Scottish people

Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
Scots, wham Bruce has aften led
    —Robert Burns

The Scottish people or Scots (Scots: Scots fowk; Scottish Gaelic: Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or Alba) in the 9th century. In the following two centuries, Celtic-speaking Cumbrians of Strathclyde and Germanic-speaking Angles of Northumbria became part of Scotland. In the High Middle Ages, during the 12th-century Davidian Revolution, small numbers of Norman nobles migrated to the Lowlands. In the 13th century, the Norse-Gaels of the Western Isles became part of Scotland, followed by the Norse of the Northern Isles in the 15th century.

In modern usage, "Scottish people" or "Scots" refers to anyone whose linguistic, cultural, family ancestral or genetic origins are from Scotland. The Latin word Scoti originally referred to the Gaels, but came to describe all inhabitants of Scotland. Considered pejorative by some, the term Scotch has also been used for Scottish people, now primarily outwith Scotland.

Quotes

• A! Fredome is a noble thing!
  Fredome mays man to haiff liking;
  Fredome all solace to man giffis,
  He levys at ese that frely levys!
  A noble hart may haiff nane ese,
  Na ellys nocht that may him plese,
  Gyff fredome fail; for fre liking
  Is yarnyt our all othir thing.
  Na he that ay has levyt fre
  May nocht knaw weill the propyrte,
  The angyr, na the wretchyt dome
  That is couplyt to foule thyrldome.
  Bot gyff he had assayit it,
  Than all perquer he suld it wyt;
  And suld think fredome mar to prise
  Than all the gold in warld that is.
  Thus contrar thingis evirmar
  Discoweryngis off the tothir ar.
  • John Barbour, The Brus (c. 1375)
  • W. M. Mackenzie, ed., The Bruce (1909)
  • Gloss: liking] liberty · Na ellys nocht] nor aught else · yarnyt] yearned for · perquer] thoroughly, by heart

• Scots, wha hae wi' Wallace bled,
  Scots, wham Bruce has aften led,
  Welcome to your gory bed,
  Or to victorie.
  • Robert Burns, "Scots Wha Hae" (1793)

• The Scotch—what a verminous race!
  Canny, pushy, chippy, they’re all over the place,
  Battening off us with false bonhomie,
  Polluting our stock, undermining our economy.
  Down with sandy hair and knobbly knees!
  Suppress the tartan dwarves and the Wee Frees!
  Ban the kilt, the skean-dhu and the sporran
  As provocatively, offensively foreign!
  • James Michie, "Friendly Fire"
  • The Spectator (14 August 2004)