The Smertae were a people of ancient Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

, known only from a single mention of them by the geographer

Geographer

A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...

 Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

 c. 150. From his general description and the approximate locations of their neighbors, their territory was in the modern area of central Sutherland

Sutherland

Sutherland is a registration county, lieutenancy area and historic administrative county of Scotland. It is now within the Highland local government area. In Gaelic the area is referred to according to its traditional areas: Dùthaich 'IcAoidh , Asainte , and Cataibh...

. Ptolemy does not provide them with a town or principal place.

Their name is commemorated by Càrn Smeart, an ancient burial mound on the ridge between the rivers Carron

River Carron, Sutherland

The River Carron is a river in Sutherland, in the Highlands of Scotland.It begins as the Abhainn a' Ghlinne Mhoir, which joins with the Alladale River to form the River Carron...

 and Oykel. The meaning of the name Smertae, which occurs only in Ptolemy

Ptolemy

Claudius Ptolemy , was a Roman citizen of Egypt who wrote in Greek. He was a mathematician, astronomer, geographer, astrologer, and poet of a single epigram in the Greek Anthology. He lived in Egypt under Roman rule, and is believed to have been born in the town of Ptolemais Hermiou in the...

, is disputed, as there is no conclusive evidence from which Celtic

Celtic languages

The Celtic languages are descended from Proto-Celtic, or "Common Celtic"; a branch of the greater Indo-European language family...

root it might have arisen. It might mean 'Smeared Ones' or alternatively 'Far-Seeing Ones'.