Meaning what this word: Celtic. Gaul, Galata, Gaulisc

[taira1180]

Usually peoples who live in a tribal system, only adquire something similar to a national conscience in a war with a foreign people, when they are force to collaborate. Of course the several Gaul tribes would recognize that they were akin to each other, but they didn't need to give a name to it (but the greeks, yes, so the reader would know who the writer was refering). Hope i'm not being confuse.

[Ron Andrea]

Yes, that is entirely plausible.

And, unlikely as it may sound, a culture may come to refer to themselves by the very name given them by invading foreigners. Such, as I understand it, is the etymology of "Welsh," which was what at least some of the Anglo-Saxons called those Britons who remained unconquered and/or unassimilated in the area we now call Wales.

[Dan Diffendale]

Except, of course, that the Welsh don't call themselves Welsh, but Cymry.

[Ioannis]

Hi all,

I'm sure most of you are familiar with this journal. However, there's a lot of information about the Celtic culture in general.

e-keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies ([url:3gpipxd5]http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/[/url])

[Tarbicus]

'Welsh' in welsh is:
1. Cymraeg adj.
2. Cymreig adj.
3. Cymroaidd adj.

'Wales' is:
1. Cymru n.f.

'English' in welsh is:
1. Saesneg n.f.
2. iaith fain (yr) n.m.f.
3. Saesneg adj.
4. Seisnig adj.

'England' in welsh is:
1. Lloegr n.

[url:38srxuqi]http://www.geiriadur.net/[/url]

[Robert Vermaat]

'England' in welsh is:
1. Lloegr n.

I always grin a bit when I read that Welsh National Hero Number One (a.k.a.King Arthur) is 'King of Logres' in several Medieval Arthurian romances. :wink:

[Ron Andrea]

Of course, that's the whole point. At one time, the Welsh would like to believe, "Arthur" was king of the English, not just the Romano-Celtic Britons.

The Anglo-Saxons, of course, did not concur. :roll:

[L C Cinna]

hmmm the Roman word Gallus means "a Gaul", the word gallus "a cock". pretty sure the Romans had some weird jokes about that.


Like in this part from Caesar's commentaries, which was later crossed out by the author, describing an event taking place immediately after the fall of Alesia:


..."Hey Vercingetorix, who has feathers on his head and likes to stand on a manure heap? Galli, hahahaha" said Caesar, who is not only a great commander but also well known among the soldiers for his good and fine sense of humor...

:roll:

[Ron Andrea]

:lol:

I've read that many words like Welsh started as some neighbor's word for foreign or foreigner. The ones that stuck resulted from that neighbor, like Caesar and the Saxons, eventually writing the histories.

[M. Demetrius]

Maybe then we might venture that they called themselves 'Gauls'?

The opening of Caesar's De Bello Gallico says that the people we know as Gauls called themselves Celts.

"...tertii ei qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appelantur...."

I reckon I'll go with his nomenclature, however lame that might sound.

:lol:

[Ron Andrea]

Works for me. He is something of an authority.

[Robert Vermaat]

Maybe then we might venture that they called themselves 'Gauls'?

The opening of Caesar's De Bello Gallico says that the people we know as Gauls called themselves Celts.
"...tertii ei qui ipsorum lingua Celtae, nostra Galli appelantur...."
I reckon I'll go with his nomenclature, however lame that might sound.

Hmm, wasn't Caesar the guy who single-handedly decided that all to the west of the Rhine were Celts and all to the east were Germans? We now now thát ain't right, either..

[M. Demetrius]

Hmm, wasn't Caesar the guy who single-handedly decided that all to the west of the Rhine were Celts and all to the east were Germans?

Well, maybe so, if that wasn't already the common thought, but didn't Caesar also say that (in paraphrase) the conqueror can impose any terms he wants on the conquered? Wouldn't be the first or last time that happened.

But what he says is the they {the people living in modern France, one of the three groups mentioned--the Aquitanians and Belgians being the other two} called themselves Celts, which is a different thing altogether, isn't it?

I don't mean to sound argumentative. And either way, this doesn't shed any light on the original question at all. What did the word mean? Who knows? Might be from some extinct language meaning, "People" or the "True People", like many ancient names do/did.

[Ron Andrea]

Of course, most Americans call themselves Celts, though I suspect the Galli had better grounds. The aforementioned Americans are often Celtic wantabes.

That said, being Celtic then was as much cultural as "racial." Therefore a tribe who thought of itself as Celtic probably displayed enough Celtic characteristics that an outsiders like Gaius Julius would asume they knew who they were...and/or didn't care. They were all about to be clients, if not subjects, of the world's premier republic, even if he had to destroy the republic in the process.

[Antonius Lucretius]

Sorry...Slipped on my keyboard... :roll: