The Taexali (Ancient Greek: Ταίξαλοι) or Taezali (Ancient Greek: Ταίζαλοι) were people on the eastern coast of Britannia Barbara [1] in ancient Scotland, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer Ptolemy c. 150. From his general description and the approximate location of their town or principal place that he called 'Devana', their territory was along the northeastern coast of Scotland and is known to have included Buchan Ness, as Ptolemy refers to the promontory as 'Taexalon Promontory' (Ταίξαλον ἄκρον).
Name
Usually rendered in Latin as Taexali, the name is recorded in Greek sources as Taiksáloi and Taizáloi. It is uncertain which form is primary, and at least one form may be corrupt. Kenneth H. Jackson thought the name to be "non-Celtic". The former reading allows for speculative etymology from Proto-Celtic *tāxs-lo- ("hatchet"). Andrew Breeze derived the name from a cognate of Old Irish taesc ("jet (of blood)"). Derivation from a Celtic word meaning "dough" has also been suggested (cf. Irish taes, Welsh toes).[2]
See also
References
- ↑ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854), Taezali
- ↑ Rhys, Guto. "Approaching the Pictish language: historiography, early evidence and the question of Pritenic" (PDF). University of Glasgow. Retrieved 13 July 2026.
- Ptolemy (150), Thayer, Bill (ed.), Geographia, Book 2, Chapter 2: Albion island of Britannia, LacusCurtius website at the University of Chicago (published 2008), retrieved 26 April 2008
- Strang, Alastair (1997). "Explaining Ptolemy's Roman Britain". Britannia. 28: 1–30. doi:10.2307/526763. JSTOR 526763. S2CID 161532105.