08-01-2010, 08:57 PM
I'd like to hear some of your opinions and ideas on what the word "Celt" meant to the actual Celts in their time. Although the English term "Celt" seems to be modern, it certainly appears to have meant something at the time as well. I think we can all agree that the Celts (as we now know them), as a whole, never called themselves "Celts" but it appears to have been at least a tribal name (possibly) as referenced by Greeks and Romans. Vercingetorix's father was also named Celtillus, so I am curious as to what this meant. I wonder if it had a similar meaning as the word "teut" or "teuta" (meaning people or tribe). For example, the Gauls called some Germans Teutons, meaning the people, or worshipped Teutates, god of the people or tribe. So did the name Celtillus mean something like "of the Celts?"
Todd Franks
"The whole race is madly fond of war, high spirited and quick to battle, but otherwise straightforward and not of evil character." - Strabo on the Celts
"The whole race is madly fond of war, high spirited and quick to battle, but otherwise straightforward and not of evil character." - Strabo on the Celts
