The abstract Pictish symbols – common ancestor figures?

In a previous blogpost, I explained that the Pictish symbols might be symbols of identity like symbols of tribes or kingdoms. However, they might represent the name of the ancestor figure of a tribe as opposed to the name of the tribe itself. In this blogpost, I’ll focus on the four abstract symbols, the double disc and Z rod and the crescent moon and V rod etc. According to the legends, the first king of the Picts was called Cruithne. The seven Pictish kingdoms were named after his sons. The name Cruithne means the ‘pattern’ or ‘shape’, which is thought to be the Pictish symbols. However, there’s an alternative ancestor figure called Cathluan, found in the Irish recension of Nennius’s Historia Brittonum. In this legend, Cathluan travels to Caithness in the far north of Scotland from Ireland to the ‘land of Ile’, which would be Strath Ullie on the boundary between Caithness and Sutherland. From there, Cathluan conquers all the land from ‘Catt to Forchu’ with his two sons, Catmolodor and Catmachan. The name Cathluan means something like ‘battle moon’, which brings to mind the crescent moon and V rod. This symbol is found mostly in the far north of Scotland on the early Class I Pictish stones. The name Catmolodor might mean something like ‘battle hill fort’. The word ‘mol’ may have been the Pictish word for a hill, similar to the Gaelic word ‘meall’ and the Welsh word ‘moel’. The word ‘dor’ may have been the Pictish word for a fort or perhaps a door. It may be related to the Celtic word ‘dur’ meaning a fort, found in the name of the tribe Durotriges. It’s also found in the placenames the hill of Dores and Lindores, where there are Pictish hillforts. The Gaelic word for a door is ‘doras’. The name Catmolodor might be the rectangle and N rod symbol, which possibly represents a hillfort or palace. The symbol is mostly found in Strathspey on the Class I stones. The name Catmachan might mean something like ‘battle bear’. The Gaelic word for a bear is ‘mathan’. However, Catmolodor and Catmachan are also spelt as Catinolodar and Catinolachan. These are probably corrupted versions of the two names. However, it opens the possibility that one or both of the names may have been spelt with an ‘n’. As such, Catmachan may have actually been Catnachan or Catnathan. The ch may be interchangeable with a th. The name would therefore mean ‘battle serpent’. The Gaelic word for a serpent is ‘nathair’. The name Catnathan might be the snake and N rod symbol. The symbol is mostly found in the Garioch in Aberdeenshire on the Class I stones. It’s also worth noting that they had epithets, Catmolodor the hard-knobbed and Catmachan the bright. In folklore, serpents are often referred to as being bright, perhaps due to their shiny scales or association with dragons. This is not so much the case with bears. In Scottish folklore, there’s a serpent called the Beithir, which takes the form of lightning. Catmolodor and Catnathan would have established their own tribes or clans and settled in Strathspey and the Garioch. The double disc and Z rod would represent the name Cruithne. The symbol is mostly found in southern Pictland and Aberdeenshire. The double disc might be the pattern or shape, based on the more ancient cup and ring mark carvings found in the north of Britain and Ireland. Broadly speaking, the tribe of Cruithne would have been based in southern Pictland and the tribe of Cathluan would have been based in northern Pictland. Perhaps the Caledonians or Dicalydones claimed descent from Cruithne and the Verturiones claimed descent from Cathluan. Finally, Cathluan may have actually been a female name. The Irish recension of the Historia Brittonum refers to Cathluan as a man. However, these are stories which have been passed down over the centuries and recorded around the 11^th century. The name Cathluan doesn’t sound like a male name. The Hilton of Cadboll stone in the far north of Scotland has an image of a Pictish princess or queen on horseback along with two horsemen. There’s a prominent crescent moon and V rod above the image. Could this be a depiction of Cathluan and her two sons? I’ve included a couple of passages from the Pictish origin legends in the Historia Brittonum below.

"They set out from Eri
On their oath-bound expedition,
Without families, without cavalry,
With Cathluan, son of Caitminn.

Catmolodor the hard-knobbed,
And Cathmachan the bright,

Were glorious youths,
The two valiant sons of Cathluan."

"Cathluan was monarch over them all, and he was the first king of them that ruled in Alba. Seventy kings of them ruled over Alba, from Cathluan to Constantine, who was the last Cruithnian that reigned. The two sons of Cathluan were Catinolodar and Catinolachan …"

The crescent moon and V rod - the symbol of the tribe of Cathluan?