View source for Celts

===Ancient===
The first recorded use of the name 'Celts' – as ''{{lang|grc|Κελτοί}}'' ({{transliteration|grc|Keltoi}}) in [[Ancient Greek]] – was by Greek geographer [[Hecataeus of Miletus]] in 517 BC,<ref>Sarunas Milisauskas, {{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=31LFIITb3LUC&pg=PA363 |title=European prehistory: a survey |page=363 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |access-date=7 June 2010 |isbn=978-0-306-47257-2 |date=2002}}</ref> when writing about a people living near [[Massilia]] (modern [[Marseille]]), southern [[Gaul]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Rankin |first=H. David |title=Celts and the Classical World |date=1998 |pages=1–2 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |access-date=7 June 2010 |isbn=978-0-415-15090-3 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fdqk4vXqntgC&q=%22celts%22}}</ref> In the fifth century BC, [[Herodotus]] referred to {{transliteration|grc|Keltoi}} living around the [[source of the Danube]] and in the far west of Europe.<ref>Herodotus, ''The Histories'', 2.33; 4.49.</ref> The etymology of {{transliteration|grc|Keltoi}} is unclear. Possible roots include [[Proto-Indo-European language|PIE]] verb *''kʲel'' or ''*<sub>4</sub>k̑el-'' 'to hide'<ref>{{Cite web |title=Indo-European Lexicon: Pokorny Master PIE Etyma |url=https://lrc.la.utexas.edu/lex/master |access-date=2026-02-25 |website=lrc.la.utexas.edu}}</ref> (seen also in Old Irish {{lang|sga|ceilid}}, and Modern Welsh {{lang|cy|celu}}), *''kʲel'' 'to heat' or *''kel'' 'to impel'.<ref>John T. Koch (ed.), ''Celtic Culture: a historical encyclopedia''. 5 vols. 2006. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, p. 371.</ref> It may come from the [[Proto-Celtic language|proto-Celtic]] ''*kel-o-.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Matasović |first=Ranko |title=Etymological dictionary of proto-Celtic |year=2009 |series=Leiden Indo-European etymological dictionary series |location=Leiden; Boston |publisher=Brill |page=199 |isbn=978-90-04-17336-1 }}</ref> ''Celt-'' is found in the names of several ancient Gauls such as [[Celtillus]], father of [[Vercingetorix]]. McCone (2006) suggests it meant the people or 'descendants of the hidden one', noting the Gauls claimed descent from an [[Celtic Otherworld#Continental Celtic mythology|underworld deity]] (the [[Gaulish Dis Pater]] according to Caesar in ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico|De Bello Gallico]]''),<ref>{{Cite web |title=C. Julius Caesar, Gallic War, Book 6, chapter 18 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0001:book=6:chapter=18 |access-date=2026-02-25 |website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=McCone |first=Kim |date=2008 |title=Greek Kελτóς and Γαλάτης, Latin Gallus 'Gaul' |journal=Die Sprache |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=94–111 |doi=10.13173/SPR.46.1.094 }}</ref> and linking it with the Germanic ''[[Hel (location)|Hel]]''.<ref name="McCone2013">McCone, Kim (2013). "The Celts: questions of nomenclature and identity", in ''Ireland and its Contacts''. [[University of Lausanne]]. pp.21–27</ref> Others view it as a name coined by Greeks; among them linguist [[Patrizia de Bernardo Stempel]], who suggests it meant "the tall ones".<ref>P. De Bernardo Stempel 2008. "Linguistically Celtic ethnonyms: towards a classification", in ''Celtic and Other Languages in Ancient Europe'', J. L. García Alonso (ed.), 101–18. Ediciones Universidad Salamanca.</ref>

In the first century BC, Roman leader [[Julius Caesar]] reported that the [[Gauls]] called themselves 'Celts', {{langx|la|Celtae}}, in [[Gaulish language|their own tongue]].<ref>[[Julius Caesar]], ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]]'' [[s:Commentaries on the Gallic War/Book 1#1|1.1]]: "All Gaul is divided into three parts, one of which the Belgae live, another in which the Aquitani live, and the third are those who in their own tongue are called {{lang|la|Celtae}}, in our language {{lang|la|Galli}}."</ref> Thus whether it was given to them by others or not, it was used by the Celts themselves. Greek geographer [[Strabo]], writing about Gaul towards the end of the first century BC, refers to the "race which is now called both ''Gallic'' and ''Galatic''", though he also uses ''Celtica'' as another name for Gaul. He reports Celtic peoples in [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]] too, calling them ''[[Celtiberians|Celtiberi]]'' and ''[[Celtici]]''.<ref>Strabo, ''Geography'', 3.1.3; 3.1.6; 3.2.2; 3.2.15; 4.4.2.</ref> [[Pliny the Elder]] noted the use of ''Celtici'' in [[Lusitania]] as a tribal surname,<ref>[[Pliny the Elder]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|The Natural History]]'' [[s:Lusitania/Book 4#35|21]]: "the Mirobrigenses, surnamed Celtici" ("Mirobrigenses qui Celtici cognominantur").</ref> which [[Epigraphy|epigraphic]] findings have confirmed.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://revistas.ucm.es/est/11326875/articulos/HIEP0101110006A.PDF |title=España |access-date=9 June 2013 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100402141724/http://revistas.ucm.es/est/11326875/articulos/HIEP0101110006A.PDF |archive-date=2 April 2010}}</ref><ref>Fernando De Almeida, ''Breve noticia sobre o santuário campestre romano de Miróbriga dos Celticos (Portugal)'': D(IS) M(ANIBUS) S(ACRUM) / C(AIUS) PORCIUS SEVE/RUS MIROBRIGEN(SIS) / CELT(ICUS) ANN(ORUM) LX / H(IC) S(ITUS) E(ST) S(IT) T(IBI) T(ERRA) L(EVIS).</ref>

A Latin name for the Gauls, ''{{lang|la|Galli}}'' ({{abbr|pl.|plural}}), may come from a Celtic ethnic name, perhaps borrowed into Latin during the [[Cisalpine Gaul|Celtic expansion into Italy]] from the early fifth century BC. Its root may be [[Proto-Celtic language|Proto-Celtic]] ''*galno'', meaning "power, strength" (whence [[Old Irish]] ''gal'' "boldness, ferocity", Welsh ''gallu'' "to be able, power"). The Greek name ''[[Galatians (people)|Γαλάται]]'' ({{transliteration|grc|''Galatai''}}, Latinized ''Galatae'') most likely has the same origin, referring to the Gauls who [[Celtic settlement of Southeast Europe|invaded southeast Europe]] and settled in [[Galatia]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Koch |first=John T. |title=Celtic Culture: A Historical Encyclopedia |url= https://archive.org/details/celticculturehis00koch_128 |url-access=limited |date=2006 |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-1-85109-440-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/celticculturehis00koch_128/page/n837 794]–95}}</ref> The suffix ''-atai'' might be a Greek inflection.<ref>{{cite book |last=Spencer and Zwicky |first=Andrew and Arnold M |title=The handbook of morphology |date=1998 |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishers]] |isbn=978-0-631-18544-4 |page=148}}</ref> Linguist Kim McCone suggests it comes from Proto-Celtic ''*galatis'' ("ferocious, furious"), and was not originally an ethnic name but a name for [[Kóryos|young warrior bands]]. He says "If the Gauls' initial impact on the Mediterranean world was primarily a military one typically involving fierce young ''*galatīs'', it would have been natural for the Greeks to apply this name for the type of ''Keltoi'' that they usually encountered".<ref name="McCone2013" />

Because Classical writers did not call the inhabitants of Britain and Ireland {{lang|grc|Κελτοί}} ({{transliteration|grc|Keltoi}}) or {{lang|la|Celtae}},<ref name="Koch encyclopedia" /><ref name="SJames" /><ref name="JCollis" /> some scholars prefer not to use the term for the Iron Age inhabitants of those islands.<ref name="Koch encyclopedia" /><ref name="SJames" /><ref name="JCollis" /><ref name="FPryor" /> However, they spoke Celtic languages, shared other cultural traits, and Roman historian [[Tacitus]] says the Britons resembled the Gauls in customs and religion.<ref name="Sims-Williams" />