THE CELTS

Szerző: Wolfgang Meid Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft, 2010 The Celts – who were they? Did they really exist, or are they, as some archaeologists seem to believe, a mere scientific construct, a fictitious entity? The basis of this misapprehension is the fact that it is not possible to diagnose Celticity by archaeological means alone. Celtic is, in the first instance, a linguistic concept, and disregarding this linguistic foundation must lead to an impasse. It is the proven relationship of the so-called Celtic languages and their derivation from a common ancestor which justifies this scientific concept. Celts, on the other hand, is an ethnic term attested for population groups in western Continental Europe, but which has been extended to include also population groups in the British Isles for which this name is not attested. The basis of this terminological extension has been the discovery of the genetic relationship of the languages spoken by all these groups, which consequently have been termed Celtic languages, going back to a common prehistoric ancestor language termed Proto-Celtic, a distinct branch of the Indo‑European language family. Since a language presupposes speakers, these could be called Celts. From a linguistic point of view these Celts were real people; today their descendants would be rather called by other names, like Irish or Welsh. Tartalomjegyzék: Origin and Early Evidence of the Celts Celtic Archaeology Expansion of the Celts and Quest for New Homelands. Historical Events The celts int he British Isles Society and Culture Religion The insular Celtic Literary Tradition Epilogue A kötet adatai: Kötés: keménytábla Formátum: B/5 Megjelenés éve: 2010 Terjedelem: 187 oldal