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There is also the possibility that if the tribe really did
adopt their name from the region itself, as postulated above, then
the name derives from a Celtic word for a prominent stone or pile of
stones, a word imported into modern English as cairn. A mountain
range in the area is today known as the Cairngorms, after the
prominent peak, Cairn Gorm.
The Creones in their various guises may or may not be tribally
related to the similarly-named peoples in the Midlands (the Cornovii), in Cornwall
(Cornubia), and Kernev in Brittany (Cornouaille). As with the widely scattered
Veneti, there is no way to determine their tribal origins.
There is a mention in the Ravenna Cosmography of a
town called Credigone (Old Kilpatrick in Scotland) which might
possibly be related to this tribe or tribes. A more likely candidate
for linking to the tribes is the modern town of Crinan on the bay called
Loch Crinan (or Creran), which appears to derive from the tribal name.
The three tribes appear to have been members of the
Caledonii/Caledoni, a tribal alliance whose name is obscure but
the second part is rather suggestive of 'fortress' (-dun). Another and more
exciting possibility comes to mind however. Given that the '-i' is a
Roman plural, then '-on' would be the Brythonic plural, leaving 'Caled'
as the actual name. This is another form of the most ancient known
name of the Celts, which was reported variously as beginning with a
'g' or 'k' sound, followed by an 'a' or 'e', followed always by an 'l', and
followed by either a vowel or not, and finally by a 'd' or 't'. So Kelt,
Galat, or in this case, Caled all mean the same thing.
This tribe or tribes would have been under the
domination at various times of the high king of the Picts (ie. the
king of Alba), and later the high king of the North Picts, before
gradually being taken over by Dal Riadan Scots as they expanded up from the
south.
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