The dialects of Goidelic speech--Irish, Manx, Gaelic, and that of the continental Goidels--preserved the _q_ sound; those of Gallo-Brythonic speech--Gaulish, Breton, Welsh, Cornish--changed _q_ into _p_. The speech of the Picts, perhaps connected with the Pictones of Gaul, also had this _p_ sound. Who, then, were the Picts? According to Professor Rh[^y]s they were pre-Aryans,[29] but they must have been under the influence of Brythonic Celts. Dr. Skene regarded them as Goidels speaking a Goidelic dialect with Brythonic forms.[30] Mr. Nicholson thinks they were Goidels who had preserved the Indo-European _p_.[31] But might they not be descendants of a Brythonic group, arriving early in Britain and driven northwards by newcomers? Professor Windisch and Dr. Stokes regard them as Celts, allied to the Brythons rather than to the Goidels, the phonetics of their speech resembling those of Welsh rather than Irish.[32] The theory of an early Goidelic occupation of Britain has been contested by Professor Meyer,[33] who holds that the first Goidels reached Britain from Ireland in the second century, while Dr. MacBain[34] was of the opinion that England, apart from Wales and Cornwall, knew no Goidels, the place-names being Brythonic. But unless all Goidels reached Ireland from Gaul or Spain, as some did, Britain was more easily reached than Ireland by migrating Goidels from the Continent. Prominent Goidelic place-names would become Brythonic, but insignificant places would retain their Goidelic form, and to these we must look for decisive evidence.[35] A Goidelic occupation by the ninth century B.C. is suggested by the name "Cassiterides" (a word of the _q_ group) applied to Britain. If the Goidels occupied Britain first, they may have called their land _Qretanis_ or _Qritanis_, which Pictish invaders would change to _Pretanis_, found in Welsh "Ynys Pridain," Pridain's Isle, or Isle of the Picts, "pointing to the original underlying the Greek [Greek: Pretanikai Nêsoi] or Pictish Isles,"[36] though the change may be due to continental _p_ Celts trading with _q_ Celts in Britain. With the Pictish occupation would agree the fact that Irish Goidels called the Picts who came to Ireland _Cruithne=Qritani=Pre-tani_. In Ireland they almost certainly adopted Goidelic speech.