07-31-2008, 11:44 AM
People called the Brigantes and Damnonii are recorded in Ireland as well as in Britain. The name of the anomalous Irish saint, St Brigit, is from the same origin as the root 'brigant-' probably derived from the name of a godess. An old theory equates the race of Fir Bolg (possibly meaning 'Spearmen'), recorded as one of the mythical invaders of Ireland, with the Belgae, but the linguistic similarity might be misleading.
It appears that the old tibes of Ireland included some P-Celtic speakers, called Cruithne, which is also the Goidelic term for the inhabitants of Britain. Tribal identity in Ireland was utterly swept aside in a social and political revolution which saw the rise of non-tribal Goidelic dynastic groups ,such as the O'Neill and Eoganachta, around the time of Christ. In early Irish records some family-clan groups are recorded as having Cruithne origins.
The term 'Celt' is bedevilled with inconsitancies of interpretation because people who should know better confuse language, ethnicity, ancient Greek and Roman historiography and physical culture.
The basic definition of 'Celt' is a speaker of the Celtic Indo-European language group. Anyone who speaks or is recorded as having spoken a Celtic language is a Celt. Thus a modern Welsh-speaking Welshman is a Celt and an ancient Galatian was a Celt, neither is more Celtic or less Celtic than the other.
Archaeologists used to think that artistic and pottery styles were linked to ethnic groups in a fixed way. If you make a pot a certain way and decorate a piece of jewellry with a certain type of design then this denotes an ethnic group. If this physical culture appears in a geographic area other than from where it originated then the people who made it necessarily came from the area of origin and had physically moved. This has been shown to be bunkum, like arguing that the Nissan cars found in Holland prove that there has been a mass migration of Japanese people to the Netherlands.
Arguments that British Celts are not really Celts because they differ genetically from the people of the Rhineland who originated the Halstatt and La Tene art styles is equally intellectually untenable. We have no way of knowing where the Celtic language group originated and there is no way of knowing whether the Rhinelanders were speaking Celtic dialects before or after the people of Britain (or Spain). Movement of an art style does not equate with the movement of a language or people.
It appears that the old tibes of Ireland included some P-Celtic speakers, called Cruithne, which is also the Goidelic term for the inhabitants of Britain. Tribal identity in Ireland was utterly swept aside in a social and political revolution which saw the rise of non-tribal Goidelic dynastic groups ,such as the O'Neill and Eoganachta, around the time of Christ. In early Irish records some family-clan groups are recorded as having Cruithne origins.
The term 'Celt' is bedevilled with inconsitancies of interpretation because people who should know better confuse language, ethnicity, ancient Greek and Roman historiography and physical culture.
The basic definition of 'Celt' is a speaker of the Celtic Indo-European language group. Anyone who speaks or is recorded as having spoken a Celtic language is a Celt. Thus a modern Welsh-speaking Welshman is a Celt and an ancient Galatian was a Celt, neither is more Celtic or less Celtic than the other.
Archaeologists used to think that artistic and pottery styles were linked to ethnic groups in a fixed way. If you make a pot a certain way and decorate a piece of jewellry with a certain type of design then this denotes an ethnic group. If this physical culture appears in a geographic area other than from where it originated then the people who made it necessarily came from the area of origin and had physically moved. This has been shown to be bunkum, like arguing that the Nissan cars found in Holland prove that there has been a mass migration of Japanese people to the Netherlands.
Arguments that British Celts are not really Celts because they differ genetically from the people of the Rhineland who originated the Halstatt and La Tene art styles is equally intellectually untenable. We have no way of knowing where the Celtic language group originated and there is no way of knowing whether the Rhinelanders were speaking Celtic dialects before or after the people of Britain (or Spain). Movement of an art style does not equate with the movement of a language or people.
Martin
Fac me cocleario vomere!
Fac me cocleario vomere!
![[Image: dirttagline.jpg]](http://www.oakandacorn.com/hostedimages/dirttagline.jpg)
