| − | The Picts had their own system of writing, Pictish. However, little survives today, so the history of the Picts themselves is a largely "academically recreated" history from other sources. The language, Pictish, is generally regarded as an [[Insular]] Celtic language, but this is based only on remaining evidence such as place names. | + | The Picts had their own system of writing, Pictish. However, little survives today, so the history of the Picts themselves is a largely "academically recreated" history from other sources. |
| | + | The Pictish language was first mentioned by [[Bede]] in the 8th century, and the categorization of this language as well as its relationship to other language in Britain was historically the subject of intense debate. The late 20th and early 21st century consensus that the language was a Brittonic one closely related to [[Welsh]], is now generally accepted. |