Were They Celts?
Britain Before English
Course 1 · Chapter 5 · Were They Celts?
Most people would answer "yes" at once. The sources are more careful. "Celtic" names a family of languages, and it also names a group of peoples in Greek and Roman writing, and the two do not line up neatly with Britain. This chapter separates the questions and reports what the sources say about each.
The word
The Celts article says the first recorded use is the Greek Keltoi, by Hecataeus of Miletus in 517 BC, for a people near Massilia (Marseille). Julius Caesar reported that the Gauls called themselves Celtae in their own language. The origin of the word is unclear: one suggestion is that it meant "descendants of the hidden one" (Kim McCone), from a verb meaning "to hide".
- Herodotus placed the Keltoi near the source of the Danube and in the far west of Europe.
- Strabo applied Celtic names to Gaul and to peoples in Iberia (Celtiberi, Celtici).
- Britain: most classical writers did not call the inhabitants of Britain and Ireland Keltoi or Celtae. Tacitus did say the Britons resembled the Gauls in customs and religion. (The British Iron Age article in Chapter 4 reports that Pytheas described the Britons as Keltoi; the two articles do not agree, and I did not check Pytheas's fragments.)
The modern argument
The article names Simon James, John Collis and Francis Pryor as scholars who prefer not to call the Iron Age inhabitants of Britain and Ireland "Celts". It says that they are still "Celtic" because they spoke Celtic languages and shared other cultural traits. It also notes that no ethnic group called themselves Celts again until about 1700, and that "Celt" in English is first attested in 1707, in the writing of Edward Lhuyd.
| View | What the sources say |
|---|---|
| "They were Celts" | The Britons spoke Brittonic, a Celtic language, and shared cultural traits (Celts) |
| "The label is misleading" | Most classical writers did not use the term for Britain and Ireland, and no ethnic group called itself Celtic until about 1700 (Celts) |
| "Celtic from the West" | John Koch and Barry Cunliffe propose that proto-Celtic arose along the Atlantic coast as the common language of the Atlantic Bronze Age network; the article says Cunliffe's dating to 3000 BC and his claim that Tartessian was Celtic are widely rejected by linguists |
| Bronze Age migration | The 2021 study (Chapters 3 and 4) is read as a plausible route for early Celtic languages, with the authors describing sustained contact; Cunliffe suggests Celtic was already spoken and the late Bronze Age migration introduced the Brittonic branch (British Iron Age) |
The last two rows overlap and I could not tell from the excerpts how they fit together. The Celtic languages article's section on how Celtic arrived in Britain was not in the part I read.
The language family
Wikipedia's Celtic languages article gives these branches:
| Branch | Languages (per the article) |
|---|---|
| Goidelic | Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx |
| Brittonic | Welsh, Breton, Cornish, the lost Cumbric, and possibly Pictish |
| Continental (all extinct) | Gaulish, Lepontic, Celtiberian, Callaecian, Galatian |
| "Pritenic" | A hypothetical Insular subgroup, ancestor of Pictish, once spoken across most of Scotland |
- The split: since the 1970s many scholars have favoured an Insular and Continental division, described as the more widely held view. The older P-Celtic and Q-Celtic model, divided by one sound change, was revived by Lambert (1994).
- When: estimates for when the family split vary widely: about 900 BC (Gray and Atkinson) and about 3200 BC (the "controversial" Forster and Toth study).
- Living languages: Ethnologue lists six. Four have substantial native speakers: Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh and Breton. Cornish and Manx died out in modern times and have been revived. Welsh is the only one UNESCO does not classify as endangered.
The Brittonic languages are the ones that matter for this course: in The Story of Old English, Chapter 1, Common Brittonic is the main language of Britain before Latin and English. Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 here return to what happened to it.
Where the modern idea came from
The Celtic languages article says Edward Lhuyd first used "Celtic" for this language group in 1707, following Paul-Yves Pezron, who linked the classical Celts to Welsh and Breton. Wikipedia's Celtic nations article says the idea of "Celtic nations" comes from linguistic work by George Buchanan (16th century) and Lhuyd, and that it was accepted from the 18th century. "Celtic Fringe" gained currency in late-Victorian times, and the pan-Celtic movement is more recent: the Celtic Congress was founded in 1917.
- The six nations: Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales, "widely considered Celtic countries in modern times", with Galicia often included. Asturias, Cantabria and northern Portugal are claimed by some but not typically counted, since no Celtic language survives there.
- Genetics: a 2006 Oxford study claimed most Britons descend from pre-Celtic migrants from Iberia. The article says three later studies largely invalidated this, linking R1b lineages to a Bronze Age migration from the steppe. A 2015 UK study found no unified "Celtic" genetic identity, and Cornish populations are closer to English groups than to other Celtic ones.
- Dispute: the article notes "some dispute as to whether Lhuyd's theory is correct". It also flags a statement about the Celtic League as needing a non-primary source.
So, were they Celts?
As far as these three articles go: the Iron Age Britons spoke a Celtic language, so in the linguistic sense the answer is yes. In the sense of what ancient writers called them, mostly no. As a description of a single people with a shared genetic or cultural identity, the sources I read give no support, and the 2015 study found none. The word is useful for the languages and is a modern label for the rest. This chapter does not pick a side beyond reporting each.
Words to know
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Keltoi / Celtae | The Greek and Latin forms of the name |
| Goidelic | The Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx branch |
| Brittonic | The Welsh, Cornish and Breton branch, with Cumbric and possibly Pictish |
| Insular Celtic | The languages of Britain and Ireland as one group |
| Continental Celtic | The extinct Celtic languages of the continent |
| Lingua franca | A language used between speakers of different languages |
| Celtic Fringe | A Victorian phrase for the Celtic-speaking regions on the western and northern edge |
✏️ Try It Yourself
Think of the answer first, then click to check.
1. What is the first recorded use of Keltoi, and for whom?
Show answer
By Hecataeus of Miletus in 517 BC, for a people near Massilia (Marseille).
2. Did most classical writers call the people of Britain Keltoi?
Show answer
No, according to the Celts article. Tacitus said the Britons resembled the Gauls in customs and religion.
3. Why do some scholars still call the Iron Age Britons "Celtic"?
Show answer
Because they spoke Celtic languages and shared other cultural traits.
4. When was "Celt" first attested in English, and by whom?
Show answer
1707, in the writing of Edward Lhuyd.
5. Name the two living branches of Celtic and one language in each.
Show answer
Goidelic (Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx) and Brittonic (Welsh, Breton, Cornish).
6. What is "Celtic from the West", and how firm is it?
Show answer
The theory of Koch and Cunliffe that proto-Celtic arose on the Atlantic coast as the common language of the Atlantic Bronze Age network. The article says Cunliffe's dating to 3000 BC and his claim about Tartessian are widely rejected by linguists.
7. What did the 2015 UK genetic study find about a "Celtic" identity?
Show answer
No unified "Celtic" genetic identity; Cornish populations were closer to English groups than to other Celtic ones.
8. Which three questions does the Watch out box separate?
Show answer
What ancient writers called the peoples of Britain, which languages they spoke, and who counts as "Celtic" today.