran. 

The book "Round About the County of Limerick" by Rev James Dawd says says that the old name of Gowran was Gavran:

Over the great plain of Femin and across the s peckled summit of Slieve-na-man-finn, all over East Munster and West Munster, as far as Balla-Gavran (now Gowran in Co. Kilkenny), on the one side and on the other across the Shannon to Cratloe, near Limerid of the Blue Waters... In a remote place to the north-west a fine sepulchral monument is called Labha Iscur, the resting-place of Oscar who fell at the battle of Gavra in 284...

Ossory is another place which has very strong cultural links with Slavs, which I will explain in detail in one of my next posts. Ossory is also very important as a place where we find first Irish High Crosses. 

Irish High Crosses

High Crosses or Celtic Crosses as they are also known, are found throughout Ireland on old monastic sites. Some were probably used as meeting points for religious ceremonies and others were used to mark boundaries. The earliest crosses in Ireland were made of wood and metal and probably much smaller than the great stone monuments we see today. It was generally accepted that the Western Ossory group were amongst the earliest examples of High Crosses to be found in Ireland. Their design imitates the wood and metal crosses before them; but a recent study suggests they may not be 8th century but possibly mid 9th century. These crosses are found within a few miles of each other at Kilkieran, Kilree, Killamery and the finest examples at Ahenny. The majority of scriptural crosses are also believed to have been erected around the 9th century and there are several local groupings: the North Leinster group includes Kells, Monasterboice and Duleek; the Midlands group includes Clonmacnois and Durrow; and another distinct group of granite High Crosses are those of the Barrow valley that includes Castledermot, Graiguenamanagh, Moone and Ullard. 

If the earliest crosses in Ireland were made of wood and metal were they maybe looking like this wooden standing cross from south of Serbia:

What is very interesting about the distribution of the major early high crosses is that they are all found within the lands of Kingdom of Osraige (Ossory), Kindom of Mide and kindom of Brega. Have a look at this map:

The early High Cross groups seem to surround the lands of the Laigin. Were these high crosses boundary, border markers? Both kings of Osraige and Mide were linked to Laigin. For the kings of Osraige we read that they "...have been shown to have been, like the Osraige, of Erainn origins, notwithstanding their later genealogies which attempted to make them Laigin...". For the kings of Mide we read that they"...belonged to the Laigin, but may also be associated with the Érainn...".  

Laigin are one of the people who directly link Ireland, Wales and Serbia.


So Aedan, the son of Gavran, crowned by Golub ban, could have been Laigin (potentially Germanic - Western Slavic), Cruthin (Pict) or Briton. All three of these groups have direct genetic, linguistic and cultural links with the Serbs and Southern and Western Slavs. 

So according to the above story,  Áedán mac Gabráin, was officially son of Gabrán mac Domangairt, king of Dál Riata, but he could actually have been one of the kings of Gabran from ossory. Does Áedán mac Gabráin then actually mean from Gabran (Ossory)? Gabran is clearly not a Gaelic name, and the only languages where it has a meaning are Slavic and Welsh.


This is indeed all very, very strange. But it gets even stranger. At the time of Áedán mac Gabráin, north east of Ireland was engulfed in a war. And here are the protagonists of that war:

1. Áedán mac Gabráin was a king of Dál Riata from circa 574 until circa 609. Crowned by St Columba. 

2. Áed mac Echach Tirmcharna (died 575) was a King of Connacht from the Uí Briúin branch of the Connachta. High king Diarmait mac Cerbaill killed Diarmait of Curnán, son of Áed mac Echach (d.575), the King of Connacht who was under Columba's protection.
 
3. Áed Dub mac Suibni (died c. 588) was an Irish king of the Cruthin of Dál nAraidi. Cursed by St Columba for killing for killing the last high king of Ireland Diarmait mac Cerbaill who is said to have been his step father. 

4. Áed mac Ainmuirech was the king of northern Uí Néill. He was St Columba's first cousin once removed.Áed had close relations with his cousin Saint Columba. He may have commissioned a eulogy upon the saint's death and most likely granted the land for the monastery of Durrow. He is known to have met with Áedán mac Gabráin, king of Dál Riata, in 575 at The Synod or Convention of Drumceat, to agree an alliance, presumably arranged by his cousin Columba. Áed came into conflict with Brandub mac Echach, King of Leinster from the Uí Cheinnselaig who was resisting Ui Neill encroachment. According to the saga tradition preserved in the Borúma Laigin (Cattle Tribute of Leinster), Brandub had killed Cummascach, the son of Áed for demanding the right to sleep with Brandub's wife during a royal tour. The annals record Brandub's killing of Áed's son Cummascach in 597 at Dún Buchat. However, at the battle of Dún Bolg (Dunboyke, modern County Wicklow) in 598, Áed was defeated and killed by Brandub.

5. Brandub mac Echach was a twin brother of Áedán mac Gabráin.

It seems that all the main kings of the north east of Ireland were Aeds and were all connected to Columba, Golub ban in some way, and were all connected to Cruithin, Picts in some way. 
Áedán mac Gabráin was likely Cruithin Pict. 
Áed Dub mac Suibni was Cruithin Pict. 
Áed mac Ainmuirech was possibly Cruithin Pict. 
The only king not named Aed is Aedan's twin brother, and maybe Aedan himself. Aeddan means given by Aed. Also Brandub mac Echach was a Laigin, and Laigin were through Loígis, Laígsi or Laoighisi also linked to Cruithin Picts.

Are we seeing here the emergence of a Cruithin, Pict, Laigin, Non Gael North East of Ireland? Here is what we can read on the Wiktionary page dedicated to Dál Fiatach who were said to have ruled Ulster during the reign of Áedán mac Gabráin:

Although Francis John Byrne describes the few La Tène artefacts discovered in Ireland as 'rather scanty', most of the La Tène artefacts (mostly weapons and harness pieces) have been found in the North of Ireland, suggesting 'small bands of settlers (warriors and metalworkers) arrived' from Britain in the 3rd century BC, and may have been absorbed into the Ulaid population... The Dál Fiatach are considered by scholars to be the true historical Ulaid, but after the fortunes of the dynasty declined in the 7th century, the legendary heroes of the Ulster Cycle were in fact claimed as ancestors by the rival and unrelated Dál nAraidi or Cruthin, claiming for political reasons to be the "true Ulaid" themselves and descendants of Rudraige mac Sithrigi through Conall Cernach. Rudraige, son of Sitric, son of Dub, son of Fomor, son of Airgetmar, was, according to medieval Irish legend and historical tradition, a High King of Ireland... Rudraige was particularly associated with the northern part of Ireland: the dynasty of the Dál nAraidi, who ruled eastern Ulster in the early Middle Ages, traced their descent from him, and the Lebor Gabála Érenn names him as the grandfather of the Ulaid hero Conall Cernach.

So the land of Ulaid, the land of La Tene, Central European Celts, Was the land of Dál nAraidi who traced their roots to Rudraige, son of Sitric, son of Dub, son of Fomor...And here we are, back on the south Baltic coast, in Pomerania, Pomorje, the land of Fomori, Pomori, Pomorjani, I2a Western Slavs, Prussians and Germanics.

Is this where Gavran and Golub ban came to Ireland from?