English and pictish terms for brooch in an 8th-century Irish law-text

Abstract

THIS paper seeks to draw to the attention of archaeologists, art historians, and others interested in material culture, some hitherto overlooked references to brooches in Old Irish legal texts of the 8th and 9th centuries. Of particular interest in these references is the fact that they include Old English and Pictish words for brooches, showing an awareness on the part of the Irish intelligentsia of the elite metalworking of their neighbours in the British Isles. The extent to which this borrowed terminology reflects an appreciation of English and Pictish brooch-types different from the Irish pseudo-penannular of the 8th century is also discussed.