Alba 2239031 218695374 2008-06-11T19:43:22Z Akerbeltz 3476301 tweaked IPA {{dablink|This article is about a name for [[Scotland]]. For other uses please see [[Alba (disambiguation)]]}} {{Unreferenced|date=April 2007}} {{wiktionary}} {{Merge|Albion|date=May 2008}} '''Alba''' is the [[Scottish Gaelic language|Scottish Gaelic]] name ({{IPA2|ˈalˠ̪əpə}}) for [[Scotland]]. It is cognate to ''Albain'' in [[Irish Gaelic]] and ''Albey'' in [[Manx]], the other [[Goidelic languages|Goidelic]] [[Insular Celtic languages|Insular Celtic language]], as well as similar words in the [[Brythonic languages|Brythonic]] Insular Celtic languages of [[Cornish language|Cornish]] (''Alban'') and [[Welsh language|Welsh]] (''Yr Alban'') also meaning Scotland. Hence also the early classical name ''[[Albion]]''. It was used by the [[Gaels]] to refer to the island as a whole until roughly the [[ninth century|ninth]] or [[tenth century|tenth]] centuries, when it came to be the name given to the kingdoms of the [[Picts]] and the [[Gaels|Scots]] ([[Pictavia]] and [[Dál Riata]]), north of the [[River]] [[River Forth|Forth]] and the [[River Clyde|Clyde]] [[estuary]], traditionally considered to have been unified by [[Kenneth I of Scotland|Kenneth Mac Alpin]]. As time passed that kingdom incorporated others to the southern territories. It became [[Latin]]ized in the High Medieval period as "Albania" (it is unclear whether it may ultimately share the same [[Etymology|etymon]] as the modern [[Albania]]). This latter word was employed mainly by Celto-Latin writers, and most famously by [[Geoffrey of Monmouth]]. It was this word which passed into Middle English as [[Albany (disambiguation)|Albany]], although very rarely was this used for the [[Kingdom of Scotland]], but rather for the notional [[Duke of Albany|Duchy of Albany]]. From the latter the capital of the [[United States|U.S.]] state of [[New York]], [[Albany, New York|Albany]], takes its name. == See also == * [[Albanactus]] * [[Kingdom of Alba]] * [[Caledonia]] * [[Scotia]] [[Category:Scotland]] [[fr:Alba (royaume)]] [[it:Alba (Scozia)]] [[nl:Alba (koninkrijk)]] [[ja:アルバ王国]] [[no:Alba]] [[sv:Alba (förnamn)]]