Yes. Airedales are the largest terriers. They were bred to hunt otters.

Wiki says the terriers were developed in different parts of England; however, there are breeds called "Terriers of Scotland" that are thought to have originated in common stock there. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrier
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terriers_of_Scotland
(I'd never heard of that phrase "ToS" before.)

Here's a video of a cairn playing with much bigger dogs:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yL8IRKt4Lsg
That's pretty typical Cairn behavior.

Here's a nice pictorial history of terriers:
http://www.terrierman.com/historypics.htm

Modern terriers may have been bred from German dachshunds (badger dogs). It seems incredible to most people who do not realize that dachshunds were themselves originally bred as hunting dogs.

Some apocryphal 'knowledge' I've picked up about my own terrier (JRT), but I don't know if they're true:
1. JRTs are known to fight with other dogs, including other JRTs. They even warn you not to leave them alone together, no matter how well they seem to get along. However, JRTs are rumored to get along very nicely with beagles.

2. Horses that despise other dogs are often not scared of JRTs (probably because they're so small).

3. JRTS (and probably most terriers) are ratters. They are sometimes used on farms to keep the varmints at bay. My dad has seem them on a few farms near where he hunts.

Terriers are very active and "need something to do," i.e. a problem to solve or something to worry over, to keep them out of trouble.

One of my daughters in a training session with her JRT:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg-wX_-bxvE