Note 489 — Chapter VII · THE KINGDOM OF ALBAN.

In the Tract ‘De Situ Albaniæ’ (Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 136) four interpretations of this name are given. First, because it was the ‘margo’ or border region of the Scots or Irish, for all the Scots and Irish—Hibernenses et Scotti—are generally called Gaithel from their first leader Gathelus; or secondly, because the Gwyddyl Ffichti—Scotti-Picti—first inhabited it after coming from Ireland; or, third, because the Irish inhabited it after the Picts; or, fourthly, because this part of the region of Scotia borders upon the region of Hibernia. The first is probably the true origin of the name.