Celts - Names and Terminology

Names and Terminology

The first recorded use of the word Celts (Κελτοί) to refer to an ethnic group was by Hecataeus of Miletus, the Greek geographer, in 517 BC, when writing about a people living near “Massilia” (Marseille). According to the testimony of Julius Caesar and Strabo, the Latin name Celtus (pl. Celti or Celtae) and the Greek Κέλτης (pl. Κέλται) or Κελτός (pl. Κελτοί) were borrowed from a native Celtic tribal name. Pliny the Elder referred it as being used in Lusitania as a tribal surname which epigraphic findings confirm.

Latin Gallus might originally be from a Celtic ethnic or tribal name, perhaps borrowed into Latin during the Celtic expansions into Italy of the early 5th century BC. Its root may be the Common Celtic *galno, meaning power or strength. Galli, Gallaeci and Galatae most probably go with Old Irish gal ‘boldness, ferocity’ and Welsh gallu ‘to be able, power’. The Greek Galatai seems to be based on the same root, borrowed directly from the same hypothetical Celtic source which gave us Galli (the suffix -atai is an Ancient Greek inflection) (see Galatia in Anatolia).

The English word Celt is modern, attested from 1707 in the writings of Edward Lhuyd whose work, along with that of other late 17th-century scholars, brought academic attention to the languages and history of these early inhabitants of Great Britain. The English form Gaul (first recorded in the 17th century) and Gaulish come from the French Gaule and Gaulois, which translate Latin Gallia and Gallus, -icus respectively. In Old French, the words gualeis, galois, walois (Northern French phonetics keeping /w/) had different meanings: Welsh or the Langue d'oïl, etc. On the other hand, the word Waulle (Northern French phonetics keeping /w/) is recorded for the first time in the 13th century to translate the Latin word Gallia, while gaulois is recorded for the first time in the 15th century, and the scholars use it to translate the Latin words Gallus, Gallicus. The word comes from Proto-Germanic *Walha- (see Gaul: Name). The English word Welsh originates from the word wælisċ, the Anglo-Saxon form of *walhiska-, the reconstructed Proto-Germanic word for ‘foreign’ or ‘Celt’ (South German Welsch(e) ‘Celtic speaker’, ‘French speaker’, ‘Italian speaker’; Old Norse valskr pl. valir ‘Gaulish’, ‘French’), that is supposed to be derived of the name of the Volcae, a Celtic tribe who lived first in the South of Germany and emigrated then to Gaul.

The notion of an identifiable Celtic cultural identity or "Celticity", though problematic, generally centres on language, art and classical texts, though can also include, material artifacts, social organisation, homeland and mythology. Earlier theories were that this indicated a common racial origin but more recent theories are reflective of culture and language rather than race. Celtic cultures seem to have had numerous diverse characteristics but the commonality between these diverse peoples was the use of a Celtic language.

Celtic refers to a family of languages and, more generally, means 'of the Celts or 'in the style of the Celts." Several archaeological cultures are considered Celtic in nature, based on unique sets of artifacts. The link between language and artifact is aided by the presence of inscriptions. (See Celtic (disambiguation) for other applications of the term.)

Today, the term Celtic generally refers to the languages and respective cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany, also known as the Six Celtic Nations. These are the regions where four Celtic languages are still spoken to some extent as mother tongues. The four are Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton; plus two recent revivals, Cornish (one of the Brythonic languages) and Manx (one of the Goidelic languages). There are also attempts to reconstruct the Cumbric language (a Brythonic language from North West England and South West Scotland). Celtic regions of Continental Europe are those whose residents claim a Celtic heritage, but where no Celtic language has survived; these areas include the western Iberian Peninsula, i.e. Portugal, and north-central Spain (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and León, Extremadura). (See also: Modern Celts.)

Continental Celts are the Celtic-speaking people of mainland Europe and Insular Celts are the Celtic-speaking peoples of the British and Irish islands and their descendants. The Celts of Brittany derive their language from migrating insular Celts, mainly from Wales and Cornwall, and so are grouped accordingly.