Celt - No such thing !!!

[Conal]

I'd expect you'd be "Iceni" or "trinovantes" or whatever tribal division first and foremost.

The problem with the word "celt" is that it now comes with a whole load of modern baggage.

The arguements regarding the UK and Ireland can be separated from any modern baggage. The Scots, Irish, Welsh (which we all know is an Anglo-Saxon word for foreigner.. and they obviously did not chose to call themselves that) and Bretons are either Celts or they are not. And its this that is the problem ... its not necessarily a matter of choice ... or is it :roll:

One view is that as there cannnot be a proven DNA line from a recognised Celt of antiquity then one cannot claim Celtic ancestry. That The Irish originated in Spain and that these ancestors did not speak a Celtic language but a variation of Basque means that, regardles of any adoption of another language and another culture, not necessarilt La Tene but not Basque means they should not consider themselves Celtic.

Another is that as one cannot attribute a single overarching Indo European culture via identifyable artifacts secular or relegious sites etc then each identifyable segment ( maybe tribe) should be considered a separate micro culture.

And with regard to language the fact that most of Europe was populated by speakers of related Indo-European languages of which those who might be have identified themselves as Celts were only a small portion.

This means that even though there might have been a commonality of lanuage, artifacts and religious beliefs it cannot be said that all can be given a name.

An alternative is that as the Greeks, who first wrote down the name Keltoi, came into contact with them via Massillia and this may be a Greek rendering of a name they called themselves. J Ceasar stated that peoples in the same area refered to themselves in that way, which could be taken as evidence that at least in southern Gaul there were "real Celts". If, as I have read recently the so called La Tene culture may have eminated from there rather than Switzerland then it could be argued that where ever this culture spread, regardless of ethnic considerations or rergional variations, the peoples could be desciribed as "Celtic" ... so you get Belgic Celts... British Celts ... Cisalpine Celts ... etc etc. It is not a racial term but a description of those who adapted to a change in Indo-Europen culture, which they were a part of via a commonality of lanuage and possibly relegious beliefs. There is no need to assume a big jump from IE to Halstatt to La Tene if there were already social & trading links going back centurys.

Its realy an arguement that absence of proof is proof of absence:?