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The various names used since
classicaltimes for the people known today as the
Celtsare of disparate origins.
The name Κελτοί
Keltoiand
Celtae isused in Greek and Latin, respectively, as the name of a people of the
LaTène horizon in the region of the upper
Rhine and
Danube duringthe 6th to 1st centuries BC in
Greco-Romanethnography. The name is probably from a tribalself-designation, but its etymology is uncertain. Likewise, the nameof the Γαλάται
Galatai /
Galli isprobably from a tribal name, also of uncertain etymology.
The names of the
Gaulsand of the
Welsh,on the other hand, are taken from the designator used by the
Germanicpeoples for Celtic- and Latin-speaking peoples,
*walha-.
The linguistic sense of the name
Celts,grouping all speakers of
Celticlanguages, is modern. In particular, aside from a1st-century literary genealogy of
Celtusthe grandson of
Bretannosby Heracles, there is no record of the term "Celt" beingused in connection with the
InsularCelts, the inhabitants of the
BritishIsles during the Iron Age, prior to the 17thcentury.
[h=2]Contents[/h]
[h=2]
Celts,
Celtae[/h]The ethnonym
Celts(
Latin:
Celtae;
Ancient Greek:Κελτοί
Keltoi,later also Κέλται
Keltai)seems to be based on a native Celtic tribal name (cf.
Celticiin Portugal).
[1]
Thename probably stems from the
Indo-Europeanroot *kel- or *(s)kel-, but there are several such roots of variousmeanings: *kel- "to be prominent", *kel- "to drive orset in motion", *kel- "to strike or cut", etc.
[2]The same element is present in a set of
Hispano-Celticand
Gaulishpersonal and family names:
Celtiatus,
Celtiatis(gen.),
Arcelti(gen.),
Concelti(gen.),
Celtius,
Celtus,
Celtilla(fem.),
Celta(fem.), and
Celtilius.
[3]
[h=3]Ancient uses[/h]The first literary reference to the Celtic people,as Κελτοί(
Κeltoi),is by the Greek historian
Hecataeusof Miletus in 517 BC; he locates the Keltoi tribein Rhenania (West/Southwest Germany). The next Greek reference to theKeltoi is by
Herodotusin the mid-5th century BC. He says that "the river Ister(
Danube)begins from the Keltoi and the city of Pyrene and so runs that itdivides Europe in the midst (now the Keltoi are outside the
Pillarsof Heracles and border upon the
Kynesians,who dwell furthest towards the sunset of all those who have theirdwelling in Europe)". This confused passage was generally laterinterpreted as implying that the homeland of the Celts was at thesource of the Danube, not in Spain/France.
Accordingto the 1st-century poet
Partheniusof Nicaea,
Celtus(Κελτός) wasthe son of
Heraclesand
Keltine(Κελτίνη),the daughter of Bretannus (Βρεττανός);this literary genealogy exists nowhere else and was not connectedwith any known cult.
[4]Celtus became the
eponymousancestor of Celts.
[5]In Latin
Celtacame in turn from
Herodotus'word for the
Gauls,
Keltoi. TheRomans used
Celtaeto refer to continental Gauls, but apparently not to
InsularCelts. The latter were long dividedlinguistically into
Goidelsand
Brythons,although other research provides a more complex picture (see belowunder "Classification").
The name
Celtiberiis used by
DiodorusSiculus in the 1st century BC, of a people whichhe considered a mixture of
Celtaeand
Iberi.
[h=4]
Celtici[/h]
Apana · Ambo/lli · f(ilia) · Celtica /Supertam(arica) · / [C] Miobri · /an(norum) · XXV · h(ic) ·s(ita) · e(st) · /Apanus · fr(ater) · f(aciendum)· c(uravit)
Aside from the
Celtiberians—Lusones, Titi, Arevaci and Pelendones among others— whoinhabited large regions of central Spain, Greek and Roman geographersalso spoke of a people or group of peoples called
Celticior
Κελτικοί,living in the South of modern day Portugal, in the
Alentejoregion, between the
Tagusand the
Guadianarivers.
[6]They are first mentioned by
Strabo,who wrote that they were the most numerous people inhabiting thatregion. Later, the description of Ptolemy shows a more reducedterritory, comprising the regions from
Évorato
Setúbal,being the coastal and southern areas occupied by the
Turdetani.
A second group of Celticiwas mentioned by Pliny living in the region of Baeturia (northwestern
Andalusia);he considered that they proceeded "of the Celtiberians from theLusitania, because of their religion, language, and because of thenames of their cities".
[7]
In the North, in
Galicia,another group of Celtici
[8]dwelt the coastal areas. They comprised several
populi,including the Celtici proper: the
Praestamarcisouth of the
Tambreriver (
Tamaris),the
Supertamarcinorth of it, and the
Neriby the Celtic promontory (
PromunturiumCelticum).
PomponiusMela affirmed that all the inhabitants of thecoastal regions, from the bays of southern Galicia and till the
Astures,were also Celtici: "All (this coast) is inhabited by theCeltici, except from the
Douroriver to the bays, where the Grovi dwelt (…) Inthe north coast first there are the Artabri, still of the Celticpeople (
Celticae gentis),and after them the Astures."
[9]He also mentioned the fabulous isles of tin, the
Cassiterides,as situated among these Celtici.
[10]
The Celtici Supertarmarci have also left a number ofinscriptions,
[11]as the Celtici Flavienses did.
[12]Several villages and rural parishes still bear the name
Céltigos(from Latin
Celticos)in Galicia. This is also the name of an archpriesthood of theCatholic Church, a division of the archbishopric of
Santiagode Compostela, encompassing part of the landsattributed to the Celtici Supertamarci by ancient authors.
[13]
[h=3]Introduction in Early Modern lite[/h]
