Caithness, Scotland

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Caithness

The name Caithness is derived from the name of the Pictish Kingdom of Catti (Kingdom of the Cat). At the time of the Roman departure it was occupied by a Pictish tribe known as the Cait. It occupied the north east corner of the mainland of Scotland and, in the time of the Viking invasion was much larger than we know it today, occupying much of what is now Sutherland. As it was on a headland, and a significant sea route between the Orkneys and the mainland, the Vikings added the name - ness (meaning headland); thus Katanes - the Headland of the Catt people. This was later Anglicised to Caithness.

On arrival of the Gaelic people from Dal Riata and the coming of the Christian faith the name became known as Gallaibh, which can be translated to mean "among the strangers" (the Norse).

It seems probable that during the Viking invasion of the region the people of the Catti were pushed south and west; there names are to be found in east Sutherland as Cataibh, and in the old Gaelic name for Shetland, Innse Chat.