What is Celtic?

[edit] Overview
The term Celt has been adopted as a label of self-identity for a variety of peoples at different times. However, it does not seem to have been used to refer to Celtic language speakers as a whole before the 18th century. In ancient times it was primarily used by Greeks and Romans as a label for groups of people who were distinguished from others by cultural characteristics.

Celticity refers to the concept which links these peoples. Historically, theories were developed that similar language, material artifacts, social organisation and mythological factors were indicative of a common racial origin, but later theories of culture spreading to differing indigenous peoples have discredited these theories.[citation needed] The current concept of a common cultural heritage has recently been supported by some genetic studies which show that populations consist of people with many origins.[citation needed] The Celtic culture seems to have had numerous diverse characteristics, thus the only commonality between these diverse peoples was the use of one of the Celtic languages.

The term Celtic as a noun means the family of languages but as an adjective it has the meaning "of the Celts" or "in the style of the Celts". The article on Celtic links to a number of applications of this term. It has also been used to refer to several archaeological cultures, defined by unique sets of artifacts. The link between language and artifacts is nothing more than assumption unless inscriptions are present. Thus the term Celtic is reserved by linguists for the language family but is commonly used to denote both linguistic and cultural groups.

The Celts themselves had an intricate, indigenous polytheistic religion and distinctive material and social culture. In the Iron Age they were spread from the Iberian Peninsula to Turkey and ancient Iberia at Caucasus, but their urheimat is a matter of controversy. Traditionally, scholars have placed the Celtic homeland in what is now southern Germany and Austria, associating the earliest Celtic peoples with the Hallstatt culture. However, modern linguistic studies seem to point to a north Balkan origin. The expansion of the Roman Empire from the south and the Germanic tribes from the north and east spelt the end of Celtic culture on the European mainland where Brittany alone maintained its Celtic language and identity, probably due to later immigrants from Great Britain. Julius Caesar described the term "Celt" as the word used by the people of central France (only) to refer to themselves, the Roman name being Gauls.[citation needed] The known names of Celtic peoples are given in the list of Celtic tribes.

The eventual development of Celtic Christianity in Ireland and Britain brought an early medieval renaissance of Celtic art between 400 and 1200, only ended by the Norman Conquest of Ireland in the late 12th century. Notable works produced during this period include the Book of Kells and the Ardagh Chalice. Antiquarian interest from the 17th century led to the term Celt being extended, and rising nationalism brought Celtic revivals from the 19th century in areas where the use of Celtic languages had continued.

Today, the term Celtic is often used to describe the languages and respective cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man and Brittany, regions where four Celtic languages are still spoken by minorities today as mother tongues, Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton plus two recent revivals, Cornish (one of the Brythonic languages) and Manx (one of the Goidelic languages). It is also used for other regions from the Continental Europe of Celtic heritage, but where no Celtic language has survived, which include the northern Iberian Peninsula (northern Portugal, and the Spanish historical regions of Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria), and in a lesser degree, France. (see the Modern Celts article)

The term Continental Celt refers to the celtic speaking people of mainland Europe, excluding Brittany which is a special case. The term insular celt refers to the people of Britain and Ireland.

The term Atlantic Celt had been introduced to refer to people in Iberia, France, Ireland and Britain with a celtic heritage. However, it has been asserted that since the assumption that there is a genetic link between Atlantic and Continental Celts.

In the last two decades of the twentieth century, multidisciplinary studies were brought to bear on the history of the Celts. Disciplines such as ancient history, palaeolinguistics, historical linguistics, archaeology, history of art, anthropology, population genetics, history of religion, ethnology, mythology and folklore studies all had an influence on celtic studies.


[edit] Development of the term "Celt"

[edit] Ancient uses
The first literary reference to the Celtic people, as Κελτοί (Κeltoi) is by the Greek historian Hecataeus in 517 BC; he locates the Keltoi tribe in Rhenania (West/Southwest Germany). The next Greek reference to the Keltoi is by Herodotus in the mid 5th century. He says that "the river Ister [Danube] begins from the Keltoi and the city of Pyrene and so runs that it divides Europe in the midst (now the Keltoi are outside the Pillars of Heracles and border upon the Kynesians, who dwell furthest towards the sunset of all those who have their dwelling in Europe)". This confused passage was generally later interpreted as implying that the homeland of the Celts was at the source of the Danube not in Spain/France. However, this was mainly because of the association of the Hallstatt and La Tene cultures with the Celts.

According to Greek mythology, Κελτός (Celtus) was the son of Heracles and Κελτίνη (Keltine), the daughter of Βρεττανός (Bretannus).[1] Celtus became the eponymous ancestor of Celts.[2] In Latin Celta came in turn from Herodotus' word for the Gauls, Keltoi. The Romans used Celtae to refer to continental Gauls, but apparently not to Insular Celts. The latter were long divided linguistically into Goidhels and Brythons (see Insular Celtic languages), although other research provides a more complex picture (see below under "Classification").


[edit] The term in English
The English word 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.[3] 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". The antiquarian William Stukeley pictured a race of "Ancient Britons" putting up the "Temples of the Ancient Celts" such as Stonehenge before he decided in 1733 to recast the Celts in his book as Druids. The Ossian fables written by James Macpherson and portrayed as ancient Scottish Gaelic language poems added to this romantic enthusiasm. The "Irish revival" came after the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829 as a conscious attempt to demonstrate an Irish national identity, and with its counterpart in other countries subsequently became the "Celtic revival".[4]

Nowadays "Celt" and "Celtic" are usually pronounced /kɛlt/ and /kɛltɪk/, derived from a Greek root keltoi, when referring to the ethnic group and its languages. The pronunciation /'sɛltɪk/, derived from the French celtique, is mainly used for the names of sports teams (for example the NBA team, Boston Celtics and the SPL side, Celtic F.C. in Glasgow.[5]


[edit] Modern uses
In a historical context, the terms "Celt" and "Celtic" can be used in several senses: they can denote peoples speaking Celtic languages; the peoples of prehistoric and early historic Europe who shared common cultural traits which are thought to have originated in the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures; or the peoples known to the Greeks as Keltoi, to the Romans as Celtae and to either by cognate terms such as Gallae or Galatae. The extent to which each of these meanings refers to the same group of people is a matter of debate.

Brittany
Cornwall
Ireland
Isle of Man
Scotland
Wales
In a modern context, the term "Celt" or "Celtic" can be used to denote areas where Celtic languages are spoken—this is the criterion employed by the Celtic League and the Celtic Congress. In this sense, there are six modern nations that can be defined as Celtic: Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales. Only four, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and Brittany have native speakers of Celtic languages and in none of them is it the language of the majority. However, all six have significant traces of a Celtic language in personal and place names, and in culture and traditions.

Some people in Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria, in north-western Spain, and Minho, Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro in northern Portugal wish to be considered Celtic because of the strong Celtic cultural identity and acknowledgement of their Celtic past. The Celtic element is seen as the key differentiator of the Galician-Portuguese identity from the Mediterranean Iberian, Roman or Moorish influences of southern and eastern Spain, and southern Portugal.

Regions of England such as Cumbria and Devon likewise retain some Celtic influences, yet haven't retained a Celtic language (even Cornwall became fully English-speaking during the 18th century) and are therefore not categorised as Celtic regions or nations. Cornish aside, the last attested Celtic language native to England was Cumbric, spoken in Cumbria and southern Scotland and which may have survived until the 13th century, but was most likely dead by the eleventh. As in the case of Cornish, there have been recent attempts to recreate it, based on medieval miracle plays and other surviving sources.[citation needed]

Another area of Europe associated with the Celts is France, which traces its roots to the Gauls. In Scotland, the Gaelic language traces at least some of its roots to migration and settlement by the Irish Dál Riata/Scotti. The settlement of Germanic immigrants in the lowlands—among other things—reduced the spread of the Gaelic language which was supplanting Brythonic in Scotland; this has meant that Scots-Gaelic-speaking communities survive chiefly in the country's northern and western fringes.


[edit] Use of the term for pre-Roman peoples of Britain and Ireland
Series on
Celtic mythology

Celtic polytheism
Celtic deities

Ancient Celtic religion
Druids · Bards · Vates
British Iron Age religion
Celtic religious patterns
Gallo-Roman religion
Romano-British religion

British mythology
Welsh mythology
Breton mythology
Mabinogion · Taliesin
Cad Goddeu
Trioedd Ynys Prydein
Matter of Britain · King Arthur

Gaelic mythology
Irish mythology
Scottish mythology
Hebridean mythology
Tuatha Dé Danann
Mythological Cycle
Ulster Cycle
Fenian Cycle
Immrama · Echtrae

See also
Celt · Gaul
Galatia · Celtiberians
Early history of Ireland
Prehistoric Scotland
Prehistoric Wales


Index of related articles
This box: view • talk • edit
The first person to use the term "Celt" in relation to Britain and Ireland was George Buchanan in 1582. After its employment by Edward Lhuyd in 1707, the use of the word "Celtic" as an umbrella term for the pre-Roman peoples of Britain gained considerable popularity in the nineteenth century, and remains in common usage. However its historical basis is now seen as dubious by many historians and archaeologists, and this usage has been called into question.

Simon James, formerly of the British Museum, in his book The Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or Modern Invention? makes the point that the Romans never used the term "Celtic" (or, rather, a cognate in Latin) in reference to the peoples of Britain and Ireland, and points out that the modern term "Celt" was coined as a useful umbrella term in the early 18th century to distinguish the non-English inhabitants of the archipelago when England united with Scotland in 1707 to create the Kingdom of Great Britain and the later union of Great Britain and Ireland as the United Kingdom in 1800. Nationalists in Scotland, Ireland and Wales looked for a way to differentiate themselves from England and assert their right to independence. James then argues that, despite the obvious linguistic connections, archaeology does not suggest a united Celtic culture and that the term is misleading, no more (or less) meaningful than "Western".

Miranda Green, author of Celtic Goddesses, describes archaeologists as finding "a certain homogeneity" in the traditions in the area of Celtic habitation including Britain and Ireland — she sees the inhabitants of Britain and Ireland as having become thoroughly Celticized by the time of the Roman arrival, mainly through spread of culture rather than a movement of people.

In his book Iron Age Britain, Barry Cunliffe concludes that "...there is no evidence in the British Isles to suggest that a population group of any size migrated from the continent in the first millennium BC...". Modern archaeological thought tends to disparage the idea of large population movements without facts to back them up, a caution which appears to be vindicated by some genetic studies. In other words, Celtic culture in the Atlantic Archipelago and continental Europe could have emerged through the peaceful convergence of local tribal cultures bound together by networks of trade and kinship — not by war and conquest. This type of peaceful convergence and cooperation is actually relatively common among tribal peoples; other well known examples of the phenomenon include the Six Nations of the Iroquois League and the Nuer of East Africa. He argues that the ancient Celts are thus best depicted as a loose and highly diverse collection of indigenous tribal societies bound together by trade, a common druidic religion, related languages, and similar political institutions — but each having its own local traditions.

Michael Morse in the conclusion of his book How the Celts came to Britain concedes that the concepts of a broad Celtic linguistic area and recognizably Celtic art have their uses, but argues that the term implies a greater unity than existed. Despite such problems he suggests that the term Celt is probably too deep-rooted to be replaced and — what is more important — it has the definition that we choose to give it. The problem is that the wider public reads into the term quite anachronistic concepts of ethnic unity that no one on either side in the academic debate holds