It's said that Columba could understand some Picts but not others as they spoke another language.
He needed interpreters for one lot but not the other.
The question of who the Picts were could be tied in with who built the megaliths at Scara Brae etc. The Picts liked their standing stones. And Orkney was once much larger than it is today. Perhaps the people of that northern area were once part of a northern civilisation stretching across the north sea and spoke a common language. Or perhaps had a common trading language when needed?
It's only 229 miles from Shetland to Bergen. But about 500 to Dublin.
An interesting debate is on this site regarding the origin of the ogham script. From the middle east apparently and admitted so by early irish scholars.
'On the subject of Ogam itself, it is generally believed and stated that this script was invented in Ireland sometime in the 4th century by an erudite Irishman called Ogma, though the credit is sometimes given to a Gaulish God called Ogmios. Yet what is often overlooked is that ‘ogam’ is not an Irish word; it stems from an ancient Greek word ‘ogme’ meaning a groove. From it is derived the Greek word ‘ogmos’ meaning a straight line, specifically a straight ploughed furrow; it can also mean a row or a file, as in a line of people. Certainly the Greek words provide a pretty accurate description of this ancient script, but, if it were invented in the 4th century by the Irish, why would they use a Greek word to describe their own invention? The grooved base line for Ogam letters is not called an ogmos, it is called by a Gaelic word, ‘fleasg’, meaning a rod or wand, and the Gaelic word for a row or straight ploughed furrow is ‘scriob’. Surely either word would have served perfectly well instead of the Greek ogmos, itself derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Ag-m-as,’ which has an equivalent meaning.
Unpalatable as it may be for some, the evidence seems to show that Ogam was not invented in Ireland in the 4th century, but came originally from the Middle East, along with its distinctive name. Consider this:
The 12th century Irish ‘Auraicept na n-éces’ (the Scholars’ Primer), which is the work of several different hands, states in one section that Ogam was invented in Ireland. Yet it also states in another section, (Lines 1105 to 1106), that Gaelic and the Ogam script was invented in “the plain of Shinar” i.e. Sumer or Mesopotamia, and in another yet again, (line 251), in “Achaidh”, i.e. ‘Accad’, or ‘Akkad’, also in Sumer (Genesis ch.10 v.10.). It is widely acknowledged by scholars that this magnificent work is the principal authority on Ogam script, so why its conflicting claim for a Middle Eastern origin for Ogam should be generally ignored by so many academics is quite beyond this author.
According to Middle East historian L. A. Waddell, Ogamoid inscriptions have been found in Sumerian hieroglyphs dating from around 1000-1500 B.C. which show remarkable affinity with the Ogam alphabet used in inscriptions in Scotland, Ireland and Wales.'
http://www.thesonsofscotland.co.uk/rpappendixthree.htmOh, and another thing
'From the early 15th century on the Shetlanders sold their goods through the Hanseatic League of German merchantmen. The Hansa would buy shiploads of salted fish, wool and butter and import salt, cloth, beer and other goods.'
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shetland
