The various names used sinceclassical times for the people known today as theCelts are of disparate origins.
The namesΚελτοί (Keltoí) andCeltae are used inGreek andLatin, respectively, to denote a people of theLa Tène horizon in the region of the upperRhine andDanube during the 6th to 1st centuries BC inGraeco-Romanethnography. The etymology of this name and that of theGaulsΓαλάταιGalátai /Galli is uncertain.
Thelinguistic sense ofCelts, a grouping of all speakers ofCeltic languages, is modern. There is scant record of the term "Celt" being used prior to the 17th century in connection with the inhabitants ofIreland andGreat Britain during theIron Age. However,Parthenius writes thatCeltus descended throughHeracles fromBretannos, which may have been a partial (because the myth's roots are older) post–Gallic Warepithet ofDruids who traveled to the islands for formal study, and was the posited seat of the order's origins.
The first recorded use of the name of Celts – asΚελτοί (Keltoí) – to refer to an ethnic group was byHecataeus of Miletus, the Greek geographer, in 517 BC when writing about a people living near Massilia (modernMarseille).[1] In the 5th century BC,Herodotus referred toKeltoi living around the head of the Danube and also in the far west of Europe.[2]
The etymology of the termKeltoi is unclear. Possible origins include theIndo-European roots *ḱel,[3] 'to cover or hide' (cf. Old Irishcelid[4]), *ḱel-, 'to heat', or *kel- 'to impel'.[5] Several authors have supposed the term to be Celtic in origin, while others view it as a name coined by Greeks. Linguist Patrizia De Bernardo Stempel falls in the latter group; she suggests that it means "the tall ones".[6]
The Romans preferred the nameGauls (Latin:Galli) for those Celts whom they first encountered in northernItaly (Cisalpine Gaul). In the 1st century BC, Caesar referred to the Gauls as calling themselves "Celts" in their own tongue.[7]
According to the 1st-century poetParthenius of Nicaea,Celtus (Κελτός,Keltos) was the son ofHeracles andCeltine (Κελτίνη,Keltine), the daughter of Bretannus (Βρεττανός,Brettanos); this literary genealogy exists nowhere else and was not connected with any known cult.[8] Celtus became theeponymous ancestor of Celts.[9] In Latin,Celta came in turn fromHerodotus's word for theGauls,Keltoi. The Romans usedCeltae to refer to continental Gauls, but apparently not toInsular Celts. The latter are divided linguistically intoGoidels andBrythons.
The nameCeltiberi is used byDiodorus Siculus in the 1st century BC, of a people whom he considered a mixture ofCeltae andIberi.
Aside from theCeltiberians —Lusones,Titii,Arevaci, andPellendones, among others – who inhabited large regions of centralSpain, Greek and Roman geographers also spoke of a people or group of peoples calledCeltici orΚελτικοί living in the south of modern-dayPortugal, in theAlentejo region, between theTagus andGuadiana rivers.[10] They are first mentioned byStrabo, who wrote that they were the most numerous people inhabiting that region. Later, Ptolemy referred to the Celtici inhabiting a more reduced territory, comprising the regions fromÉvora toSetúbal, i.e. the coastal and southern areas occupied by theTurdetani.
Pliny mentioned a second group of Celtici living in the region ofBaeturia (northwesternAndalusia); he considered that they were "of the Celtiberians from theLusitania, because of their religion, language, and because of the names of their cities".[11]
InGalicia in the north of theIberian Peninsula, another group of Celtici[12] dwelt along the coasts. They comprised severalpopuli, including the Celtici proper: thePraestamarici south of theTambre river (Tamaris), theSupertamarici north of it, and theNerii by the Celtic promontory (Promunturium Celticum).Pomponius Mela affirmed that all inhabitants of Iberia's coastal regions, from the bays of southern Galicia to theAstures, were also Celtici: "All (this coast) is inhabited by the Celtici, except from theDouro river to the bays, where the Grovi dwelt (…) In the north coast first there are theArtabri, still of the Celtic people (Celticae gentis), and after them theAstures."[13] He also wrote that the fabulous isles oftin, theCassiterides, were situated among these Celtici.[14]
The Celtici Supertarmarci have also left a number ofinscriptions,[15] as the Celtici Flavienses did.[16] Several villages and rural parishes still bear the nameCéltigos (from LatinCelticos) in Galicia. This is also the name of an archpriesthood of theRoman Catholic Church, a division of the archbishopric ofSantiago de Compostela, encompassing part of the lands attributed to the Celtici Supertamarici by ancient authors.[17]
The nameCeltae was revived in the literature of theEarly Modern period. The Frenchceltique and Germanceltisch first appear in the 16th century; the English wordCelts is first attested in 1607.[18]The adjectiveCeltic, formed after Frenchceltique, appears a little later, in the mid-17th century. An early attestation is found inMilton'sParadise Lost (1667), in reference to theInsular Celts of antiquity:[theIonian gods ... who] o'er the Celtic [fields] roamed the utmost Isles. (I.520, here in the 1674 spelling). Use ofCeltic in the linguistic sense arises in the 18th century, in the work ofEdward Lhuyd.[19]
In the 18th century, the interest in "primitivism", which led to the idea of the "noble savage", brought a wave of enthusiasm for all things "Celtic." TheantiquarianWilliam Stukeley pictured a race of "ancient Britons" constructing the "temples of the Ancient Celts" such asStonehenge (actually a pre-Celtic structure). In his 1733 bookHistory of the Temples of the Ancient Celts, he recast the "Celts" "Druids".[20]James Macpherson'sOssian fables, which he claimed were ancientScottish Gaelic poems that he had "translated," added to this romantic enthusiasm. The "Irish revival" came after theCatholic Emancipation Act 1829 as a conscious attempt to promote an Irish national identity, which, with its counterparts in other countries, subsequently became known as the "Celtic Revival".[20]
The initial consonant of the English wordsCelt andCeltic is primarily pronounced/k/ and occasionally/s/ in both modernBritish andAmerican English,[21][22][23][24] although/s/ was formerly the norm.[25] In the oldest attestedGreek form, and originally also inLatin, it was pronounced/k/, but it was subject to a regular process ofpalatization around the 1st century AD whenever it appeared before afront vowel like/e/; as theLate Latin of Gaul evolved intoFrench, this palatalised sound became/t͡s/, and then developed to/s/ around the end of theOld French era. The/k/ pronunciation of Classical Latin was later taken directly intoGerman; both pronunciations were taken into English at different times.
The English word originates in the 17th century. Until the mid-19th century, the sole pronunciation in English was/s/, in keeping with the inheritance of the letter ⟨c⟩ fromOld French toMiddle English. From the mid-19th century onward, academic publications advocated the variant with/k/ on the basis of a new understanding of the word's origins. The/s/ pronunciation remained standard throughout the 19th to early 20th century, but/k/ gained ground during the later 20th century.[26] A notable exception is that the/s/ pronunciation remains the most recognized form when it occurs in the names of sports teams, most notablyCeltic Football Club in Scotland, and theBoston Celtics basketball team in the United States. The title of theCavan newspaperThe Anglo-Celt is also pronounced with the/s/.[27]
In current usage, the terms "Celt" and "Celtic" can take several senses depending on context: theCelts of theEuropean Iron Age, the group of Celtic-speaking peoples inhistorical linguistics, and the modernCeltic identity derived from the RomanticistCeltic Revival.
After its use by Edward Lhuyd in 1707,[28] the use of the word "Celtic" as anumbrella term for the pre-Roman peoples of theBritish Isles gained considerable popularity.Lhuyd was the first to recognise that the Irish, British, and Gaulish languages were related to one another, and the inclusion of the Insular Celts under the term "Celtic" from this time forward expresses this linguistic relationship. By the late 18th century, the Celtic languages were recognised as one branch within the larger Indo-European family.
The Celts are an ethnolinguistic group of Iron Age European peoples, including theGauls (including subgroups such as theLepontii and theGalatians),Celtiberians, andInsular Celts.
The timeline ofCeltic settlement in the British Isles is unclear and the object of much speculation, but it is clear that by the 1st century BC most of Great Britain and Ireland was inhabited by Celtic-speaking peoples now known as theInsular Celts. These peoples were divided into two large groups,Britons (speaking "P-Celtic") and Gaels (speaking "Q-Celtic"). The Brythonic groups underRoman rule were known in Latin asBritanni, while use of the namesCeltae orGalli/Galatai was restricted to theGauls. There are no examples of text from Goidelic languages prior to the appearance ofPrimitive Irish inscriptions in the 4th century AD; however, there are earlier references to theIverni (inPtolemy c. 150, later also appearing asHierni andHiberni) and, by 314, to theScoti.
Simon James argues that while the term "Celtic" expresses a valid linguistic connection, its use for both Insular and Continental Celtic cultures is misleading, as archaeology does not suggest a unified Celtic culture during the Iron Age.[importance?][page needed]
With the rise ofCeltic nationalism in the early to mid-19th century, the term "Celtic" also came to be a self-designation used by proponents of a modernCeltic identity. Thus, in a discussion of "the word Celt," a contributor toThe Celt states, "The Greeks called us Keltoi,"[29] expressing a position ofethnic essentialism that extends "we" to include both 19th-century Irish people and the Danubian Κελτοί of Herodotus.This sense of "Celtic" is preserved in its political sense in the Celtic nationalism of organisations such as theCeltic League, but it is also used in a more general and politically neutral sense in expressions such as "Celtic music."
LatinGalli might be from an originally Celtic ethnic ortribal name, perhaps borrowed into Latin during theGallic Wars of the 4th century BCE. Its root may be the Common Celtic*galno-, meaning "power" or "strength". The GreekΓαλάταιGalatai (cf.Galatia in Anatolia) seems to be based on the same root, borrowed directly from the same hypothetical Celtic source that gave usGalli (the suffix-atai simply indicates that the word is an ethnic name).
Linguist Stefan Schumacher presents a slightly different account: he derives the ethnonymGalli (nominative singular*Gallos) from the present stem of the verb that hereconstructs forProto-Celtic as *gal-nV- (V denotes a vowel whose unclear identity does not permit full reconstruction). He writes that this verb means "to be able to, to gain control of", and thatGalatai comes from the same root and is to be reconstructed as nominative singular *galatis < *gelH-ti-s. Schumacher gives the same meaning for both reconstructions, namelyGerman:Machthaber, "potentate, ruler (even warlord)", or alternativelyGerman:Plünderer, Räuber, "raider, looter, pillager, marauder";[30]and notes that if both names wereexonyms, it would explain theirpejorative meanings. TheProto-Indo-European verbal root in question is reconstructed by Schumacher as *gelH-,[31] meaningGerman:Macht bekommen über, "to acquire power over" in theLexikon der indogermanischen Verben.[32]
The name of theGallaeci (earlier form Callaeci or Callaici), a Celtic federation in northwest Iberia, may seem related toGalli but is not.The Romans named the entire region north of theDouro, where theCastro culture existed, in honour of the Castro people who settled in the area of Calle – theCallaeci.[citation needed]
EnglishGaul /Gaulish are unrelated to LatinGallia /Galli, despite superficial similarity. The English words ultimately stem from the reconstructedProto-Germanic root*walhaz,[33] "foreigner,Romanized person."[34] In the early Germanic period, this exonym seems to have been applied broadly to the peasant population of theRoman Empire, most of whom lived in the areas being settled by Germanic peoples; whether the peasants spoke Celtic or Latin did not matter.
The Germanic root likely made its way into French viaLatinization ofFrankishWalholant "Gaul," literally "Land of the Foreigners". Germanicw regularly becomesgu /g in French (cf.guerre 'war',garder 'ward'), and thediphthongau is the regular outcome ofal before another consonant (cf.cheval ~chevaux).Gaule orGaulle can hardly be derived from LatinGallia, sinceg would becomej beforea (gamba >jambe), and the diphthongau would be unexplained. Note that the regular outcome of LatinGallia in French isJaille, which is found in several western placenames.[35][36]
Similarly, FrenchGallois, "Welsh," is not from LatinGalli but (with suffix substitution) from Proto-Germanic *walhisks "Celtic, Gallo-Roman, Romance" or from itsOld English descendantwælisċ (= Modern EnglishWelsh).Wælisċ originates from Proto-Germanic *walhiska- 'foreign'[37] or "Celt" (South GermanWelsch(e) "Celtic speaker," "French speaker," "Italian speaker";Old Norsevalskr, pl.valir "Gaulish," "French,"). In Old French, the wordsgualeis,galois, and (Northern French)walois could mean either Welsh or theLangue d'oïl. However, Northern FrenchWaulle is first recorded in the 13th century to translate LatinGallia, whilegaulois is first recorded in the 15th century to translate LatinGallus /Gallicus (seeGaul: Name).
The Proto-Germanic terms may ultimately have a Celtic root:Volcae, orUolcae.[38] The Volcae were a Celtic tribe who originally lived in southern Germany and then emigrated to Gaul;[39] for two centuries they barred the southward expansion of theGermanic tribes. Most modern Celticists considerUolcae to be related to Welshgwalch 'hawk', and perhaps more distantly to Latinfalco (id.)[40] The name would have initially appeared in Proto-Germanic as*wolk- and become*walh- viaGrimm's Law.
In the Middle Ages, territories with primarilyRomance-speaking populations, such asFrance and Italy, were known in German asWelschland in contrast toDeutschland. The Proto-Germanic root word also yieldedVlach,Wallachia,Walloon, and the second part inCornwall. The surnamesWallace andWalsh are also cognates.
The termGael is, despite superficial similarity, also completely unrelated to eitherGalli orGaul. The name ultimately derives from the Old Irish wordGoídel.Lenition rendered the /d/ silent, though it still appears as⟨dh⟩ in the orthography of the modern Gaelic languages": (Irish andManx)Gaedheal orGael,Scottish GaelicGàidheal. Compare also the modern linguistic termGoidelic.
The Celtic-speaking people of Great Britain were known asBrittanni orBrittones in Latin and as Βρίττωνες in Greek. An earlier form wasPritani, or Πρετ(τ)αν(ν)οί in Greek (as recorded byPytheas in the 4th century BC, among others, and surviving in Welsh asPrydain, the old name for Britain). Related to this is *Priteni, the reconstructed self-designation of the people later calledPicts, which is recorded later inOld Irish asCruithin and Welsh asPrydyn.
{{cite book}}:|first= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Gallo-Greek Γαλάτες 'Galatian' <*galatV- is subject to the difficulties involved in etymologising any proper noun. Schumacher (2000: 42; 2004: 325) assume[s] it is a loan-word from Proto-Celtic*galati- <*gelH-ti(*gelH- 'be mighty': W.gallu 'be able; take away, steal'; LIV 185) ...].
{{cite book}}:|author= has generic name (help)
