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)]]