Alba

For other uses, see Alba (disambiguation).
For the country it refers to, see Scotland.
For the political party, see Alba Party.

Coronation of King Alexander III on Moot Hill, Scone, on 13 July 1249. He is being greeted by the ollamh rìgh, the royal poet, who is addressing him with the proclamation "Benach De Re Albanne" (= Beannachd do Rìgh Albann, "Blessings to the King of Scotland"); the poet goes on to recite Alexander's genealogy.

Alba (/ˈælbə, ˈælvə/ AL-bə, AL-və,[1][2] Scottish Gaelic: [ˈal̪ˠəpə] ⓘ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English-language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba,[3] until it developed into the Kingdom of Scotland of the late Middle Ages following the absorption of Strathclyde and English-speaking Lothian in the 12th century.[4] It is cognate with the Irish term Alba (gen. Alban, dat. Albain) and the Manx term Nalbin, the two other Goidelic Insular Celtic languages, as well as contemporary words used in Cornish (Alban) and Welsh (Yr Alban), both of which are Brythonic Insular Celtic languages. The third surviving Brythonic language, Breton, instead uses Bro-Skos, meaning 'country of the Scots'. In the past, these terms were names for Great Britain as a whole, related to the Brythonic name Albion.

  1. ^ "Alba". Collins English Dictionary. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  2. ^ "Alba". Lexico UK English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 24 June 2021.
  3. ^ Webster, Bruce (1997). Medieval Scotland: The Making of an Identity. Macmillan Education UK. p. 21. ISBN 978-0333567616. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
  4. ^ Walker, Ian (2006). Lords of Alba: The Making of Scotland. The History Press. p. 168. ISBN 978-0-7524-9519-4.