Scotti
Inhabitants of Scotland, originally referring to the Gaelic tribes who emigrated from Ireland in the fifth century and joined with the native Picts. They are generally presented as a barbarian race who, like the Picts, threatened the southern Britons from the north of Hadrian’s Wall.
According to Geoffrey, Arthur subjugated the Scots in the early days of his reign, after the battles at Moray and Lomond. The Scottish chronicler John of Fordun appropriately distinguishes between the Picts and Scots and claims that the latter were Arthur’s allies against the former.
Hector Boece’s Scotorum Historia presents an alternate version in which the Scots and Picts together become Arthur’s allies against the invading Saxons.
The aborigines of Scotland were called Caeoill daoin, which in Welsh meant ‘the people of the wood’. When the Romans arrived they changed the name of Scotland to Caledonia.
Sources
Historia Regum Britanniae | Geoffrey of Monmouth, c. 1138
Chronica Gentis Scotorum | John of Fordun, c. 1385
Scotorum Historiae | Hector Boece, 1527