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This article is about the ancient and medieval peoples of Europe. For Celts of the present day, see Celts (modern).
"Celtae" redirects here. For the band, see Celtae (band).
Diachronic distribution of Celtic peoples:
  core Hallstatt territory, by the 6th century BC
  maximal Celtic expansion, by 275 BC
  Lusitanian area of Iberia where Celtic presence is uncertain
  the six Celtic nations which retained significant numbers of Celtic speakers into the Early Modern period
  areas where Celtic languages remain widely spoken today
The Wandsworth Shield-boss, in the "plastic" style, found in London

The Celts (/ˈkɛlts/, occasionally /ˈsɛlts/, see pronunciation of Celtic) were an ethnolinguistic group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Medieval Europe who spoke Celtic languages and had a similar culture,[1] although the relationship between the ethnic, linguistic and cultural elements remains uncertain and controversial.[2] The exact geographic spread of the ancient Celts is also disputed; in particular, whether the Iron Age inhabitants of Britain and Ireland should be regarded as Celts has become a subject of controversy.[1][2][3][4]

The earliest archaeological culture that may justifiably be considered Proto-Celtic is the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture of Central Europe, which flourished from around 1200 BC.[5] Their fully Celtic[5] descendants in central Europe were the people of the Iron Age Hallstatt culture (c. 800–450 BC) named for the rich grave finds in Hallstatt, Austria.[6] By the later La Tène period (c. 450 BC up to the Roman conquest), this Celtic culture had expanded by diffusion or migration to the British Isles (Insular Celts), France and The Low Countries (Gauls), Bohemia, Poland and much of Central Europe, the Iberian Peninsula (Celtiberians, Celtici and Gallaeci) and northern Italy (Golaseccans and Cisalpine Gauls)[7] and, following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC, as far east as central Anatolia (Galatians).[8]

The earliest undisputed direct examples of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions, beginning in the 6th century BC.[9] Continental Celtic languages are attested almost exclusively through inscriptions and place-names. Insular Celtic is attested beginning around the 4th century AD through Ogham inscriptions, although it was clearly being spoken much earlier. Celtic literary tradition begins with Old Irish texts around the 8th century. Coherent texts of Early Irish literature, such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), survive in 12th-century recensions.

By the mid 1st millennium AD, with the expansion of the Roman Empire and the Great Migrations (Migration Period) of Germanic peoples, Celtic culture and Insular Celtic had become restricted to Ireland, the western and northern parts of Great Britain (Wales, Scotland, and Cornwall), the Isle of Man, and Brittany. Between the 5th and 8th centuries, the Celtic-speaking communities in these Atlantic regions emerged as a reasonably cohesive cultural entity. They had a common linguistic, religious, and artistic heritage that distinguished them from the culture of the surrounding polities.[10] By the 6th century, however, the Continental Celtic languages were no longer in wide use.

Insular Celtic culture diversified into that of the Gaels (Irish, Scottish and Manx) and the Brythonic Celts (Welsh, Cornish, and Bretons) of the medieval and modern periods. A modern "Celtic identity" was constructed as part of the Romanticist Celtic Revival in Great Britain, Ireland, and other European territories, such as Portugal and Spanish Galicia.[11] Today, Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton are still spoken in parts of their historical territories, and Cornish and Manx are undergoing a revival.

Names and terminology

Celtic stele from Galicia, 2nd century AD: “APANA·AMBO / LLI·
F(ilia)·CELTICA / SUPERTAM(arica)· /
(j) MIOBRI· / AN(norum
XXV·H(ic)·S(ita)·E(st)· / APANUS·FR(ater
Main article: Names of the Celts

The first recorded use of the name of Celts – as Κελτοί – to refer to an ethnic group was by Hecataeus of Miletus, the Greek geographer, in 517 BC,[12] when writing about a people living near Massilia (modern Marseille).[13] According to the testimony of Julius Caesar and Strabo, the Latin name Celtus (pl. Celti or Celtae) and the Greek Κέλτης (pl. Κέλται) or Κελτός (pl. Κελτοί) were borrowed from a native Celtic tribal name.[14][15] Pliny the Elder cited its use in Lusitania as a tribal surname,[16] which epigraphic findings have confirmed.[17][18]

Latin Gallus (pl. Galli) might also stem from a Celtic ethnic or tribal name originally, perhaps one borrowed into Latin during the Celtic expansions into Italy during the early 5th century BC. Its root may be the Common Celtic *galno, meaning “power, strength”, hence Old Irish gal “boldness, ferocity” and Welsh gallu “to be able, power”. The tribal names of Gallaeci and the Greek Γαλάται (Galatai, Latinized Galatae; see the region Galatia in Anatolia) most probably go with the same origin.[19] The suffix -atai might be an Ancient Greek inflection.[20] Classical writers did not apply the terms Κελτοί or "Celtae" to the inhabitants of Britain or Ireland,[1][2][3] which has led to some scholars preferring not to use the term for the Iron Age inhabitants of those islands.[1][2][3][4]

Celt is a modern English word, first attested in 1707, in the writing of Edward Lhuyd, whose work, along with that of other late 17th-century scholars, brought academic attention to the languages and history of the early Celtic inhabitants of Great Britain.[21] The English form Gaul (first recorded in the 17th century) and Gaulish come from the French Gaule and Gaulois, a borrowing from Frankish *Walholant, "Land of foreigners or Romans" (see Gaul: Name), the root of which is Proto-Germanic *walha-, “foreigner”', or “Celt”, whence the English word Welsh (Anglo-Saxon wælisċ < *walhiska-), South German welsch, meaning “Celtic speaker”, “French speaker” or “Italian speaker” in different contexts, and Old Norse valskr, pl. valir, “Gaulish, French”). Proto-Germanic *walha is derived ultimately from the name of the Volcae,[22] a Celtic tribe who lived first in the South of Germany and emigrated then to Gaul.[23] This means that English Gaul, despite its superficial similarity, is not actually derived from Latin Gallia (which should have produced *Jaille in French), though it does refer to the same ancient region.

Celtic refers to a family of languages and, more generally, means “of the Celts” or “in the style of the Celts”. Several archaeological cultures are considered Celtic in nature, based on unique sets of artefacts. The link between language and artefact is aided by the presence of inscriptions.[24] (See Celtic (disambiguation) for other applications of the term.) The relatively modern idea of an identifiable Celtic cultural identity or "Celticity" generally focuses on similarities among languages, works of art, and classical texts,[25] and sometimes also among material artefacts, social organisation, homeland and mythology.[26] Earlier theories held that these similarities suggest a common racial origin for the various Celtic peoples, but more recent theories hold that they reflect a common cultural and language heritage more than a genetic one. Celtic cultures seem to have been widely diverse, with the use of a Celtic language being the main thing they have in common.[1]

Today, the term Celtic generally refers to the languages and respective cultures of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and Brittany, also known as the Celtic nations. These are the regions where four Celtic languages are still spoken to some extent as mother tongues. The four are Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton; plus two recent revivals, Cornish (one of the Brythonic languages) and Manx (one of the Goidelic languages). There are also attempts to reconstruct the Cumbric language (a Brythonic language from North West England and South West Scotland). Celtic regions of Continental Europe are those whose residents claim a Celtic heritage, but where no Celtic language has survived; these areas include the western Iberian Peninsula, i.e. Portugal, and north-central Spain (Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and León, Extremadura).[27] (See also: Modern Celts.)



Main articles: Pre-Celtic and Celticization
Overview of the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures:
Reconstruction of a late La Tène period settlement in Altburg near Bundenbach (1st century BCE).
Reconstruction of a late La Tène period settlement in Havranok, Slovakia (2nd–1st century BCE).

The Celtic languages form a branch of the larger Indo-European family. By the time speakers of Celtic languages enter history around 400 BC, they were already split into several language groups, and spread over much of Western continental Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, Ireland and Britain.

Some scholars think that the Urnfield culture of Western Middle Europe represents an origin for the Celts as a distinct cultural branch of the Indo-European family.[5] This culture was preeminent in central Europe during the late Bronze Age, from c. 1200 BC until 700 BC, itself following the Unetice and Tumulus cultures. The Urnfield period saw a dramatic increase in population in the region, probably due to innovations in technology and agricultural practices. The Greek historian Ephoros of Cyme in Asia Minor, writing in the 4th century BC, believed that the Celts came from the islands off the mouth of the Rhine and were "driven from their homes by the frequency of wars and the violent rising of the sea".




Linguistic evidence

Main article: Proto-Celtic language
Further information: Celtic toponymy

The Proto-Celtic language is usually dated to the Late Bronze Age.[5] The earliest records of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions of Cisalpine Gaul (Northern Italy), the oldest of which still predate the La Tène period. Other early inscriptions, appearing from the early La Tène period in the area of Massilia, are in Gaulish, which was written in the Greek alphabet until the Roman conquest. Celtiberian inscriptions, using their own Iberian script, appear later, after about 200 BC. Evidence of Insular Celtic is available only from about 400 AD, in the form of Primitive Irish Ogham inscriptions. Besides epigraphical evidence, an important source of information on early Celtic is toponymy.[29]

Archaeological evidence

Further information: Iron Age Europe
Map of the Hallstatt Culture

Before the 19th century, scholars[who?] assumed that the original land of the Celts was west of the Rhine, more precisely in Gaul, because it was where Greek and Roman ancient sources, namely Caesar, located the Celts. This view was challenged by the 19th-century historian Marie Henri d'Arbois de Jubainville[citation needed] who placed the land of origin of the Celts east of the Rhine. Jubainville based his arguments on a phrase of Herodotus' that placed the Celts at the source of the Danube, and argued that Herodotus had meant to place the Celtic homeland in southern Germany. The finding of the prehistoric cemetery of Hallstat in 1846 by Johan Ramsauer and the finding of the archaeological site of La Tène by Hansli Kopp in 1857 drew attention to this area. The concept that the Hallstatt and La Tene cultures could be seen not just as chronological periods but as "Culture Groups", entities composed of people of the same ethnicity and language, started to grow by the end of the 19th century. In the beginning of the 20th century the belief that those "Culture Groups" could be thought in racial or ethnic terms was strongly held by Gordon Childe whose theory was influenced by the writings of Gustaf Kossinna.[30] Along the 20th century the racial ethnic interpretation of La Tene culture rooted much stronger, and any findings of "La Tene culture" and "flat inhumation cemeteries" were directly associated with the celts and the Celtic language.[31] The Iron Age Hallstatt (c. 800–475 BC) and La Tène (c. 500–50 BC) cultures are typically associated with Proto-Celtic and Celtic culture.[32]

In various[clarification needed] academic disciplines the Celts were considered a Central European Iron Age phenomenon, through the cultures of Hallstatt and La Tène. However, archaeological finds from the Halstatt and La Tène culture were rare in the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern France, northern and western Britain, southern Ireland and Galatia[33][34] and did not provide enough evidence for a cultural scenario comparable to that of Central Europe. It is considered equally difficult to maintain that the origin of the Peninsular Celts can be linked to the preceding Urnfield culture, leading to a more recent approach that introduces a 'proto-Celtic' substratum and a process of Celticisation having its initial roots in the Bronze Age Bell Beaker culture.[35]

Expansion of the Celtic culture in the 3rd century BC according to Francisco Villar in The Indo-Europeans and the origins of Europe – Italian version p.446



Historical evidence


Minority views

Myles Dillon and Nora Kershaw Chadwick accepted that "the Celtic settlement of the British Isles" might have to be dated to the Beaker period concluding that "There is no reason why so early a date for the coming of the Celts should be impossible".[37][38] Martín Almagro Gorbea[39] proposed the origins of the Celts could be traced back to the 3rd millennium BC, seeking the initial roots in the Bell Beaker culture, thus offering the wide dispersion of the Celts throughout western Europe, as well as the variability of the different Celtic peoples, and the existence of ancestral traditions an ancient perspective. Using a multidisciplinary approach Alberto J. Lorrio and Gonzalo Ruiz Zapatero reviewed and built on Almagro Gorbea's work to present a model for the origin of the Celtic archaeological groups in the Iberian Peninsula (Celtiberian, Vetton, Vaccean, the Castro Culture of the northwest, Asturian-Cantabrian and Celtic of the southwest) and proposing a rethinking the meaning of "Celtic" from a European perspective.[40] More recently, John Koch[41] and Barry Cunliffe[42] have suggested that Celtic origins lie with the Atlantic Bronze Age, roughly contemporaneous with the Hallstatt culture but positioned considerably to the West, extending along the Atlantic coast of Europe.

The world according to Herodotus

Stephen Oppenheimer[43] points out that the only written evidence that locates the Keltoi near the source of the Danube (i.e. in the Hallstatt region) is in the Histories of Herodotus. However, Oppenheimer shows that Herodotus seemed to believe the Danube rose near the Pyrenees, which would place the Ancient Celts in a region which is more in agreement with later Classical writers and historians (i.e. in Gaul and the Iberian peninsula).


Continental Celts


Main article: Gauls


Eastern Gaul became the centre of the western La Tène culture. In later Iron Age Gaul, the social organisation resembled that of the Romans, with large towns. From the 3rd century BC the Gauls adopted coinage, and texts with Greek characters from southern Gaul have survived from the 2nd century BC.



Following the Gallic Wars of 58–51 BC, Caesar's Celtica formed the main part of Roman Gaul, becoming the province of Gallia Lugdunensis. This territory of the Celtic tribes was bounded on the south by the Garonne and on the north by the Seine and the Marne.[46] The Romans attached large swathes of this region to neighboring provinces Belgica and Aquitania, particularly under Augustus.

Place- and personal-name analysis and inscriptions suggest that the Gaulish Celtic language was spoken over most of what is now France.[47][48]


Main language areas in Iberia, showing Celtic languages in beige, c. 300 BC.
Triskelion and spirals on a Galician torc terminal (Museu do castro de Santa Tegra).
Main articles: Celtiberians and Gallaeci

Until the end of the 19th century, traditional scholarship dealing with the Celts did acknowledge their presence in the Iberian Peninsula[49][50] as a material culture relatable to the Hallstatt and La Tène cultures. However, since according to the definition of the Iron Age in the 19th century Celtic populations were supposedly rare in Iberia and did not provide a cultural scenario that could easily be linked to that of Central Europe, the presence of Celtic culture in that region was generally not fully recognised. Three divisions of the Celts of the Iberian Peninsula were assumed to have existed: the Celtiberians in the mountains near the centre of the peninsula, the Celtici in the southwest, and the celts in the northwest (in Gallaecia and Asturias).[51]

Modern scholarship, however, has clearly proven that Celtic presence and influences were most substantial in what is today Spain and Portugal (with perhaps the highest settlement saturation in Western Europe), particularly in the central, western and northern regions.[52][53] The Celts in Iberia were divided into two main archaeological and cultural groups,[54] even though that division is not very clear:

The origins of the Celtiberians might provide a key to understanding the Celticisation process in the rest of the Peninsula. The process of Celticisation of the southwestern area of the peninsula by the Keltoi and of the northwestern area is, however, not a simple Celtiberian question. Recent investigations about the Callaici[61] and Bracari[62] in northwestern Portugal are providing new approaches to understanding Celtic culture (language, art and religion) in western Iberia.[63]


Alps and Po Valley

Further information: History of the Alps
Map of the Alpine region of the Roman Empire in AD 14.

It had been known for some time that there was an early, although apparently somewhat limited, Celtic (Lepontic, sometimes called Cisalpine Celtic) presence in Northern Italy since inscriptions dated to the 6th century BC have been found there.



At the battle of Telamon in 225 BC a large Celtic army was trapped between two Roman forces and crushed.


Eastward expansion

Celtic tribes in S.E.Europe, c. 1st century BC (in purple)





As there is no archaeological evidence for large-scale invasions in some of the other areas, one current school of thought holds that Celtic language and culture spread to those areas by contact rather than invasion.[66] However, the Celtic invasions of Italy and the expedition in Greece and western Anatolia, are well documented in Greek and Latin history.


Insular Celts

Main article: Insular Celts
Principal sites in Roman Britain, with indication of tribal territories.

All Celtic languages extant today belong to the Insular Celtic languages, derived from the Celtic languages spoken in Iron Age Britain and Ireland.[67] They were separated into a Goidelic and a Brythonic branch from an early period.

Linguists have been arguing for many years whether a Celtic language came to Britain and Ireland and then split or whether there were two separate "invasions". The older view of prehistorians was that the Celtic influence in the British Isles was the result of successive invasions from the European continent by diverse Celtic-speaking peoples over the course of several centuries, accounting for the P-Celtic vs. Q-Celtic isogloss. This view has fallen into disfavour,[dubious ] to be replaced by the model of a phylogenetic Insular Celtic dialect group.


It should be noted, however, that Classical writers did not apply the terms Κελτοί or "Celtae" to the inhabitants of Britain or Ireland,[1][2][3] leading a number of scholars to question the use the term Celt to describe the Iron Age inhabitants of those islands.[1][2][3][4] The first historical account of the islands of Britain and Ireland was by Pytheas, a Greek from the city of Massalia, who around 310-306 BC, sailed around what he called the "Pretannikai nesoi", which can be translated as the "Pretannic Isles".[70] In general, classical writers referred to the inhabitants of Britain as Pretannoi or Britanni.[71] Strabo, writing in the Roman era, clearly distinguished between the Celts and Britons.[72]


Main article: Gallo-Roman culture
The Roman republic and its neighbours in 58 BC.









Little is known of family structure among the Celts. Patterns of settlement varied from decentralised to urban. The popular stereotype of non-urbanised societies settled in hillforts and duns,[75] drawn from Britain and Ireland (there are about 3,000 hill forts known in Britain)[76] contrasts with the urban settlements present in the core Hallstatt and La Tene areas, with the many significant oppida of Gaul late in the first millennium BC, and with the towns of Gallia Cisalpina.

Slavery, as practised by the Celts, was very likely similar to the better documented practice in ancient Greece and Rome.[77] Slaves were acquired from war, raids, and penal and debt servitude.[77] Slavery was hereditary[citation needed], though manumission was possible. The Old Irish word for slave, cacht, and the Welsh term caeth are likely derived from the Latin captus, captive, suggesting that slave trade was an early venue of contact between Latin and Celtic societies.[77] In the Middle Ages, slavery was especially prevalent in the Celtic countries.[78] Manumissions were discouraged by law and the word for "female slave", cumal, was used as a general unit of value in Ireland.[79]

Archaeological evidence suggests that the pre-Roman Celtic societies were linked to the network of overland trade routes that spanned Eurasia. Archaeologists have discovered large prehistoric trackways crossing bogs in Ireland and Germany. Due to their substantial nature, these are believed to have been created for wheeled transport as part of an extensive roadway system that facilitated trade.[80] The territory held by the Celts contained tin, lead, iron, silver and gold.[81] Celtic smiths and metalworkers created weapons and jewellery for international trade, particularly with the Romans.


The Dying Gaul, a Roman marble copy of a Hellenistic work of the late 3rd century BC Capitoline Museums, Rome



According to Diodorus Siculus:



Celtic costumes par in przeworsk culture (3rd century BC, La Tène period), Archaeological Museum of Kraków.


Gender and sexual norms

Reconstruction of a German Iron Age Celtic warrior's garments


The sexual freedom of women in Britain was noted by Cassius Dio:[86]





Among the insular Celts, there is a greater amount of historic documentation to suggest warrior roles for women. In addition to commentary by Tacitus about Boudica, there are indications from later period histories that also suggest a more substantial role for "women as warriors", in symbolic if not actual roles. Posidonius and Strabo described an island of women where men could not venture for fear of death, and where the women ripped each other apart.[92] Other writers, such as Ammianus Marcellinus and Tacitus, mentioned Celtic women inciting, participating in, and leading battles.[93] Poseidonius' anthropological comments on the Celts had common themes, primarily primitivism, extreme ferocity, cruel sacrificial practices, and the strength and courage of their women.[94]


Celtic art

Main article: Celtic art




Warfare and weapons

Main articles: Celtic warfare and Celtic sword
Parade Helmet, Agris, France. 350 BC, with stylistic borrowings from around the Mediterranean.




Polybius also asserts that certain of the Celts fought naked, "The appearance of these naked warriors was a terrifying spectacle, for they were all men of splendid physique and in the prime of life."[101] According to Livy this was also true of the Celts of Asia Minor.[102]

Head hunting

A Gallic statue of a Celtic warrior, in the Museum of Brittany








A statuette in the Museum of Brittany, Rennes, probably depicting Brigantia/Brigid: c. 1st century AD, with iconography derived from Roman statues of Minerva.



Triplicity is a common theme in Celtic cosmology, and a number of deities were seen as threefold.[106] This trait is exhibited by The Three Mothers, a group of goddesses worshipped by many Celtic tribes (with regional variations).[107]




Gallic calendar

The Coligny calendar, which was found in 1897 in Coligny, Ain, was engraved on a bronze tablet, preserved in 73 fragments, that originally was 1.48 m wide and 0.9 m high (Lambert p. 111). Based on the style of lettering and the accompanying objects, it probably dates to the end of the 2nd century.[110] It is written in Latin inscriptional capitals, and is in the Gallic language. The restored tablet contains 16 vertical columns, with 62 months distributed over 5 years.


Roman influence

Further information: Gallo-Roman culture

The Roman invasion of Gaul brought a great deal of Celtic peoples into the Roman Empire. Roman culture had a profound effect on the Celtic tribes which came under the empire's control. Roman influence led to many changes in Celtic religion, the most noticeable of which was the weakening of the druid class, especially religiously; the druids were to eventually disappear altogether. Romano-Celtic deities also began to appear: these deities often had both Roman and Celtic attributes and combined the names of Roman and Celtic deities. Other changes included the adaptation of the Jupiter Pole, a sacred pole which was used throughout Celtic regions of the empire, primarily in the north. Another major change in religious practice was the use of stone monuments to represent gods and goddesses. The Celts had only created wooden idols (including monuments carved into trees, which were known as sacred poles) previously to Roman conquest.[107]

Celtic Christianity

Main article: Celtic Christianity

While the regions under Roman rule adopted Christianity along with the rest of the Roman empire, unconquered areas of Ireland and Scotland moved from Celtic polytheism to Christianity in the 5th century. Ireland was converted under missionaries from Britain, such as Patrick. Later missionaries from Ireland were a major source of missionary work in Scotland, Saxon parts of Britain, and central Europe (see Hiberno-Scottish mission). Celtic Christianity, the forms of Christianity that took hold in Britain and Ireland at this time, have carried traditions distinct from the rest of Western Christianity. The development of Christianity in Ireland and Britain brought an early medieval renaissance of Celtic art between 390 and 1200 AD.[112][113] Many of the styles now thought of as typically "Celtic" developed in this period, and are found throughout much of Ireland and Britain, including the northeast and far north of Scotland, Orkney and Shetland. Notable works produced during this period include the Book of Kells and the Ardagh Chalice. Antiquarian interest from the 17th century led to the term Celt being extended, and rising nationalism brought Celtic revivals from the 19th century.

See also


  1. ^ a b c d e f g Koch, John (2005). Celtic Culture: a historical encyclopedia. Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio. pp. xx. ISBN 978-1-85109-440-0. Retrieved 9 June 2010. 
  3. ^ a b c d e Collis, John (2003). The Celts: Origins, Myths and Inventions. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. ISBN 0-7524-2913-2. 
  7. ^ Koch, John T (2010). Celtic from the West Chapter 9: Paradigm Shift? Interpreting Tartessian as Celtic – see map 9.3 The Ancient Celtic Languages c. 440/430 BC – see third map in PDF at URL provided which is essentially the same map. Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK. p. 193. ISBN 978-1-84217-410-4. 
  9. ^ Stifter, David (2008). Old Celtic Languages. pp. 24–37. 
  10. ^ Cunliffe, Barry (2003). The Celts – a very short introduction. Oxford University Press. p. 109. ISBN 0-19-280418-9. 
  11. ^ McKevitt, Kerry Ann (1 2006). "Mythologizing Identity and History: a look at the Celtic past of Galicia". E-Keltoi 6: 651–673. Retrieved 8 April 2011. 
  12. ^ Sarunas Milisauskas, European prehistory: a survey. Springer, 2002 ISBN 0-306-47257-0. 2002. p. 363. ISBN 978-0-306-47257-2. Retrieved 2010-06-07. 
  13. ^ H. D. Rankin, Celts and the classical world. Routledge, 1998 ISBN 0-415-15090-6. 1998. pp. 1–2. ISBN 978-0-415-15090-3. Retrieved 2010-06-07. 
  14. ^ Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 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 Celtae, in our language Galli.”
  15. ^ Strabo, Geography, Book 4.
  16. ^ Pliny the Elder, The Natural History 21: “the Mirobrigenses, surnamed Celtici” (“Mirobrigenses qui Celtici cognominantur”).
  17. ^ http://revistas.ucm.es/est/11326875/articulos/HIEP0101110006A.PDF
  19. ^ Koch, John Thomas (2006). Celtic culture: a historical encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 794–795. ISBN 1-85109-440-7. 
  20. ^ Spencer and Zwicky, Andrew and Arnold M (1998). The handbook of morphology. Blackwell Publishers. p. 148. ISBN 0-631-18544-5. 
  21. ^ (Lhuyd, p. 290) Lhuyd, E. Archaeologia Britannica; An account of the languages, histories, and customs of the original inhabitants of Great Britain. (reprint ed.) Irish University Press, 1971. ISBN 0-7165-0031-0
  23. ^ Mountain, Harry (1998). The Celtic Encyclopedia, Volume 1. uPublish.com. p. 252. ISBN 1-58112-889-4. 
  24. ^ Kruta et al, Venceslas et al (1991). The Celts. Thames and Hudson. pp. 95–102. 
  25. ^ Paul Graves-Brown, Siân Jones, Clive Gamble, Cultural identity and archaeology: the construction of European communities, pp 242–244. Routledge, 1996 ISBN 0-415-10676-1. 1996. ISBN 978-0-415-10676-4. Retrieved 2010-06-07. 
  26. ^ Carl McColman, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Celtic Wisdom, pp 31–34. Alpha Books, 2003, ISBN 0-02-864417-4. 6 May 2003. ISBN 978-0-02-864417-2. Retrieved 2010-06-07. 
  28. ^ Chadwick, Nora (1970). The Celts with an introductory chapter by J.X.W.P.Corcoran. Penguin Books. p. 81. 
  29. ^ e.g. Patrick Sims-Williams, Ancient Celtic Placenames in Europe and Asia Minor, Publications of the Philological Society, No. 39 (2006); Bethany Fox, 'The P-Celtic Place-Names of North-East England and South-East Scotland', The Heroic Age, 10 (2007), http://www.heroicage.org/issues/10/fox.html (also available at http://www.alarichall.org.uk/placenames/fox.htm). See also List of Celtic place names in Portugal.
  30. ^ Murray, Tim (April 2007). pg346. ISBN 978-1-57607-186-1. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 
  32. ^ F. Fleming, Heroes of the Dawn: Celtic Myth, 1996. p. 9 & 134.
  33. ^ Harding, Dennis William (2007). pg5. ISBN 978-0-415-35177-5. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 
  34. ^ pg 386. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 
  39. ^ 2001 p 95. La lengua de los Celtas y otros pueblos indoeuropeos de la península ibérica. In Almagro-Gorbea, M., Mariné, M. and Álvarez-Sanchís, J.R. (eds) Celtas y Vettones, pp. 115–121. Ávila: Diputación Provincial de Ávila.
  40. ^ Lorrio and Ruiz Zapatero, Alberto J. and Gonzalo (2005). "The Celts in Iberia: An Overview". e-Keltoi. 6 : The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula: 167–254. 
  44. ^ Dietler, Michael (2010). Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-26551-3. 
  46. ^ Cunliffe, Barry (2003). The Celts. Oxford Press. p. 75. ISBN 0-19-280418-9. 
  47. ^ Cunliffe, Barry (2003). The Celts. Oxford Press. p. 52. ISBN 0-19-280418-9. 
  48. ^ Dietler, Michael (2010). Archaeologies of Colonialism: Consumption, Entanglement, and Violence in Ancient Mediterranean France. University of California Press. pp. 75–94. ISBN 0-520-26551-3. 
  49. ^ Chambers, William; Chambers, Robert (1842). Chambers's information for the people pg50. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 
  50. ^ Brownson, Orestes Augustus (1859). Brownson's Quarterly Review pg505. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 
  51. ^ Prichard, James Cowles (1841). Researches into the Physical History of Mankind. Retrieved 2010-10-02. 
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