Rooted in Myth? Scotland’s Images from Late Modern Times to the Third Millennium

This contribution discusses how Scotland’s languages and cultures have been represented and how a certain image of Scotland may seem to be rooted in myth, while at the same time it may be of relevance for Scotland’s future. In order to investigate these issues, special attention is paid to representations of Scotland in nineteenth-century North American journals, in addition to other documents pertaining to both literary and non-literary sources. The aim is to assess whether mythical representations may have actually contributed to knowledge dissemination. Although this may seem paradoxical, the contribution of the arts and indeed of artefacts that have become emblematic of local culture, regardless of their authenticity, is hardly negligible when knowledge is propagated, especially in diasporic contexts. Within this framework, linguistic discussions occupy a very relevant place, as issues of antiquity and ‘authenticity’ have underpinned the debates of language codifiers since Late Modern times.