Note 33 — Chapter II · The Kingdom of Scotland—843–900.

The verses ascribed to Columba will be found in the various “Chronicles of the Picts,” of Innes, Pinkerton, and the “Irish Version of Nennius,” J. A. S. The rev in Murev, Fortrev is probably to be derived from reim or “realm,” the names meaning “the realms along the sea (Murray, Muireim or Armorica), and along the Forth.” Ath-Fodla is equivalent to “Fodla on this side of the Mounth,” exactly answering to the situation of Atholl, immediately to the southward of the Grampian range. Northwards of Atholl the country is still known as Badenoch, “the district of the groves,” a name singularly inapplicable to its present state, answering probably to Fidach. Fodh, a word evidently derived from the same source as the Scandinavian Odh, and meaning “earth, land,” is probably at the foot of Fodhla (Fodh-lad), or Fo’la, which seems to have answered amongst the Gael very much to Gwlad. Fodh also means “learning in Gaelic.” The close connection between “mystic lore,” or “divination,” and the possession of land, was not confined to the Gael; it thoroughly pervaded the early Scandinavians.